I am going to pick up a 65 L320, my question is I am towing it with a U-Haul dolly do I need to diconnect the drive shaft? I know it is required with an automatic but I am not sure with a 4 speed. I have gotten several different answers please give me the right one.

Nick

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Should be O.K. if the tranny and rearend have oil in them.  Pulled my 311 across country with no problems.

We used a tow dolly with our L320, you have to be carefull not to bend your sheet metal on the fender.  Ours got a little tweeked using the dolly.  The damage was on the lower part of the wheelwell. 

I know this is way late, but in case guys reference this later....

The drive shaft on an auto is pulled because when it turns it runs the pump in the tranny and builds up reverse pressure.....as I understand it.

On a stick shift, you simply put it in neutral....no pump.

An automatic has the oil pump in the front which is turned by the converter.  You need the engine running to supply oil th the tranny.  I have towed an automatic but idled the engine.

    Like it was pointed out, an automatic transmission is usually lubricated by an oil pump that turns only when the engine is running.  A few old domestic cars also had an oil pump on the output shaft, but they are rare now, and I do not think any Datsuns had a transmission like this.  Disconnect the drive shaft on an automatic transmission vehicle.
    Manual transmissions have no oil pump.  They are lubricated by oil splashing around inside the transmission.   The oil level is usually midway up on a large gear inside the transmission, that turns when the engine is running, and the clutch is not depressed.  This large gear is the cluster gear. 
All the gears, except reverse, and whatever gear is the one to one ratio, (usually 4th gear) are always in gear.  These other gears are mounted on the output shaft, and all can freely spin on the output shaft.  When you put the transmission into gear, a collar with teeth on it, connected to the output shaft, slides over matching teeth on each gear and connects that gear to the output shaft.  4th gear just connects the input shaft to the output shaft.
    Reverse puts an extra gear between the cluster gear and the output shaft, and that makes the output shaft turn backwards.
    If the engine is stopped, and the clutch is not depressed, and the car or truck is moving, or being towed, the output shaft is spinning inside the gears.  The cluster gear is not turning, and it is not splashing oil up in the transmissiion, and there is not much lubrication of the bearings on the output shaft.  
    Most of the bearings inside the transmission are roller bearings, and do not need a constant flow of oil like the main bearings of an engine do.   There is also no load on the transmission if the car is being towed in neutral, and so the lubrication requirements are also less.
    The absolute safe way to tow a manual transmission vehicle is to disconnect the drive shaft.   But it is generally considered ok to tow a manual transmission vehicle short distances, at slow speeds.  
    I would not tow a manual transmission without disconnecting the drive shaft, above about 25 miles per hour, or more than about 20 miles distance. 

This made me remember a  '67 Ford wagon(390 w/auto) I had as a kid.......ring gear was bad so I had a friend push me up to about 50mph and dropped it in gear...cranked the motor right over.  We did it on a gravel road.  Jeez...the stuff I did as a kid that would scare the daylights out of me now!!

So this is even later. I had a bad experience not disconnecting the driveshaft. Perhaps I should say my brother did. He was towing a truck to Chico a few years ago, the 320 was to be shipped to me in TX. Anyway i suggested he disconnect the drive shaft for the trip down the mountain on the tow dolly , but the seller convinced him it wasn't needed. Somewhere during
the trip something happened to cause the tail-shaft to pretty much hand grenade. If the drive-shaft had been disconnected, the transmission might well be useable today.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13359925@N02/2487522101/" title="Tailshaft by capmconnundrum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2363/248 ... 58f1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="719" alt="Tailshaft" /></a>

I backed Lil-Dat on to the U-haul dolly then used a couple of ratchet belts to the steering wheel to keep it straight so the front wheels wouldn't move. I towed it 4 hours without incident and didn't have to drop a shaft or shift into neutral. Good thing is the towing miles didn't show on the speedo!