Date:         Thu, 21 Sep 1995 10:57:21 -0700
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@megatest.com (William Abbott)
Subject:      Gas prices, AWD tows,

	I just paid $1.469/gallon (US) for a tankfull of Shell 92 octane.

	For synchro towing, seems like VW must know something about
the vehicles, so if they say don't tow with 2 wheels in the air, then
there must be a reason. Having said that, towing with all 4 wheels on
the ground is indeed EXACTLY like coasting with the gear box in neutral,
and wouldn't be too bad for short distances. I can't see how having
the engine drive the system is really different from having the wheels
drive it- makes a difference in torque converters but not gear boxes.

	As for going around corners- yes, going around corners
makes the different wheels go different speeds, thats why the synchro
has differentials on both axles and BETWEEN the axles.

	Towing with two wheels elevated would be a problem because the
differentials will spin the raised wheels in the direction opposite
that of the wheels on the ground, and since the towed vehicle isn't a
trailer, the wheel brakes wouldn't be there to slow things down. So
you'd get these huge differential loads, wheels going at a great
rate of speed in opposite directions. I *can* see how that would be
hard on the differentials.

	But towing with all four on the ground, rolling, would seem to
be ok for the powertrain.  But you've got to have someone steer it.

	Or does the Synchro manual specificly tell you to never coast
down hills or roll in neutral??


	Cheers!
	Bill