Towing with class C

[gyadon4]

Will anyone admit  to towing a small car i.e. Honda CR-V behind a class C E350 motorhome without a Brake Buddy or some type of braking system.  I do not want a argument just asking.  I have read all state data, and understand the reasons why you should.  Just asking. 

[sandsys]

When we had our Class C we didn't tow anything; we were on the road enough to run errands and do sightseeing while changing camp. When we towed our Honda C-RV it was behind a DP with an Air Force One braking system. In fact the under-the-hood part of that braking system is still in place even, as is the towing base plate, although we stopped RVing several years ago.

Linda Sand

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I have a E450 class C and we tow a smart car behind it. I do have a braking system including a breakaway that is used with it. Just my thoughts but in case of a hitch failure, the braking system will still stop the toad. At 1800 pounds is it really necessary? Probably not but I would much rather be safe than try to explain to someone why I didn't have it and the car got loose and hurt someone.

 

[eddie1261]

12 hours ago, GeorgiaHybrid said:

I have a E450 class C and we tow a smart car behind it. I do have a braking system including a breakaway that is used with it. Just my thoughts but in case of a hitch failure, the braking system will still stop the toad. At 1800 pounds is it really necessary? 

I am trying to picture how a hitch failure would happen. A hard to install cotter pin can't just come out of a clevis, can't it? I would imagine the odds of this happening (please don't send me youtube links of the 12 times in the history of towing that it happened) are somewhere in the same area of a jet losing an engine in flight and the path of that engine intersecting the exact piece of some random road somewhere in this huge country that you happen to be occupying at that exact second. People seem to say that a brake buddy is mandated by some law, but I suspect that has become an often repeated piece of folklore, as I have not been able to find anything in writing.

Can someone who is of the opinion that it is a law provide a statute or code number? I am so new to this world that I am probably a prime sucker to believe whatever salesmen tell me. "Oh yeah. You can't tow without the Johnson Valve! You HAVE to have a Johnson Valve." And then I pay $500 for something that doesn't exist.

What kind of a crater would I have to hit to cause a jarring event that could knock out a pin holding a tow bar in place? I towed boats quite often in younger years and NEVER saw a boat come loose from a car. I saw a boat lose a wheel and the hitch never came undone. Again, no youtube links please to prove that it CAN happen. Anything CAN happen. The question is, "Is it LIKELY to happen"? I have never lived a "Yeah, but what if it DOES happen" life and if I can save a lot of money by just towing without that expensive add-on I'd like to know if it is truly illegal to do so.

[Lou Schneider]

16 minutes ago, eddie1261 said:

Can someone who is of the opinion that it is a law provide a statute or code number? I am so new to this world that I am probably a prime sucker to believe whatever salesmen tell me. "Oh yeah. You can't tow without the Johnson Valve! You HAVE to have a Johnson Valve." And then I pay $500 for something that doesn't exist.

A car behind a motorhome is a trailer under the law, so state laws regarding brakes, lights, etc. on trailers apply.  It varies state-by-state, but most require brakes and a breakaway device on any trailer weighing more than 1500-3000 lbs.

Here's one summary of state laws, others are available via a Google search:

https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/trailer-brakes/

[sandsys]

2 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

I am trying to picture how a hitch failure would happen.

It happened to Paul and Nina: https://wheelingit.us/2016/10/28/our-first-rv-accident-tow-comes-loose-in-nc/

Linda Sand

[Kirk W]

On 8/29/2018 at 10:26 PM, gyadon4 said:

Will anyone admit  to towing a small car i.e. Honda CR-V behind a class C E350 motorhome without a Brake Buddy or some type of braking system. 

If you mean doing so recently I can say no I have not. But if ever means all of my driving life then with some reluctance I must say that I have once done worse than that. Back when I was about 35 I was part of a team that towed an RV converted, 60 passenger school bus behind a heavy truck using a log chain through a 10' length of pipe for more than 60 miles. The bus was being steered but there was no communication between truck and bus.  🤬

[eddie1261]

Okay now the next obvious questions. Are we sure whoever Paul is that his pins were inserted completely and correctly, and that the lynch pin over the locking pin was not old and worn and did not still have the tension to hold it in? Optionally that someone didn't remove it thinking they were being funny? And mainly, that Brake Buddy requires donating an organ to pay for it. Is there a cheaper option? Brake Buddy can't be the only brake assist device out there. I am really trying to find ways to cut budget here.

[GeorgiaHybrid]

12 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

I am trying to picture how a hitch failure would happen. A hard to install cotter pin can't just come out of a clevis, can't it? I would imagine the odds of this happening (please don't send me youtube links of the 12 times in the history of towing that it happened) are somewhere in the same area of a jet losing an engine in flight and the path of that engine intersecting the exact piece of some random road somewhere in this huge country that you happen to be occupying at that exact second. People seem to say that a brake buddy is mandated by some law, but I suspect that has become an often repeated piece of folklore, as I have not been able to find anything in writing....

eddie, a lot of the hitches are bolted to the frame of the motorhome. If they are not torqued correctly, the bolts can loosen or even worse, break if they are overtightened as cyclic loads have been applied to them. Not saying that would ever happen with the EXCELLENT reputation the RV companies and workers have. On the hitches that are welded, have you ever done a good inspection of the welds on RV frames? I would guess that 90% of those welds would fail a structural inspection in a fabrication shop by an AWS welding inspector but they are allowed to be on the road as RV's are not governed by building codes used for buildings and bridges.

Also remember that your safety chains are also attached to that same bolted cross section on your hitch and that leaves you where when things go bad wrong? Don't get me wrong, I don't think my hitch will ever fail but in my home state, trailer brakes and a breakaway is required for trailers or towed cars over 2,000 pounds. I would have a breakaway on the car without the law though as I prefer to be as safe as possible on the road.

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, eddie1261 said:

And mainly, that Brake Buddy requires donating an organ to pay for it. Is there a cheaper option? Brake Buddy can't be the only brake assist device out there. I am really trying to find ways to cut budget here.

There is quite a range of different types of auxiliary braking systems but none of them are cheap. If you want to save money one the best place to look is in the RV Marketplace or similar places for used equipment. 

As to the legal aspect, I have never known of any reports of someone being ticketed for not having one. I have known of an RV owner who wished he had been using one when the towed came loose and the safety cables held so he stopped the towed with the rear of his diesel pusher. I started to use one soon after I began to tow due to a very near miss on hitting another vehicle in the rear due to stopping distance. For me the issue is one of safety and not of legalities. 

[Lou Schneider]

11 hours ago, eddie1261 said:

And mainly, that Brake Buddy requires donating an organ to pay for it. Is there a cheaper option? Brake Buddy can't be the only brake assist device out there. I am really trying to find ways to cut budget here.

A quick Google search shows used Brake Buddies going for $200.

I'd look at Ready Brake.  It's less expensive than Brake Buddy and it's a purely mechanical system that you install once and leave in place.  Basically it's a surge brake with a cable running back to pull down on the brake pedal when the car presses against the motorhome.  You do have to run a sleeved cable (like a speedometer cable) from the front of the car to the brake pedal, but it stays in place all the time - all you have to do is clip and unclip the cable at the tow bar end when you hitch and unhitch.

You can get the actuator as a stand-alone unit that installs between the hitch bar and the receiver on the motorhome, or get it built in to one of their tow bars.

[jpcoll01]

+1 for the readybrake. Simple solution with much less moving parts than most of the other products. 

[bigjim]

On 8/31/2018 at 8:40 AM, eddie1261 said:

Okay now the next obvious questions. Are we sure whoever Paul is that his pins were inserted completely and correctly,

blah de blah etc etc. It doesn't really matter what we know. What matters is what happens in real life.  Go to general rv information on this forum  Aug 24  "Saw a toad get free........ and read some real life scenarios.  Mine for instance about the toyota truck coming loose in front of me.  I dodged a bullet.

I am all for anything that is good and as cheap as possibe so if there is something better than brake buddy then that is grand.