New to dinghy TOAD towing

I bought a used Blue Ox towbar, used Brake Buddy, complete wiring done and new base plate for car for 1800.00. All installed. Bought from a rv dealer. Worked great. A few years later I did buy a new BB, but still came out ahead.

Edited by Barb

When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain.

look at craigs list, ebay etc for used stuff. Craigslist go out of the immediate area to also search. The baseplates will be needed to be gotten from a dealer but I have seen them advertised on the web, but if you can catch camp world when they have a install sell they would be a good to go. I paid $29 install for the baseplates and another $29 for the light harness during one of their sales, of course you need to buy the baseplates from them. I paid about $200 more than I could have off the net but then you look at having someone install and the savings disappear quick. there is a slavage yard in yuma az that has lots of tow stuff look there. There is a place on the net if I still have where folks sell their stuff when they quit towing etc. See if I can find it.

Unless required to stop and start the towd, make sure to run a charge line to the battery to keep system charged off the rv system.

look here not sure if they have anything you can use:
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?s=707c94e9854ca18d750d65b4e3a88ad7&showforum=37

Recently, I purchased and installed on a friends Jeep Wrangler a ReadyBrute Elite tow bar that includes a built-in toad brake system. In addition, I also purchased and installed a Blue-ox base place and adaptors for the tow bar, all cables and wiring for less than $1800.....all from Amazon.

Hope this helps

Ron

Triker33 wrote:
When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain.

Well that depends on a lot of variables. I tow an 07 Malibu, lights are hooked up through a diode block. Pull the fuse the owners manual says to, actually I installed a switch, and there is no battery drain. Well no more than if it were sitting in the driveway so there is no need to start it. If you have a brake system that runs off the toad battery that can drain the battery but you should hookup a charge line from the MH in that case.

BTW: 5 minutes of run time will do little to nothing in the way of charging the battery.

Hank MI wrote:

Triker33 wrote:
When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain.

Well that depends on a lot of variables. I tow an 07 Malibu, lights are hooked up through a diode block. Pull the fuse the owners manual says to, actually I installed a switch, and there is no battery drain. Well no more than if it were sitting in the driveway so there is no need to start it. If you have a brake system that runs off the toad battery that can drain the battery but you should hookup a charge line from the MH in that case.

BTW: 5 minutes of run time will do little to nothing in the way of charging the battery.

What I posted was from the Saturn Owners manual. And "often as possible" is not really explained. Is it every 2 hours more or less?
Call your local Saturn dealer to find out what that means. :)

Do you know for a fact the Saturn doesn't need 12V power to keep the steering unlocked like some vehicles do? And some don't.

Always read the owners manual of your towed vehicle on towing procedure.

I towed a HHR for a few years and had a switch on a fuse on it and pulled up to 4 days straight without starting it or turning the switch off. My present toad needs to be started every morning before towing for 5 minutes and every 6 hours after to keep the transmission lubed. So everyone should read their manual on how to tow.

Hank MI wrote:

Triker33 wrote:
When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain.

Well that depends on a lot of variables. I tow an 07 Malibu, lights are hooked up through a diode block. Pull the fuse the owners manual says to, actually I installed a switch, and there is no battery drain. Well no more than if it were sitting in the driveway so there is no need to start it. If you have a brake system that runs off the toad battery that can drain the battery but you should hookup a charge line from the MH in that case.

BTW: 5 minutes of run time will do little to nothing in the way of charging the battery.

For those vehicles that require starting and running the engine after a couple of hours or so is not to charge the battery (altho that helps).....I think it is more to lubricate the transmission.

Ron

lanerd wrote:

Hank MI wrote:

Triker33 wrote:
When towing for an extended period of time, start the vehicle as often as possible and allow it to run for five minutes to prevent battery drain.

Well that depends on a lot of variables. I tow an 07 Malibu, lights are hooked up through a diode block. Pull the fuse the owners manual says to, actually I installed a switch, and there is no battery drain. Well no more than if it were sitting in the driveway so there is no need to start it. If you have a brake system that runs off the toad battery that can drain the battery but you should hookup a charge line from the MH in that case.

BTW: 5 minutes of run time will do little to nothing in the way of charging the battery.

For those vehicles that require starting and running the engine after a couple of hours or so is not to charge the battery (altho that helps).....I think it is more to lubricate the transmission.

Ron

You are correct, some do need to be started to lube the trans. If it were to charge the battery, I really doubt 5 minutes will do much to the battery except add a little surface charge.

As mentioned, you need to read the owners manual.

etrailer.com for prices on new equipment. Then look for it used at half price or less.

Saturn S-series baseplate or towing brackets will be $300 to $450 new depending on brand and model. This part is a necessity. Used baseplates are hard to find, proper installation is usually meant to be permanent. It is probably easier to find a Saturn S with brackets installed than it is to find the brackets used.

Rigid towbars range from just over $100 to $400 or more. If you get Roadmaster towing brackets instead of a baseplate because the brackets were $100 less, then you will pay about $100 more for a Roadmaster towbar, which includes the crossbar necessary to make the brackets a proper baseplate.

If you want an extensible motorhome-mounted towbar for easy hookup, expect to pay $600 to $1000 for the tow bar (prices new). When I was shopping, I bought an $800 towbar slightly used for $400. Because it happened to be Blue OX, this meant buying a Blue OX baseplate, about $400 new for my Honda Fit.

Towed vehicle braking systems add $400 to $1500 to the parts cost, cable-pull surge brake solutions at the lower end of the scale, permanently-installed active braking at the top prices, pedal-pushing boxes around $800-1200.

Lighting solutions vary as well. I paid about $30 for a set of magnetic lights, high-end products are as much as $250. A lighting kit to hook up and use your existing vehicle lights might be $50 to $150 for the kit, before installation.

Installation is a big part, probably more than half, of the estimated cost you are seeing from RV dealers. Baseplates can require a lot of labor, much of it removal and replacement of body parts on the towed vehicle. I did my own baseplate installation, it took me 10 hours spread over two days to do the job alone in my driveway over a July weekend. The dealer wanted $300 for installation, if I had it to do over again I would pay him. Permanent lighting solutions can be expensive on installation, as can low-cost surge brakes or permanently installed brakes. Solutions you have to install yourself every time you tow will have lower, maybe zero, up front installation costs.

You could probably be ready to tow, without a braking solution, for under $1000 dollars, with the least expensive parts, if you can do the baseplate installation yourself. This might require buying a couple hundred dollars worth of tools for one-time use, particularly drill bits you will wear out.

The dealers are giving you the price of a complete "luxury" solution, the one that provides the most convenience and least work each time you tow.

Triker33 wrote:
Do you know for a fact the Saturn doesn't need 12V power to keep the steering unlocked like some vehicles do? And some don't.

I towed a Saturn SL2 for years and the only thing needed to unlock steering is to turn the key to the ACC position. As long as you turn off the radio there is no power drain. I sometimes towed for 8 hours and never had an issue starting the car.