towing

[rgolding]

Today, we are getting the final fitting of the new equipment to allow us to tow a new 2018 Silverado Crew Cab Pickup. We've been towing a 2016 Traverse since October of 2015 and very comfortable with that. The Silverado will give us more storage and still have a back seat. Thursday, there will be a camper shell put on the Silverado.

Towing procedures are quite different between the Traverse and Silverado. The Traverse is all wheel drive and tows in neutral. The Silverado is 4 wheel drive with a neutral in the drive train and is actually towed in park with the drive train disconnected in neutral.

The Traverse has 3 fuses you pull, which disable the On Star, and Air bags. This was converted to a simple switch under the hood, that disables the 2 small fuses, and then the drive train electrical equipment through a 50 amp fuse. Its good for about 500 miles without running down the battery.

The Silverado has a knife switch that disconnects the entire electrical system and a separate 12 volt plug is needed to the battery to power the "brake buddy for the towed vehicle. Don't know, yet, as to how far we can tow the Silverado without running down the battery from the compressor on the 'brake buddy".

There as been a little bit of a learning curve for the change from one to the other, but I'm sure after another 50K miles, it will just be common stuff.

[rgolding]

Just an update on the now completed project. The Silverado 1500 4x4 is towing very well and is not noticed on the back of our Seneca 37FS. I've got the Progressive 9700 "Brake Buddy" working well and it is on its own deep cycle battery on the extra battery tray under the hood. A second knife switch is installed on this battery on the positive battery cable to allow it to be charged by the alternator when driving the Silverado, but seperated from the wiring of the pickup when that battery is used for the brakes.

We did rewire the 7 plug connection on the Seneca for the brake wire to be attached to the center brake light in the middle of the back of the Seneca. Before this we found it was wired to one of the directional signal/brake lights in the tailight assembly and was slightly coming on when the turn signals were applied.

[jnunes22]

Originally Posted by cabinetmaker

Be careful of what others say is ok to tow 4 down may not be in current year models.

We towed a Honda CRV 4 down a few model years back with no special equipment but Honda says the current CRV can not be towed 4 down. They changed the transmission or something and it will damage it now.

Read carefully about vehicles your wanting to tow. That will better tell you how and what equipment you will need.

We now have a 4 door Jeep Wrangler and tow 4 down and have been very pleased. Fun to take exploring when you arrive is a plus too!

What are you using for tow bar, base plate, wiring , braking etc?? We're about getting a rubicon..

[jd99336]

We tow a 2016 Jeep Cherokee (KL) Trailhawk. Ditto on the front tow hooks serving as basis for base plates (blue ox) and using Readybrute. Very easy set up and easy to tow. If you get another version of the Cherokee, you must get the AD2 transmission which has the PTU neutral button. Also, FCA Jeep did not anticipate problems with the electric power steering (EPS) but later found it caused violent "wobble". The solution is a harness that activates the EPS with the Jeep off. Negotiate that into any purchase price or pay an additional $800-1000 later for that addition. We love the Cherokee as a daily driver and a toad. It is not a Wrangler by any means, but will go a lot of places other SUV's will not and gets combined 24 mpg with the V6 (smaller version of the Wranger Pentastar).

[jasoev]

Originally Posted by drk98

Your profile indicates you have a Greyhawk which will limit your towing capacity compared to those responding with Senecas. We tow (4 down) a 4 door Jeep Wrangler behind our RedHawk and have been very happy with it. The Wrangler is one of the simplest "cars" to tow as it doesn't require fuses to be pulled or the key left in the ignition. I went with Blue OX tow gear and the RVi Brake. I installed everything myself.

We just purchased a 26Y Greyhawk and plan to tow our 4 door Wrangler. We'll be researching your configuration and would be most grateful for any tips you could pass along! Thank you.