Wednesday, November 9, 2011

You Can't Drive the Motorhome to the Grocery Store

If you are going to be traveling in a motorhome then it only makes sense to tow a vehicle to use to drive around town when your motorhome is parked at a campground or wherever you are staying. You have three choices; have your partner/spouse drive that second vehicle separately, use a tow dolly or install a tow bar/bracket on your vehicle and motorhome.

At the time of our purchase of the Vectra, we owned a 1992 Geo Metro convertible and a 1992 Mazda LX pickup truck. We discovered that the cost of buying a tow bar and a set of tow brackets for each vehicle would be about the same amount as buying a tow dolly. Since applying tow brackets meant modifying the vehicles, we went with the tow dolly. Unfortunately, we tried to save money by buying a homemade tow dolly, almost lost the Geo on the highway on the way to Indiana when the chains holding it to the tow dolly came loose and in the end, ended up purchasing a new Demco tow dolly. So saving money cost us money, but the Demco tow dolly worked wonderfully for both vehicles and we never had any problem with it.

I've fallen in love with a new car twice in my life; my 1988 Olds Cutlass Supreme (remember "it's not your father's Oldsmobile"?) and my 1997 Pontiac Sunfire convertible. Metallic teal blue with a white vinyl top and white interior, Denny and I loved to say "we look good in a convertible!" while driving around town. We purchased the Sunfire not only for its good looks, but for the fact that it could be towed with all four wheels down by simply putting the transmission into neutral and pulling one fuse for the odometer. We confirmed this not with the local salesman and service technicians (because they didn't know) but by contacting the engineers at Pontiac directly and getting a TSB faxed directly to us for confirmation.

While we could have used the tow dolly for "Sassy", we had gotten tired of hauling the tow dolly around and trying to find a place to put it in small camp sites, so we decided to switch over to a tow bar system. We knew we could order a system from Camping World and were willing to drive up to northern Ohio to have it installed, but first I needed to find a tow bar and bracket that would allow for installation without cutting into the front plastic cowling on the convertible. The Blue Ox tow bar fit the bill so we ordered it and told the installers at Camping World that if it wouldn't work they were not to install it as we didn't want any cutting on the car. Well, there was cutting involved in the end, but it was to the plastic mesh in the air vents below and the braces for the removable bracket would barely be visible. Yes! The installers also did a great job of wiring Sassy's taillights to be connected to the Bounder at the same time so we were set to travel in style.

We loved the ease of hooking up the Blue Ox towing system and we never had any problems with it. At the time we owned the motorhome, there were very few cars that were capable of being towed all wheels down as authorized by the manufacturers. The Sunfire was one and many of the Saturn brand vehicles were approved to be towed behind motorhomes and Class Cs, making them the "toad" of choice for RVers. Since then more vehicles have been approved for towing all four down, plus there are now after market transmission pumps and/or axle locks and drive shaft couplings that allow towed vehicles to be pulled behind a motorhome without causing damage to the transmission.

When Denny and I had our motorhome we relied upon the motorhome brakes to stop our Sunfire when towing it but it is now recommended that RVers use a separate brake system for their towed vehicle for safety reasons, especially when you are towing heavier vehicles such as trucks and minivans and large SUVS. Certainly if we still had a motorhome we would invest in a supplemental braking system for our towed vehicle if our motorhome did not have the capability of safely stopping in an emergency situation due to towing a vehicle.

For convenience in storage, connecting the towed vehicle and ease of use we'd go with the tow bar/bracket system every time.



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