Independence Day!

Ok maybe it isn’t July 4th but today is my day of independence!

Having to ask someone to drive my car and follow my RV kills me! It took a lot of planning but I was able to get my car (my Toad) all setup for being towed four down.

What’s four down and what’s a toad?

Towing a vehicle behind a motor home is consider a “towed” or a “toad” vehicle. Being able to have the vehicle towed behind the motor home without the use of a trailer or a dolly means the vehicle is being towed with all four tires down.

This means a lot more flexiblity when being able to maneuver around campsites and less storing the vehicles dolly or trailer.

Installation

I found a local company, GGT Trailers just outside of Concord, NC who was extremely knowledgeable and professional. Highly recommended!

They asked a few questions went over the options and features and ultimately I ended up with:

Blue Ox Baseplate – this is what connects to your cars frame.
Blue Ox tow bar – this connects between the motor homes receiver and the Toads baseplate.
Blue Ox Patriot II – an in car braking system to help ensure my car brakes appropriately.

I left the car with them for a few days while I was in a local campground for the week. They thought it could take up to two days but I received a call it was done that day! I had a lot of RVworking to still get through so I opted to wait until after work and head down on Friday.

Once I arrived I saw my car sitting there and was quite surprised at how little you could actually tell it was done! Unless you’re really looking for it (minus the red cable which is the detachable break-away cable) it wasn’t super noticeable. I like that!

Here’s a peek at the front of the car post install.

The Setup

Being completely new to towing a vehicle I asked they help me setup and show me how things work ????.

I order of hooking everything up, we:

Install the receivers into the baseplate – there are two one on each side. They twist into the holes in the baseplate and a locking pin keeps them secure.
Install the tow bar into the RV hitch. I decided to lock this as I don’t plan to remove this often. Now, I have to remember where I put this key lol!
Connect the breakaway cable from the front of the car to the hitch.
Attach the safety cables to the RV hitch and the front of the car.
Attach the six way cable to the car and the roh ruh! The cable I have is six pin but the RV is a seven pin. GGT has awesome service and was able to rewire the other end and make it work!
Put the brake into the driver side floorboard and connect to the cigarette lighter.
Move the seat forward to touch the brake system and hit setup on the brake and let it tube the brake.

By golly, we’re ready to tow!

I was shown where the new lights were installed (they don’t use the existing factory wire as to not interfere).

Overall I am extremely ecstatic! It was a very pricey process but one that was necessary. As long as I keep my car I can use this on almost any motor home going forward. I can’t wait!

Take a look at some of the photos below.