I need a reality check on outfitting a tow car

[jdarryl]

I've just received 4 qoutes on setting up my Echo to be towed.

They range from $4000 plus to as low as $1900. I'm a little suspicious of the high end and the low end considering I gave them the exact specs that I was looking for.

These estimates are for a Blue Ox Alexus tow bar, Break Buddy, system wiring, base plate, cables and labor.

The two most thourough estimates were from a Tire shop, $3450 and a trailer supply shop $2963 (and willing to come down some when i mentioned other estimates).

These estimates are for California so may be higher than other regions.

Is this reasonable or should I say the going rate? I so not want to go cheap on this type of equipment, but want to know what others think of the price.

[bcope01]

JD:

Who gave you the quote of $1,900? Do you know anything about them? Can they provide any references? I'd go with the cheapest if the y are qualified and are using the same equipment.

Bill

[BornFree_n_Now]

JD:

You might check eBay/online for prices on the individual pieces of equipment you mentioned ~~ we have found that we save considerably, going this route, as compared to the prices the brick and mortar retailers are asking for the same exact products.

Also, would heartily recommend the Unified Tow Brake by US Gear (http://www.usgear.com/unified_tow_brake.htm) ~~ note their suggested retail price of $1,195, as compared to a current listing on eBay for $655, including free shipping. I have no interest in the eBay listing, and am not affiliated with US Gear ~~ just a very happy customer

[jdarryl]

Larry, I have taken your advice and have found on ebay all the necessary equipment for $1731 as opposed to retailers coming in around $2440.

I assurred by the merchants that I can do the wiring myself, does this ring true?

Also, is there a rating system on braking systems?

I have found the Brake Buddy for $786, a little more expensive than the one you are using.

I have no reference for better or worse so I'm looking for as much feedback on this as possible.

I have priced the Blue Ox Alexus tow bar and rebuilt is $450 new is $595.

Any thoughts on tow bars?

[BornFree_n_Now]

JD:

Good for you, and each project, taken by itself, and followed carefully to its completion, is not all that difficult, and you will learn from the process. I am unaware of a rating system on various braking units ~~ perhaps someone else on this list is ~~ our choice in braking systems was, to a large extent, driven by the fact that we did not want to have to install, remove, and store, a braking unit each time we used our tow vehicle ~~ storage space is always at a premium, and any repetitive task, which we can avoid, gives us more time to enjoy what we traveled to see/do ~~ with regard to tow bars, we have had a Roadmaster Falcon for 8 years, or so, with great success ~~ Blue Ox also makes a great unit ~~ if we were to replace our unit, the two things we would look for are, that the bar remain on the coach when not pulling our tow vehicle, and, that the bar was of the non-binding variety ~~ hope this helps

[bill crommett]

JD: Regarding brakes for the toad: For the same reason that Larry gave

as not having space nor temperment to remove and replace anything in

order to drive the toad, I installed a "Stay In Play" system which leaves a

piston permenently attached to the brake pedal arm. The unit is activated by

the curent from the brake light line, and is adjustable by changing the grav-

ity setting on the main contrl unit which sits under the passenger seat and

does not have to be removed. Our big reason for this arrangements is that

we tow a four wheel drive Tracker with the RV spare in the back, which

up all the extra space.

[whemme]

JD,

If you indicated in your posts what type of vehicle you are planning to tow 4-wheels down, I missed it. In my case, when I purchased my first motorcoach (1999 BF 24' Rear Bath), I also purchased a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu LS to setup as a toad as it could be towed 4-wheels down with no modifications to the car required. Since I was new to this, I had a professional towing and hitch installation service do all the work. At that time, I chose a Blue Ox Aventa II motorhome mounted tow bar system. If I needed to buy a new tow bar, I would now choose the Blue Ox Alexus tow bar now available - in my opinion it has a better gimbal system that reduces the binding that normally results in all tow bars when your trying to hook them up or disconnect them when not parked on very level ground. The Alexus would be a very good choice in my opinion.

I also chose a Brake Buddy aux braking system - but there are a lot of good choices to be made here and some have different features than others.

The other thing you may need to do depending on the vehicle you choose to tow is that the tow bar may not be very level between the BF rear hitch and the toad's tow bar base plate hookup height. All tow bar manufacturers recommend that the motorhome end of the tow bar be no more than 4" higher than the end attaching to the toad with true level being the best. Blue Ox makes what they call a hitch drop receiver adapter in heights of 2", 4", 6" and 8". I use a 4" drop receiver to make my tow bar level between the coach hitch and the toad hookup. The reason you want the tow bar to be as level as possible is that when you drive your coach and toad thru road dips such as when leaving gas stations back onto the highway, any amount the tow bar is out of level coupled with the road dip causes larger amounts of stress on the tow bar and on the base plate mounted to you toad's frame. This stress is then transmitted to your car's frame, front suspension, steering components, and tires. You want to be kind to your toad by keeping the tow bar as level as possible.

The mounting of the base plate to your toad's frame is a job that can either be very easy or can be very difficult depending on your choice of toad. Blue Ox publishes on their website a base plate installation difficulty factor and the number generally means the number of hours an experienced mechanic should take to complete the job. This number generally varies between 1 and 5. I recently traded my 1998 Malibu LS for a newer 2005 Malibu LS and the 2005 is a totally new design so the old Blue Ox base plate would not work on the newer car. On the Malibu and many other cars, the installation of the base plate requires the complete removal of the front bumper assembly and even the headlight assemblies in order to install the base plate. The difficult factor for my base plate was 3 which means that my Chevrolet dealer mechanic should have taken 3 hours to do the job and that is close to what it actually took. However, I think if I had tried to do it myself, assuming that I had all the right tools, I am sure it would have taken me at least twice as long to do it.

The one thing that I did do was my own installation of the wiring for the rear tail, brake, and turn signal lights on this second toad - the professional installer did it on my first toad. You can buy the parts and wiring as a kit for this from Blue Ox and Roadmaster. I also recommend that you install the 4 isolation diodes required to prevent feedback problems between the 3 functions of these rear lights on you toad. Getting the cable wiring from the front grill area thru the car back to the rear lights area of the car in the case of my 2005 Malibu was not as simple as I thought this job would be. I think I spent a good 5 or 6 hours installing this cable, hooking it all up and also installing and mounting the 4 isolation diode packs. If you are not experienced with working with electrical components such as these, then you might want a professional shop to install this cable for you.

What it amounts to is this. The difficult part of setting up your toad is 1) the tow bar base plate installation and 2) the cabling for the toad's rear lights. The rest is fairly easy and can be done with a minimum of work and experience on you own.

[BornFree_n_Now]

JD:

As usual, Bill has given excellent advice ~~ another issue to consider when choosing the braking system, is what the specific requirements of your toad are, vis-à-vis, the towing process. In our case, (towing a Suzuki X90 4WD), we are required to start and run its engine, with the clutch depressed, for a couple of minutes every 200 miles. This process would be much more difficult with a bulkier Brake Buddy type of system, than one such as ours, which allows us to get into the driver’s seat, and, without encumbrance, perform the required operation ~~ there are trade-offs for each type of system, but the choice, in part, will be dependent upon the hard criteria of your particular application.

[jdarryl]

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

I'm planning on towing a 2001 Echo and according to one shop it looks like the book suggests some modification of the belly pan , possibly the bumper.

Unless it's real straight forward I'll probably buy the parts and have a pro put in the base plate and the wiring.

Total estimate of labor was about $440 so worst case scenario is around $2200 and I beleive in another post Bill you might have suggested that it would cost around $2000 to get the right set up.

We'll start out towing a little car and then if we find the need for something larger we'll tackle that later.

[BobM]

Recently I prepared my 1994 Honda Accord Wagon for towing. The initial cost estimates were quite high. I ended up purchasing everything I needed from a supplier in Illinois called Big Discount RV.
http://www.bigdiscountrv.com
The savings were great because of two factors. First the prices for the Roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar, tow bar accessories and Brake Buddy were less expensive than any other source I was familiar with. Secondly, they ship orders of over $250 without a shipping cost and charge no tax outside of Illinois. I purchased the tow bar brackets from Camping World and had them do the installation, including the wiring for the tow car and Brake Buddy. This may not be the best solution for everyone, but it worked well for me.