[Corey]

Tow a 2013 Ford Super Crew 4×4 and a 2011 Ford Edge with FWD at different times and don’t have to do anything special with either. Use the same tow bar on both. Just pin and go. Think the tow bar is rated at 6,000 pounds. Have to get out there and see what kind it is and think it’s a Roadmaster 2. Lights just plug up also for vehicles. Had it installed and wired in Austin Tx. Don’t use a brake system and it seems like bus doesn’t know there back there.

[Bernie]

It sounds like a stacker is the ticket with all your different toys. Nothing universal for flat towing and it sounds like most of your stuff couldn’t be flat towed anyway. I use a stacker to haul a race car and golf cart and toad if I’m combining racing and traveling elsewhere. If we’re not racing and just want a vehicle along, we flat tow a Dodge 4×4 pick up. You’re pretty limited to what you can flat tow. Geo.

[Archived]

Dawn,

First the bad news. You own a bus. You can not take everything with you. But if you want to try, based on your description of the various choices you have it appears a stacker is in your future.

Lets get a few things out of the way. If you are more than 65 feet total length you are illegal in a lot of states. But as a practical matter we know your stacker, if it is a practical size for your purposes is going to put you over the length limits so you have to recognize it is highly unlikely you will ever get cited for over length unless you attract attention of the gendarmes by speeding, frequent lane changes, tailgating, etc. Accept the fact you need to drive at reasonable speeds and don’t start pushing to get to your destination. The cops know you are illegal. Don’t present them with an oportunity to mess up your day.

Consider weight as your enemy. No not yours, the weight of the trailer. A standard hitch has a 1000 pound tongue weight limitation and a 10,000 pound trailer limitation. There is an optional engine cradle hitch receiver available for a 20,000 pound trailer and a 1500 pound tongue weight. You can ignore limitations, but trust me, it will be at your peril. The resulting damageis mostly hidden and it affects the rear structure of the coach and engine cradle. If damage results because you exceeded limits you are on your own because Prevost will not do repairs as a result of that type of damage.

Finally, your coach has lousy brakes. Relatively speaking if a panic stop is required the car ahead of you is likely going to stop from 60 MPH in no more than 130 feet, often 120 feet or less. Our buses at the same speed will stop somewhere around 275 feet. Add a trailer without adequate brakes and you are going to need almost three times the distance a car needs to get stopped. If you drive at 70 MPH your stopping distance approaches 450 feet without the trailer. Who knows how far a loaded trailer without brakes will push you? So yes you need brakes and they need to work well. You can set the coach up for electric trailer brakes or your can possibly find a stacker with air brakes and set the coach up as a semi would be configured. But you will need to make sure those trailer brakes are going to work.

If you sense there is a lot to towing a big stacker you are right. You will be illegal but you can deal with that by driving safely and not attracting attention. You will have to observe the limitations on your hitch. and you have to set the bus and trailer up so you have supplemental braking.

A lot of our members tow big trailers so you are not going to lack good advice.

If you want to be able to tow with the minimum effort towing a car set up for towing with 4 wheels down on the ground is by far the easiest way to go and the vast majority of owners do tow that way. I am the one that will be towing the 50 Ford and it is set up with receivers for the tow bar, and will be wired so the lights when towing will be clearly visible. But I never intended for it to be anything other than a tow car. It will be a shame to get dust, dirt, mud and stuff on the car and all its shiny new parts and paint work, but that’s why we went to the extent we are going to have a brand new car with a 64 year old body. If your classic car(s) are show cars or you want to keep them in new condition you have to enclose them in a trailer.

[Archived]

One thing I forgot to mention……..towing a big trailer is for lack of a better way of saying it a royal pain in the ass.

Some RV resorts and campgrounds cannot accomodate the size. Some insist you unhook and park the trailer in a remote location. The only good news about a trailer is unlike towing cars four down you can at least back up a trialer, but in almost every instance it will not be at your site.

[Archived]

Ditto to everything Jon says. We only use the stacker when we’re racing and the only reason we use a stacker is so we can combine a couple of races up north with other travels, but the trailer is a definite PITA. All other trips are with a toad. Geo. BTW have never had a problem at 82′ length, but have no reason or desire to go to Socal.

[Archived]

Hi Dawn,

Yes, the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort has parking for trailers. You have to disconnect up front and they will move it to a fenced lot on their property at the back of the resort.

Congrats on the new coach!

MM.

[Bryan]

Dawn,

Welcome to PC, you found the right place and you can’t beat the annual dues..

If you’re going to flat tow, you’ll probably go with Blue Ox or Roadmaster tow bars and base plates. You could tow and open trailer to haul your toy’s, but as other have said, a stacker would be a must if you want to take all your toys with you. I have considered a trailer in the past and decided for what we do, it would be a huge PIA to deal with a trailer. It’s a great way to haul all your stuff, but when it’s time to unhook, how are you going to move it? Most campgrounds won’t handle your trailer, some will, but I think they’re the exception and not the rule.

I think flat towing is the best way to go, especially if you tow a pickup and you can load more of your stuff in the back. You’ll figure out what you need and we’ll do our best to help you spend your money.

Congratulations on your coach purchase and hope to see you in your travels.

[Dawn]

Hi Dawn…

This is Diane Byrd …. we talked a few times about our Vantare back when you were bus shopping… I will address the flat towing issue here… in Athens Texas there is a shop called M&G… they do tow bars, add braking systems… the whole thing… they are wonderful to work with…we just had our 2015 Suburban up there for the M&G braking system a few weeks ago and we were so impressed with them… we also found out they do the tow bars and wiring as well. We use a BlueOx Aventa II tow bar that has a 10K lb. tow rating I believe, anyway it works very well for us. They can get it all and install it for you.

There are mixed feelings about brakes for your tow vehicle but with our big heavy buses we think that is important … as Jon says the brakes are NOT good on these buses and towing a suburban even though you don’t know it’s back there, don’t be fooled because it is and is pushing you when you are braking.

Many PC members have used M&G…. maybe some will see this and give you additional input and support.

As far as a stacker goes that’s another ballgame but needed if you are going to haul so many different things at the same time… but as mentioned on here it’s not for the faint of heart.. can be a real PIA when you arrive in a park just for the night.

I will look up the number for the M&G place and text it to you.

BTW… welcome to PC you will find a wealth of info right here so ask away.

Cheers, Diane

[Larry & Diane]

Thanks for all of the information and feedback. Prevost Owners are coolest people. Please keep the comments and info coming.

I see a lot of people tow 4×4 or AWD. Is that preferred? And what about the battery do you have to disconnect it? If so doesn’t erase the memory every time? We were thinking of putting a tow bar on our Escalade or our Chevy quad cab but both are 2 wheel drive. Our 1 ton quad cab Ford dually is a 4×4 but is is lifted 8″ with aggressive tires and those aren’t cheap, especially 6! So we were thinking of buying a 4×4 Toyota FJ or Jeep to designate as a the tow. Sounds like that might still be the way to go, and cheaper.

Thoughts?

Thanks again,

Dawn

[Archived]

Dawn…

All 2WD and AWD will need a transmission disconnect installed for flat towing and is a royal pain since there are so many readily towable vehicles out there today.

You need a 4WD to tow 4 down and each one has a different proceedure to tow is… once learned it’s a piece of cake… you need to find a 4WD vehicle that you like and that will work for you… some folks tow a pick-up with a golf cart in the back. You don’t see many trailers unless they are business related or race car folks.

Flat towing 4 wheels down is the most popular… there is also a Tow Dolly for non 4WD vehicles which looks small and pretty simple too…. I know nothing about the Tow Dolly.

I already sent you a text for the M&G braking system.

Cheers, Diane

[Archived]

Up until we decided to create a tow car from a 50 Ford all our toads were listed in the FMCA magazine as acceptable for towing. All have been 4 wheel drive, and all that was required was to put the transfer case in neutral.

However in the FMCA lists there are some 2 wheel drive automatics deemed acceptable for towing, but there is a specific procedure required to prevent transmission damage.

Even though the 50 Ford is equipped with a Tremec 5 speed manual that Tremec said “should be OK” for towing in neutral it is now equipped with a driveshaft disconnect. It is a simple device and to use it you just push or pull a cable. But Remco also makes pumps to circulate transmission fluid so most vehicles can be towed.

I would prefer to tow a vehicle the manufacturer says in the owner’s manual that it is OK to tow, and that the owner’s manual provides the specific procedure for towing. With today’s use of computers a lot of vehicles may require certain fuses to be removed or the battery to be disconnected. And yes the memory settings are wiped out in some instances.

[Bryan]

I picked up a used Jeep liberty for towing 4 down. I has a true neutral in the transfer case and is easy to set up.

If you go with a higher end jeep some of the auto transmissions can towed some can not. If I recall correctly the Hydro Trac II has the pushbutton true nuetral. The Hydro Trac some times with a roman numeral 1 does not have a true neutral and can not be towed 4 down.

As Jon said the REMO site and the owners manuals will tell you the true story. Dealers don’t understand the differences.

[Archived]

Jeeps are easy and we’ve had several of them, all automatic and 4 X 4. Our 08 Wrangler needs a battery disconnect or it will be dead in a day. Easy deal, cutoff knife switch at Napa, but the clock then needs reset.

[Tom]

Dawn,

Welcome aboard. No Toyota products can be flat towed from the factory. We flat tow a 13 F150 4×4, a Chevy HHR (which is 2wd and can be flat towed) Or a Jeep Wrangler. After 09, the Wrangler can be towed without disconnecting the battery as Tom mentioned as long as it is 4×4.

We also tow a Featherlite stacker. We use the stacker for Race cars, hot rods and Harley’s. We only tow the stacker when our destination is a Race track (which has plenty of room), or a Wal Mart, or we know that the Campground has room for us. We just stayed in Daytona during the Turkey Rod Run, and the campground had plenty of room for us. So, with a little planning, the stacker works fine. Our Bus was built from new with a matching stacker, and equipped with the heavier duty hitch set up that Jon was talking about. The Bus handles very well with the trailer behind. I have also towed a stacker as long as 36′ long. I have not had a problem with being overlength, but I don’t go to California.

Being an old Trucker…………..I like pulling the trailer. The picture below was at a campground in Daytona.

Jon is correct on the brakes, they work fine as long as you don’t have to stop fast!

[Larry & Diane]

Dawn,

As Diane B said above, go for the heaviest tow bar, in case of Blue Ox, is the “Aventa II”, or the newly released “Avail” both rated for 10,000lbs.

Toyota FJ automatics need a driveline disconnect, but baseplates are made for the FJ. For the MT-6, six speed manual, go to FJforums.com and judge for yourself. Appears that a few owners went with atitude, if it breaks, they’ll pay for repair. But according to what I read on that forum, because we have considered the FJ, there are several FJ owners with manaul trans who have placed the transfer case into neutral, and the trransmisiion in “4”th to keep it from any movement, and with Infrared temp guns, have witness no increased drivetrain temps, other than whats transferred from running gear while under tow. None of the drivetrain heats up to operating temps as if driving down the road with the motor. No personal experience, and I have asked our local privateToyota repair shop, and they don’t have much experience with any new style FJ to make assumptions.

Alot of manufacturers just say no, in case an owner screws up and comes back screaming, “warranty issue’. We had a 2000 Saturn SW2 wagon automatic 14 years ago. They had a restriction of speed of 65. I explained to an engineer that we lived in an area where Interstate speed was 75, not that we drive that fast,and I asked if there was a mechanical reason we could tow a 75,. His answer was No reason, other than Tennessee at the time had a top limit of 65, and they followed that limit. On our 1999 Lexus LX 470, I asked if there was a mechical reason to our shop hwy we couldnt tow it, since Toyota said no, there again they surmised it was a liability issue, not mechanical.

Our 2011 GMC Sierra 2500. “Denali” crew cab as another example, With Remco, telling them we had a Denali truck, they said NO tow unless driveline disconnect. But, further investigation proved, the Denalis suited up as Tahoes, or Escalades which are ALL WHEEL DRIVE, our Denali truck is just a trim level, I called Remco back yesterday and told them our truck infact has a “Transfer Neutral” on the transfer dial, when procedure for a regular GMC Sierra LT 2500 is followd and a bright red letter “N” is displayed under the 4Low arrow on the dial. Practicing with transmission in neutral with key on motor off, turning dial to illuminate the letter N, I then put transmission back in park, the truck rolls freely down the driveway. GMC dealer concurrs, Remco reluctantly said, OK. They still insist the Denali in any form is not towable unless driveline disconnect is used or on a trailer.