tow vehicle

[lapeer20m]

Does anyone tow a vehicle behind their skoolie?



I'm a little worred about the trip to from michigan to northern nevada and back this summer. My skoolie has about 265,000 miles on the odometer. She runs perfect, but on a long journey, there are lots of problems that may arise.



In case of total thermo nuclear meltdown of the bus engine/drive train while on the road, i've decided to tow my own rescue pod. Most RV's are seen pulling a jeep, VW, or other small car. I plan to pull a full size van. The van will be an automatic, so I am going to remove the drive shaft. I'm not going to use a dolley, rather i'll utilize a tow bar. The van can be used for added storage on the journey out west.



If the bus is injured and needs parts, i can use the van to run to town to buy the needed items. If catastrophic failure occurs, I can remove a number of the more expensive items from the bus (generators, batteries, stereo ect) load them into the van, and take off. I will arrange with the nearest junk yard to come pick up what's left of the bus.



I don't forsee anything bad happening to the bus while on my trip, i just like to be prepared.

[Steve]

I would think it would be a lot easier if you put that van on an open trailer. But I've never pulled a car that wasn't on a trailer. We currently have a 24' closed trailer for our race cars.

[lapeer20m]

The lack of a trailer makes the proposition a lot cheaper. Cost is a big factor. Other than the lack of braking power,,,what advantage would a trailer have? The trailer would make the entire load heavier. I really don't know which is better....i've towed trailers a lot of miles, but never a vehicle with a tow bar, so i don't have any data to compare the two.



Thanks for the advice

[soused moose]

Lapeer...you might like to chat up the Folks over on the Escapees site on this. Lots of folks over there tow vehicles behind their RV's.



Like anywhere else ...some of the folks over there are pompous #$@% heads...but the majority of folks are pretty nice people.

You Might find some useful info.



here's the URL to the message Board at escapees



http://escapees.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x

[PRyberg]

I looked into setting up a Tracker as a tow vehicle (the Tracker, of course, has a neutral on the four wheel drive shift, which makes it easy to tow), and found that the equipment needed to make it towable cost almost as much as a trailer.



Also, the equipment that goes on the Tracker stays on the Tracker, so if I ever sold it I would have to set up another tow vehicle.



So I'm thinking that the cost/benefit/ease of operation inclines me towards a trailer that can carry a tow vehicle, or that can be towed by the tow vehicle.....just a thought.



Paul

[lapeer20m]

BUY tow bar equipment??? That would be silly. I need to purchase the pintle hitch "eye"

I already have, or can easily fabricate nearly everything else i need to build a towbar. It's really not rockit science.

I need to buy chain and hooks to make the safety chains too.





I'm a huge fan of the pintle hitch. It is far superior to a wimpy ball hitch.