When towcar in trailer I have always been told to put in neutral while towing.why not park leave in neutral while tie down when everything is tied just put in park to help keep in place. I head of a lot of car coming lose in trailers this year and doing lots of damages I would think this would help I know they say it puts presure on park pin but it tie down it should not move that much. In your street car or truck you park on a big hill and it don't hurt them with that weight. What is real reason? THANKS

I always put mine in park because I know someone who had one in neutral and a tiedown came loose and it caused damage to the car.

I don't see what damage can be done, if its tied down right it won' be an issue. If its not tied down right you will be glad it was in park.

The procedure my dad and I use with an enclosed is to winch the car in, strap it down, then lastly put it in park.

Do what you feel comfortable with. With a stick car, mine is always in neutral. 4 heavy straps, and I keep tension on the winch cable as well. We check straps every single time we get off the road for something.

I'm about to send a car 50 miles away for metal work - no motor, transmission, or e-brake. I waver between worrying and thinking if something goes wrong putting the car in park or in gear isn't likely to help anything. It's either strapped down right or it's not.

I've tow a lot of different cars on open trailers, car hauler trucks and enclosed race trailers. I used to use only two tie downs until we wrecked and totaled 1969 Hemi GTX on a borrow open trailer with one tie down on the front and rear. The rear tie down (dog chain size tie down ) chain broke when I slammed the brakes on my pickup very hard after hitting a dog that ran out in front of my 1/2 ton pickup truck, the car ran up and over the front tire stops and onto the back of my pickup and then flip over onto its roof totaling it
I now use 4 5000 Lb. rated ratchet tie downs, one on each corner, and make them tight as I can get them, if I'm going more than 30 miles I try to stop after 50 miles or more and retighten the rear ones around the rear axle to remove any slack in them from rocking, normally one to two more clicks and then they stay tight no matter if I tow it another 100 to 800 miles
I leave it in neutral and i back off the winch line to get slack on the cable, so I don't trip on it when I go in to untie the tie downs to unload the car I use to leave the winch line tight until I wore out one winch from the rocking the gears in it when stopping and starting forward again in traffic. That tore up the gears in that winch , No more problems since loosening them up a little

In case of an accident you're probably right, but I've seen lots of clowns through the years just tow the car in park (no straps)

So park must be doing something!

I've never had a problem with an AT car in Park - stick cars I usually use E-brake - towing literally across the Country.
Worked for a guy who would use E-brake & neutral on AT cars, never an issue either.
Never less than 4 proper ratcheting tie-downs, crossed left/right at both ends - TIGHT, and checked from time to time - plus the winch cable.
Nothing's moved yet (in many thousands of miles), and some of those cars were worth more than my home (as in Pebble Beach Concours).
Main thing is the car doesn't move back or forth, or for that matter side to side, hence the crossed tie-downs.
Whether I'm towing locally or across the US, same tie-down method, as I've had to avoid some real idiocy and/or junk road surfaces.
Best tie-downs in the world are Mac's, though I've used arguably lesser ones.

I always have my car in park when it's on the trailer. No problems thus far. I use an over-the-wheel strap on each wheel, anchored at 3 spots per tire into e-track.

I put mine in Park because my trans guy said to.

I put mine in park because it just makes sense.

We always have our cars in park. Never had an issue with doing it this way. I look at it this way, if a strap would happen to break or come loose, if the car is in park it may help prevent extra damage.

I always put mine in park also. Never had an issue.

The only risk of towing in park is if the roads cause the car to rock for and aft from suspension compressions.

Undulating roads. As long as the car doesn’t go through those conditions you should be good.

At Chrysler we learned that pretty quick. Railcars and some trailers were notoriously known for this condition. We eventually had to transport them in neutral with the IOD connector pulled.

Result of this towing in park was broken or cracked extension housings. Back in the 90’s.

Always place in park last after setting the emergency brake. While criss crossing the tie downs is best to keep the car from moving side to side on the trailer, it does offer more fore and aft movement.

I wonder if some guys cracked extension housings and blamed it on some other event.

my
I always tow in neutral, Un crossed straps and winch loose... never an issue.

I don't cross my tie downs anymore, I do make them pull on the car's K member and rear end towards the outside edge of the trailer where the tie down hooks are to make sure the car won't slide either way while I'm going through corners and same thing on front to rear movements :: up:

I think what op is saying is do you put it in park before or after you strap it down ?

Fwiw only time I had any issue was when I forgot to put it in park. Came loose , I hit the brakes and thought I got rear ended. Ruined both bumpers , toolbox and trailer door. Hard lesson learned.

Keep it in neutral until strapped down tight, then place it in park.

I've always towed mine in neutral, even with an open trailer. The chassis car had glass doors with lexan windows and I would winch it in and out with the door on, So I couldn't get to the shifter.

Use good tie downs and tie it down right. I'm not sure being in park would do a whole lot to keep it in one spot if it did get loose.

i have seen one car get jammed in park after a tow , when i had steel doors and roll up windows i would put in park after i pulled the straps tight. Now i have glass doors and lexan windows. So yea i winch it in, tie it down and its still in neutral. However i have been chocking the wheels in case it does get loose. But as mentioned before, i have added opening the trailer door and peek inside to my fuel stop routine. Cant check things too many times!

I winch mine in. Leave in neutral. Leave winch cable on front tow hook. Add rear straps and tighten winch until rear straps are tight. Never have to loosen ot adjust rear straps this way (for my car anyway). Add front straps and tighten them. Put in park.

This is what i do.

I take at least my drivers door off before winching it in the trailer so I have access to the shifter. If you have glass doors why not. My Cuda has steel doors that were gutted and I always removed it as well. Easy enough to do to gain access. I think if you mostly tow locally it likely does not matter at all. However cross country stuff IMO putting it in park is a good idea. We also use chassis stabilizers on the dragster and all tube chassis cars. Shock take a beating towing as does the chassis. Dragster gets two bladders door car/truck gets one under 4 link crossmember.

are tie downs being used on the tires or the chassis ?
i have noticed lately that new cars are being transported with the tie downs looped through the wheels [when possible] or over the tires.
any opinions on these methods ?

If it's a standard passenger car, no big deal being strapped down at the wheels. I strap down at the chassis to avoid shock travel as much as possible (adjustable shocks).

Some years ago I read a suspension book that recommended blocking the chassis on frequently trailered vehicles. When you tie it down it moves with the trailer not independent of it and to keep from damaging tuned suspensions .And I suppose these were manual trans cars. Sounds like a PIA but it wouldn't matter if the car was in neutral.
BTW next time I'll try tie down then put in park!

I’m sure I’ll get called out as anecdotal, but, techs would momentarily engage park, to “fix”, stuck governor valves on A470’s.

Actually this was done way back before the 470. I’m interested in why you mention this here.

Because the pawls or the supports didn’t break. Did they get damaged, don’t know, but we didn’t stock either.

Understood now.

For clarification when throwing it in park at speed the pawl ratcheted off the support and simply vibrated the governor valve and weights and usually freed them up. Towing in park with a loose car had the vehicle weight loading and unloading the support putting all the load into the pawl pivot/housing.

Rail car was the worst - since the vehicles were not loaded on an angle like truck transport.