First Time Towing

[Cryn]

Planning on getting a TOAD vehicle this season (jeep wrangler) and was looking for recommendations on hitches and any hints and "best practices" when flat towing a vehicle behind our motor home. For what it's worth, we have a 2018 Alante 31V. Thanks in advance!

[hawkster]

We towed a Wrangler for a couple years and it tows nicely. Blue ox stuff worked for me and if you are mechanically inclined you can add the tow plate yourself. I would say when hooking/unhooking to have both vehicles pointed straight and be extra careful when negotiating filling station by trying to get an end pump with no U turns. You can get an internal light harness that attaches to Jeep harness to activate lights from motorhome and not have to use nasty external lights. Etrailer is helpful also.

[Jopopsy]

I've always wondered about this, but given we're not retired I can never justify the cost and added complexity of fueling up while underway. For us, Enterprise has always picked us up and worked out very well.

[RogerR]

We are in the Sarasota, FL area and when visiting a Jeep dealer saw several late model Jeeps that were used as toads. You might find one with everything already installed.

Then if you have a change of mind you won't be out so much time and money.

[RWK]

Originally Posted by Cryn

Planning on getting a TOAD vehicle this season (jeep wrangler) and was looking for recommendations on hitches and any hints and "best practices" when flat towing a vehicle behind our motor home. For what it's worth, we have a 2018 Alante 31V. Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by Cryn

Planning on getting a TOAD vehicle this season (jeep wrangler) and was looking for recommendations on hitches and any hints and "best practices" when flat towing a vehicle behind our motor home. For what it's worth, we have a 2018 Alante 31V. Thanks in advance!

We have a Alante 31V and have been towing our 2012 4 Door Wrangler Rubicon for almost 2 years now. With the exceptions of steep downgrades it's easy to forget it is there. We didn't want to place a tow bracket on the bottom of our jeep as we really do go off road with it and the bracket would likely take damage. We opted for a company called rockhard, they make a front bumper in both aluminum and steel that allows you to bolt on compatible brackets for the various tow bars out there.
https://www.rockhard4x4.com/product_p/rh-90215.htm

We opted to utilize a older roadmaster all terrain 10,000 pound tow bar. We bought it used. I think they make a newer bar.
Roadmaster Inc. - Tow Bars, Braking Systems & RV Accessories

The lighting was internally done as we hate hate hate external wires flapping around on the jeep.

The big expense is actually the supplemental braking system. In my opinion its a must. In Kalifornia it's required. We chose the simplest to use. My wife did not want to be lugging a portable unit in and out of the jeep. We opted for the SMI Stay & Play Duo.
https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Bra...I/SM99251.html

We had the bumper installed at 4 Wheel Parts and the rest at a company in town called Broken Wheel RV. We've never regretted the individual purchases. The system works flawlessly and little to no adjustment needed after initial set up.

[Cryn]

Just curious, but have you evert had a problem getting a rental? I wondered about some of the places we plan on camping and if there were rental car locations nearby.

[WinnieView]

One critical component is that the tow bar is within one to two inches from level when connected.
We used to use a 2" BlueOx 5000# drop hitch but have had to change to a 6" drop hitch after changing motorhomes.

[RVermont]

Originally Posted by Cryn

Just curious, but have you evert had a problem getting a rental? I wondered about some of the places we plan on camping and if there were rental car locations nearby.

Hit and miss on pickup and return pickup. Some will only pick you up and you are on your own for the return. If I can at least get picked we can always drop it off on the way out, though this can add a day or two to rental. We move our kids to college in nc and are usually towing a car one way or the other. We then add mini vacations and don't have car so we grab a rental from enterprise. Works well even had them pick me up a Walmart as I could not get in their lot with the RV.

Having said that flat towing is very simple and allows more flexibility on the road. I can drop the Jeep in two minutes and one of us can run to the store while the other continues heading down the road where we can meet up again.

Safe travels.

[HJ Rosch]

Cryn, we have a 2018 Alante 31V also and we have been flat towing our old Toyota RAV4 5 speed. Had a Roadmaster tow system installed at Camping World along with all the light, charging and Brake Buddy II system. It all works fine. Easy to hook up the tow bar and electrics. The Brake Buddy II was a bit of a challenge as the brake pedal in the old RAV 4 is small and at an angle so the factory clip on system did not work well. I modified it by drilling two holes through the mounting plate and brake pedal and use two pins and clips to hold it on. Five minute hook-up/removal of the toad. We have towed on freeways, back roads, mountains with no problems, hardly know the car is there but it weighs in at just over 3,000 pounds. Definitely feel the Brake Buddy applying the toad brakes and the on dash controller works well. We are so happy to have it with us even on short one night stops. We can park and set up the MH then remove the toad for a bit of exploring. Will be doing a 2-1/2 month drive to Alaska this summer towing all the way. It appears to drop my mileage about a half gallon per mile. You need to pay attention when pulling in to gas stations, etc. as you can't back up with the toad on. But if you get "stuck" it is quick to remove it.

[Foretm]

Following this intently as we've recently upgraded from a TT to a motorhome. Glad to see alot of Allante 31Vs around. We're researching TOADs now as well. RVT.com has toads that are already configured for towing, use the "tow behind cars" RV type when searching for those.


We're looking for possibly a small truck to pull behind to carry kayaks and bikes, etc. Kinda kicking myself now for selling a 2002 ford ranger a few years back with the manual transmission.



Hindsight you know...

[Cryn]

Thanks for the info! Looks like I'll start looking around for aux braking systems. Saw a couple that were portable, but permanent installation seems to be the best option.

[HJ Rosch]

I also looked at the permanently installed units and was impressed. I chose the portable one mainly because my toad is 17 years old with 220,000 miles and may "croak" at any moment. Then I will need a new one and can easily switch the brake. I do a lot of research on any major purchase and think either system works fine.

[hawkster]

We have the portable blue ox brake. Swapped toad and brake swapped easily.

[nanaproctor]

we have gently used Roadmaster towing system what we just removed from our tow vehicle when we sold it. will sell for $400 - paid over $1000

[gegolden]

Through the years we have used a 2-wheel dolly, rented cars at planned long stay destinations and presently flat tow an Equinox behind our Jayco 31XL. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages and really you need to decide on the cost involved to make it happen. Consider the following: a dolly or flat towing you can not back up. When you consider some of the tight quarters of gas stations, you need to be aware of this limitation. I have had to unhook my flat tow once due to my mis-judgement on turning radius. Also, after getting to where you are and limitations on parking what to do with the dolly comes into consideration. I use Blue Ox and a portable braking system in the Equinox and flat tow. It worked very well for me coming down wolf creek pass keeping things braked as appropriate. When we went to Alaska last year we left the flat tow behind and rented a car in Fairbanks. We used uber and lyft when needed at other times. It seems that when we take the grand-kids, I flat tow more as it is more convenient and the many side trips them seem to like. So, there you go. I would suggest at least renting a 2-wheel dolly or borrow one and try it out before you take the next step into flat towing.

[Doug6386]

We traveled with a Greyhawk one season without a Toad and thought we had missed a lot. We use Enterprise as well but it’s not the same. We went to a Mini for our Toad for the past 3 seasons and love it. No problems fueling. The Mini tracks very well. Just don’t back up for very far.

[rimrider]

We tow a crv and use a Roadmaster Sterling All terrain it has a 8000 capacity
they also offer a Night Hawk all terrain 10000 capacity you can hookup and un hook at extreme angles with no problems it is easy to hook up and stays on the rv when not in use it folds and locks we love ours it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to hook up or unhook. I bought the one with the 6 wire light cord as I only use 4 wires for lights and used one of the empty wires to make a battey wire from rv to toad so battery stays up when using a brake buddy beaking system

[roblaura2]

Having the hitch very close to level is important to avoid binding on turns and front wheel shimmy. Full set up (hitch, base plate, lights, etc.) for flat towing usually costs around $2K plus another $1K for a good auxiliary brake system. In addition to what others have written, I recommend adding a charge line from the coach to the toad battery. Pulling fuses can be a pain, but with a charge line, you never have to worry about a dead battery upon arrival. When towing more than four hours, we alway run the engine while stopped for lunch. This makes sure the transmission stays well lubricated. We put a reminder clip on the steering wheel so we don't forget to turn the engine off before departing. Also, remember that you cannot back up very far with a toad connected. You can back in a straight line for a few feet, but only if you have someone sit in the toad and hold the steering wheel to keep the front wheels from flipping to one side or the other (due to wheel toe-in) Hope some of this is helpful.

[Baldfacemt]

WE used the Roadmaster sterling as well with an SMI permanent braking system installed in our wrangler. WE have also rented on longer trips in the past but now that we are doing longer trips and more distances in rural areas the Toad seemed to make sense. We had some troubles adjusting the brakes properly last year. We had too muck braking but the system allows us to adjsut the tesion.

WE also had some issues with the transfer cable on the Wrangler "freezing" in our 2018 Rubicon. HOpe its better this summer! We had a tow and a rental in August though Jeep paid the cost of the rental for us as the cable was a defect.

[mbpharmd1]

We tow a Jeep Wrangler with the Readybrute tow bar from NSC. I attached a blue box baseplate to the Jeep. For supplemental brake I like to keep it simple so I went with the Readybrake system from NSC. The nice thing about the readybrake is that it is mechanical and no need to worry about toad battery draw. I also installed the Readystop emergency brake. You will also have to install a harness to control your lights. There are quite a few options out there and I opted with NSC’s Readybrute products due to their simplicity. Hookup and disconnect take less than 10 minutes each.
Ready Brake and Ready Brute Home