Can anyone ID this trailer?

[andygaunt]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone can identify the trailer in these photos? Apologize for low resolution nature of the photos, these are the only ones available to me.

Many thanks

Andy

[Jpiland]

Trailer???

[andygaunt]

Hi,

Yes, I see it has a Blue Ox cover on a portion of it, but have not seen one that looks like this and curious if anyone recognized it including the portion under the back of the coach.

If I'm using the incorrect wording here I apologize. Would this be classed as a hitch vs a trailer?

[pstroke1]

https://hydralift-usa.com/motorhome-lift-2/

[TexasJack]

I can only guess about what's under the Blue Ox cover, but what is unusual to me is what looks like a hydraulic lift - and that is what you are asking about?

[Jpiland]

Well it looks like a motorcycle lift and carrier. Not a trailer. You would put your motorcycle on the lift and lift it and then hook up your Toad.

[LWBAZ]

Andy, if you're asking about what's under that Blue Ox cover, it would in all likelihood be a Blue Ox folding tow bar, similar to one of these:

https://www.blueox.com/recreational-...owing/tow-bars

Several companies make such tow bars, which are used to tow a car or light truck behind a motorhome. To do so, a baseplate is installed on the vehicle to be towed and the tow bar is connected to the baseplate for towing. More info on baseplates here:

https://www.blueox.com/baseplates-sorting

The other/larger apparatus on the back of the motorhome in the photos is a lift used to carry a motorcycle. The framework on the ground under the motorhome is, in all likelihood, associated with the lift. My guess is the owner is simply storing it under the coach while he's parked.

Any confusion, feel free to ask.

[andygaunt]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

We are in the process of getting our first coach and have a car that "can" flat tow but as it's a lease I am looking into options for dolly towing.

Any ideas/inspiration for tow-bars/hitches are greatly appreciated.

- Andy

[LWBAZ]

Andy, to flat tow your leased car, you will, at a minimum, have to install a baseplate. I'm not sure how happy your leasing company would be about that when they get the car back, so I wouldn't do it without checking.

Dolly towing will work and it is pretty easy to find lightly used dollies for sale. There is a reason for that, which is that most RV'ers find dolly towing to be more hassle than they care to deal with and end up switching to flat towing.

In your situation, it might make sense to buy a new or lightly used dolly to tow your leased vehicle. Then when the lease is up you can decide where you want to go from there.

In my opinion/experience, flat towing is by far the most convenient approach. Others will have differing opinions, so there is no right or wrong answer - just whatever works best given all the considerations of a given situation.

[Gary.Jones]

Andy

You are going to find that many people with big coaches like an Entegra are not likely going to be happy with a dolly towing a car. I would not personally be happy with a dolly behind virtually any vehicle, for a couple of reasons. First is that you now have two swivel points... the tow hitch and the car swiveling on the dolly. You probably cannot ever (well very rarely) back up a coach plus flat towed car, but you will certainly never be able to back up a coach plus dolly plus swivel mounted lease car. However, the worst part of tow dolly is just dealing with the dolly when you travel. Now if you are going to drive somewhere and sit at that spot for 5 months and then drive back, then that might not be too much problem. But if you think that you are going to use a dolly to travel, staying in multiple RV parks or state or federal campgrounds and move from place to place on a regular basis, then that dolly is going to become a major pain in the butt.... MAJOR!!! It is not too hard to get the car on and off the dolly, but you need to mount the dolly and dismount the dolly every time you arrive at an RV park. Often, there is no place to put it and you need to stick it in storage. If there is a place to stick it, then you and your better half are going to have to try to lug that thing all around with only your muscles to get it where it needs to go. My wife and I watched an older couple (75-80) try to muscle their dolly around in an RV park, often on gravel or dirt roads (gravel in this case). They were busting their butts trying to deal with its weight. He pulled and ran the "tongue" and she pushed on a fender to try to make it go. I offered to help but they said ("no, we are getting it"), but I stopped doing that kind of hard work a long time ago. I'd never do that each time I needed to park or break camp.

Do some real thinking about if this is the way you want to travel.... Believe me, it is a lot of work and you will hate it in 6 months. Buy a car that can be flat towed and set it up right, or maybe buy a trailer you can put your leased car on and tow it.... you only have one pivot point, although finding a place to put the trailer is the same as it would be for the dolly (probably more).

A pre 2016 Honda CRV or other flat towable car can be had for not a lot of money. A towable toad is the way to go....

Gary

[edgray]

Minor correction to the above. It is only those Hondas 2014 and older that are towable.

[Tim Fox]

The “trailer” is mine, and Larry got the answer correct. It’s a Hydralift and I store the platform under the motorhome when parked long term. Frees up space for the toad. Removed the lift from MH pictured and haven’t decided to re-install on our new 21 yet.

[Hayman]

To add a little information as a previous HydraLift owner: if Tim’s lift was a 2 wheel motorcycle lift the platform would fold up in a storage position but I believe his is a Trike Lift and the wide flat platform doesn’t fold so it takes up a lot of space behind the coach when parked thus removal of the platform and slid under the coach.

[Gary.Jones]

Thanks for the correction on model years of a Honda CR-V....

Gary