Flat Towing and Maneuvering Gas Stations

[mjschocken]

My wife and I recently got back from a six-week trip out west to see Sedona and some national parks. It was a great trip and I got some great help from those on this forum with regard to downshifting (using tow haul) and even with grocery stores in the Bryce and Zion Canyon areas. Thank you!

On our trip, we rented a car several times and realized that it would be great to tow a car. I'm thinking about a two-door Jeep wrangler or similar model that we can flat tow. I have never towed anything like that, in an RV or a car so I have a question. On our western trip, we had to pick our gas stations carefully, even the particular pump, to be able to get our 32-foot motorhome into and out of the station reasonably easily. Now I'm thinking about adding the length of a car to the equation. How do you pick suitable gas stations when you're towing with the motorhome and the car? I assume you can't back up with a car in tow so do you have any advice in this regard. The motorhome runs on unleaded regular gasoline and not diesel. If the latter, I could fill up with the trucks and it would be a lot easier. But with gas, I need to go with the cars, right? So for those of you with Class Cs and flat-towed cars, what's your strategy for dealing with gas stations. Hopefully this is not too basic a question.

As always, thanks.

Mark

[richf]

I've towed a Honda CRV and now a Wranger using a Blue Ox system and in both cases the towed vehicle turns with the MH (if you miss the curb with the MH rear duals you will miss the curb with the towed). Needless to say you have to look and plan ahead at fuel stops, restaurants, etc. Many times you can use the outside pumps and have more room . I've only had to unhitch the towed twice in many thousands of miles. A good idea is find a parking lot and determine the turning radius of your MH. My 36' diesel pusher had a shorter turn radius than my 24' Ford E450. Watch out driving into a residential cul de sac.
Rich

[EdInArk]

We just completed about a 5000-mile trip with our 30' gasoline A-class pulling our car on a dolly.

Some Flying-J or Pilot truck stops have RV lanes. They are wonderful. They have gasoline and diesel with pumps on each side and lots of entry and exit area. My wife downloaded a spreadsheet from the Pilot / Flying J website that listed all their stations with all sorts of info including whether they had RV lanes or not. When traveling we check for them along the way and use them where possible.

Aside from that, I agree with richf. I find that if I can get in with the RV, I can get in with the car on the dolly. The end pumps are easier, and sometimes you can drive all the way around the station. Although, I did get into some of the inside pumps where I had room to exit.

I also don't pass up a good opportunity. We, for instance, stopped for lunch one day and saw a station across the street with good, straight-through pumps and lots of entry and exit area. Though we were half full, we didn't pass that one up.

[hilgert]

We never a gas station until we know how we will exit. And we try to aim for Pilot/Flying J's whenever we can.

HOWEVER, we did have one problem at a Pilot/Flying J that had the dumbest gas lanes ever. While the diesels had the typical pull thru lanes, the gas lanes were at a 45° angle to both the entrance and the exit. But, the 45° angle was the wrong way...on both sides. Basically only folks not towing could get in/out easily, and perhaps those with smaller trailers. Anyone flat towing was screwed if they entered...like sticking your fingers in a Chinese finger trap. You'd have to disconnect to exit. We did see one guy in a truck with a U-Haul trailer going forward/backward just to get a good exit path.

Whomever (wife or I) that is in the copilot seat starts looking for stations about 100 miles before we need to stop, and we pull them up in Google Maps in satellite view. This one looked odd, but since it was a Pilot/Flying J we figured we were just not "seeing" it right. Big mistake...we ended up driving about 5 miles around it on back roads just to get back to the freeway.

[Sagamore]

I always scan the station for easy in and out. I always fill up with a half tank so I have the fuel to pass the gas station if I see it's not Rv friendly.

[Sagamore]

Always know the height of your Rv because of overhangs. Our toad is a Ford Focus station wagon manual tranny.

[hilgert]

With a looooong rear on our Sunseeker we always carefully watch our tail swing when we exit a station...as it's not just the back of the motorhome, but also the towed, that might hit something.

[hilgert]

Originally Posted by Sagamore

I always scan the station for easy in and out. I always fill up with a half tank so I have the fuel to pass the gas station if I see it's not Rv friendly.

We drive about 280-300 miles, 4 or 5 hours, or when the tank gets below about 1/4 (1/8 at the most) before we get fuel. It's also a good time for the wife and I to switch pilot/copilot positions. As I said in a prior post, we start planning 100 miles or so ahead, and if we do not see a solid fuel stop on the map we will stop sooner.

We also keep two 5 gallon containers of gas in the bed of the F150 towed just in case a planned fuel stop is not RV friendly. If we needed more, the F150 has a 38 gallon fuel tank from which fuel can be siphoned (it's slow with the 1/4" tubing required to get past the stupid capless fuel cap, but it works).

[stevemoores]

I only have 24ft and tow a wrangler 4-down with a ReadtBrute Towbar..


I used to tow one on a trailer, the trailer would cut the corner and had to be watched.


The Jeep now follows really well and is always within the wheel tracks of the motorhome, I've never seen it cut a corner behind me.


Backing up would be an issue. The ReadyBrute is so fast though, I could have the Jeep off in under a minute if the wife was sat in it ready to reverse out of the way.


Steve

[JoeSR]

My MH is a 33' gasser with a Jeep Wrangler in tow, I don't use Pilot/Flying J and I have not disconnected at a gas station in the 20K miles I have driven this MH. So, it must be possible to fill this thing up.

I have by-passed a lot of stations. I have waited in line at a pump that had an easy exit. I have talked to people that have just parked their vehicle in my exit path. I had my wife get out and watch my clearance. Worse case, I always have the ability to disconnect the Jeep and back out the way I came in.

[affreeman]

I drive a 35' gasser and with the toad attached the whole thing is 54' long. Drove 6,000 miles this summer from Boston to Colorado and back and never had any real problem finding gas. Like many others I like the Flying J's with the RV lanes. But I used plenty of other stations as well.

While traveling I usually plan to fill up each morning. That way wherever I'm stopped in the evening I'll search for gas stations on Google Maps and use satellite view and street view to get an idea of which of the local stations I can best get in and out of.

As regards the tracking of the toad, in my experience it's usually true that if you clear with the motorhome the toad will clear as well, but I have had a couple of instances maneuvering through really tight city streets where I've taken a right turn and cleared the curb with the drive wheels of the motorhome but had the car go over the curb making the corner. That only happens on the tightest of curves but it's something to be aware of and to watch with your mirrors.

I've also encountered gas stations I couldn't use because with the motorhome positioned at the pump the toad was still sticking out into the roadway. I think that might me a northeast thing where real estate is precious and lots are tight.

[CampDaven]

My MH is 43 + Wrangler.
Don't sweat the small stuff.
Get a CDL manual from a driver test office and practice the maneuvering stuff. Like the button hook turn. And get used to your nice tight wheel cut!
Beating truck stops by 20 to 40 cents per gallon can pay for future new tires!
It's easy to do this:

[mchlsullivan]

Originally Posted by mjschocken

My wife and I recently got back from a six-week trip out west to see Sedona and some national parks. It was a great trip and I got some great help from those on this forum with regard to downshifting (using tow haul) and even with grocery stores in the Bryce and Zion Canyon areas. Thank you!



On our trip, we rented a car several times and realized that it would be great to tow a car. I'm thinking about a two-door Jeep wrangler or similar model that we can flat tow. I have never towed anything like that, in an RV or a car so I have a question. On our western trip, we had to pick our gas stations carefully, even the particular pump, to be able to get our 32-foot motorhome into and out of the station reasonably easily. Now I'm thinking about adding the length of a car to the equation. How do you pick suitable gas stations when you're towing with the motorhome and the car? I assume you can't back up with a car in tow so do you have any advice in this regard. The motorhome runs on unleaded regular gasoline and not diesel. If the latter, I could fill up with the trucks and it would be a lot easier. But with gas, I need to go with the cars, right? So for those of you with Class Cs and flat-towed cars, what's your strategy for dealing with gas stations. Hopefully this is not too basic a question.



As always, thanks.



Mark

Hi Mark, I have a 31 ft ford quantum mh and I tow a 2 door Jeep Wrangler and I love it. Just got back from the Smokies mountains towing my keep and you don't even know its on there. The first couple of times was challenging to find a gas station to maneuver in an out but I found a solution, I got a pilot RV plus charge card for gas an set my gps for there service centers ( there all over the place ) easy in easy out plus 5 cent cheaper at the pumps I hope this helps Mike

[Old-Biscuit]

Use the OUTSIDE lane..........


And go to a large empty parking lot and practice
Pulling in between the striped parking spots
Pulling out..watch that tail swing
Pulling thru lanes/maneuvering thru lot
Check turning radius, how much tail swing you have, how tight of an area you can pull thru.

Bring some weighted boxes and set them out as obstacles next to parking spots.......like boulders, small fences, tress etc that you might encounter in CGs
See how many you squash

Practice...

Not a MH but a LONG truck and LONG 5th wheel

We traveled FT for 7 yrs using back roads...small Mom/Pop Stations.
Figure IF I can get in/drive thru CGs and park in those tight sites I can get in/out of most ANY parking lot/fuel station etc. And I was right