Towing behind an RV question

[The Gritz Carlton]

My head is spinning...every time I start thinking about towing a car 4 down, I end up reading through and following one of these threads. Seems there is so many thing you have to do...install auxiliary braking, charge batteries occasionally, install this, install that, make sure this is in place, can't tow this, can tow that...I think I'll stay with the original plan of towing a 2 axle trailer with a small car on it. I wish there was a school on this process where I could touch and feel all these options and have them explained in detail. The trailer will allow carrying of ladder, portable genset with extra fuel for certain trips, maybe firewood...lots of other stuff.

[Bob Denman]

I think that the FMCA has a towing Guide...
Just remember: We don't know what we don't know: until we know it!
All it takes is some figuring-out.

[pstandiford]

Towing 4 down is a piece of cake. So quick and easy to hook up. DW or I can easily do it alone in 5 - 10 minutes.

[Bob Denman]

What sort of Toad do you have?

[The Gritz Carlton]

What do you tow, Paul? If we go that route wife wants a jacked up Rubicon.

[pstandiford]

We have a 2005 Jeep Liberty and a 2015 Ford Focus. The Focus is a manual transmission so setup is easy. Hook up tow bar and cables, make sure parking brake is released and transmission is in neutral. No fuse to pull. No battery to disconnect. The Liberty is almost as easy. We tried the tow dolly route and decided quickly that wasn’t for us. And with 4 down you don’t have to worry about where to put the dolly or trailer.

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by mark4Jesus

Dude! Sorry to hear that!

Thanks! This was not an unexpected event...
There's a "Time & a Season" for everything.
I had forty years of street-riding, and don't regret a bit of it.

[tenbear]

Every year MotorHome magazine publishes their "Guide to Dingy Towing". The 2018 guide lists "more than 70 towables". Most of the towables require some action be taken to allow the vehicles to be towed, but some are towable as is.


Maybe you could find a copy of this guide???

[The Gritz Carlton]

What about braking??? I saw a video of some lady placing a huge device in the floorboard hooked up to the brake pedal. With the strength of the F550 combined with a reasonably light toad, I don't see where brakes are necessary, but some say certain states require them and will inspect your rig for them.

[jpmihalk]

Jeep Wranglers are very easy to set up and tow, there are all kinds of aftermarket kits for the base plates and light wiring harnesses. I have had a few Wranglers in my day, but they ended up elsewhere due to some limitation (usually mine) or another.







Here is a pic of our 2010 Wrangler Unlimited behind our old Sunflyer in front of our condo. I installed everything myself. So easy a caveman could do it (myself not included.)

[pstandiford]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

What about braking??? I saw a video of some lady placing a huge device in the floorboard hooked up to the brake pedal. With the strength of the F550 combined with a reasonably light toad, I don't see where brakes are necessary, but some say certain states require them and will inspect your rig for them.

We have a Blue Ox Patriot. That way we can move it between the Jeep and the Focus. It takes less than a minute to install. Some states do require brakes depending on the weight of the toad.

http://www.karavantrailers.com/brakes/Brakes.xlsx

[The Gritz Carlton]

What about braking??? Do you have brakes on the jeep? Is that a part of the Blue Ox system? Are there modifications to the jeep to make brakes active? This is what's so confusing about the subject. I love "plug and play". That is a great link. With 37' MH, you will be over length in some states. We have a 27' boat we hope to tow some places closeby home. According to the GA requirements, I would be too long.

[jpmihalk]

Some states do require them but they generally won't stop to inspect you unless they see something out of the ordinary. The brakes are a good idea for any kind of breakaway scenario (which ALMOST happened to us once) and I would strongly recommend installing some toad braking system. The ReadyBrute/ReadyBrake system seems to be much simpler and acts almost like a surge braking system rather than electrically controlled.

Ready Brake and Ready Brute Home

[pstandiford]

The Blue Ox Patriot is a braking system.

https://youtu.be/5AJguZluBHM

[JamieGeek]

In contrast we dolly tow:

• Brakes are on the dolly
• Just about any FWD car can be towed (I've even towed one that said not to and it was fine LOL)
• No modifications to the car
• Only cost is the dolly (if you want you can add some brake lights to the rear of the car)
• "Finding a place to store the dolly" is a non-issue: It slides under the rear of the coach (in Bob's case it can hide under the ramp)

For all that I get a 15-20 minute hook up instead of the easy two pins and a plug. I'm sure at some point I'll get tired of the dolly as I won't be as barely limber as I am now; at that point I may start towing 4-down or I won't be camping anymore so...I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[The Gritz Carlton]

See...I thought Blue Ox was a hitch set up!! He mentions the part that goes in the coach...is that wireless? Most brakes today don't work too well without the engine running. Does this compensate for that? Do you need to leave ignition on? Many that have these state it as being so simple because it has become that way after trial and error. I had a 1987 Buick years ago and was considering building up the engine. The first step in the Chilton's Manual stated..."REMOVE ENGINE". that was it...then it rolled into how to disassemble once it was removed. I know there are bleeding fingers from many who have gone into explicit detail on these systems. I will search the threads and read the posts so as not to start this all over again.

[pstandiford]

Originally Posted by The Gritz Carlton

See...I thought Blue Ox was a hitch set up!! He mentions the part that goes in the coach...is that wireless? Most brakes today don't work too well without the engine running. Does this compensate for that? Do you need to leave ignition on? Many that have these state it as being so simple because it has become that way after trial and error. I had a 1987 Buick years ago and was considering building up the engine. The first step in the Chilton's Manual stated..."REMOVE ENGINE". that was it...then it rolled into how to disassemble once it was removed. I know there are bleeding fingers from many who have gone into explicit detail on these systems. I will search the threads and read the posts so as not to start this all over again.

Blue Ox has all kinds of RV add ones. We had Blue Ox sway bars, and track bars on the 31L. They make multiple tow bars. The Patriot is the braking system. The part he mentioned that goes in the coach is wireless. It is included. There is also a port for a break away switch to plug in. The brake itself works like a surge brake. There a a lot of brands out there to look at. Some are semipermanent. They fit under the front seat and a cable runs to the brake pedal. Always ready. We like the Patriot because we can move it from one vehicle to the other.
SuperD has a good point about the cost of a tow dolly. One thing I didn’t mention is that neither my wife or I felt comfortable driving the car onto the tow dolly by ourselves and even with help it was a royal pain to get it centered.

[Mustang46555]

Gritz,
Check out the Road Master invisibrake system. Once installed it stays in the vehicle, no every trip adjustments nothing to put in or take out. When the light cable plugs in the brake system is ready to go. Also it has a vacuum pump that keeps the toad's power brakes working. No pushing against a dead pedal like the floor mount units. A little more expensive and worth every penny.

[pstandiford]

Originally Posted by Mustang46555

Gritz,
Check out the Road Master invisibrake system. Once installed it stays in the vehicle, no every trip adjustments nothing to put in or take out. When the light cable plugs in the brake system is ready to go. Also it has a vacuum pump that keeps the toad's power brakes working. No pushing against a dead pedal like the floor mount units. A little more expensive and worth every penny.

The only reason we didn’t go with the Road Master was the cost and the desire to use in two vehicles. I still like the idea of it always being in the vehicle ready to go.

[JamieGeek]

LOL That is why you're getting so confused: You(Gritz) asked the general "How?" question and everyone replies with their preferred solution. Since there are a lot of products available you get opinions listing just about all of them saying "use this" only adding to the confusion; not clearing anything up ! LOL

It might be a bit easier for Gritz if someone who tows 4-down listed out the items that are needed without recommending a product. Something like this:

What you need to tow 4-down:

• Tow bar from coach to car
• Baseplate to connect tow bar to car
• Brake system in the car to actuate the car's brakes
• Brakelight wiring/setup to light the brakelights on the car or additional lights
• etc.

Then given that list differing products can be discussed for each piece of the puzzle.

Just a thought...