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Date Posted |
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RE: Anyone towing a ford escape???
TSB stands for Technical Service Bulletin. Also, belowis an excerpt from pages 323-324 of the 2010 Escape Owners Manual:
"Before recreational flat towing your vehicle, the transmission fluid level
may need to be set to a lower level. These guidelines are designed to
prevent damage to your transmission. Before you recreational flat tow,
your fluid level must be verified by an authorized dealer.
This fluid level is within the normal operating fluid range and does not
require that you have your fluid level readjusted after recreational flat
tow operation."
thanks to all...if I knew it was going to be this difficult to tow this thing, I would have bought a Jeep....oh well whats done is done...think I will start looking again at a tow dolly:B
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Daboo
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02/03/10 06:26pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Tow bar vs tow dolly
The reason you would choose to flat tow with a tow bar: You will only tow one car and you don't mind modifying it for flat towing. You will pick a car to tow that can be flat towed with little or no modification. You don't mind spending a bit more for the high quality tow bar, lights and braking system that makes flat towing easy and safe.
The reason you would choose to tow with a tow dolly: You will be towing one of several different cars, and don't want to modify them all with tow bar attachments. Your car can't be towed four-down without expensive modifications. You think that buying a tow dolly once (for a little less than setting up a typical car and tow bar setup) is worth the small additional hassle of loading a car on a tow dolly. You don't really think that loading and unloading the car onto the dolly is much of a hassle anyway. You think that having the front wheels off the ground and not turning reduces wear and tear on the drivetrain of the towed car.
I use a tow dolly. I got it cheaper, with electric brakes, than I could set up a tow bar setup on my car, and I anticipate towing several different cars with it, so I don't need to worry about setting them up either. Plus I am toying with the idea of modifying it to carry my two scooters when I'm not towing a car with it. So far, it hasn't been much more hassle than I imagine hooking up a flat-tow vehicle would be. Hopefully these ideas give you some help making your own decision. If I was only every going to tow one car, rather than one of several, I'd set up for flat towing.
Brian
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VintageRacer
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02/03/10 01:11pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Tow Dolly - Can Someone Please Explain?
Thanks all for the info! I also talked to the company that builds the dolly that I will be buying and really understand now why one can't (or shouldn't) backup with the dolly.
Oh and my guy also said no matter what anybody tells me, be sure to lock the steering wheel. That was related to a question I had for him on how a tight turn with a dolly might damage the vehicle.
I have to get a dolly over flat towing because I just can't spend the (significant) extra dollars to tow four down with my Chrysler Town & Country van. $1450 compared to about $3700.
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stugpanzer
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01/25/10 08:00am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: DP Motorhome with Allison being Towed
Here are some facts:
a. Drive shaft disconnected OR axle shaft required for towing
b. In unpopulated areas, a long time and lots of money could be required to get a flat bed, also long wait along side of the road
c. More money is required to pick a route with adequate clearances
d. Some axle shafts are short with a spline on each end, remove the end cap and pull shaft out and replace cap to retain oil.
e. On some axles a dummy cap would be required for the axle shaft has a flange on the end which is the axle end and the cap, these units would require drive shaft disconnect if the tow person does not have a dummy cap
f. The odds are good that if the engine is running the unit can be for short distance and a low speed without damage.
g. A tow of 50 feet or so will not damage anything.
h. Different vehicle designs can require different attaching methods to the chassis for towing, example: on independent front suspensions the tires should be supported on a tow dolly, once saw a bum tow operator pull the front end off
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targaboat
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01/19/10 09:24am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Chrysler 300 Towing
RECREATIONAL TOWING (BEHIND
MOTORHOME, ETC.)
TOWING THIS VEHICLE BEHIND ANOTHER
VEHICLE (Flat towing with all four wheels on the
ground)
Recreational towing for this vehicle is not recommended.
NOTE: If the vehicle requires towing, make sure all four
wheels are off the ground.
Can't tow it as is. If it's AWD it cannot be towed at all. If it's FWD a Remco lube pump may help....
The Chrysler 300 is a RWD or AWD not a FWD would think you could rear load it on a car dolly as long as it wasn't AWD. You can't tow it with drive wheels down for more then 50 miles if I remember. Look in your owners manual it will have a section on towing it. You can always put it on a trailer.
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Perrysburg Dodgeboy
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01/17/10 05:29pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Tow vehicles
Chevy HHR, lots of room and has 8 air bags. You have to pull the #8 fuse, I did for one trip. I now have a on/off switch and now just have to put transmission in neutral and flip the switch. GBY...
Agreed. The HHR has the combination of relatively light weight, roominess and is 100% flat towing compatible. This is an excerpt from my owner's manual:
Dinghy Towing
You may dinghy tow your vehicle from the front following
these steps:
1. Set the parking brake.
2. Turn the ignition key to ACC to unlock the steering wheel.
3. Shift your transmission to NEUTRAL (N).
4. Release the parking brake.
To prevent the battery from draining while the vehicle is
being towed, remove the following fuse from the floor
console fuse block: 8 (Ignition Switch, PASS-Key® III+).
See Floor Console Fuse Block on page 5-120 for
more information.
Remember to reinstall the fuse once you have reached
your destination.
Notice: If you exceed 65 mph (105 km/h) while
towing your vehicle, it could be damaged. Never
exceed 65 mph (105 km/h) while towing your vehicle.
Notice: Towing your vehicle from the rear could
damage it. Also, repairs would not be covered by
the warranty. Never have your vehicle towed from
the rear.
Dolly Towing
Your vehicle cannot be dolly towed, but can be dinghy towed. See “Dinghy Towing” earlier in this section.
Notice: Dolly towing your vehicle may cause damage because of reduced ground clearance. Always tow your vehicle using the dinghy towing procedure listed in this section or put your vehicle
on a flatbed truck.
A switch is available so you don't have to pull the #8 fuse and is available here:
http://www.rv-partsplus.com/home/accessories/
http://chevytruckworld.tenmagazines.com/gallery/87silver/292189-thmb.jpg
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barbjohn
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01/12/10 06:52pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Tow Dolly vs 4 wheels Down Pros/Cons
Just personal experience here. I was 'fortunate' that a friend of ours let us borrow their tow dolly for a year.
These are the reasons I decided to switch to 4 down towing:
Storage at home - storage was in our backyard, down a hill and I had to move it by handTwo people required for getting the vehicle onto the dolly. Myself guiding my wife driving the car onto the dollyBecause of the design of the dolly and my wife's car I need to build wooden extensions for the dolly ramps so not to destroy the bottom part of the bumper on my wife's car. That was just something else to carryThe way the dolly was setup required that I have to lay on the ground under the dolly to secure the safety chains to the vehicle. Living in the south most of the time the ground was damp/muddy. On top of that I have bad knees which made it even more difficultThe safety straps for the front wheels of the vehicle required constant readjusting every 50 to 100 miles. One time a strap came loose (less than 50 miles since the last readjustment) and the hook was bouncing off the ground beating the rocker panel of my wife's new car. She loved that. I even replaced the straps and still had problems with them coming looseHad a flat tire - no spare. I know my fault for not having one. But just something else to carryFinally the addition weight of the dolly itself was cause for concern. Why pull extra weight you don't need beside the extra weight of a spare tire and the wooden extensions?
Like I said this is just my personal experience. With a different dolly design and a different car maybe my experience would have been better.
I have found towing 4 down a MUCH easier experience. About every 5/6 years we trade a vehicle so when you average the cost of brackets/installation it's just a few hundred dollars a year. Well worth the expense to get rid of the extra work and frustration. BTW who ever said RVing was cheap?
Just my $.02 worth
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ThunderingQuiet
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01/12/10 09:49am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Tow Dolly vs 4 wheels Down Pros/Cons
Either method of towing a dinghy is fine.
Towed a dinghy on a dolly (dinghy not flat towable) for about 5 years with little to no problems other than hooking-up in a driving rain a couple of times.
We now have a dinghy that can be towed 4 down and do so with little to no problems other than hooking-up in a driving rain a couple of times. Have not used a trailer.
Dolly can be much less cost or even greater cost.
NOTE: Spell check picked-up "towable" as mis-spelled and when clicked on "ignore" spell check failed. So goes the spell check story.
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BaldyD1
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01/09/10 03:17pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Disregard the towing recommendation.
Once while camping in the Colorado mountains a PaceArrow similar to mine came in towing a minivan. Since I had a Fiesta on a dolly I was interested in how the larger car towed, so I walked over and asked about the trip. Sadly, I became a soft shoulder for the story of the MH that burned out the transmission. Had it replaced in Denver. They drove separate over ever hill, and hookup up just a few miles outside the campground where it was flat and drove in together.
My current rig tows the Saturn VUE, equipped as I have it I am below 3,500lb.
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kalynzoo
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01/03/10 11:28pm |
Dinghy Towing
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Advice on flat tow vehicle?
Duplicate please post responses Here
We have a 2008 Damon Astoria class A diesel pusher. We've only been motorhoming for a little over a year. Up to now we've been towing my Buick Century using a tow dolly. However, we're investigating getting a vehicle to flat tow. We can't do straight shift because clutch operation affects back injuries. We'd want something that can be pulled without having to disconnect a driveshaft. We also don't want to have an electric pump or something similar if a failure of the add-on equipment would result in transmission or drive-train damage. Any suggestions?
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c-webster
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12/23/09 11:55am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Jeep Wranglers
I have a Wrangler Rubicon and a Subaru Outback.
The Wrangler can be towed on a trailer or four down.
The Subaru, being an auto tranny, MUST be towed on a trailer. I hear the manual transmission models CAN be flat towed. Not having any personal experience, I can't say for sure.
I have the flatbed trailer, so it is no problem for me.
The owner's manuals for BOTH rigs say NO dolly towing!
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mowermech
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11/25/09 10:47am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: TOWING
The perennial choices are the Honda CR-V and various Saturn models. Also pretty much anything Jeep. But an owner's manual should tell you about towing your Buick. As noted above, a goodly number of later model GM transmissions are flat towable. You just MUST be sure of your transmission model!
REMCO site says you need their Lube Pump for the vehicle you specified.
Motorhome Magazine has a different take on towability. They list ONLY those models the manufacturer says are safely flat towed. This is just me, but I'd select only from those the MFR says are OK. Many have used REMCO pumps but a number have had transmission failure accompanied by lots of hesaid/shesaid between manufacturer and REMCO.
IF you change cars a lot, trading into a towable one makes sense. Also, if you change a lot, a dolly starts to make sense, since there'd be no adapting each new vehicle.
We tow a manual transmission Corolla.
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j-d
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11/24/09 05:17pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Tow bars vs Tow Dolly
The major disadvantage is that they really are a PITA to use. Getting the car properly placed on the dolly can be frustrating with the mini-van since you really can't lean out far enough to see the front tire. Secondly, the tow straps are a hassle. It's a dirty job, takes much more time than hooking up tow bars, and need to be re-tightened several times in a trip to be really secure.Hmm... I've towed on a dolly or flat since '95. I must have missed out on all the "fun" you describe. I drive the '05 Ody up the ramps and tie it down. I do stop and check the straps after a few miles, but I do the same when towing four down too. Then that's it. The dolly (Demco KarKaddy 460) has surge brakes so nothing to mess with there. The Demco folds up so it doesn't take much space.
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Deen
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11/20/09 12:27pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Tow bars vs Tow Dolly
Check the Dingy Towing forum. Lots of discussion on this topic. To catch up on older post, try the "search" at the top on the page. I think you will find most prefer 4 down, but many use a dolly to tow what they may already own that is not towable 4 down.
If your vehicle CAN be safely towed 4-wheel down then I would recommend flat towing.
I have a tow dolly primarily because my Dodge GC is front-wheel drive and can't be towed flat. I'm stuck with it for two reasons - we have a 150lb dog and his crate fits in the middle of the mini-van with the center seats down, and because I have what my wife considers an "adequate supply" of other vehicles. :b And with no storage space for more I either have to sell one to get another or make do with what I have.
The one advantage of the tow dolly is that I can tow my show car or my mini-van without any further expense for multiple base-plates or mini-van modification (which my dealer claims does not prevent transmission damage anyway).
The major disadvantage is that they really are a PITA to use. Getting the car properly placed on the dolly can be frustrating with the mini-van since you really can't lean out far enough to see the front tire. Secondly, the tow straps are a hassle. It's a dirty job, takes much more time than hooking up tow bars, and need to be re-tightened several times in a trip to be really secure.
Cost-wise, an electric brake dolly is cheaper than the tow-bar, base-plate, and braking system for flat towing.
Convenience-wise tow bar flat-towing is a no-brainer winner.
Check your owner's manual to make sure you can tow flat.
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UltraKen
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11/20/09 08:37am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 4 down not any easier
I can't compare it to towing a dolly but I can compare it to hitching my 5th wheel and the 5th wheel process was a lot quicker. Having said that, flat towing my Jeep Liberty is definitely not like pulling a trailer. If it wasn't for the camera, I would never know it was back there.
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PackerBacker
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11/17/09 03:48am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Looking for a towing dolly
Check your owners manual but I don't think you can dolly a Wrangler. You need all four down or on a trailer. A Wrangler is easy to flat tow and the baseplates are usually very cheap. I paid a little over a hundred for my Demco baseplate for my Wrangler. I didn't care for dolly towing.
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Big Katuna
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11/14/09 06:56pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: mpg on diesel?
I've seen everything from 3.3 mpg on the flat fighting a headwind at 70 mph to 254 mpg going down a grade with the throttle off. On the flat, towing our Ody on a dolly it usually runs 12-13 mpg, but average is just over 8.
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Deen
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11/08/09 02:20pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Transmission problems from towing Honda's?
I have an '08 Accord with less than 7k miles and one year before paid off. We really like this car and use a dolly. My question is: how much would it cost to rebuild the tranny if I did ruin it? That cost might be less than what I would lose on a trade in for a 4 down.
I have also talked to others who tow Accords 4 down and service manager at Honda dealer who says go for it.
Unlike some posters, we don't have unlimited funds to just buy a new vehicle. If I do decide to tow 4 down, I will post my results.
On the Accord not sure of repair price, the woman that bought my tow dolly for her 06 Civic paid $2700 to have her tranny replaced/repaired. Once it fails and is repaired then what do you do? Go on towing it, replace it, either way you just dropped almost $3000 into your car and it could fail again it you continue to tow flat.
If you are sure you want to tow it flat then talk to demco about a pump. Not sure of install price, but certainly cheaper than a repaired tranny.
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vfrmarc
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11/07/09 12:44pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Transmission problems from towing Honda's?
Earl,
This was a great post and one I was watching to see what the answers would be. It came out just about what I thought it would, NO direct problems towing a Honda.
Personally, I have talked several people in RV Parks towing Honda automatics (Ody's, 1 Civic) and not one had reported a problem. All were using the pre 05 towing procedure recommendations.You just haven't heard from the right people yet. Did the person that posted a thread about the transmission failure in his '06 Civic post? How about the two Ody owners that contacted me why both had trans failures after towing? You're getting feedback from a very small fraction of a percentage of owners.
I have posted here before about towing an 06 Honda Civic. It wasn't my car but the car of the women that bought my tow dolly. She destroyed the tranny in her 06 Civic and needed the dolly to tow. She followed Demco's advice (her words) and towed flat and killed the tranny on the drive home from getting all (RV & Car) outfitted by the dealer. The reason I know all of this we we have an 07 Civic - same car, but we used the dolly as the manual explicitly said no flat towing.
I believe that the women with the Civic did follow some kind of pre-drive prep that she was given, just don't know what it was - and obviously it did not work.
I happen to know that older Civics can be towed flat as we encountered full timers towing a 2001 Civic with the 4spd auto tranny. They showed me their pre-tow instructions. When I enquired about it.
Our Civic is leased and soon to go back (glad we leased as our other vehicle is AWD and would need a trailer). So there is a Fit, Fusion or Escape in our future.
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vfrmarc
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11/04/09 08:24pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Tow Dollies
I used a Demco towdolly for better than 25 years. My first Demco dolly did not have surge brakes, when I purchased my next coach I also purchased a new Demco dolly with brakes, as living in SoCal I usually cross mountains on every trip. During the time I used the dolly, my family grew in size, and then some grew old enough not to travel with us on every trip. We purchased and towed many different cars, even though we only used 3 MHs during that time. A drive to San Diego would see us towing a full size wagon, or even a van (sure that's overweight but it was a 120mile flat trip). A trip to Las Vegas without the kids would have us towing a smaller car. I have nothing bad to say about dolly towing, and only once did the trailer present a problem in an RV park, but we worked around that. Now it is usually just my wife and I on the road. My back is not what it used to be, neither are the knees (or anything else for that matter). Using the tow bar is much easier. I have the Demco Alumilite (or something like that) which weighs in at 25lbs.
My opinion, for what it's worth, if your going to keep the car for a long time as the toad, tow 4 down. If your going to keep the MH for a long time, but might change cars every 2 years or so, use the dolly.
Happy Trails.
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kalynzoo
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11/01/09 02:54pm |
Dinghy Towing
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