Hi gang, looking for opinions. I have an opportunity to acquire an 97 Toyota Rav4, manual trans with all wheel drive. It has been fully set up with a Blue Ox towing set up and very professionally done by a RV dealer. The present owner has been towing it with no apparent problems. This configuration does not appear on the Remco list of towables. However this model with auto trans and lube pump is approved with all wheel drive. I have called 5 Toyota service departments and can only get the statement "Toyota does not recommend towing any of their vehicles 4 wheeels down". Would I be looking for trouble towing the vehicle? I have been towing a Miata for several years with no problems and it is not recommended by Mazda and was considered impossible to get away with by the Miata forum. Any insight greatly appreciated. BILL

Well, you can roll the dice and take your chances if you want.. I personally would not tow anything unless it says you can in the owners manual for that make, model, and year. I can't afford to pay the kind of money that it would take to repair one. It cost one of my neighbors here in Yuma $4000 a couple or years ago for a new tranny for a brand new Jeep Liberty that you could tow 4 down, but he did not follow the proper procedure for towing it.

As usual google can be very helpful. This link to a Toyota technical service bulletin (2000)

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/200...20Towing%20Guide.pdf

states clearly the 97 Rav4, 4wd, manual is towable without restrictions. I wonder why they have changed their tune. This bulletin also deals with dingy towing the whole Toyota line up prior to 2000.

Could it be that they said it could be done, but after awhile they found out that people were having problems with it so they backed off so they would not have to deal with warranty claims at the time?

Is there a Rav4 forum somewhere that you could ask about it?

I think somewhere along the line their lawyers have had a hand in the pie. There are many models which have been approved for towing (in writing) by Toyota themselves and now the Dealers (in Canada anyways) are flatly refusing to say any toyota can be dingy towed. I'll take the 2000 technical bulletin as it states and the Rav will be in my driveway by the end of the day. Thank you for the input.

Shadow Man, before spring you may see an aging but shiny blue Rav4 drifting across Montana Street looking to say howdy and thanks for the input. Bill

Cool! i will keep an eye out for you!

On my quick trip to North Carolina today I was watching toads. I saw only 2 toyotas but a ton of Ford Escapes and Jeep Libertys. I also saw a bright red 1940 Ford 2 door sedan. Go figure!

I saw the best toad ever in Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground last week, A shortened, chopped and channeled 57 Chevy. It was way too cool!

By The Way - a 4X4 Jeep Wrangler can be flat towed even with the Automatic. The transfer Case is put in Neutral to disengage drives. We had one set up to flat tow, but never got around to it as I always had a trailer with the bikes in it.

We tow an 87 Jeep Wagoneer (a little fancier Cherokee ) 4x4 automatic 4 down. We have to put the transfer case in neutral and the tranny in park.

My list of previous toads is similar to you fellows. A Wagoneer and Cherokee both autos with the selectrac transfer case. A YJ and a TJ Jeep both manual trans and the Miata manual. All of them were completely trouble free from the towing stand point.

I gotta share a funny story about farm-boy ingenuity...

Back in the early 80's when I was a freshman in college, my parents had a 1979 Pace Arrow. I had a restored 1970 VW convertible. Dad would let me and my buddies take the Pace Arrow on vacations to the Texas beaches. I was the son who took fanatical care of the motorhome....actually better care than Daddy did...so Daddy would pretty well let me do what I wanted with the motorhome. So my buddies and I wanted to take the convertible behind the motorhome. We made a homemade tow bar but I was worried about the VW dropping into gear. Daddy told a story about a co-worker of his who forgot to take his Datsun pickup out of gear and towed it 100 miles IN GEAR...ruined the drivetrain I was told...
Since the VW had a generator, we ran a wire from the positive side of the generator through the tow harness up to a 1.5 volt buzzer I put under the dash in the motorhome. If you just tried to turn over the VW, the 1.5 volt buzzer would go wild!

Needless to say, we towed the VW many a mile without worrying about it going into gear!

With the same concern, I used to tow a VW dune buggy, and used a piece of plywood cut to keep the shift lever in neutral.

When I had the transfer case rebuilt on our Toyota, I had extra strong detent springs put in to keep it in neutral for towing.