Towing Automatic Vehicles in an emergency,

Probably find that you can tow up to 50klms @ no more than 50kph. I know on the Mitsubishi range it is the case.
Dave

Auto and Manual are very different when in neutral. I'm no mechanic (calling any mechanic to respond), but my understanding is a Manual neutral is completely disengaged where as the complexity of the auto and fluids etc the neutral isn't completely neutral and therefore you still need lubrication of the gearbox if being towed long distances in an auto neutral.

Alex, I think you may be missing the point of the question....(with all due respect)..... There are 2 Neutrals on most 4x4s. I think the one you're talking about is the transmission (ie: gearbox) Neutral.

The one the others are referring to is the TRANSFER CASE neutral position.

FWIW, I am of the opinion that by placing the Transfer case lever into the neutral position it would be quite safe to tow a auto 4x4 for any distance you need to as the drive from the drive-shafts will go no further than the transfer case. As such the gearbox components will not be rotating and getting hot & bothered.

Of course, I want straight to AWD not 4WD thinking. I remember reading stuff in the Audi book.

Nutta & Roachie
Are completely correct, if the transfer-case lever is in neutral the gearbox [auto or manual] wont have its gears spun by the road wheels.
I have an automatic HJ61 Landcruiser that has 2 warning lights in front of the transmission gear selection lever , one is "A.T. oil Temp" which comes on when the transmission oil gets too hot, the other is "A.T.P" which comes on when the transfer lever is in neutral and the automatic transmission lever is in "park" indicating that the "park" function wont work at keeping the vehicle in a stationary as there is no connexion between the locked transmission and the wheels.
Also about a year ago I had to replace some worn parts in the 22 year old transfer-case and while it was off the vehicle I could get a good look inside it and have a bit of a play with the gears and high and low range shift which slides on a shaft that has areas of splines and an area of plain smooth. When the high/low range cog is over the spline area the transfer is engaged, when that same cog is slid over the smooth area the transfer is in neutral and the shaft can spin [if being towed] freely inside the cog without any damage as that part on the transfer assembly is immersed in oil.
If your vehicle has a "proper" transfer-case, you can pop the lever in neutral and get towed around Australia safe in the knowledge that no damage is being done to the automatic and someone else is paying for the fuel ;)
Hope this helps
Welldone

Auto gearbox?

Yep.

Richard, so long as the transfer case was in neutral, it wouldn't have made a stick of difference what position the auto transmission lever was in...could have been PARK for all it's worth..... no drive would have been transmitted to the gearbox as long as the transfer case was in Neutral.

Roachie,
Thanks for that as you can see I'm no mechanic.

Yes, but, you're missing the point I think. If the vehicle has the tail shaft/s going directly to the gearbox, then you are quite correct.

However, the point of this whole thread pertains to vehicles which have a TRANSFER CASE between the shafts and the gearbox AND where that TRANSFER CASE has a NEUTRAL position available.

In these cases, placing the TRANSFER CASE into neutral will mean that nothing rotates inside the GEARBOX.