I am new and have a question

[anwb637]

Hello Friends,

I am new and i am from The Netherlands. I am road patroller in my country where i Fisk's cars on the road. (sorry for my bad English). This year i was in Canada and Alaska whit a motorhome and i saw motorhomes ho are towing a car. how is Thad possible and what is the need to make the car doing Thad. The brakes, the gear, the steering?????????????????

I looked for a site for the answers but i cannot find it.

Greeting Wim.

 

[seilerbird]

Towing a vehicle behind a motorhome is a very common occurrence in America. Most motorhomes already have a trailer hitch installed. So you need a tow bar to attach the car to the mh, a braking mechanism and the stop and turn lights wired up. Most RV dealers can set you up. I don't know a lot about it since I never tow, but some of our other members will be here shortly with more exact information.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

We call a car that is towed behind a motorhome a "toad", which is American slang for "towed car". If you Search the forum for TOAD CAR you should find plenty of information.

Not all cars are towable without some mechanical modifications. The modifications, if required, involve lubrication for the automatic transmission. Manual transmission cars are usually towable as the come from the factory. There are lists of cars and trucks that can be towed without modifications.

Towing also requires a  tow bar to connect to the motorhome's hitch and a adapter which provides the means of hooking the tow bar to the car itself. Each car is different, so these towing adapters (called base plates) make the connection between the standardized tow bar and the individual car's frame (chassis).

 

[jjhoneck]

Based on your post, may I presume that an all-wheel drive, automatic transmission car (like a Subaru Outback) would NOT be a candidate for towing?

 

[bigskymt]

REMCO is an excellent source of info on towed vehicles.
  Subaru Automatics are not on the list.
  Saturn with standard trans, Honda CRVs, Suzuki 4WDs (or Chevy Tracker) seem to be most popular as they require the least modifications to tow them.
  I was originally drawn to this site trying to learn about toads. I found a wealth of info here as well as being steered toward informative websites.

 

[tswms]

Check out Buleox.com. They have a wealth of information, Also motorhome magazine.com, annual towning edition has a good list of towable vehicles.

Tony

 

[ArdraF]

Check out Buleox.com

Tony, did you mean Blueox.com?

ArdraF

 

[anwb637]

Friends,

Thank you all for the tips, i learn a lat and keep learning on the sites.

Marry Christmas and a Happy New Year for you all and your lovings.

Wim.

 

[John From Detroit]

When it comes to what cars can and can not be towed 4 down.

The manufacturer of the car nearly always says "no tow" but as someone up-thread said RemcoTowing may well have better info.. They make a few products that enable you to convert a car into a trailer very easily.. For example when I tow my front wheel drive 4-down, even though GM says "Can't do it"  There is no damag, in fact the transmission is in PARK of all gears.  As it's no longer connected to the wheels.. Very nice.

Most any car with a genuine gear type transfer case (4wd types) can be towed.

Many FWD or RWD or even AWD drive cars can be towed with one or another of the modifications suggested by RemcoTowing.. There are basically 3 mods

1: Many cars all you do is pull a fuse

2: Some cars you add a transmission lubrication pump, this is a 12 volt electric pump that circulates the transmission fluid, just like the trans does normally, and keeps things nice and lubricated... So far as the car knows it's in "Georgia Overdrive" (Coasting in neutral with the engine running)  (Georgia overdrive is coasting DOWN HILL, (not being towed) and is, by the way, illegal in Georgia, Kind of a joke there)

The other mod is either a drive shaft disconnect or axle lock (I have the latter) both of these basically divorce the drive wheels from the transmission. so you are towing a genuine trailer w/o power to the wheels.  Transmission is in PARK when you do this.. Works great.

That said.. there are some cars that can NOT be modified for towing.  Again, Remco has the last word

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The easiest cars to tow are 4-wheel drive with a manual transfer case that can be shifted to Neutral. Many of these can be towed merely by placing the transfer case in neutral and the key in the Accessory position. An All Wheel Drive vehicle is often not towable at all, because the automatic transfer case is always trying to keep the wheels and transmission engaged, but some, such as General Motors latest AWD 6 speed automatic transmission and the Honda CRV AWD,  can handle it.

It is difficult to generalize what is or is not towable, but Motorhome Magazine publishes a list every year and remcotowing.com maintains an online index of towable vehicles, including those that can be readily modified to tow. The modification consists of either a auxiliary transmission lube pump (used primarily on front drive vehicles) or a drive shaft disconnect clutch (used primarily on rear drives).