According to a survey by Camping World, more than 50% of RVers tow a travel trailer, fifth-wheel or a dinghy — or toad as I like to call them. Without a tow vehicle, a trailer would never even get to its destination; and unless a motorhome tows some sort of small vehicle behind it, a trip to town for a loaf of bread or a sightseeing venture becomes time consuming and cumbersome. So, whether you’re towing a trailer or fifth-wheel with your tow vehicle or towing a dinghy behind your motorhome, success and comfort require some skill in selecting the right equipment. Let’s take a look.

Selecting the right vehicle

Whether you’re looking for a tow vehicle to match your trailer or a toad to match your motorhome, you have to check with what the manufacturer recommends. Let’s start with a tow vehicle to match your trailer. Every possible tow vehicle has a rating based on power, brakes, gear ratio and weight. The best place to find this information is to get a copy of the manufacturer’s towing guide. Insist that the dealer get you one. Find the chart applicable to the tow vehicle you’re considering. In most cases you will find a tow rating listed.

If you look carefully you will also find some fine print that is very important. If you read it carefully you will find that the tow rating includes a driver weighing 150 pounds, no passengers, no hitch, no optional equipment of any kind. The weight of all these things must be subtracted from the tow rating. And remember, the tow vehicle’s manufacturer does not include a fudge factor.

The process is only slightly different in selecting a toad to match your motorhome. Again, find the motorhome manufacturer’s towing guide. You will find two numbers that are important. The first is the gross vehicle weight rating (gvwr) of the motorhome. There will also be a gross combined vehicle weight (gcvw). Subtract the gvwr from the gcvw and you will have the maximum weight of toad you can safely tow. In most cases you will also find some fine print that says that the gcvw does not include brakes sufficient to stopping the combined motorhome and toad. You must install a system that actuates the toad’s own brakes in addition to the motorhome brakes.

Towing a Travel Trailer or Fifth-Wheel

Let’s look at some additional equipment for safe towing of a trailer. One thing you need to remember: half the traffic on the road, with you, is behind you. This traffic is just as important as the traffic in front of you. Unless you ordered your tow vehicle with special mirrors, you will quickly find that original- equipment mirrors are not suitable for towing. Proper mirrors will extend far enough that you can see the full length of each side of the trailer. Camping World carries a variety of towing mirrors that provide better towing vision. I suggest a pair of round, curved-surface mirrors — the larger the better. These curved mirrors help you keep track of traffic beside you and can be very important in making turns without hitting something.

If you’re going to tow, you need a suitable hitch. Trailer hitches include two parts: a drawbar and the receiver. Be absolutely certain that both are rated to handle the weight of your trailer. Also, be certain you bought a hitch with weight-distributing bars. These bars help to transfer some of the hitch weight back to the trailer wheels and some forward to the tow-vehicle front wheels. When hitched, both the tow vehicle and trailer should be level.

Tires need to be checked before each trip. Buy a quality pressure gauge and have it checked for accuracy. Always check pressure when the tires are cold. First you need to determine the load on each wheel and the inflation pressure needed to carry that weight. It isn’t easy to get wheel weights. The best way is to go to an RV rally or large show and get a representative of A’Weigh We Go to weigh your rig. They will give you a printout for each wheel and the recommended inflation pressure. Hang on to that printout.

When you’re hooked up and ready to go, check the lights — all the lights. Make sure the brake lights come on. Even if you don’t intend to be out after dark, make sure the clearance lights work. Check both turn signals.

If you’re looking for a tow vehicle for a fifth-wheel trailer, there are a couple of concerns. The first is that hitch weight — usually called pin weight — is much greater than the hitch weight of a travel trailer. Pin weight can run from around 1,500 pounds to more than 5,000 pounds. Be sure when selecting a tow truck that it is rated to carry the pin weight of your fifth-wheel. Also, be sure you match the tow truck’s gcvw to the fifth-wheel. Just because your neighbor has been able to get by with his truck and fifth-wheel doesn’t mean you will be lucky. Also remember that you have to get down from every hill you climb and getting down requires lots of brakes as well as lots of proper technique.

If you’re switching from towing a travel trailer to towing a fifth-wheel there are a couple of things you need to be aware of. First, if the fifth-wheel hitch is properly installed, just in front of the tow vehicle’s rear axle, you will get almost no sway. That’s good. But that also means you will get some changes in turning corners and backing into campsites. When turning corners, you will find that the trailer wheels cut across the corners a bit. Nothing to worry about. Just watch it. Second, when backing, direction changes don’t respond quite so quickly. Again, nothing to worry about, just a new technique.

If you’re towing a fifth-wheel trailer you don’t have much choice of tow-vehicle type. It’s going to be either a pickup truck or a medium-duty truck, which is just a pickup truck on steroids. These trucks are the same width and usually about the same length as a pickup truck but are much safer and longer lived than pickups. If your fifth-wheel is 32 feet or longer, you’re looking at a medium-duty truck conversion.

If a travel trailer is your choice, you have more options in selecting a tow vehicle. Full-size vans and pickups can tow the largest travel trailers quite well. The differences between the two are in appearance and passenger comfort. Larger SUVs are also good tow vehicles for larger trailers. Make your choice according to your needs and be sure to check the towing guide for tow ratings. Smaller SUVs aren’t a good choice for towing larger trailers, even if they have the power. The shorter wheelbase makes them very maneuverable, but more susceptible to sway.

Sway can be a problem with any travel trailer and tow-vehicle combination. Wind, passing traffic and road surface can all induce sway. All of these factors cause the trailer to be continually moving. Trailer movement can cause the tow vehicle to move. We call the movement sway. Under some conditions, the sway may become so strong that you lose control of the rig. The best answer is to use a trailer hitch with sway bars. There are several choices and all work. Read your owner’s manual and make adjustments carefully.

Motorhome Towing a Dinghy

So that covers towing trailers, but, how about motorhomes? First, you have to find out how much your motorhome can handle. We touched on that briefly earlier. Find out the towing capacity by checking the manufacturer’s towing guide. Subtract the gross vehicle weight from the gross combined vehicle weight rating. In most cases that will be about 5,000 pounds but don’t assume you can tow 5,000 pounds comfortably and safely. Motorhomes, especially the larger gasoline-powered models, operate near the top limits of the engine and transmission. It is best to select a towed vehicle in the 3,000 pounds area or less.

There are three ways you can tow a vehicle. You can keep all four wheels on the pavement, use a tow dolly that carries two of the dinghy’s wheels, or use a trailer that carries the dinghy. Not all vehicles can be towed with all wheels on the pavement. With few exceptions, only vehicles with a manual transmission can be towed four wheels down. But not all manual transmissions can be towed four wheels down. The only way to be sure is to check with the manufacturer or with someone you can trust who has. Don’t bother asking your dealer unless he will put his answer in writing. Don’t bother asking the guy in the next campsite. Get the data from the manufacturer in either published form or a letter. Why all this concern? Towing models, not designed to be towed on four wheels, can result in transmission failure. It can also result in engine destruction. I have an acquaintance whose dinghy caught fire from the heat and burned. Not good. All this is not intended to frighten you from using a towed vehicle. It’s just to stress that doing it the right way is very important.

If you choose a vehicle that cannot be towed four on the ground you still have two choices. You can use a tow dolly or a trailer. A dolly carries two of the wheels, usually the front wheels. A good dolly has its own brake system, usually surge brakes. Getting the towed vehicle on or off the dolly only takes a few minutes.

If you wish to use a dinghy that can’t be towed four on the ground and you don’t want to use a dolly, you can still carry the toad on a trailer. Match the total weight of toad to the capacity of the trailer. Usually the trailer will have its own brake system or can be equipped with brakes.

There are a couple of things to consider before making your choice. It is virtually impossible to back a motorhome with a toad hitched four on the ground or on a dolly. A trailer can be backed. A trailer or a dolly will be wider than the toad, which requires a little bit of care when towing. Both a dolly and a trailer will take parking space when not in use.

If you choose to tow four on the ground, you must select a tow-bar system. Older-style systems consist of a V-bar attached to the front of the toad that swings down to attach to a ball on the drawbar. Hitching up requires precisely backing the motorhome to the exact spot where things will drop together. It also isn’t easy to remove the V-bar from the front of the toad. Most owners simply lift the V-bar to a vertical position, which tends to take away a lot of the good looks of the toad. Better and more modern systems, like the Roadmaster Sterling, Tracker or Falcon, use different attachments and telescoping arms so that hitching is easy. Some systems fold into a small bundle that stays with the toad. Other systems fold to a bundle that stays with the motorhome. Make your choice. I strongly urge you to spend the additional money and get one of the more modern telescoping systems.

Regardless of the towing system A you select, you will quickly find that a motorhome throws dirt and grit on the towed vehicle. This can result in a broken windshield. Rock guards attached to the rear of the motorhome can help. Get a guard with stiff material. Even with a rock guard, you will still get a lot of dirt on the toad. Some owners have installed a car shield that mounts on the tow bar.

As mentioned earlier, a towed vehicle adds significantly to the brake load of the motorhome. Most motorhome manufacturers warn that the dinghy’s brakes must be activated. There are several systems available. All work. Camping World carries the Brakemaster system, which applies proportional braking pressure on all four wheels of the towed vehicle.

Don’t forget that your dinghy will need some sort of lights that are operated by the motorhome. This can be a separate set of lights or, in some instances, a connection between the motorhome lights and the toad’s lights. Both systems work and both require a walk-around check before hitting the road.

By now it should be clear that any RV is a sort of starter kit. Because of individual ideas about how things will be used, no manufacturer can build a product that fits all buyers. So it’s up to you to look at how you’re going to use your rig and personalize it accordingly.





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