tow vehicles choices


andy

New Member
Hello everyone,
This is sort off a backward question. I will need to replace a vehicle within the next few months and was wondering which are the best vehicles to tow out there. I understand it should be something not too heavy and also one where just the wheels spin, not the transmission etc. Both my wife and I are comfortable driving manual transmission- but would not mind an automatic if they can be towed. Reason this is a backward question is I don't have the RV yet- working my way there (will be a class A). From what I can see- the easiest is a towbar and was reading comments on the Blue Ox towbar. I see a lot of Honda CRV's being towed. Any comments would be appreciated, regarding towability, what to look for, weight etc. I fully understand that it is not easy to recommend something if you don't know what the towing capacity will be- Any comments /help would be appreciated
Andy
 

masman

New Member
RE: tow vehicles choices

Hi,

I have towed Honda CRV's for thousands of miles..probably 45,000 give or take. They make good tow cars but so do a lot of others. See the Motorhome Magazine web site for towable reviews. Having said that, let add that most vehicles can be towed...it just takes equipment. My brother tows a 97 Buick Lesabre all over. He has a transmission pump on it and it works fine. My father towed his Buicks over 100,000 miles with trans pumps without a problem. I know one chap who tows a Rolls Royce (an older one. I do not like tow dollies so I have always towed with 4 wheels on the ground...but I am sure others prefer dollies. Both work well. The one item I urge you to add to any tow rig with 4 towed wheels on the ground is a braking system on the car. Doing 60-70 MPH to keep up with city freeway traffic at times with its attendant stops and coming down hills with a car pushing you without brakes is, in my opnion, not a good idea. Both my brother and I use M&G engineering braking systems. These are not well known (not a camping world item) but are among the best. They work well, are proportional, can be moved from car to car (but it does require installation of a unit in front of the master cylinder of the car..not difficult) and the company stands behind them for life. I have been using the same unit for 8 years now and finally had a proportioning valve go bad last fall. M & G sent me a new one at no charge. The one item that M&G does not furnish with their systems is a way to tell if the system is working. I put an in-line air switch in mine and ran the switch wires to a light on my dash. The light comes on when the air pressure exceeds 6 pounds (not every stop) and goes out then the air pressure is released on brake release. You can get switches like this at NAPA (trucks use them). If the proportioning valve hangs up, you will know and can disconnect the air lines to the car before you damage the car brakes. By the way, I have a gas powered motorhome with this system. A small compressor mounted on my motorhome frame provides the necessary air.

Bottom line. It is easier to tow if the vehicle is natively towable but it is possible to tow anything within the weight limits of your rig. It just requires proper equipment.

Good luck
Mark--over 30 rv years and still going
 

andy

New Member
RE: tow vehicles choices

Thank you very very much for your helpful responses- both the website and the response on the braking system was very helpful. I did not realize the braking system existed. I will be posting more questions as I get along with my research. We will do plenty of research before we commit to any particular motorhome. Thanks again.
Andy
 
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