What kind of tow bar setup? - RV-Dreams Community Forum

shejake · RV-Dreams Community Member

What kind of tow bar setup?

rvcruising · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have flat towed two different cars

2002 Pontiac Grand Am-hooked up, removed 3 fuses from just inside door at the end of driver side dash, put car in neutral, hooked up brake buddy and alert and it was good for as long as you wanted to pull it. It was an automatic car. Worked real well, but weighed around 3,400 lbs.
Next car was a 2005 Chev Cobalt automatic (according to the manual no fuses had to be pulled), with car in park turn off automatic headlights, put emergency brake on, put car in neutral, release brake)-all with the car hooked to the coach of course. We learned very quickly that the car had to be started after 8 hours of towing or the battery would be dead. Not good, because there are days while travelling when it is not necessary to start the car or unhook it. Now we have no choice. We have to run it to recharge the battery. It is a real pain. Weighs under 3000 lbs. Check the tow rating for your coach.

Our first tow bar remained on the front of the car, folded. It added an extra 50 lbs of weight to the front of the car, if we did not remove it. If you are just stopping for a day or two it is a pain to remove, even thow it is simple to do so. It was a Stowmaster 3000 if I remember correctly.

We now have another Stowmaster, but this one remains on the back of the coach (believe it is a 4000 without going out to look at it), it slides into our receiver, without a trailer hitch or ball. Much safer and easier to hook up.

Numerous people use the Blue Ox and find it very simple to connect. If we replace this one I believe we will go to the Blue Ox, but I am not sure what the model number is. It will remain on the coach receiver when not in use.

Hope this helps

PAL · RV-Dreams Community Member

We have the old style Stowmaster by Raodmaster which stays on the front of the towed vehicle. It is actually easier to hook up with this style as you only have one point to attach. With the type attached to the back of the motohome, you will need to attach at two points at the towed vehicle. In our case, we tow a small truck, so the weight of the hitch is no big deal. Some folks don't like to carry the hitch around on the towed car though.

In our set-up, we leave the safety cables, the wiring for the lights, and the breakaway cable for the brake system all attached to the coach. Then we don't have to wrap them up around the hitch on the car each time when we want to use it.

shejake · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks for the comments. We would like a bar that stays on the coach and now I guess we need to decide if one brand is better (or easier) than another. Demco seems very reasonable, but we see Blue Ox systems on tons of coaches. And, Roadmaster is common also

Does everyone use a braking system? I know a lot of people like the Brake Buddy. Is it better or easier than what Camping World sells? I believe it is called Even Brake.

Again, thanks for any comments of help. These systems are kinda expensive and we can't afford too many mistakes.

Linda

Tony and Judy · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Linda,

We have the Blue OX Aventra II towbar that we use on our 33ft Suncruiser to pull a Honda CRV. The bar stays on the MH & the base plate that mounts on the car is almost unseen when not in use. The hookup takes about 5 minutes after it's been done a few times.

Most states require an added brake system for anything over 1000 or 3000 pounds depending on the state. It seems to be a hot topic in other forums as far as using one or not but if you should have an accident & not have the brake you could be in big trouble! We use the Blue OX Luxor brake system that sits on the floor of the CRV & attaches to the brake pedal. It is plugged into the cig lighter for power. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes to hook-up after a few times. You can adjust how sensitive it reacts but is really only needed for hard stops so we keep ours pretty low.

As you say they are expensive & there are a lot of nicer & more elaborate type set ups out there but we are very pleased with what we have. Our entire system installed was around $2400.

Good Luck!

Tony & Judy

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Linda:

We have towed several autos with several coaches both gasoline and now diesel. We have used both the Roadmaster and the Blue Ox tow bar setups. I greatly prefer the Blue OX over the Roadmaster, just my personal preference. I think many people use the Roadmaster because Camping World carries it. Both brands are quality equipment, I believe.

If you use either of the two setups my advice is to be sure to get a matching base plate. That is to say don't mix base plate brands as it requires additional parts to maintian full safety of the two designs. It can be done but it isn't real good.

We like the type that stays on the coach mostly because we think the auto being towed looks better without the tow bar hanging on its front end.

An auxialiary braking system is almost a necessity today because of two things. First it is much safer to tow with a braking system and second as has been stated before, most states now have some sort of legal requirement for one, depending on the weights involved. Saving a few bucks by going without one isn't worth the added danger.

It only takes one accident to ruin things

mikeway · RV-Dreams Family Member

We use a Roadmaster, because that is what Camping world carried and our dealer shared property with camping world. Most of our traveling friends use Blue Ox. When the Roadmaster wears out, we will replace with a Blue Ox.

Blue Ox has an interesting brake setup. It uses a braided steel cable that the connects to the hitch and the brake pedal. A spring and weight system "pulls the pedal", co-ordinated with the coach inertia. Easy install , just needs a specfic coach hitch "chunk" and some steel cable and grommets. Also works as a break away.

We towed a 2001 Chev Blazer 4wd, that I loved but wore out, and now a 2004 Chev Colorado 4wd that I don't love as much. The choices are much too limited. We tow with a Safari MH.

Your Mileage May Vary.

Mike

-- Edited by mikeway at 10:15, 2006-09-03

Tylersamma · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have the exact same question, except we will be towing a Saturn Vue. Since this is an old thread, wondering if there are some additional comments to be made here. Also, do you need to take both the MH and the toad to get proper installation?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tylersmamma: You need to bring the motorhome also for three reasons:
1) They need to check heights to make sure the tow bar is close to horizontal and doesn't need a drop reciever to keep the towbar less than 4" high at the motorhome end. The towbar cannot be lower at the motorhome end and should be level or less than 4" up at the motorhome end. If it is lower at the motorhome end it gets ugly on a braking situation. Too high on the motorhome end and you also have problems. If you need a really large drop reciever they might have to reinforce the hitch reciever to handle the twisting motion.
2) You are adding auxilary braking aren't you so the car will assist braking? That will likely require some installation on the motorhome. In an emergency stop you want all the braking you can get, this is a safety issue.
3) You need to check all the wiring and other hookups when the installation is done including anything for the auxilary braking system. Sizing safety cables and your wiring cable is much easier the motorhome around.

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Greetings, Linda!

We tow a Honda Element behind a 40 ft. Itasca Horizon, none of which matters for the decisions you are facing.

1- To not tow with a supplemental brake is exposing yourself to liability no one needs. Should there be an accident, a court of law will look at the fact you knew of a safety braking device, but chose to not avail yourself of the safest way to tow makes you liable.

2- Any of the tow bars you mentioned are reputable and work. We, like Judy and Tony, have the same Blue Ox towing and braking equipment. It is simply accepted as the industry leader by most purchasers. I had a hard decision to make in buying ours, but the 800 number answered by a live person to assist with any problem 24/7 and a nationwide coverage of dealers that stock the product sold me.

3- You can check a map of towing laws on-line and find there are only a few states that do not require some sort of supplemental brakes. As I said in #1, it is the prudent thing to do and most likely will soon become required nation wide and inspected.

Yes, I have towed without brake assistance and can definitely tell the guy is back there in a hard or panic stop. Consider it money well spent.

Charles

RVDude · RV-Dreams Family Member

A couple towing basics before you even pick a tow bar brand/model...
1) verify the combined RV (with load) weight plus toad (with its load) weights are less than the RV GCVW (gross combined vehicle weight rating) - GCVW is on the weight label inside the RV
2) verify the hitch receiver rating itself is more than the toad (plus its load) weight - find from the hitch receiver label or call the receiver manufacturer
3) verify the towing capacity of the RV (may not be the same as #2) is greater than the toad (plus its load) weight - find on the RV weight label.
4) make sure the towing setup you choose has a weight rating greater than the toad (plus load).

Here is an excellent summary of the various tow brake systems. For some reason (probably cost and perceived legal ambiguity as to if a "toad" is a "trailer") it is a hotly debated topic. My take: Don't be lulled into complacency and get caught without one or more importantly endanger your fellow drivers.

Tylersamma · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bjoyce and RV Dude,
Thank you, this is exactly the type of information I was looking for. Of course, we will do the braking system at the same time.

-- Edited by Tylersamma at 16:19, 2007-07-29

-- Edited by Tylersamma at 16:39, 2007-07-29

Tylersamma · RV-Dreams Family Member

Update on our toad/towbar search. We visited our local Saturn dealership yesterday, and they had the 2008 on the lot. The 2008 is totally redesigned with a great new look. We loved it! After test driving and such, they have our nearly perfect Vue on the train, should arrive in about 2 weeks. Roadmaster has not yet built a plate for the 2008, but Blue Ox has. So, it looks like we will be going with Blue Ox. smile

-- Edited by Tylersamma at 16:34, 2007-07-29

jdensie · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have a Demco tow bar, it is the aluminum version and it seems to work very well. I installed the base plate myself and wired up the car with diodes for the lights. I installed a surge brake on the tow bar and put an idiot light in the ****pit of the MH. I found the installation pretty simple and easy to do (once I found out how to remove the panels from the Saturn). You must make sure that the height from MH and toad are correct. Came in under $1300.00. Took about 8 hr’s total for everything.