Dinghy Vehicle

[ronrathnow]

Just purchased a Ford Edge. According to the owner's manual it can be towed as a dinghy. Anybody have any personal experience with towing the Edge? Thanks.

[num1dgh]

We tow our 2010 Ford Edge with no problems. Start the car, make sure that everything is off (I always turn the headlights off, too - I don't leave them on the automatic position). Move the shift from Park to Reverse to Neutral to Low, then back to Neutral. All my research indicates that you should NEVER go from Reverse to Neutral. The Edge manual does not say that you should run the vehicle any length of time before towing, but the manual for our previous dinghy (Honda CRV) suggested running it 3 minutes in neutral, so I do that with the Edge as well. You turn the car off while in neutral (be CERTAIN that your parking brake is OFF), but only turn it one click (that will leave it in accessory 1 position) so that the steering wheel is free to move. Be sure all your windows are closed, as well. We have found that the Edge does great for 6 hours, but even though everything is OFF it killed the battery during one nightmare trip that ended up 9 hours. Had we stopped and run the car a bit I think it would have been fine, but at the time that we stopped our windshield wipers on the coach were broken and it was pouring rain . . . we had a few other things on our mind.

The edge tows great and is a very comfortable vehicle to run around in when you reach your destination. It easily holds two sets of golf clubs, and lots of cargo.

[sandpiper]

We tow our 2011 Edge Limited AWD. Follow what it says in the manual. For my own peace of mind I installed a Toad Charge so there is never a battery problem. We have always used Roadmaster so we did the same on this one. Be aware that if you have adaptive cruise control the installation is different from those that don't. num1dgh throws in some extra steps that can't hurt. The Edge tows just fine. have fun.

[ronrathnow]

Thanks very much for the replies. I've been very impressed with the Edge even though we've only had it a few days now. We got the 2011 SEL AWD version. In reading the RoadMaster site it sounds like there may have to be modifications made to the front grill or somewhere on the front. If so can you tell me what they are?

[sandpiper]

On ours, with the adaptive cruise control, the grill opening just above the license plate has some of the black extruded plastic cut out to expose the baseplate attach points. About 4 inches is removed for each of the two attach points. It is only noticable if you look for it because the attach points are not sticking out. Probably similar for those without adaptive cruise only at a lower point on the grill.

[ronrathnow]

Thanks, Sandpiper. We don't have the adaptive cruise on ours so we'll see how it works out. Thanks again for the feedback.

[ronrathnow]

Back to num1dgh and sandpiper. What type of braking system are you using with your Edges? I'm looking at the Roadmaster Invisi-Brake. If that won't fit under the front seat, I'll look at one of the other Roadmaster systems.

[sandpiper]

I have a Roadmaster Brakemaster 9000.

[rmmpe]

We have a 2007 Edge and have towed it approx. 20,000 miles.

I don't leave the key in the accessory mode but turn the key back as far as it will go when the Edge is in Neutral, which isolates all circuits. I also installed a Toad-Charge.

However, with all the new stuff they have on them now, I can't say this method will work for you.

[ronrathnow]

Thanks again for the replies. Looks like we'll go with the Brakemaster set-up. The Invisi-brake system, as it turns out, is a bit big. It will work with the Edge, but if you try and place the Invisi-brake box under the driver seat it will hang out and take up foot space for the rear passenger. For that reason we opted to go with the Brakemaster.