Four down tow "bars"

We found Mike and Terry Church's Alaskan Camping Guide to be more useful than the Mile Post. The Mile Post recommendations are based upon their advertisers. Church's book does not and is base upon their actual trips.

We did use both, but more often than not, it was the Church's book we looked at first.

good luck

Ron

Fred,
have new mile post on order new one comes out 3-1
great tip
thanks Jim

If you're buying to tow for the one trip, look for a rig already set up to tow. Oftentimes they'll have a brake set up and the baseplate attachments already in place. If the rig doesn't come with a towbar also, then you need to remember to find out which brand baseplates and get the correct brand towbar. Much cheaper and easier than starting from scratch. The For Sale lots at the end of Foothills and Fortuna near the freeway will have several to choose from. The vehicles to select from change pretty regular.

Look at craigs list for yuma, there are always tow bars on sale there roadmaster and blue ox. There are a couple of wrecking yards there that have/had some when I was looking. Also look at phx and tucson. Many times you can find like new towbars for 150-250$ vs the 9-1000$ new. With that said yes you will need the baseplates and adapters if required to hookup one brand to the other.

Depending on what vehicle you buy will depend on what you need for towing. Old jeeps can just be bolted to the bumper as the one above looks to be. Autozone, orielly even harbor freight have these inexpensive units usually less than $100. Just depends again on what you want to tow. For my 94 ranger they want $400 or so just for the baseplate, but I have seen them on CList for lots less. If I was going where you are talking about I would look for a used small pickup, my ranger is just shy of 3800lbs as a supercab v6, manual trans. If we decide to go up to alaska that is the veh I would drag along. Put a bed cover on it and use it to haul extra stuff. hard bed covers can be had for less than $200 on CList most ofg the time and then there is the option for a camper shell!

Except for the jeeps the use of a bumper installed hookup is pretty slim unless you have a shop weld something up and that will be close to buying the baseplate in price. I know I looked.

There are always used brake systems for sale also. usually less than $250 for a $900 unit.

Yep, you'll need a "base plate" (hardware that connects the car to the tow bar), a tow bar of the same brand as the base plate (preferably one that mounts and stays with the motor home and that has the capability to connect to the car at different angles), light hook up to enable you to activate the car's tail/brake/signal lights from the mh, AND (most importantly) you will need a good supplemental brake system for the car.

The "Roadmaster" web site provided above by JW above is an excellent place to start.

Good luck

Ron

Looks like this is a one time thing for a trip to A K. While not a fan of Heep's, they have a strong metal front bumper that are ideal for something like this that can be bought for as little as $60 Oops $53. Yes you can spend a lot more on a Blue Ox one but then you need their base plates for the car. Granted I'd replace all of the bolts on the one below with grade 8 bolts and yes I'd use something like this for one trip to AK and back.
What are you going to do for brakes on the toad?

get a tow bar that stays on the rear of the motorhome. get one with levers to release it, not slip rings. I last used a Blue Ox Aventa II.
bumpy

Try this website.

[roadmasterinc.com]RoadmasterInc.com

They also sell a tow shield, and later came out with another skirt type thing that really protects the towed vehicle from rocks.

Blue Ox is the other manufacture.

You should be able to find towing guides for several years worth of trucks. You might also consider a Honda CRV. I had a 99, and the seats where a bit thin in that model year. I road in the back seat of a later model, 2004 or 03 I think? I am 6'4" and the driver was a little shorter, so I guess the seat was a bit forward, and I was comfortable in the back seat.

The CRV has room for more stuff inside of it.

Did you already get a copy of "Milepost?" IT is a great book to study the few months before going to Alaska. I agree that I would not want to tow a huge trailer all the way to Alaska. And towing the Mini might not be such a great idea, even if she was not so 'attached' to the paint, and getting dings in a car, that is so low to the ground, and probably not great for that use.



Good luck!

Fred.