Ford Focus

[captpar]

Just bought a ford focus (08) manual shift to use as a toad. Anyone towing one now. Will not pick up until monday, so dont have the book to see what the towing procedures are. Any advice?

[captpar]

Just bought a ford focus (08) manual shift to use as a toad. Anyone towing one now. Will not pick up until monday, so dont have the book to see what the towing procedures are. Any advice?

[David K]

I am towing a 2007 Ford Focus 4 down.

I installed a Blue Ox baseplate on the car (to do this you have to strip down the front end of the car to get to the front of the frame -- that is what the baseplate mounts on (my wife had a heart attack as I had the brand new car front end laying in pieces in the garage -- I have the road appearance package with the low valiance too) -- this took about 6 hours of my labor.

I use a Blue Ox tow bar and I have installed the Roadmaster supplement brake system with the break away (Model 9160 -- I have air brakes on my MH). The install of the brake system took a while longer as I had to fashion a mounting bracket for the air cylinder (mounts under the hood) and I fashioned mounting brackets for the connections at the front of the car (break away switch, air connection, electrical connection).

In order to monitor when the brakes are being applied to the toad, I fashioned a mount for a second brake switch -- it activates the light on my MH dash to let me know when the brake has been applied.

I also used the Roadmaster wiring harness to put supplemental lights in the back lights of the Focus so I did not have to cut into the Focus's factory wiring.

A couple of hints -- you can buy a key (from any locksmith) that will just turn on the accessories -- will not allow the car to start and that is what I use when towing. Also when you turn on the key, you will feel it turn to one notch and then a second one before you get to the start part of the rotation. The first one unlocks the steering wheel but, DOES NOT turn on any electric -- that is the position that I tow in -- unlocked wheel but no electrical drain from the car battery.

I am very happy with the system. Just as a note, I purchased all of the components off of Ebay at quite a savings from the listed prices. As an example the supplemental brake system was purchsed for $550.00 including shipping.

[BBBEEBOP]

I tow a 2000 Ford Focus 4 down. Use Road master base plates, just required removal of two lower grill pieces. Wired it myself with the univeral wiring kit using the existing Ford tail lights. Use a Brake Buddy as auxiliary braking with break away. The 2000 only required you to turn the key on and then off without removal and the steering wheel is unlocked and no battery drain or mileage recording. Quite easy and a great tow car.