i feel like i've lost a good friend :(

Guys, Monday I drove my XJ to east TN to pick up a diesel dually truck for my uncle, and had planned to flat-tow my jeep back to Hendersonville with a tow bar. I had always just assumed that this was an ok thing to do, as long as the transmission and transfer case were both in neutral. About halfway back, I heard a loud *thump* and pulled over to see what was up. I believe when I hit a bump the T-case slipped from neutral to 4lo, and at 70+ mph spun so fast that it ignited the fluid.
Then i saw smoke. when I crawled under the jeep, my transfer case was on fire! I had a couple of jugs of antifreeze/water, so I did all i could to try to put the fire out with that, to no avail. I got my wife and dog as far from the jeep as I could, and started throwing tools and stuff i wanted to save out of the back hatch. before I could save everything, though, the jeep was fully engulfed, and there was no saving her. I called 911, and asked for a firetruck, and started trying to unhook the towbar from the diesel truck to try to get it away from the fire, too. The smoke and heat were too much for me, though, so I just had to get away and let it go.
As I ran away from the fire, I heard a loud *bang* in front of me(not near the jeep), and my wife screaming. A driver was rubber necking, and bounced off an 18 wheeler and flipped into the median. So I called 911 again, and asked for an ambulance. The passenger in the car was injured, but coherent.

After a few hours of investigation, putting the fire out, and air lifting the passenger of the overturned kia to Vanderbilt, I had my jeep towed on a rollback to a friend's house in shelbyville, and the diesel truck wasn't damaged at all, so I drove it on to my uncle's house in Hendersonville, and borrowed his volvo to get home, wife and dog, and most of my tools safe. The police did not hold me responsible for the overturned car, because he only crashed because his attention strayed when he saw a burning jeep.
I do realize that the loss of my jeep is my own fault, due to ignorance, and being unprepared. If i had had a proper fire extinguisher i could have saved the jeep, and possibly only needed a new transfer case. Instead, I feel like I let a good friend die, and I have to replace more than just my car. I will get another Xj, but if i ever need to flat-tow it for any real distance, I will remove the driveshafts first, and not worry about it.
I'm not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me, just want to give you guys a heads up, and tell you from experience that towing can be very dangerous if you are careless.
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After:

Wow. I feel so lucky right now. I flat towed a wrangler 800 miles to Michigan two years ago. Thanks for the story. Sorry bout your rig.

Dang man... hate to see that. Glad you guys all were ok though!

Wow, that just sucks. Sorry about your XJ.

See, everyone said I was paranoid for pulling the shafts when flat towing.

Sorry about the Jeep. Seems like the tires faired well tho.

Sorry to see that man! Good thing you heard that noise and pulled over, it could have been a lot worse if you didn't!

Dang dude. Sorry for your misfortune.

That blows but at least you and yours are ok. Sorry dude!

Wow. I've never heard of this happening. People flat tow Jeeps all the time with no issue.

Sorry to see your rig like that.

Sorry Eric. I know you put alot of work into that one.

I have a question though. Why should you have to put the t-case in Neutral?

That's awful. Glad that everyone is ok but very sad to see your rig like that.

That's hard to look at for sure. Could have been much worse though. Glad you and your family are still around to tell the story. The Jeep can be replaced!

I'm glad you and Mallory are safe. I'd rather see the jeep go than you guys. It's sad to see it like that though

sorry to hear that...good luck with finding a new xj.....even a good fire extinguisher more than likely would have stopped the atf inside your t-case from burning up one tranny fluid reaches its flash point that stuff will burn no matter what you do...glad the diesel ended up ok and you 2 are safe

I was just reminded by this thread how much I hated it when Big Red was T-boned at 45 mph and again when the MJ rolled into a creek. Sad days but my middle son was driving both Jeeps and walked away.

We replaced Big Red with the MJ, we rebuilt the MJ.

Life goes on, its just a set back but you and your family walked away and that is what matters.




Bought a MJ to replace the XJ


Restored it in 2 months, overhaulin style!



Rolled it


It lives again!

thanks guys. i've lined up a 91 2 door 5 speed with 160k on the clock for cheap. it'll get the lift, wheels, tires, lockers, bumper, roof rack and taillight housings from the burnt jeep.
the 2 door is a little rusty, but other than the floor pan on the passenger side, all the rust is in places that are convenient to cut off for tire clearance, and the bolts i'll need to remove to put the lift on don't look too bad. It has an exhaust leak, and needs new window regulators for the manual windows, but runs and drives really well for the price.

It has been a hard couple of days dealing with such a sudden catastrophe, but i've been very fortunate to have the friends I have, and I had my volkswagen as a second car to get me to work until I pick up the next xj here in a couple of weeks. hopefully it will be as dependable and capable as my white one was, and I can keep it from dying a horrible death.

That really sucks... Nothing worse than watching something or someone die a horrible death. You just feel so helpless when you realize you can do nothing to stop it.

Team Willys said:

That really sucks... Nothing worse than watching something or someone die a horrible death. You just feel so helpless when you realize you can do nothing to stop it.

Click to expand...

THIS.
sounds like you've been there?

Yeah in a sense... I guess you could say that.