Flat tow brakes
We are totally new to the Class A world, traded our 5er for a Class A 2 months ago. We want to tow a car four down and have been investigating various cars. The one we are looking at now is a 2014...
Forum Discussion
An update on the Ford Focus!
First of all, thanks for all the replies!
The situation with the Focus has gotten interesting. The Focus can be flat towed, but it has a 6 speed auto transmission that senses the engine and road speed using, for the lack of a better term, a computer. The system then sends a signal to the transmission, as if it were a stick shift, to tell it what gear to be in. If the system has battery power you can only tow at 35 mph and have to stop and run the engine every 50 miles.
They give you a procedure to insure you are in neutral and then disconnect the battery ground. This disables gear shifting and you can go 70 mph any distance.
With no electric in the car, most of the breaking system will not work, at least as an emergency tear away.
We found one tow bar that can handle this at readybrake.com, their ReadyBrute Elite which has a built in surge brake.
Our RV dealer does not want to install this tow bar since you have to drill separate holes in the firewall for wire cables for the normal braking and the tear away brakes. The cables are then connected to your brake pedal. Our Ford dealer says he will do the job, but it will be the first time they have ever done it.
The solution we are now trying to work out is to have the RV dealer install the Base Plate. We will pre-buy the the tow bar so he can also install the dash mounted brake indicator and drop bar so we are towing about level, but no brakes or lights! We will then take the car and motor home to our Ford dealer so he can install the necessary brake cables through the firewall and insure that the tail lights are run completely from the motor home.
The Focus is a nice FWD car that can be flat towed, but they sure do not make it easy to have it set up.
PS: Camping World, about 100 miles from us, will do the complete job for just under $3,500. We can get it done way cheaper by two local dealers.
First of all, thanks for all the replies!
The situation with the Focus has gotten interesting. The Focus can be flat towed, but it has a 6 speed auto transmission that senses the engine and road speed using, for the lack of a better term, a computer. The system then sends a signal to the transmission, as if it were a stick shift, to tell it what gear to be in. If the system has battery power you can only tow at 35 mph and have to stop and run the engine every 50 miles.
They give you a procedure to insure you are in neutral and then disconnect the battery ground. This disables gear shifting and you can go 70 mph any distance.
With no electric in the car, most of the breaking system will not work, at least as an emergency tear away.
We found one tow bar that can handle this at readybrake.com, their ReadyBrute Elite which has a built in surge brake.
Our RV dealer does not want to install this tow bar since you have to drill separate holes in the firewall for wire cables for the normal braking and the tear away brakes. The cables are then connected to your brake pedal. Our Ford dealer says he will do the job, but it will be the first time they have ever done it.
The solution we are now trying to work out is to have the RV dealer install the Base Plate. We will pre-buy the the tow bar so he can also install the dash mounted brake indicator and drop bar so we are towing about level, but no brakes or lights! We will then take the car and motor home to our Ford dealer so he can install the necessary brake cables through the firewall and insure that the tail lights are run completely from the motor home.
The Focus is a nice FWD car that can be flat towed, but they sure do not make it easy to have it set up.
PS: Camping World, about 100 miles from us, will do the complete job for just under $3,500. We can get it done way cheaper by two local dealers.
