The engine has been halved.
Be aware that there are many details missing and limited information. This will leave you with questions. This is the type of destruction that’s usually reserved for race cars with gazillions of horsepower. The video is quite explicit, and we would probably use the same language if it came to our shop.
What happened then? According to the Drive this Jeep was flat-towed behind an RV and brought it into a Florida dealership. Flat-towing refers to when a vehicle can be towed on all four wheels. However, due to the nature of transmissions, some vehicles cannot be flat-towed without major damage to their drivelines. The Wrangler can be flat-towed if it is properly set up. However, this Rubicon was apparently left in gear when it was hooked up. It’s not a good thing, but it gets worse.
According to the report, technicians found the Wrangler four-wheel low and the transmission in first. The report and the video do not confirm that the Wrangler was actually towable in 4L gear. It was found this way. We are unable to understand how such a low-gear configuration can be pulled at any speed, without the tires dragging on the ground. We have never attempted to tow a Wrangler with gears, much less locked into low range.
As we said at the beginning, details aren’t crucial. It appears that this is a flat-towing error. One can only imagine how much force it would take to remove an oil pan, shred a crankshaft and explode a bell housing. The damage to the bell housing is estimated at $30,000, and that’s just for the parts. The 3.6-liter V6 engine can be quite expensive if it is purchased new from the factory.
You might as well opt for the $21,000 Hellcat Redeye crate engine .