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Old 04-01-2023, 12:33 PM   #1
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Towing Options

Went to get a price for a towbar (Roadmaster setup) with brake hit to pull our Chevy Colorado from Camping World. Was to told to expect a end price between $4K and $6K. This seems super expensive. What should I really pay? Think the main part is like $800, base-plate $500, brake module to use truck's brake without killing the battery another $500. So labor is $2K-$4k?



Looked at car-carrier trailers and discovered that Budget and Penske require you to rent a truck at the same time (so no trailer rentals without truck rental). U-Haul's website does not like Class As.



Found one place that will sell me a trailer for $4K +registration/taxes.
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Old 04-01-2023, 01:16 PM   #2
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Old 04-01-2023, 03:12 PM   #3
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I got everything from etrailer plus they do free shipping. Here is the Roadmaster BlackHawk 10K tow bar, I have had mine for about 6 years.
https://www.etrailer.com/Tow-Bar/Roadmaster/RM-422.html
also look at the Roadmaster Tow Defender, works great.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories...r/RM-4700.html
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Old 04-01-2023, 05:55 PM   #4
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$4k is around the going rate for top-line towing equipment and the labor to install & set-up. $6k is exorbitant.


Base plates (installed) is at least $1000 - it is a lot of work on any newer vehicle. Wiring to provide lights (stop/tail/turn) on the toad runs another $400. A high end tow bar with accessories runs near $1000 these days but there is only trivial labor involved for setting that up. The brake system is the biggie, both equipment & labor. Figure about $2000 installed.


I'd use a hitch shop rather than CW or any RV dealer. Better yet, ask an installer if you can buy the parts and just pay him the labor. That's the least expensive short of DIY install.
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Old 04-01-2023, 06:07 PM   #5
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Here is a little tidbit.....typically, base plates made by Blue Ox and Roadmaster use the same area of the vehicle to install their base plates. However, on the Colorado/Canyon Blue Ox has the connections come out above the bumper and Roadmaster has them come out below the bumper. This is important, depending on what type of RV you have. The lower mounted Roadmaster base plates work with diesel pushers. The Blue Ox, mounted higher up, work better with the taller rear bumpers of gassers. If you use the Roadmaster base plates, you'll probably need a drop hitch.
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Old 04-01-2023, 06:09 PM   #6
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I think $4k is about right, depending on what brake system you use.

I have a Blue Ox Avail towbar and appropriate baseplates for my Grand Cherokee and the Air Force One brake system. I also wired my GC lights to to work with the RV lights (with an aftermarket cable). Parts alone would be $3k. You can get different braking systems and maybe a less expensive tow bar but you are likely still at least $2k for parts. Labor is expensive, I was fortunate in that I have some mechanical experience and my brother is a Jeep Mechanic so he helped me install my system. It took the two of us probably 6-7 hours to install and we had the benefit of using his employer's garage and vehicle lift.

It was a lot of work to install the base plates, we had to remove the entire front of the GC, which comes off in one piece, but there are a lot of fasteners and clips and you have to know how to remove them. We also had to remove the windshield washer tank. We had to drill holes for some bolts and it was a tight fit.

I bought a wiring harness that plugged into the factory taillight harness and ran to the front of the vehicle where we installed a plug to connect to the motorhome. Running this harness was the easiest part of the process and took only about 1 hour.

Seems to me there is not really an inexpensive way to have a tow vehicle, probably least expensive is to choose an inexpensive tow vehicle.
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Old 04-01-2023, 06:20 PM   #7
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Thanks for all the replies. I will push this off until we get to Texas and where we plan to buy a Jeep Wrangler as a Toad. For the trip out there from VA, I spoke with someone from U-Haul on their 800 number and now have a car-hauler reserved. We went over all the weights, and all should be good to go.


The RV is a gasser. Ford V8.
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Old 04-01-2023, 08:14 PM   #8
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Price is about $4500 installed for a Blue Ox tow system and RViBrake and RVi installed battery charger last March.
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Old 04-02-2023, 09:01 AM   #9
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I paid about $5200 in 2019 to my rv dealer to setup my GMC Acadia and motorhome

Blue Ox Ascent towbar
Blue Ox baseplate
Blue Ox accessory kit
Blue Ox Diode light harness kit
Blue Ox protective cover
Blue Ox locking pin set
Non proprietary battery charge line
Patriot 2 portable braking system with dash monitor
Ultra Rock Guard
Ultra Rock Guard angle iron
Labor
Training

In 2021 had an issue with toads running lights. Brought back to dealer. Traced to a broken 6 pin connector. Replaced free of charge 2 years later under an extended warranty they granted because of Covid non use

Edit: afterwards I installed 2 Blue Ox fuse bypass switches, about another $200 for both
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Old 04-02-2023, 11:42 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavensRoost View Post
Thanks for all the replies. I will push this off until we get to Texas and where we plan to buy a Jeep Wrangler as a Toad. For the trip out there from VA, I spoke with someone from U-Haul on their 800 number and now have a car-hauler reserved. We went over all the weights, and all should be good to go.


The RV is a gasser. Ford V8.
You may be able to save some time (labor) and maybe even some money, by changing the front bumper to one of the custom steel ones, with the tow mounts already in place on the bumper.
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Old 04-02-2023, 03:47 PM   #11
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I would go with the NSA RV Products ReadyBrute Hercules towbars with built-in ReadyBrake! Rated at 12,000 lbs. It's the least expensive setup on the market that I'm aware of, and comes with lifetime warranty!
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Old 04-02-2023, 05:00 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavensRoost View Post
Thanks for all the replies. I will push this off until we get to Texas and where we plan to buy a Jeep Wrangler as a Toad. For the trip out there from VA, I spoke with someone from U-Haul on their 800 number and now have a car-hauler reserved. We went over all the weights, and all should be good to go.


The RV is a gasser. Ford V8.

I suspect you have a 5,000 pound hitch (correction it looks like you have an 8,000 hitch, though you only have 4,000 pounds between your GVWR and your GCWR, so may be limited on weight even if traveling nearly empty) if so are likely going to be WAY over on weight with that U-Haul car hauler trailer, which according to their web site weighs in at 2,210 pounds. Google says the Chevy Colorado weighs between 4,300 - 4,500 pounds.


p.s. $4,000 was fairly common towing setup cost when I first started looking at doing it in 2017, recent prices people have reported seem to all be $4,500 and up the last year or so with prices continuing to go up. I did it in 2019 buying some parts second hand for my wife's 2017 Jeep Cherokee as a multi day DIY project for right at $2,000, but this including paying $400 for an 18 month old Roadmaster Even Brake 9400 which currently retails for $1,488 online (was $1,250 in 2019), and $300 for a used tow bar which now sells for $825 (was $750 last time I looked last year)
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Old 04-03-2023, 07:56 AM   #13
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You got me thinking, which is a good thing. Curb weight of my Colorado is 4450 and there will be stuff in the bed under the tanneau cover which is probably another 500#. The hitch is rated at 8,000 pound capacity but the tongue weight is only rated at 500 pounds. 10% of Trailer + truck is about 700 pounds, actually could be much higher.


The yellow sticker has OCCC at 4,152 pounds and we have the rigged pretty well loaded. Looks like we are going to have bite the bullet and get a TOAD set up.



Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac-1 View Post
I suspect you have a 5,000 pound hitch (correction it looks like you have an 8,000 hitch, though you only have 4,000 pounds between your GVWR and your GCWR, so may be limited on weight even if traveling nearly empty) if so are likely going to be WAY over on weight with that U-Haul car hauler trailer, which according to their web site weighs in at 2,210 pounds. Google says the Chevy Colorado weighs between 4,300 - 4,500 pounds.


p.s. $4,000 was fairly common towing setup cost when I first started looking at doing it in 2017, recent prices people have reported seem to all be $4,500 and up the last year or so with prices continuing to go up. I did it in 2019 buying some parts second hand for my wife's 2017 Jeep Cherokee as a multi day DIY project for right at $2,000, but this including paying $400 for an 18 month old Roadmaster Even Brake 9400 which currently retails for $1,488 online (was $1,250 in 2019), and $300 for a used tow bar which now sells for $825 (was $750 last time I looked last year)
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Old 04-04-2023, 08:44 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RavensRoost View Post
Thanks for all the replies. I will push this off until we get to Texas and where we plan to buy a Jeep Wrangler as a Toad. For the trip out there from VA, I spoke with someone from U-Haul on their 800 number and now have a car-hauler reserved. We went over all the weights, and all should be good to go.


The RV is a gasser. Ford V8.
If you are in Texas, consider M&G Braking. We just had it installed on our Tiffin Bus / Ford F150. They did a very quality install. I had the Blue Ox, but they had to swap the ends, add the air line, charging line, base plate, etc. $2400.

https://www.mgbrakes.com/
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