thechief86
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- White House, TN
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.
Before:
After:

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.
Before:

After:


