Bounder with Wranger Towing Help Needed

[S Kisner]

We have a 2016 bounder 35K and just purchased a 2015 Jeep wrangler Sport.
We want to add sway bars and steering stabilizer. We also need a tow bar and base plate. Any recommendations on what and where to buy would be greatly appreciated

Scott

[Elwood58]

Originally Posted by Bound around

We have a 2016 bounder 35K and just purchased a 2015 Jeep wrangler Sport.
We want to add sway bars and steering stabilizer. We also need a tow bar and base plate. Any recommendations on what and where to buy would be greatly appreciated

Scott

Roadmaster has been our choice for all things suspension and towing related. We actually took our 2016 33C Bounder to their facility in Vancouver Washington on Jily 11th. They installed front and rear sways, along with the steering stabilizer, in about 3 hours.

[Lincolnboy2]

Originally Posted by Bound around

We have a 2016 bounder 35K and just purchased a 2015 Jeep wrangler Sport.
We want to add sway bars and steering stabilizer. We also need a tow bar and base plate. Any recommendations on what and where to buy would be greatly appreciated

Scott

Absolutely, I say, absolutely I would put on a steering stabilizer. Best upgrade I ever have spent money on.....wish I'd have done it sooner....

[bobkathy95]

Originally Posted by Lincolnboy2

Absolutely, I say, absolutely I would put on a steering stabilizer. Best upgrade I ever have spent money on.....wish I'd have done it sooner....

I stand corrected - we have a DP - Suspensions on a gas coach are different.

[bluegiller]

Originally Posted by bobkatgifts

We too would recommend the Roadmaster Towing system. Be sure to check E-Bay and Craig's list first. There is always an abundance of tow bars available at substantially less than at an RV dealer.

My experience with eBay and Craigslist was pretty negative. While things might be cheaper than at an RV dealer, anything good as very scarce on Craigslist, anything reasonably priced was no good on eBay. I was looking for a Blue Ox Aventa LX and was seeing used ones on eBay sell for more than what a new one cost on Amazon! I guess nobody checked there before bidding. I got my Aventa LX on Amazon for $550 shipped. I got the baseplate for my '09 Odyssey there, too, also at a much lower price than an RV dealer would have charged. I had it installed by an independent body shop my family's been going to for 30 years. They do good work.

I got some of my other stuff (wiring kit for toad, etc.) at eTrailer.

The one thing I bought on eBay was my Roadmaster Even Brake. It was cheap, but I did have to buy a break-away switch and breakaway cable. I fabricated the break-away wiring harness because I didn't happen to notice it was also missing until I went to install the thing, right before a trip. No time to order one. My bad.

My towing experience on that trip (3200 miles) with the Blue Ox gear was flawless. The Even Brake also worked well, but I would much rather have an M&G. The only reason I don't is because it won't fit on a 2009 Odyssey.

In short, you can't go wrong with either Blue Ox or Roadmaster, IMO. I will specifically recommend Roadmaster for drop receivers, though. I needed an 8-inch drop to get my tow bar level, and BO doesn't make a 10,000 pound receiver with that much drop. RM does, so I got one of theirs. I also will recommend the RM hitch immobilizers over BO. They're cheaper, and worked better, at least for me.

I haven't yet put on a stabilizer, but will probably do that and Air Tabs before next summer's trip. I've heard good things about Steer Safe, and the Blue Ox True Center also sounds interesting. My MH has factory sway bars - no plans to change at this time - and Bilstein shocks. It's not bad as-is overall (better than any large Class C I've driven, anyway) but would nevertheless like to improve it.

[HSnyder]

Stow master tow bar. Stays on the Jeep. Works great. Easy hook up. No extra braking system needed. The Jerp Wrangler tows great. You won't even know it is back there. People tend to make towing a vehicle way to complicated. Keep it simple.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

No extra braking system needed.

Any vehicle in tow needs an auxiliary braking system in case of a vehicle break-away.

[bluegiller]

Originally Posted by HSnyder

No extra braking system needed.

I suppose that depends on your definition of "needed." While a lot of diesel pushers probably have the extra braking capacity to not even notice a Wrangler back there, all (or nearly all) states require a supplementary braking system. In some of them (California included), the heaviest thing you can tow without auxiliary brakes is 1500 pounds.

If you never have an accident and never get pulled over for anything else by a police officer who happens to notice that you don't have a toad braking system, you may get away with it. If you do have an accident, the other person's lawyer will have a field day with it. Something that might have been ruled not your fault could go the other way, with a lawyer arguing that you could have stopped in time if you had an auxiliary braking system.

I'm just a single data point, but last month north of Vegas on 15, a guy merged in front of me in a passenger car, after his climb up a long, uphill ramp. As soon as he was past the point of no return (out of ramp, entering traffic, and past the front of my vehicle), he hit the brakes. I missed him by not more than 20 feet for the following reasons:

1) I had already been gently braking for ~1/4 mile because I had seen him coming up the ramp and just got the feeling he was going to do something stupid. I'm kind of sensitive to that, somehow :-)

2) I have a toad brake

2a) I can't say for sure, but I think he may have floored at my point of closest approach. At least, he was quickly up to a speed perhaps as fast as 90 and was out of sight very quickly.

I absolutely would have hit him without a toad brake. I was looking down on the roof of his car, too close to see the back of it. As he pulled away, I saw he had Utah plates. If he looked in his rear view mirror, he would have seen nothing but the front of my MH.

Granted, I tow something a lot heavier than a Wrangler (2009 Odyssey) but I wouldn't go without a toad brake for anything heavier than a Smart Car or maybe a Miata, and even then, only if I were towing it with a large DP.

WRT tow bars, yeah, you can use the A-frame style that stays on the toad and hooks onto a hitch ball, but I kind of like something that stays with the coach. One that stays with the toad can be easily damaged in a parking lot or off-roading. OTOH, if that happens, it's probably a lot easier to just get a replacement almost anywhere. You can't run into a Pep Boys and buy a Blue Ox - at least, I don't think so :-)

Edit: what Dale and Mark said about a break-away system, too.

[bobkathy95]

Originally Posted by HSnyder

Stow master tow bar. Stays on the Jeep. Works great. Easy hook up. No extra braking system needed. The Jerp Wrangler tows great. You won't even know it is back there. People tend to make towing a vehicle way to complicated. Keep it simple.

True - most coaches have a reserve braking capacity to cover some of the weight of a toad. However, if you are in an accident and the law requires a supplemental braking system - it will not make a hill of beans to the court or the insurance company. Your financial loss and liability will far exceed the cost of a braking system. You do not need to spend the ridiculous cost that some dealers (CW for example) charge. But, you do need to have something in place that works.

[Clayobx]

Amen, all of the above. Aux braking systems are needed in the majority of USA and Canada, by law. If in an accident, you'll pay, dearly!

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by HSnyder

...No extra braking system needed....

All vehicles are designed to stop their own GW, not the weight of anything they are towing. You might argue that if the MH's GVWR is 50k, your actual weight is 45k you can tow 5k and still be within limits. Your vehicle, your decision.

[bluegiller]

Originally Posted by Cat320

Your vehicle, your decision.

In Canada and most US states, the law makes that decision for you, although in the US, where the line weight line is drawn is all over the map. In New York, it's 1,000 pounds. In Alaska, it's 5,000. Kansas requires only that you be able to stop in 40 feet from 20 MPH on a "level, dry, smooth, hard surface."

AAA has a state-by-state list, quoting the laws:

Trailer Brakes - AAA Digest of Motor Laws

They're usually using the word "trailer," but I can't imagine going before a judge and successfully arguing that a flat-towed passenger vehicle is not a trailer for purposes of the legal definition.


The best way to be on solid legal ground everywhere is to have the supplemental braking system. Sure, a big DP towing a lightweight toad probably has more than adequate braking capacity, especially if you travel light, but that's no legal shield if you get pulled over - or worse, are in an accident - and are found to be non-compliant with the law.

As I mentioned further up this thread, having a supplemental brake in my Odyssey almost certainly prevented me - by the skin of my teeth - from hitting someone who did something really stupid right in front of me. That was my first time towing a vehicle behind my MH, so you never know when your number is going to come up for a panic stop like that. It could be never, and I hope it is for all of you, but it could be tomorrow. That's why, even if the law didn't require it, I'd still use a toad brake. I don't really need it under normal conditions, but the shortened stopping distance it provides really matters in an emergency.

[Dale & Mark Bruss]

After a lot of research in state codes, the only time I saw an exclusion for a car in tow not to have an break-away brake system was when being pulled by a wrecker. No motorhome qualifies as a wrecker.

If the car engine isn't moving the car, it is a trailer and needs auxiliary brakes if for nothing else, break-away protection.

[Cat320]

Originally Posted by bluegiller

...In Canada and most US states, the law makes that decision for you...

In theory that may be true, but check out MHs and toads on the road, a great many do not have any brakes on the toads. That decision is up to the MH owner. The government can make all the laws they want...doesn't mean we will pay any attention to them.