Towing a vehicle

[beerob63]

Greetings,

I have a 36' Land Yacht (1990), the manual says the towing capacity is 2000lb. Although I am new to RVing, that seems kind of low, any thoughts?

[Andrew T]

They regularly towed considerably more than 2000 pounds. To do so you need to strengthen the hitch receiver. Currently it is held on with 4 bolts with very little spread on the frame rail.

The car should have brakes on it, something like a brake buddy etc. Also make sure your tag axle brakes are working properly. Tag axle bearings should be regreased at 10,000 miles maximum and they use specific seals and bearings.

Try and keep the car reasonably light, you don't want to tow an Escalade.

Never under any circumstances back up with the car attached even 6' can bend something.

Andrew T

[mccrosti]

Listen to the VAP podcast in which Andy explains all this in detail. I listened to it again yesterday, if you want to educate yourself on how things work between the TV and trailer the information is invaluable. The folks at Can Am have done years of research with many different vehicles and the results are amazing.

[beerob63]

Originally Posted by Andrew T

They regularly towed considerably more than 2000 pounds. To do so you need to strengthen the hitch receiver. Currently it is held on with 4 bolts with very little spread on the frame rail.

The car should have brakes on it, something like a brake buddy etc. Also make sure your tag axle brakes are working properly. Tag axle bearings should be regreased at 10,000 miles maximum and they use specific seals and bearings.

Try and keep the car reasonably light, you don't want to tow an Escalade.

Never under any circumstances back up with the car attached even 6' can bend something.

Andrew T

Andrew,

Thanks for the valuable info. My perspective TV is a Toyota Prius (although my previous vehicle was an Escalade...funny). I will be sure to verify the installation/strength of the tow hitch as well as the functionality of the tag axle brakes and maintenance on the bearings. My intentions are to utilize a tow dolly equipped with a braking system so we are on the same page there. Thanks again!

[Andrew T]

Hi Bryan

The Prius will get even better mileage when your towing it.

Make sure the tow dolly has electric brakes, surge brakes are very unreliable and hard to test. You can connect the electric brakes to the wire feeding the electric brakes on the tag axle.

Some of these coaches had a Tekonsia brake control hidden under the dash. It was a square box with no manual operation. If you have one of those it would be easy to change it out to a Prodigy P2 which gives you manual actuation and it is much easier to ajust. The wiring is the same.

Andrew T

[beerob63]

Andrew,

I was hoping to get your opinion of my trailer hitch (pictures attached). From a rookie point of view it appears to be pretty robust; heavy welds, cross member and bolted to the frame. Please let me know what you think, thanks.

[Skater]

Dollies are hell to tow. I always hated ours. I recently rented a full-car trailer to tow a vehicle, and it was much, much nicer compared to the dolly...starting with the ability to back up. Unfortunately a full-car trailer is much harder to park at home and a campground, and more expensive, so the dolly probably is the more practical choice.

Watch your clearance when loading the car on the dolly; at least some of them are made with SUVs in mind and your car won't clear the center...if that's an issue, welcome to the world of carrying boards or other items to help it clear, and the resulting hassle of that.

Yeah, I don't miss our dolly one tiny bit... I actually prefer towing our 30', ~10,000 lb Airstream trailer to the dolly. That's how different it is. It's actually fun to tow the trailer. Towing the dolly was a constant concern of "what's going to happen next?"

[DaveFL]

Checked your other posts but didn't see if it is gas or diesel? Would make a big difference in the ability of the unit to pull extra weight. My gasser does great with the honda fit, but does pull with more effort the ford ranger, the extra 1500 pounds makes a difference.
My problem was trying to figure out why the PO put on a 8000 pound towing bar, when the receiver is marked 5000 and the AS book shows 3000. If you look close at your chassis framing you might be able to see where AS added to the length, to pull more weight it should be the same gauge metal as the original chassis and have the extra cross members to handle more than what AS designed it to pull.
Reading the posts for years, you will find most people like to pull 4 wheels down, those using a trailer usually will put up with the extra effort to use it so that they can pull something that manufacturer says it can't be pulled 4 down. MH magazine for the list of cars that can be pulled 4 down.

[beerob63]

It is gas (454), thanks for the MH magazine guidance; my car (Prius) is definitely not a 4 down vehicle!