towing a manual '87 4 runner

I just bought a '87 4 runner and I need to tow it to Minneapolis from Duluth (might have a blown head gasket).

I have a car dolly and I was planning on using my '89 Landcruiser to tow the 4 runner. Do I need to remove the drivesahft when I tow this. The front wheels will be on the dolly and the rears will be on the pavement.

Thanks,
Jeff

You don't need to remove the D-shaft but I always have just to be extra safe. If you hit a bump and somehow knock the transmission into gear it could get messy. Why not take the extra 5 minutes and know you are as safe as possible?

I forgot to mention, if the truck does indeed have blown HG before you drop the money on a new 3.0 or a rebuild I'd strongly consider performing a 3.4L conversion. We just bought an '89 4Runnner with a blown HG and swapped in a '97 4Runner motor with 70K on it. The truck is so much stronger than it ever was before! You can do the swap for about $3-4K with a good low mileage 3.4L motor. If you want more info look for the article we will be publishing in Off-Road Magazine in the next month or two or check out our website in my signature.

Sean,

Thanks, for the reply...that pretty much echoes what I was thinking, as far as the hauling of the 4-runner goes.

Not sure if the head gasket is blown or not, haven't really looked at it all that much. The truck seems to run fine...I'm going to do a compression test when I get up there this time. The girl I'm buying it from thinks it's a head gasket because it overheats real easy. If it is indeed a blown head gasket, and the truck still runs fine, can't I just replace the head gasket, or is the rebuild / replace the only way to go?

The 4-runner has the 22 some number engine 4-cylinder...wouldn't I have to replace the tranny, etc. if I do a motor swap?

Thanks again,
Jeff

Since the truck is a 22RE then yes a tranny swap would be needed. I was assuming that it was a 3.0L V6. If it is the head gasket, how much you will need to do depends on how bad it is and how hot it got. In some cases the motor is pretty much garbage, in others you might only need a head resurface and a new gasket etc.

I would stick with a 22RE even if you need to just buy a remanufactured motor worst case. If that happens try this place for a 75K mile warrantied crate motor for about 2K.

http://offroadsolutions.com/products/engine_upgrades.htm

In case you overlooked it, mark the matching parts on the ends of the drive shaft before you remove it so you can bolt everything back together in the same relative orientation as it was originally.