Vance,

I actually had a casual conversation with a guy who is not a Triumph guy, but is a pretty good car mechanic, and also mentioned a similar situation you described. Between the both of you, I'm hopeful I wont have a transmission replacement on my hands. I'm still away on business but am now less anxious, and looking forward to get back home to check and drain oil . Fingers crossed!

regards,
Frank

given that this transmission was fitted in various other leyland products of the time (SD1, Sherpa van, Landcover) and I'm not aware of any restrictions on towing those vehicles, have we all been perpetuating a myth for many decades? It only seems to be the later owners manual for the 7 that talks about removing the prop shaft and that is for an automatic, the TR8 manual says nothing about removing the propshaft. Where did the myth spring from? is there a service bulletin? Were BL just being uber cautious? It would be good to finally put this one to rest as it may be causing a lot of unnecessary angst and work to wedge owners.

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1975 TR7 FHC Ca Spec ACL 4spd
1976 TR7 FHC Ca Spec 4 spd (Temp add)
1977 TR7 FHC ACW 5Spd
1978 TR8 DHC ACT FI development car 5 Spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI Spider 5spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI Spider 5Spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI 5spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI 5 spd
1981 TR7 DHC FI 5 spd

The early L77 5-speed transmission had an oil pump with a phenolic pump gear that was susceptible to wear and failure. The oil pump lubricates the innards. It is manipulated by the main shaft and when towed the driveshaft continues to turn the main shaft.

I've heard that the later L77s have a metallic pump gear and are OK to tow, but the earlier ones are not.

I rebuilt my 1976 transmission and replaced the phenolic gear with the metallic one. I don't know where the cross-over occurred.

.

I don't know if BL was being overly cautious. There are Triumph technical service bulletins warning TR7 and TR8 drivers that towing the car for anything other than short distances (less than 10 miles, IIRC) requires disconnecting the drive shaft.

The oil pump is inoperative when the car is in neutral with the engine off, but the gears are turning while being towed. Apparently the oil pump is driven by the input shaft on the transmission, and so when the car is being towed the only lubrication you get is splash lubrication. I don't know why this is bad, considering that is the only kind of lubrication Triumph transmissions ever got prior to the five speed, but BL thought it was a problem. It might be that with the nose of the car in an elevated position, all the oil ends up in the tail housing where it can't lubricate much of anything. But that is speculation on my part.

Still, it seems funny, as there is no load being placed on the gears during towing.

Vance

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1980 Platinum Metallic TR8, navy blue interior
Bare metal respray, Crower cam, raised compression
ported heads, modified Zenith carbs, 0.060" overbore

A idea for towing TR7. Remove drive shaft, put a pug in end of trans or drain oil from same. Next, get a tow set-up like used when pulling the toad behind RV all wheels down. Don't forget unlock steering wheel, hook up lites.

Diver

if you're thinking of doing it that way you really need to remove the front bumper and fix the 'A" frame to the bumper mounts, the tow points under the car are too low to get any reasonable clearance to the towing vehicle.

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1975 TR7 FHC Ca Spec ACL 4spd
1976 TR7 FHC Ca Spec 4 spd (Temp add)
1977 TR7 FHC ACW 5Spd
1978 TR8 DHC ACT FI development car 5 Spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI Spider 5spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI Spider 5Spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI 5spd
1980 TR7 DHC FI 5 spd
1981 TR7 DHC FI 5 spd

Don't panic, it will be fine.

I just towed My 1980 TR8 on a dolly from Abq NM to the Phx area last week with out disconnecting the drive shift . I stopped every 100 MI and ran the engine for a few min to splash the oil around in the tranny . no problems .
I used to tow a Suzuki Side Kick behind a motorhome and needed to do that about every 300 mi.
Im not recommending it , but it worked for me

It takes like 5 mins with 2 half-inch spanners to disconnect the drive shaft from the diff.
Just remember to mark how it was connected to the right bolts go back.
Also once the shaft is out of the box you may see some oil coming out - although I run a T5 so yours may be different.