Effect of Towed Miles on XJ

I have a friend that is looking at a used XJ with about 150K. Current owner states that he bought it from a couple who were the original owners. The original owners supposedly pulled the XJ behind their RV during their travels, which accounts for about approximately half of the accumulated mileage. The question is, what effect does towed mileage have on a vehicle (particularly this XJ)? What parts of the vehicle would have been spared the wear and tear from being towed? If relevant, the XJ is a 1994 4.0L HO, manual tranny, 4WD.

the only parts that were spared of wear and tear by being towed instead of being driven are the engine and transmission.

If he was towing that according to the owners manual i don't think the odo should be recording miles. the t-case oughta be in neutral. means that the recorded miles are driven miles and your diffs, ujoints, and bearings all have some extra unrecorded mileage. i don't actually follow the manual. i spend the extra ten minutes to disconnect the shafts. it saves the driveshaft ujoints the wear and means i never have to fear that the tcase will bounce into gear at speed. I did once pick up a parts jeep very cheaply that way.

cumorglas said:

If he was towing that according to the owners manual i don't think the odo should be recording miles.

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Why wouldn't it? The speedometer gear (which drives the odometer) is downstream of all the t-case shifting, so it would still be spun by the rear driveshaft (if it weren't disconnected).

Seeing as how the speedo is electronic,wouldn,t the power have to be on to record any milage? ?
Wayne

Wayne Sihler said:

Seeing as how the speedo is electronic,wouldn,t the power have to be on to record any milage? ?
Wayne

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Good call. I guess I was thinking of my 1990, which has a mechanical speedometer.

Mambeu said:

Why wouldn't it? The speedometer gear (which drives the odometer) is downstream of all the t-case shifting, so it would still be spun by the rear driveshaft (if it weren't disconnected).

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oh yeah maybe that's the other reason i disco the shafts. ;-)

if the odometer has a digital display the miles shown are only driven miles ,not towed miles... an old style odometer shows all miles driven and towed unless drive shafts are taken out as previously mentioned.
Yeah, if im towing more than a short distance i diconnect the drive shaft too, for the same reasons as Cumorglas.