...or make up some full-floating rear axle parts and manual hubs?

Did any Montero's ever have full floaters?

OK I'll bite, what's a full floater?

It's what all front axles are. Imagine the whole hub/bearing arrangement without all the steering, and in the back. They can break an axle shaft and all that happens is that the wheel is no longer driven. The GM 14 bolt axle and the Ford 10.25 axle are both full floaters, as are all semi truck driven axles.

No monteros ever came full float rear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aVj7JSpSpU 4:48 specifically.

Rge advantage is that if you break an axle shaft, your whole wheel and all doesnt fall off. The axleshaft is only used to drive, not support.

and you can pull axle shafts without even removing the wheel, just unbolt the bearing cover. You can usually recognize them by the round bolted cover over the axle stub.

Isn't towing in tranny neutral with the engine running an option? Albeit prolly not the most ideal. It could be the option for those rainy times when he doesn't want to crawl underneath...

Yes, I've done that several times, but only travel less than a 100 miles or so. The temperature stayed in the normal position as if I were driving it.

I would do it again, but I now have a 5 speed.

I once flat towed a 73 Plymouth Fury repo from Hobbs, NM to Birmingham, AL with the engine idling. No problems with that part. Otherwise, it was a horror story.

I would modify the tcase shift rail to have a detent slot for the neutral postion, either by installing a m/t tcase shift rail, that has the notch, or by grinding a notch in the a/t tcase shift rail. This will require removing the tcase in either case (not terribly hard), removing the shift rail, and swapping it (I don't know that the m/t shift rail will fit for sure) or modifying it. There is a check ball in the tcase, there's just no notch in the rail for it to catch. This mod has been done before...

I like that story.

"The car we were towing pulled out to pass..."

John B.