Tow vehicle considerations-The journey

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by ruscal

Francesca,
I tried a similar mirror on my Jeep Wrangler, but it shook so badly I couldn't see. The rubber straps were tight, but still could not hold it without vibration. I ended up mounting some teak wood spacers under the mirror mounts which added 1 1/2" to the arm. On the Jeep it is a simple three bolt affair.
Russ

PS
The shaking could have been play in the Jeep mirror arm and not the add on mirror attachment.

Interesting!

They're solid as a rock on my Kia. You may well be right that the vibration's related to play in the Jeep arm...

Francesca

[Raz]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Interesting!

They're solid as a rock on my Kia. You may well be right that the vibration's related to play in the Jeep arm...

Francesca

With a top speed of 20 mi/hr vibration is unlikely.

[Jon Vermilye]

Originally Posted by ruscal

Jon,
Do the clamps do any paint damage? Any slippage?
Thanks,
Russ

They have rubber pads on the clamps & don't do any damage to the mirror housings. After mounting & adjusting the mirrors to my satisfaction, I used a thin line permanent marker to draw a line on the vehicle mirror housing along each side the clamps. Makes it easy to reattach them after a removal.

The only thing I've had to do is retighten the clamp that holds the rod a couple of times over my 16,000 mile trip. While they do not vibrate due to wind, they are heavy enough that they shake the entire mirror mount on very rough roads, but not enough to make the mirrors unusable.

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by P. Raz

With a top speed of 20 mi/hr vibration is unlikely.

Don't make me come over there...

Francesca

[knighth001]

I'm always fascinated by the discussions of tow vehicles on here. Nothing like a car discussion to really bring out the personalities in this virtual environment.

[honda03842]

I really liked Ruscal's opening post.

The appropriate tow vehicle is related to your trailer, your everyday lifestyle, the type of rving you do and your vehicle budget.

The needs of a long distant retired RVer are certainly vastly different from a still working, occasional weekend camper.

[knighth001]

Originally Posted by honda03842

I really liked Ruscal's opening post.

The appropriate tow vehicle is related to your trailer, your everyday lifestyle, the type of rving you do and your vehicle budget.

The needs of a long distant retired RVer are certainly vastly different from a still working, occasional weekend camper.

You can say that again! My TV doubles as grocery getter and kid hauler during the week. Oh and it's about to roll 200k. Ride them till they die is my motto!

But seriously I also enjoyed the original post. Lot of thought and detail went into it. Was nice to read someone else's thought process.

[Francesca Knowles]

My tug's my daily driver, too.

In fact, the only strict parameter I employed when looking for/choosing a trailer was that it had to be towable by the car I already had- and still have! 40,000 tow miles and seven years later...

Francesca

[honda03842]

Francesca,

Our parameter for picking our first trailer was that it had to be tow-able by our only vehicle, our Honda CRV. We originally only planned to tow for two months in order to cross Labrador. Five years later and our third trailer we're still happily towing and have passed 180,000 miles.

For us, operating cost is important, including fuel consumption and maintenance.

[Francesca Knowles]

Yeah- I know that little Honda's been as much of a workhorse for you folks as my Kia's been for me- Ain't it great?

My old gray mare's breathing down the neck of 190,000, too, and still going strong.

It's funny-there are definitely two opposite approaches, towing-wise: matching tug-to-tow and the other way around. Widely separate philosophies goin' on there...

That might make a real interesting thread topic sometime, figuring out who did which in that department!

Francesca

[cpaharley2008]

Sorta like the 'Chicken or egg quandary"

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

My tug's my daily driver, too.

....as much as I love driving my Frontier, you guys really can't believe what an awesome daily driver the F350 PSTD CC dually is......
( I'm not kidding....that thing is awesome.... )

[Alf S.]

Hi: All... I've found that the one variable, when you have a fiberglass trailer that could last many years, is the tug. We now have our second tow vehicle and I wanted a full 4dr. pickup but not one of the massive ones. I think we have the ideal combo now IMHO!!!
Your mileage may vary.
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Rene]

The OP had me convinced! I'll never understand why a SRS was purchased after all that sober thought!

[ruscal]

Originally Posted by Rene

The OP had me convinced! I'll never understand why a SRS was purchased after all that sober thought!

Who said anything about sobriety?

[honda03842]

Part of tow vehicle selection deals with parameters you are trying to control, for us its cost.

When we had a motorhome it was gas vs deisel. The deisel guys would always use the ability to charge up hills, really a small percentage of driving. In all our travels last year we probably had less than 50 miles of significant hills, long runs to 6-7,000 ft. In no case were we holding up traffic.

If one is rarely traveling the choice of tow vehicle is not important and probably defined by your job or budget. As an old retired couple on the road a good part of the year during unsure and inflationary economic times, cost is the over riding consideration.

As I have stated before there are fewer traveling RVers. Fortunately fiberglass owners are in a stronger position with cost effective rigs.

Safe travels

[ruscal]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Part of tow vehicle selection deals with parameters you are trying to control, for us its cost.

When we had a motorhome it was gas vs deisel. The deisel guys would always use the ability to charge up hills, really a small percentage of driving. In all our travels last year we probably had less than 50 miles of significant hills, long runs to 6-7,000 ft. In no case were we holding up traffic.

If one is rarely traveling the choice of tow vehicle is not important and probably defined by your job or budget. As an old retired couple on the road a good part of the year during unsure and inflationary economic times, cost is the over riding consideration.

As I have stated before there are fewer traveling RVers. Fortunately fiberglass owners are in a stronger position with cost effective rigs.

Safe travels

I am surrounded by higher ground being in the San Diego area, but I probably worry too much about holding up other drivers. The freeways going East and North are wide enough to accommodate slower trucks and trailers. The two lane roads though are blocked by slow traffic. When I am not towing and am on the two lane rural roads I will always come up on slow trucks or trailers anyway, so if not me someone else will slow things down. I probably put too much importance on power, but it is nice to have in certain situations. I won't try towing with the Honda Fit though!
Russ

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by ruscal

[COLOR=black][FONT=Verdana]I am surrounded by higher ground being in the San Diego area, but I probably worry too much about holding up other drivers. ]

Legal tow limit in all of California is 55mph - dont worry about holding folks up

[Francesca Knowles]

Originally Posted by gmw photos

....as much as I love driving my Frontier, you guys really can't believe what an awesome daily driver the F350 PSTD CC dually is......
( I'm not kidding....that thing is awesome.... )

As someone who benefits in a small way from oil stocks, I heartily approve of your choice of errand-runner! However, using my dividends to buy more gas than I need to bring home a gallon of milk would sort of crimp the mirth, profit-wise.

I guess I'll just stick with the Kia for my errand/camping needs and as for the rest of our "workhorse" vehicles:
Ford F-250
Ford F-350
Ford 555 D 4WD Backhoe

They can stay parked 'til necessity calls!

Francesca

[cpaharley2008]

Now we know why Ford is the #1 truck seller, what happened, did you get made at the salesman when looking at the F150's? Then you would have a matched set!!!