toad hook-up

Don't go cheap on the tow bar. I am a welder/fabricator and made my own baseplates to mount to my aftermarket bumper on my Jeep . On Craigs

I found an all terrain tow bar for 300 and am using the ready brake that cost 400. Towing cost money, the benefits of having it done right the first

time are well worth it. I wouldn't try to save money on that part of the rig and I looked at all the options. What saved me money is I did all the set up and lighting

myself with the help of these fine travelers on here.

In spite of all the naysayers, I used a fixed arm Reese 5000 lb. capacity towbar for many years on various Jeeps. IIRC, it cost about $145 at Walmart many years ago. Just for grins, I looked at a similar Reese bar at Walmart a while back, and it is now $165. It is very similar to the $65 Harbor Freight towbar.
That old towbar did the job just fine. I was even able to hook it to the coach by myself! Since so many people do not want one, security at a campsite was not a problem. If I did worry about somebody walking off with it, I just wrapped the safety chains around a tree and padlocked them!
Now, since I felt it necessary to have 6000 lb. capacity, I have a Roadmaster Stowmaster folding towbar. I'm not impressed by it. The major saving grace it has is that it was $250 on craigslist, and it has a capacity of 6000 lbs. While it is "easy" to hook up to the coach, UNhooking can be a total PITA!
But, it does the job it was made to do, that is what is important.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

We stated with an old Craigslist find, and made our own brackets. Cheap? Oh, yeah, probably $30 into the whole setup. Safe? I'd argue it was, it's a very strong bar and the brackets is welded directly to the Jeep in a similar style and location to commercial products. Tows well? Beautiful. Making everything allowed me to set it perfectly level, and it tows like it's not back there.

Easy to use? Uh... wait a minute, I think I hear someone calling me, got to go!

If you want to save some money, check places like Craigs list for used for tow bars and brake systems.

Don't forget to add an auxiliary braking system into the equation. That adds another $1000 easily but mandatory in many areas.

There are allways Blue Ox and Roadmaster RV tow bars on Craigslist. That's how I bought mine. Saved many $$.

When I bought my first MH back in 89 I went to a welder and he welded up a tow bar. Did it work? Yes. Was it safe? Doubt it. No safety chains, no braking system. it was a pita to hook up, a pita to store. Weighed almost a 100 lbs. Like all the previous posts buy a quality tow bar and a braking system. I use the Blue Ox tow bar and Blue Ox Patriot braking system.

Rollnhome says it best! After research that included information gathered at this forum I decided on a Roadmaster setup for my 2008 Nissan Versa. From the comments at this forum I chose to purchase from Hitchsource. I dealt with David and Hitchsource lived up to every accolade given them. Originally I was going to do the installation myself, but decided on a local trailer hitch company to install base plate, towbar and check that everything was working as it should. My total bill (for parts and labor) was about $1,400. It was almost $500 for the installation. All of this has been completed within the past week. I've done a "test" tow and we make our first extended trip the first of May. I am very pleased with all of this expenditure.

There's nothing wrong about towing 4 down. A tow bar with telescoping arms makes hookup much easier (the arms lock at full length when you start pulling. Yes, you need to get compatible baseplate to mount to the front of your Toyota. Do get brand name equipment for peace of mind. I have used the fixed tow bars. I would hook a very light chain from the ball end to the radiator support so it held the ball mount just high enough to clear the ball on the tow vehicle. This made lining up for hitching relatively easy although still a pain compared to one with telescoping arms.