What do I need to tow? (other than a towbar)

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Bryan

Bryan

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Posts
78
Location
UK
Hi,

I am in the UK and am currently on my 4th RV. 

I want to tow my car on an a-frame (4 wheels down) and I want to use a towbar like the Blue Ox Aventa that stays on th RV when not in use and goes into the hitch.

This is very rare in the UK so I thought I'd ask on here as I'm sure that this is a very common method in the states.

I know I need a towbar and am almost certainly decided on the blue ox aventa, but what else do I need?
Baseplates for my car (a 2006 Jeep Commander 3.0CRD Right Hand Drive) of course.
I want braking and for ease I think I'll get a brake buddy type of system.
Do I need safety cables?
What about elctrical connection for the towed cars lights?
Anything else I need?

Also, any advice on the above is welcome too  :)

Thanks
Bryan
 
Hi Bryan,

Yes, you'll need safety cables (legal here, but don't know about the UK or Europe) and an electrical hookup for lights. The latter will probably also need diodes, either like these, or you can buy and solder in separate diodes for far less money.

I don't recall what comes with the BrakeBuddy, but don't forget the breakaway switch (applies the toad brakes in the event of a breakaway condition), and the wireless receiver in the coach to let you know when the BB is applying brakes. Check the Towing and Towables area of our library for some related articles on  dinghy towing.

Where are you buying your stuff (Linda/Stateside Tuning?) Let your supplier know you want the curly electrical hookup cable, like this one. You may or may not need the whole kit.

I'm assuming you've verified that the Commander can be towed all 4 down. (I vaguely recall you asking about it privately, but don't recall my answer.)

BTW I thought there were some legal questions over towing with an A-frame in some Euro countries. Care to elaborate on that?
 
Hi Tom,

I'm sourcing the stuff myself, hence my question...don't want to forget anything  :eek:

Why a curly elec wire?  just so it doesn't hang and get caught?

Commander can be towed all 4 down, it's in the manual  ;)

Legalities of a-frames over here are ferociously discussed whenever they are mentioned on our forums.  Personally, I'm happy that they are legal.  If a court ever decides any different I'm sure we'll all here about it.

So complete list would be:

Towbar
Baseplates
Safety cables
Brake Buddy (with breakaway and alert system)
Electric hookup
Diodes

Is that right?

Bryan
 
Bryan,

Yes, the curly cable allows it to stretch going around corners, and recoil to prevent dragging on the ground.

What else? Petrol (or diesel) in the coach and petrol in the Jeep. Oh, and a barrow load of dough to pay for the fuel.

A number of us here have developed either a mental or written checklist of things to do and check before pulling away. In many cases, the checklists were developed as a result of some big "oops, I forgot to do that". One of our members even left his wife behind at a truck stop and didn't realize until he was a long way down the road.
 
Petrol in this bus...  86 pence per litre over here...and that's cheap  :eek:

Does anyone know if I need 4 wire or 6 wire electrical wiring?
 
With the Aventa and Aladdin tow bars, you can lead a straight electrical cable out over the pivot point so there is no stretching at all when turning.  That's the way ours has been for nearly 12 years.

I, personally, don't like coiled cables, either the electrical or safety, as I find they get tangled up too easily.  I also much prefer chains over cables due to my mistrust of swaging.
 
You can do that with the Roadmaster too, i.e. by feeding the cable through the provided channel(s), which is how our safety cables are run. But it's not very convenient to shove either of the plugs on the end of the wire harness through the channel.

...I find they get tangled up too easily
Click to expand...

Was that prior to 12 years ago?

We've had the chains vs cables discussion before. Personally, I've experienced chains breaking, but not a swaged cable. They (swaged cables) are used for extremely heavy industrial applications. I doubt there's any practical difference between chains and cables for normal towing.
 
Bryan,

On the electrical hookup, here it would be 6 wire, but I don't know if there would be any difference for a toad that might have been modified for the UK market. Roadmaster has various wiring diagrams on their web site, including a 6 to 4 wire option.

BTW they show a 7 wire option; The extra wire would be used for battery charging in a towed trailer (caravan).
 
I agree, there is probably no practical difference between chains and cables in normal use.  But I have never had a chain fail whereas I have had a swaged fitting that showed no problem signs fail catastrophically (dropping the mast on our sailboat).  Consequently, several friends had their rigging ends magnafluxed and were surprised at the broken strands inside the fittings.  Needles to say, we all got new rigging as a result.  Unfortunately, chains don't look as nice on a sailboat as clean, swaged, stainless cable fittings :)
 
Thanks for the help guys  :)

In order to save the shipping cost, can I make (or have made up  ;)  ) the safety cables and electrical connections?

If I can, I will probably use UK/Euro connectors, again due to availability of parts.

Can anyone see a problem with doing so?

Oh, and is there a supplier of the base plates at very economical prices ?


Bryan
 
Cables will need to have swaged fittings attached or loops, which also require swaging (don't trust cable clamps for this) while chains need some form of shackle or hook on each end to attach them.  Be sure the shackles and/or hooks are rated for sufficient load as in a breakaway there will be large stresses involved.

Lighting cables are not difficult to assemble, just be sure to make a diagram of the pinouts for each end of the cable.  It's easy to miswire a connector if you aren't careful.  However, I expect you can find assembled standard cables for not much more than the cost of the parts.
 
Since you are in the UK any advice I give needs to be verified

For ease I'd stay the (Explative deleted) away from the brake  buddy system, go with the US-Gear Unified Brake Decelarator or one like it or the MG system or one like it... You want easy,  You plug it in, it works

With the brake buddy and the others like it you have the box to wrestle into the driver's seat and to remove, you have to store it when not in use and of course you have to secure it least someone else like it better than yours

As to Safety cables... I had my tow system come appart on me once already (IT WAS NOT a failure of the tow bar near as I could tell, and experts who looked at it after agreed with me 100%) and measures have been taken (padlock) to insure what I think happened (A wire pulled the dang latch pin) never happens again

However w/o the safety cable I would have said "Fairwell" to my towed.

So yes you need safety cables

Lights.. I do not know the legal requirements but my towed is wired to the tail brake and turn lights work.

Like the brakes.. I just plug it it

Finally you need to make sure your jeep can be towed that way.. Generally, but not always, jeeps can be towed
 
Thanks for that John,

The Commander can def be towed - the manual has a section called "Towing all wheels down" ...  That's one thing I checked when we bought it  ;D

I should clarify...

By 'ease' I meant I don't have to install a system.  I'm pretty sure that over here the installation of the systems you mention will be unknown to most garages.  With a brake buddy system at least it is easy to 'install' and if/when we change cars I only have to buy new base plates.  We'll probably change cars in a couple of years...

Lights - I'm hoping that I can just use a UK auto electrician to wire it up using UK caravan/trailer connections.  My worry is about the wirings and the diodes.

How cheap/easy to install are the braking systems that you mention (here I go changing my mind again  ::)  )
 
Bryan,

See this article in our library for information on the different types of towed brakes.

We have a Blue Ox Apollo, precisely because it's so easy to move to a new vehicle and no modification of the towed braking system is required.  It take but a minute to install it or remove it.  It's not the big inconvenience some people would have you believe.
 
Bryan,

Although I don't use one, I'd recommend you stay with the BrakeBuddy (or the equivalent Blue Ox Apollo). It's essentially foolproof and, as you say, is easily portable between toads. If you must look at alternatives, check out this illustrated file on auxiliary (toad) braking systems in our library. Oops, I see Ned beat me to it.

As Ned suggests, you can either do the wiring or get it done in the UK, using UK plugs and sockets if you wish. heed Ned's advice of making yourself one or more diagrams, although the Roadmaster diagrams I linked to will help. It's very easy to (mentally) get the wiring of one of the plugs reversed. OTOH if you use an auto electrician, hopefully he'll know what he's doing. On the diodes, again, the Roadmaster diagrams I linked to will show how they should be wired; They're almost foolproof, and your electrician should be able to do it.

You should be able to find places that will make up swaged cables or cut chains to length and provide the necessary connecting links. It's been too many years since I towed in the UK, or since I looked at my parents' caravan when they were towing, but you might talk to a caravan dealer and ask what they do.
 
On second thoughts, I just looked at a number of photos of new and used caravans at UK dealers and didn't see a set of chains or safety cables on any of them. That might change who I drive behind next time I take the M4 west from Heathrow  :eek:
 
Thanks again for all the advice  ;D

I've committed myself to a Blue Ox Aventa... I am hoping to get the Blue Ox safety cables with it for approx $15.

And I'm chasing a second hand Brake Buddy with alert system and breakaway system for about $500. 

I'll get the electricity cables made up here hopefully, if I can get the wiring diagrams and the diodes (and what to do with the diodes)  ???



Now,  where's the best (cheapest) place to get the base plates  ;D

Bryan
 
...also, what is a "Bulb and socket kit (tail lights)" for? It seems to be an option (requirement?)

Thanks
 
The bulb and socket kit adds a separate bulb and socket to the tail lights to use for towing without having to connect into the existing light circuits using diodes.  Not all vehicle tail lights have room for an addition socket.
 
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