Tow Bar - Open Discussion

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1/29/2010 6:12 PM

sharon

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 1595

Re: Tow Bar

gypsy, it IS a Brake Buddy, but thankfully I haven't had any trouble at all with it......I'd guess it probably has about 30,000 miles of towing on it. I shopped around and found it at PPL on line cheaper than any where else. I also got the inside alert, lets you know if the brakes are being applied with a red light. It's wireless and works well, just plug it into the cig liter or acc. plug. I have so much stuff plugged in that I went to Walmart and got one of those thingys that plugs into the acc plug and has 3 outlets on it. Luckily I have a little cubby right above the acc plug that the extra one tucks into nice and neat!

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain. '05 Monaco Knight 34ft (Hope) '04 Jeep Liberty (JipJip) Sam the cat with Attitude Chewy the Land Shark

1/31/2010 8:35 AM

Karen-from-FL

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 612

Re: Tow Bar

Vicki, I have the Blue Ox too and it is great. I agree with Joella, I had to send the Brake Buddy back to be fixed 3 times during my 5 months on the road. What a hassle. I was kind of glad I had it going down Dead Man's Pass, but I use low gear for the most part and try not to use the brake very much. I don't know of any other braking system, but there must be some out there. They were good about paying to have me send it to them, and fixed it for free each time, then they returned it to the next campground I went to but it was still a royal pain.

Karen and Maggie Mae 34' 99 Pace Arrow 2005 Honda CRV

1/31/2010 9:56 AM

sharon

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 1595

Re: Tow Bar

Wow! Guess I got lucky and got a goodun'! There are a couple more types out there, but from what I read, think they might be a bit more complicated than the BB. Karen and Jo, what went wrong with yours, so I know what to watch for?

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain. '05 Monaco Knight 34ft (Hope) '04 Jeep Liberty (JipJip) Sam the cat with Attitude Chewy the Land Shark

2/1/2010 9:21 AM

Karen-from-FL

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 612

Re: Tow Bar

Sharon, my first problem was that it kept blowing the fuse to the cigarette lighter. Since I had a brand new battery, they couldn't blame it on low voltage. When they fixed it, they sent me back a new accessory thingy to have installed. That cost me and extra $100. It did it again, so back it went. Guess there was a bad connection inside. When I got it back, the arm thingy that goes over the brake peddle apparently got disconnected inside the unit (possibly in transport). The BB would fill with air, but wouldn't brake. What a PAIN ........Again it went back. No further problems, but by then I was not driving in anymore mountains. Hope when I go out in the spring, it will work fine.

Karen and Maggie Mae 34' 99 Pace Arrow 2005 Honda CRV

2/1/2010 10:05 AM

anonymous

Joined: 1/1/0001

Posts: 0

Re: Tow Bar

I've had a brake buddy for several tow vehicles and didn't have any trouble. This is a link for state laws. www.brakebuddy.com/Towing-Laws The major plus of a Brake buddy is your motorhome wiring is not used.

2/1/2010 1:45 PM

sharon

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 1595

Re: Tow Bar

Thanks Karen, haven't had any problems like that. As I said, haven't had any problems at all with it. Easy to set up and take out.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain. '05 Monaco Knight 34ft (Hope) '04 Jeep Liberty (JipJip) Sam the cat with Attitude Chewy the Land Shark

2/1/2010 6:16 PM

vblake42

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 499

Re: Tow Bar

Priced getting the Blue Ox AND getting it installed. About $1600 so it will wait for awhile. Didn't know they were so expensive. Another one of those - oh well's.

2/1/2010 9:04 PM

gypsysuzy

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 768

Re: Tow Bar

I'm kind of in the same situation. Maybe in the future, but with my little class B+, I'm not sure this is something I really need. Trying to convince myself that I could rent a lot of cars for a day or two if I really needed another vehicle. But, I'm sure it would be nice from time to time. I did look on ebay and occasionally a good used one comes up there at a better price.

Just when the caterpillar thought life was over, she became a butterfly.

2/2/2010 10:52 AM

Jomilt

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 8436

Re: Tow Bar

I've seen them listed on Craig's List too.

We still had the tow bar from our last Jeep and motorhome combo...but we needed to buy a base plate to fit the Jeep Liberty, and have it installed and STILL cost us a bundle!!! Anything in the Recreational line is overpriced IMHO!!

Our first RV in 1968 was a motorhome, so we've been towing since then....and only on the last set did we have the non-working Brake Buddy. I KNOW it's the law--- but I don't really admit that it is safer...We've traveled LOTS of mountainous regions..and never even came CLOSE to having a problem that we felt a WORKING Brake Buddy would have been helpful..

I guess it doesn't help my opinion that we paid a bundle for the Brake Buddy...It was new...and Camping World kept giving us other new ones....we ended up with a total of 3 of them., under warranty of course, ..and not a single one of them worked. That is rather off-setting!! Might be different if they were not so costly....but one feels you may be purchasing yet another pig in a poke!!

Happy RVing!

Joella

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2/2/2010 6:04 PM

vblake42

Joined: 3/16/2009

Posts: 499

Re: Tow Bar

I've left a voice mail for service at Camping World at Katy and haven't had a call back yet so guess they aren't real interested. I'll try Craig's List and ebay next. Don't need it right away and its sound like the Brake Buddy is something I can do without. Not sure what it does anyway.

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