Towing

joe b. wrote:
When I first set up our previous Dodge truck I bought a 48 inch extension, which turned out to be much longer than I really needed. With our Lance 845, the overhang in the back is not a great deal. But I failed to figure in that the Jeep tow bar attachment points, are 16 inches in front of the grill. Then I added a Ready Brake auxiliary system to the Jeeps and that added an additional 20 inches. So the two of those factors added 36 inches to my setup. Then the Falcon 5200 tow bar added 6 or 8 more inches where it slides into the Ready Brake receiver. So then I bought an 18 inch extension and stopped using the chains, then checked it without the 18 inch extinion and it works just fine. Took it to an empty parking lot and made tight circles, etc and check how close to the rear corners of the camper I was getting with the Jeep. Not a problem so currently I just use the Ready Brake off the factory Class 5 hitch, then the tow bar off that, then the Jeep.

Could have saved some money, if I had taken a better look instead of going with the trial and error method of measuring. But, if we do trade up to a larger camper, with more overhang, then the 18 inch extension will come in handy.

Original set up with 48 inch extension.


Here is the our current tow using just the Ready Brake and the Falcon tow bar connected to our current Jeep Unlimited. Towed it from south Florida to North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, western Colorado, and back home through Arizona and New Mexico. Worked fine, in the closer coupling, than the original set up with the red Jeep.