Pulling my Toad for the First Time!! Couple of questions

[mfox20]

Leaving on an extended trip tomorrow with my 2013 Honda CR-V following closely behind. I have pulled it a total of 8 miles from the shop that installed my baseplate and readybrute system.

I know I need do the pre-tow warm up routine on the CR-V but had couple of questions.

Do you redo the pre-tow routine only the next morning or is it necessary after short breaks during the day? Say you stop for an hour or two for lunch.....

Do you leave your toad in the tow position overnight or do you do any post tow items like put it back in park, leave it in neutral, run the car?

Will be towing up to 2-3 days without needing it most likely.

Appreciate all the help. Excited to have a TOAD!!

[fcooper]

Regarding the statement

"When you tow, the key must be in the ignition. It would be very easy for someone to steal the car while we are parked and getting lunch at a restaurant."

I have a dummy key with no chip in the key. The car will not crank with this key. To crank the car, I hold the chipped key against the "no chip" key, and it will crank for the warm up routine. I tow with the "no chip" key in the ignition and the doors locked.

Fred

[donkeydew]

inspect your tow bar and connections at each stop before you pull out .
i have had the pins pulled on the tow bar at a rest area on interstate 5
i now have locks on every one of them. and double check your emergency is off when you hook up

[dalerussel]

We tow a 2014 CRV. We go through the full routine every morning and when we approach 8 hrs in tow. We do not redo it if we stop for an hour for lunch. We have a fusemaster disconnect switch and a brake activation switch (required for our SMI, embedded braking system) that we flip prior to towing. When we park for the night, we put the car in Park, lock it and then start over the next day. We plan to get locks for our tow bar to baseplate connections. When you tow, the key must be in the ignition. It would be very easy for someone to steal the car while we are parked and getting lunch at a restaurant. If I take the transmission out of neutral, iI go through the routine again since the users manual says never go from reverse to neutral.

[mfox20]

Thought a little more about the Leaving it Neutral post if you are using your jacks.

Seems like it would be wise to do that to level, then put it in Park. Otherwise someone could (not saying they would) pull your pins and push it back.

Just a thought.....

[mfox20]

Thanks Fred..good input.

[Pangaea_Ron]

fcooper

Good thought about leveling while in P. I hadn't considered that.

[fcooper]

Good advice above. If you do leave your toad attached, only put it in Park if you are not going to use jacks to level your coach. There will be some forward motion to the toad when the jacks are deployed, and some rearward motion when the coach jacks are retracted. I don't know if this is enough to harm the toad transmission, but I tend to leave mine in Neutral for this reason.
Fred

[Pangaea_Ron]

Rwake

I turn my rear view camera on occasionally to make sure that the CR-V is still there. A RV Tech once told me that the monitor can be "etched" with the same view displayed for long periods of time, especially in bright sunlight. That was also the warning for computer monitors. I guess that it makes some sense?

I also put a white band TDC on the steering wheel, that I can see move while turning.

[Rwake901]

We have a 2012 CRV that we tow. Along with what everyone else has said I also visually inspect the tow bar, pins, tires, brake system and safety cables every time we stop for gas or rest stops. I also carry a spare set of pins for the tow bar in case I would loose one or one would get damaged. Also I keep my backup camera on all the time while towing so I can keep an eye on the toad. I've never had an issue (and I hope I never do) but you never know when something could happen..

[GMandJM]

Sounds like you have it all covered. Safe and happy travels to you!

[mfox20]

Thanks for all the great replies and extra thanks to those with the CR-V's.

I have the pre-tow Honda owners manual page laminated and in the CR-V for my pre-check routine.

Planning to do about 350,300 and 350 miles one way for 3 days.

Mr Mark: I did the install on the cut-off switch myself and I would not want to have to crawl under the dash to remove the fuse each time.

My installer also installed a charge wire so I should be in good shape with the battery each day. Probably didn't need the fuse cut off but I already had it done.

Thanks again guys.......

[GMandJM]

Finally Time wrote:
... I go through the tow-prep "procedure" each morning when I am traveling. I do not repeat it after a short stop of less than a couple of hours...

When I do stop for the night I set the emergency brake, put the transmission in Park and remove the key.

Same as above with our 2014 CR-V.

[Rick_Jay]

On our Honda Odyssey, the manual says every 8 hours (clock hours, NOT towing hours). Usually, I will redo the procedure roughly every 3-4 hours while travelling. This usually corresponds with an "eating break/fuel refill/stretch the legs" stop. The tranny in our Odyssey has a known weakness due to lack of lubrication in certain circumstances (not towing related). I don't want to take any chances so I do the procedure more frequently than needed. It doesn't really cost anything and doesn't hurt to make sure everything is well lubed.

Not sure about your manual, but our manual also recommends that the tranny fluid be changed on an accelerated scheduled if the vehicle is flat-towed. This is because the odometer doesn't register mileage while being towed but the fluid is still "in service" while towing. So I usually change ours once a year which is overkill, but as I said, the transmission in our Odyssey had known problems. We, fortunately, haven't experienced any problems with it and I'd kinda like to think it was because of the extra frequency of the pre-tow procedures and frequent fluid changes.

MAKE SURE that you do the pre-tow procedure properly. If your pre-tow procedure requires you to shift down through the gears first, then back up with the last shift being from D to N, make sure you DO NOT shift it into R accidentally. If you do, you need to repeat the procedure again starting at the Park position or else transmission damage will likely occur.

~Rick

[Pangaea_Ron]

Do what your manual says.

You need to run through the procedure when starting off, and every 8 hours.

When I stop for gas, I don't re-do the procedure, when I stop for more than an hour I usually do the procedure. It's cheap insurance.

Overnight, I remove the key and lock the car, put the shift lever in P. I usually don't lock the 2014 CR-V while towing, only for extended stops when I am away from there vehicle. I think that I needed to lock the car from the manual switch on the passenger door to lock it while towing.

My procedure is (from memory - I have a check list and use it!?

Engage brake and parking brake while in P.
Start the engine.
Move the gear shift lever through all of the gears, leaving it in each position for 5 seconds.
The final move should be from D to N. and let it run for 3 minutes. Leave it in N.
Turn off the engine and leave the ignition key in the Accessory "I" position.
Leave the key in that position.
Disengage the parking brake.

Check that lights are working properly.
Check that the tires rotate, and the steering wheel moves as you turn.