Flat towing an 88 5th Avenue?

A clean, pretty low mile 5th Avenue surfaced, priced pretty well. It has a tow kit on the front of it. The car was pulled South behind a motor home every winter. Seller claims of course it runs and drives well.

Because it missed all the winter fun up here, the body is supposed to be really clean.

I had always been under the impression you could not tow a car with a torqueflite in it once they stopped making them with the rear pump.

Opinions on this please? I'm just a bit leery of the transmission internals. Thanks in advance.

Don't sound good. Long distance needs pump turning to feed lube to rear bushing in case I think.

Maybe they pulled the drive shaft off the rear end before they towed it very far. They could have also let the car idle in neutral, that would have circulated the fluid. Maybe thy replaced the trans tail shaft every year...Gene

Check and see if there are any fittings or additions to the trans cooler lines.

There are also add-on pump kits.

Remco

if really a GOOD deal and a nice car fixin the tranny aint no big deal.

Exactly why I asked if it had fittings. At $1700. Some people take the kit off when they sell their vehicle. Fittings are left behind normally.

Would be a nice surprise if it was still on the car.

If it was me, and the condition of the trans was in question, my offer would leave enough in my pocket to do a transmission rebuild.

I'd put in an A500 rather than rebuild the original trans

Maybe they put the rear wheels on dollies? If the car is in really good shape I'd go for it anyway especially if their price is good. 904s are cheap to get used and not overly expensive to get rebuilt if you pull it yourself. Raise your concerns with the seller and see what they say.

Thanks guys for the comments. I've bought and brought the car home. Had to work the seller a bit but got it for the price I was willing to pay, with the assumption a transmission R&R could be in the future.

Original owner deceased. There's a knob/cable affair on the floor at the edge of the driver's seat that apparently goes back to the rear end. Seller said someone told him it disconnects things so the driveshaft doesn't turn. If true, that's a new one on me.

I couldn't determine it laying on the ground, plus it was a terrible weather day. Looking at wiring, brackets, etc it's apparent whatever the setup is was done professionally. Beautiful tow bar in the trunk.

Good solid body, clean interior, everything works, badly faded paint on hood and roof, but it runs and drives very nicely. Transmission shifts crisply and fluid was clean with no smell. Not mint by any means, but I like it.

I'd forgotten how nice those cars go down the road.

I've got to get a project car off the hoist so I can get this thing up in the air and see what was done for towing. I'll post some photos once I have it up.

2 of the good mpg 318 cars I drove/had were an 87 2 bbl 5th ave, and a 2 bbl 72 satellite 2 door. Both got 25 mpg hwy at 65 mph. The lockup on the 87 really dropped the rpms. The 72 sat had a 2 series gear. Everything else I had with 318 was truck-4x4 and ate gas.

Driveshaft Disconnect


When you tow your rear-wheel drive car, van, pickup or SUV, the drive shaft to the rear axle must be disconnected to prevent damage to the automatic transmission. This requires mechanical service under the car which is not convenient for RV towing. The Superior Driveline Drive Shaft Disconnect (DSC) was developed to provide a quick and easy way to disconnect the transmission while sitting in the driver’s seat. The disconnect (mechanical clutch) is installed into the rear portion of the vehicle’s drive shaft, near the rear axle. When disconnected, the rear axle is free to turn without turning the drive shaft or transmission. The drive shaft has a control cable attached to it which extends to a location under the driver’s seat. This control cable is pulled out to disengage for tow mode and pushed in to engage drive mode.

The Superior Driveline DSC allows RV’ers to tow their rear-wheel and four-wheel drive automatic transmission vehicles behind their motor homes with all four wheels on the ground – worry free. With the DSC there is no mileage accumulation on cable-driven speedometers. It disengages the drive train in ’tow mode‘ and the vehicle is towed with the transmission in Park. This means there is no rotational movement in the transmission, no wear and tear to the transmission components and the speedometer drive gears are not turning. Modern electronic speedometers have now replaced the cable-driven units so mileage accumulation is generally no longer an issue. The Superior Driveline DSC saves valuable time and money by eliminating the need for a trailer or dolly and making the transition from tow mode to drive mode in minutes.

I got the car on the hoist this morning and this is the unit installed at the pinion yoke. There's a sliding coupler on splines that the cable activates. Previous posting pretty well described this setup.

I was also surprised to see a cable running from the front bumper and attaching to the brake pedal arm. The tow bar tongue moves in and out like a surge brake system and when it moves in a series of pulleys pulls out on this cable, activating the brake pedal.

It must have been one heck of a job routing that cable through to the floor pan, and there has to be a fair amount of force involved to activate the brake pedal without the benefit of the vacuum booster.

The guy must have really wanted to be able to tow the car behind his RV as I imagine this was a spendy deal.


A couple people who've seen the car asked if I planned to mount a snow plow on the front. The tow bar bracket certainly is substantial.

very interesting setup. this is the first i have heard about, or seen. and are you SURE you are not mounting a plow on the front ? thanks for the pics and update !