Flat Towing 1974 Blazer

[Cadillac Kid]

Hello everyone. I have a question here. I'm looking at picking up a 73-75 k5 Blazer.


I wanted to see if it is possible to flat tow a k5 that has a NP203 full-time 4x4?
If it can not be towed 4 wheels down, would a part time conversion and swapping to manual hubs on the front make this possible? Have to convert to a np205 possibly? I searched the internet and could not come up with a solid answer, weather it is OK to tow a full time np203 4 wheels down.
I love the squarebody's, but I'm limited to 73'-75' because of California.
Yeah, I know…

Thanks, in advance.

-Gavin

[Bigred74k20]

Originally Posted by Cadillac Kid

Hello everyone. I have a question here. I'm looking at picking up a 73-75 k5 Blazer.


I wanted to see if it is possible to flat tow a k5 that has a NP203 full-time 4x4?
If it can not be towed 4 wheels down, would a part time conversion and swapping to manual hubs on the front make this possible? Have to convert to a np205 possibly? I searched the internet and could not come up with a solid answer, weather it is OK to tow a full time np203 4 wheels down.
I love the squarebody's, but I'm limited to 73'-75' because of California.
Yeah, I know…

Thanks, in advance.

-Gavin

Are you limited because you don't have a vehicle to tow it on a trailer? You can always pull the front driveshaft out of the vehicle..?

[Cadillac Kid]

Hello, thank you for responding.

Actually, the reason I want to buy a k5 would be to eventually tow it behind a RV. I just wanted to see if it could be towed in stock form, or what mods would have to be done. So I guess if you changed to manual front hubs, they would be the same as removing the front driveshaft? I know the np205 can be put into nuteral, and unlock the hubs and flat tow all day long. But I know very little about the np203. Sorry if I did not clarify myself enough.

Thanks for getting back to me.

Gavin
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[74CustomK20]

The np203 also has a neutral.

[Cadillac Kid]

Hello. Yes, I am aware that the np203 has a neutral. I am just wondering if it can just be put into nuteral and flat towed, or will the transfer case still blow up from lack of lubrication? Basically, can a vechile with a np203 be flat towed in neutral, without having to pull the driveshafts?

Thanks

[tobiahr]

it is not advisable to flat tow any vehicle without removing the drive shafts. the transfer case will have the exact same issues as an automatic transmission as it will lubricate most of the internals just by spinning but the proximity of the clutches to each other or the differentials will still cause heat buildup and oil degradation on long trips. I flat towed a 4wd stepside across the country but pulled the drive shafts from the axels and tied them up to the frame rails for storage.

[PhantomwolfExpress]

I've got a 92 K1500 that I flat tow for a living. When doing my homework as I would have preferred a square body I couldn't find any useful information on the older transfer cases. I had a few shops tell me that with the NP205 just like the manual transmissions I'd be ok so long as there were plenty of fluid to be thrown around. However I did find out that the NP241 has an output drive oil pump that will let you flat tow it and still lube properly. Only issue is that they were only offered for the 89-91 models so they aren't as easy to come by.