Tow Bars

An RV is a great way to vacation: you can see the sights without ever worrying about lodging or finding a restaurant! The only downside is when the RV is your only means of transportation. Maneuvering such a large vehicle can be difficult in places, and tedious when you just need to go to a convenience store. Bringing a small vehicle along will give you the freedom to explore, plus you won’t have to break camp every time you want to leave the campground. While towing another vehicle on a dolly is an option, by far the easiest way is to flat-tow the vehicle.

When a vehicle is flat-towed behind a motorhome it is commonly called a “dinghy”, after the small boats that are often towed behind larger vessels. For flat-towing a vehicle behind an RV or any other vehicle you need a tow bar, a receiver hitch on the tow vehicle, brackets called base plates mounted on the frame of the dinghy, functioning lights on the towed vehicle that illuminate in accordance with the tow vehicle’s tail lights, stop lights and turn signals, and a supplemental braking system to ensure safe stopping without overloading the brakes on the tow vehicle.

We offer motorhome mount tow bars and ball mount tow bars, vehicle specific base plate kits, wireless and wired tow light kits, and several types of supplemental braking systems. First you need to know the towing capacity of your RV or tow vehicle, as well as the weight rating of the receiver hitch. Whichever figure is lower will determine the maximum weight you can tow. You can tow any vehicle that falls within the limit as long as the vehicle manufacturer has approved it for flat-towing. Select a tow bar with the rated capacity to handle the dinghy. Motorhome tow bars install right into the receiver hitch and must match the size of the receiver opening. They are the easiest to use as they can be locked to the hitch and when not in use, folded and stored on the back of the RV.

Ball mount, also known as car mount tow bars have a conventional coupler that attaches to a trailer ball. Some models can be folded and stored on the dinghy. Tow bars are available with rigid, telescoping, and self-aligning arms. Adjustable and self-aligning arms make hook-up easier, as the vehicle doesn’t have to be in the exact position for connection. Base plate kits are vehicle specific and will vary in construction and installation according to the model, however in general they usually have two components, the brackets that mount to the vehicle frame and the arms that connect the tow bar to the brackets. Connections for safety cables must also be established to ensure that the dinghy does not part company with the tow vehicle if there is a malfunction with the tow bar connection.

There are several ways to enable lights at the rear of the dinghy, but if you want to avoid the hassle of cutting and splicing into the vehicle’s wiring harness or drilling holes in the tail light housings, the easiest way is with a set of universal tow lights that can quickly be installed for towing and stowed away when the vehicle is driven. We offer both wireless and wired systems. Both use one or two piece tail light housings with strong magnetic bases that will stay firmly attached to metal body parts, and most have pads on the light bases to prevent scratching the paint. Wireless kits use a transmitter that plugs into the truck or RV trailer connector, while wired kits have self-contained wiring that routes under the towed vehicle and connects to the trailer connector.

Just as a trailer needs brakes to prevent excessive stopping distances and increased wear on the tow vehicle’s brakes, there must be a means of actuating the dinghy’s brakes to ensure safe stopping. One of the most popular methods is a portable electric brake controller that installs on the floor of the dinghy in front of the driver’s seat. The controller is connected to the tow vehicle’s wiring harness and depresses the brake pedal when the tow vehicle’s brakes are applied. These are available in pre-set and proportional versions, with the latter incorporating an inertia sensor to provide proportional braking. We also offer a system that connects to the receiver hitch and uses the forward momentum of the dinghy to actuate the dinghy brakes via a cable attached to the brake pedal arm.