what is best tow equipment?

Daveinet wrote:
Oh, there is a "correct" answer. A few years back Blue Ox had several (4) base plate failures - pictures posed on RVnet. There are some systems that are proportional, and some that are not. There are some systems that change the rate of braking based on time, but the amount of braking is fixed. There are some systems that notoriously run the battery dead, and require a separate charge wire.

BTW: While mentioning the base plate failures, make sure that when your safety chains are installed, they are attached to the frame, rather than just the base plate. If the safety chain is only attached to the base plate, it is a joke, not a safety chain. One of the easiest ways to do this is to take a second chain and loop it around the frame of the car and bring it to the front, so it can be attached to the chain that hooks to the tow bar. Use the tow bar attachment points just to hold the chain off the ground.

Btw...just an FYI, Rv.net and Woodall's are the same forum.

A big part of that cost, whether you use a cheap tow bar or an expensive easy to use solution, will be installation of towing brackets (Roadmaster) or baseplate (BlueOx, Demco, ReadyBrute, et al) on the towed vehicle.

I chose to install the baseplate on my Honda Fit (saving a $800 labor fee, but really because I did not want to wait 2-3 weks to get it into the shop). It turned out to be 8-10 hours work over a day and a half, so the labor fee is realistic.

Brand, Roadmaster vs anybody else, is a decision I make on the basis of installation. For my Fit, Roadmaster brackets meant permanently removing the bumper core, BlueOx baseplate left the bumper intact. This coulld be. reversed on a different car, or could be a non-issue.

I actually have two vehicles set up to tow, my Ranger has a locally fabricated baseplate, which also works better with BlueOx/Demco/ ReadyBrute and a-frame towbars.

newtimer81 wrote:
We are new to motorhome travel. We would like any suggestions on what is the best tow equipment for a regular size car. We have priced one place and they are quite expensive so we want to get what others have found easy to use and good value.
Thank you

It would greatly help if you indicated what motorhome you will be towing with, and more specifics on which sort of dinghy you would be towing.

The reality is that there are several manufacturers worthy of consideration.

There are several decision points.

First the Tow Bar;

I have extensive experience with both Blue Ox and Road Master..Both are ones I can recommend.

There is a choice of having a tow bar that remains with the dinghy or one that remains with the Motorhome when not towing... My recommendation is to opt for the one that stays with the motorhome.

The next decision is that do you want to have removable tabs...Basically the hardware that connects the two bar to the dingy to not be visible when not in tow. My recommendation is that you consider going the removable tabs route.

Some tow bars are easier to disconnect when in an unlevel position.. I suggest you factor that in in your decision.

If you have not already committed to a dinghy vehicle select one that has no restrictions for towing four wheel down.

I would also recommend that you consider selecting a tow bar that exceeds by a large margin the weight of you dinghy. My personal choice has always been to get the heaviest duty tow bar I could.

I recommend you consider a supplemental brake system. My preference is one that is truly a proportional brake... Which means that the brakes applied to the dinghy is proportional to the amount of service brake application in the motorhome. On the top of page one of this forum you will find a couple of "stickies" relative to the need and the nature of supplemental brakes. I urge you to read both.

The expense of Tow bar, base plate, supplemental brake is not inexpensive.

JohnnyT

Moved from class A forum

Which is likely why Blue Ox has you safety cable the base plate to the frame. Redundancy.
Also, like anything else, owners need to check their equipment from time to time. That takes about 2 minutes.

Jim

There were 4 failures all within a short time period. I remember 2 were as a result of design - meaning poor choice of what to bolt to. One was a failure of the base plate its self. 4th one, I do not recall specifics. It was a direct response to those threads, that I bought more chain, and wrapped it around my frame. The whole concept of "safety" in the term "safety chains" is redundancy, which results in real safety. The idea is to protect if something unpredictable goes wrong. The reality is, that while your base plate sounds like it is bolted securely, you can not predict metal fatigue or the consistency of the metal that is used. Much of the steel used in this country is produced in China. Who knows where any of these baseplate manufacturers buy their steel, but it is very likely they would get it from China, as it is the cheapest place to buy steel. One of the things the company I work for has discovered is that it is very difficult to get consistency from from the metal produced their. Some locations in China are better than others, but it takes a lot of testing to discover who is making quality steel. It took us a couple of years to find a good consistent supplier. As far as baseplates, it is documented that one supplier has had issues with metal fatigue do to the quality of raw material, which would suggest redundancy is necessary.

Daveinet wrote:
Oh, there is a "correct" answer. A few years back Blue Ox had several (4) base plate failures - pictures posed on RVnet. There are some systems that are proportional, and some that are not. There are some systems that change the rate of braking based on time, but the amount of braking is fixed. There are some systems that notoriously run the battery dead, and require a separate charge wire.

BTW: While mentioning the base plate failures, make sure that when your safety chains are installed, they are attached to the frame, rather than just the base plate. If the safety chain is only attached to the base plate, it is a joke, not a safety chain. One of the easiest ways to do this is to take a second chain and loop it around the frame of the car and bring it to the front, so it can be attached to the chain that hooks to the tow bar. Use the tow bar attachment points just to hold the chain off the ground.

My baseplate (Blue OX) is secured to the frame with 8 bolts that were installed with Loc-Tite. The bolts are installed on two different planes, one parallel to the direction of force, the other perpendicular to the direction of force. The baseplate is also secured to my frame with two different safety cables, per Blue Ox's instructions, provided by Blue Ox.

So no...hooking my safety chains from my rig to my baseplate is not a joke. I remember reading threads on here about the baseplate failures. At least one of them was due to the frame of the vehicle itself having rotted through. It had nothing to do with the baseplate, and was not a baseplate failure.

And many companies make different towing equipment, all of it good. so yes, there is no best answer for which one is "best".

Jim

IMO, there is no "BEST", there is only what YOU like and can afford.
If I were just starting out, the Ready Brute integrated towbar/braking system would be the only thing I would consider.
However, I have been quite happy using a fixed arm, adjustable width towbar by Reese (or was it built by Valley Industries? It doesn't matter...)
The towbar cost $145, IIRC, many years ago. It has been totally problem free for over 20 years! Many people can't stand the thought of one of them, but it works fine for me.

Oh, there is a "correct" answer. A few years back Blue Ox had several (4) base plate failures - pictures posed on RVnet. There are some systems that are proportional, and some that are not. There are some systems that change the rate of braking based on time, but the amount of braking is fixed. There are some systems that notoriously run the battery dead, and require a separate charge wire.

BTW: While mentioning the base plate failures, make sure that when your safety chains are installed, they are attached to the frame, rather than just the base plate. If the safety chain is only attached to the base plate, it is a joke, not a safety chain. One of the easiest ways to do this is to take a second chain and loop it around the frame of the car and bring it to the front, so it can be attached to the chain that hooks to the tow bar. Use the tow bar attachment points just to hold the chain off the ground.

Ford vs. Chevy vs. Toyota question.

No "correct" answer :)

Jim