Do you Dolly?

[Jim Houghton]

I currantly use the Kar Caddy SS as you are looking at. It does a great job and is not hard to load and unload from. It takes maybe 15 minutes to load and secure and far less to unload. Also as you stated you can fold it up and move for storage. I currantly own a vehicle that cannot be flat towed and that is the reason I went this route. I may look into flat towing once this vehicle is replaced. Just another opinion to consider.

Jim

[Michael Marcocchio]

Hello another Check mark for 4 wheel down towing my question is what you do after you unload your car from the dolly P. I. A. there is no real wear and tear on your car towing then getting dirty and few stone chips which you get whether you tow or drive. Thats my view and I am sticking to it.  

[Dan n Lisa Lund]

Thank you all so much for your advice and feedback. I have to say, you're making a lot of really good arguments for 4 down. Now I'm really conflicted. I don't really want to cut into my Edge to install the tow stuff and am concerned what that would do to the warranty and resale value. And I'm still worried about having to stop to run it every 5 hours for the transmission and having to deal with battery and brake systems. Ugh! This isn't as easy a decision as I thought for newbie part time motorhome people like us.

[Michael Marcocchio]

Hello I have no issue with running my truck for battery/tranmission and brake problems I drive a GM product 2008 Avalanche which needs none of those problem stated I hook up put tranfer case in N postion and drive away couple hrs or all day just unhook start up put into drive and a way we go.A possible problem was not knowing what truck or car was towable 4 wheels down.

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Dan,
When installing a Blue Ox base plate, the only cutting that is visible is a slight bit to the front grill edges and it appears barley noticeable unless you are looking for it. http://www.blueoxtowbars.com/base_plates
Steve

[Joel Ashley]

Each vehicle is different, so you need to check with Blue Ox or with Roadmaster about your specific Edge.  Our Explorer required little modification and none noticeable unless you get down and look under the bumper.  The addition of tow adapters to your frame may actually add to the car's resale value.  With the brackets removed, the only really visible tow part on our car is the small mount that Roadmaster put the electric and air ports on for easy access by the license plate.  Even that could be mounted less visibly if one was overly particular;  it just wouldn't be quite as readily accessible.

As mentioned, each car is different, so the first thing I'd do is check out Roadmaster's site (but then I'm a Roadmaster fan   ) and see if they reference your exact model at all.   07-2014 Edges are listed:
http://www.roadmasterinc.com/bg_/bg_rmi_std.pdf

 If not, just call their 800 number and get their direct input.  http://www.roadmasterinc.com/contact.html

Joel

[Lee Welbanks]

4 Down only way to go, when we had our 5th wheel our good friends towed their van with a dolly and I saw the total pain in the rear that he had with that thing, so when we got the Thunder we purchased a 13 CRV mainly because you can tow 4 down with no trouble. We can hook up with ease in less than 5 min's flat. Have to turn on the camera to see if it is still back there. Only problem I ever had was once I forgot to turn off the by-pass switch and the battery was dead. That is when I found out that my jumper cables would just reach from the Thunder batteries to the car battery.

[Keith Moffett]

Dan
Each year in January FMCA magazine has info. On what vehicles can be towed four down and what is required to make that work.  The info comes from the manufacturer.  This is maintained on their web site at fmca.com and it shows year by year.  Many cars that dont show onthe list are also towable but require an disconnect for the driveline all this info is available at roadmaster on their web site.
We tow an Explorer four down and use a brake system inside all the tow gear is from Roadmaster and takes maybe ten minutes to set up.  The only modification needed was to remove the air foil under the front bumper which I have stored in a box just in case.
The battery issue for the tow car is easily resolved with a diode provided by Roadmaster which allows the towed battwry to charge off the MH alternator when driving.
Tow four down, the only way to go!
Just my humble opinion!
Keith