Towing a Chevy Colorado - disconnect battery or not?

[NealC]

The owners manual of my 2017 Chevy Colorado says to disconnect the negative terminal while towing four down or damage can occur. When I had the Air Force One installed the tech said no need to do that as they wired it to charge the battery while connected to the MH. I trust that the tech is correct in configuring it to charge but I'm concerned with what the owners manual is referring to regarding damage.

Anyone have any info or opinions on this? Am I safe to tow without disconnecting the battery?

[Dutch Star Don]

The damage refers to your electric steering. You'll damage the steering if you tow with the battery connected. There was a very long discussion about this when the current generation of the Colorado and Canyon appeared on the market (do a search in this forum). GM says negative cable because they don't want you to do anything stupid while removing the positive cable, but it really doesn't matter. I bought the Roadmaster solenoid designed for disconnecting the battery electrically. It disconnects the positive side of the battery, via a switch, I located inside the cab. It comes with all the parts you need and is very easy to install.

[NealC]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

The damage refers to your electric steering. You'll damage the steering if you tow with the battery connected. There was a very long discussion about this when the current generation of the Colorado and Canyon appeared on the market (do a search in this forum). GM says negative cable because they don't want you to do anything stupid while removing the positive cable, but it really doesn't matter. I bought the Roadmaster solenoid designed for disconnecting the battery electrically. It disconnects the positive side of the battery, via a switch, I located inside the cab. It comes with all the parts you need and is very easy to install.

Thank you. Do you have a link to what I need to get?

[TomandGloria]

I had a rotary switch installed on my negative cable. Turn it off when I am ready to go.

[Frank Tamez]

Originally Posted by NealC

Thank you. Do you have a link to what I need to get?

Neal

This is what I installed on my 17 Canyon

https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar-Wir...leid=201743830

AND

https://www.etrailer.com/Tow%20Bar%2...er/RM-766.html

AND

https://www.etrailer.com/Base-Plates...id=20171502788

Hope this helps

[NealC]

Originally Posted by TomandGloria

I had a rotary switch installed on my negative cable. Turn it off when I am ready to go.

Tom, can you share info on what you used? Link or any detail? Thanks.

[Frank Tamez]

He is referring to something like this. Make sure you get one with a high amp rating

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/fla-fr1003/overview/

[NealC]

I found something simple such as https://rvibrake.com/products/towed-...nt=22249837829 however the battery configuration in the Colorado is quite an odd looking situation. Never seen hookups like on this battery and of course the Air Force One is wired into it. Going to be yet another something to figure out. I'll look at the Roadmaster RM-766.

[redcolorado]

I use a Battery Brain from Summit Racing. It is activated from a key fob or manually. When I towed my 2015 Colorado the first time I did not disconnect the battery and six hours later the battery would not start the truck. That was with a charge wire connected from the MH to the Colorado battery and the battery connected to the truck. Also these trucks have a Battery Minder circuit. When the battery gets low enough, I think 11.8 volts the battery is disconnected. When the Battery Minder activates you can loose power to your aux braking system. With the truck battery disconnected and a charge wire from the coach this does not happen. I have towed the Colorado 30 months and 20,000 miles with no issues. There is a long thread starting about November 2014. It is well worth reading as it will answer most of your questions and concerns.

[NealC]

Can anyone find the 2014 thread on the Colorado and why the battery needs to be disconnected? If you can provide that thread here I'd appreciate it so I can read it. I also called McGeorge RV and spoke with them and they are pretty adamant that their wiring the charge line will keep the battery charged but I mentioned something about damaging electronic steering but don't know anything more about that. He's going to look into it and get back to me. Just want all the details I can find.

[Frank Tamez]

According to my Service Manager the Colorado and Canyon both have electric power steering. Turning the wheel (such as steering or the act of pulling the truck around a corner) will "wake up" the power steering even if the truck is not running. The problem lies in the fact that when your towing it the wheels are turning causing the steering rack that the power steering runs to work, therefore waking it up instead of the steering wheel turning first. Nobody knows for sure if this is a problem, Including GM but if it damages the power steering the repair won't be covered by warranty. Its his understanding that GM can tell what happened (If the power steering woke up while the truck was not running) by looking at the ECM. He said at the very least it will kill the battery very quickly and may well destroy the power steering. I installed the battery shutoff, a battery charge line and a new 12 volt outlet wired directly from the battery. Might be overkill but I want to be safe and not end up with a truck I can't use when I get where we are going.

[Twomed]

Search " truck battery disconnect switch" on Ebay lots of options for disconnects.

[NealC]

McGeorge just called me back and confirmed the story above, disconnect is required. Many thanks all, really glad I asked for some reason, don't need a messed up new toad!

[Kwags]

We are just setting up a 2017 Canyon for towing. How do we power the brake and the lights if the battery is disconnected?
Thanks for any info on this.

Keith