Motorhome Towing question

[Jeff Watt]

I have a question that I hope I never have a need to know the answer to...

A friend of mine recently had a relatively minor engine mishap - turbo boot broke, so no power - and needed to be towed as the repair could not safely be done on the side of an interstate.

He sent me a picture where the motorhome was being towed away with rear wheels still on the ground. My manual states that if a tow is required, then the coach is to be loaded onto a flat deck and not towed with rear wheels on the ground. It may be a function of distance as apparently they were close to a cummins shop.

What is the consensus of opinion? Any one been towed? Like I stated, hopefully the issue will never arise, but I'd like to know anyway.

Jeff

[Joel Weiss]

My understanding is that the driveshaft needs to be disconnected in order to tow with the wheels down.

[Gerald Farris]

Jeff,
Towing your coach on a flatbed is the preferable way to tow your coach if towing is necessary, but that is not always possible. The availability of towing equipment as well as clearance issues that arise when the coach is loaded on a flatbed may necessitate towing the coach with the rear wheels on the ground.

To tow your coach with the rear wheels on the ground, you need to remove the drive shaft to prevent damage to the transmission. Extreme caution needs to be exercised in order to prevent damage to the rear cap from dragging the rear of the coach at any dip in the road. Also there can be damage to the front cap by the arms that extend under the coach to lift the front wheels, especially if the coach air pressure system is not maintained with adequate air pressure to prevent the suspension from lowering below normal ride height.  

Gerald  

[John Padmore]

I had a breakdown that occurred on the interstate very close to a service area. The Cat started to make a real bad noise as I approached the service area at midnight. Pulled in and called a towing company and they removed the driveshaft, Towed the motorhome approx. 70 miles to my service provider wheels down. The tow company knew exactly what to do , no question....I think that may be the key!

Turns out the coupling for the hydraulic pump at the back of the coach (sorry, don't know what it is for) had let loose and the two parts of the coupling ground off their ends (the bad noise). Anyway, to answer your question....no damage to the coach as we drove it 1830 miles a couple of weeks later  .

[Jeff Watt]

Queried my friend and they had disconnected the driveshaft. Apparently the tow truck operators knew what they were doing.

Thanks for the info; I'll keep it in the back of my head just in case.

Jeff.

[Steve Huber]

Had to have 3 tows this summer. Flatbed was not possible due to overall height. Tow drivers will disconnect drive shaft. Repair shop re-installs. As noted above, be sure to check rear & front cap clearances when coach is "lifted" tow. Also, use bungie cords, or similar to hold up mud flap to prevent dragging.
Steve

[Terry Melot]

"Had to have 3 tows this summer"

Steve, with a great desire to prevent "needing" to be towed.  What were the causes of the three?

[Robert Mathis]

The tow truck operator removed our driveshaft when we were towed to Fairbanks in 2008. That was the hardest part of the job, since he was a plus size guy, like me and neither of us had an easy time getting under there to disconnect it. The rear suspension frame made the job even harder. He actually had to tow us a couple of miles VERY SLOWLY to get to a place where we could remove the driveshaft.

[Randy Perry]

Had to be towed last Friday. After the 3rd rig (first was too small, second was a flat bed, hence too tall, then finally, a big rig wrecker) and 3 days. And this after telling AAA and the tow company more than a few times, it's 12' high and 30K pounds! And yes, he removed the drive shaft. I followed him to my machanic for the 14 mile trip. Within a 1/4 mile, he pulled over to retighten the chains to the sadles on the hydralic arm. Then 2 miles down the road and just after making a right hand turn to the onramp to the freeway, chains came loose, the Beaver slid 4' to the left and I about wet my pants! I helped the guy reposition the coach and we were once again on the road. With just 2 left turns to go, he took it too sharp and snapped the drivers mirror off with the boom of his rig. Beavers running now (fuel pump replaced) and had a leaky right rear air bag/valve (which was also an issue with the tow as we had to air it up on the side of the onramp while we were repositioning from his rig) But, the mirror hasn't been fixed or replaced by them yet!

[Steve Huber]

Terrry,
First one was to an Allison shop as the tranny wouldn't come out of 3rd. Once there they informed me that they only did replacements, not repair! (Would have been nice had they let me know BEFORE I got towed there). Next day another tow to a shop that did repair. Found bad electrical connections were causing problem. 3rd tow was due to overheating problem caused by leaking heater core.
Steve

[Joel Ashley]

Randy, switch to CoachNet.

[Randy Perry]

This is seconds after the coach got loose and shifted to the left!

[Randy Perry]

By about this much!

[Larry Fisk]

I've been towed twice, both times in Canada. The first was a flat bed, second a big rig tow truck. Both times were almost 100 miles. The flat bed tow my tow hitch dug into the asphalt while I was driving the Beaver onto the flat bed. It was scary and not fun. I tried filling the airbags to get more clearence for the rear of the coach as I drove it on but I could not get enough to keep from grinding the hitch into the pavement and bending the metal on the rubber skirt. The second time was a little less eventful with the tow truck. It did take quite a bit of time to remove the drive shaft. Your right Jeff, the best plan is to not need it. But if you do Joel is right, Coachnet was excellent insurance to have. They took care of everything for me. Well, except for the repair bill to get the Beaver rolling again. I never saw the tow bill though. They also arranged for us to be towed to an RV Park for the weekend because the repair facility was not open. The driver dropped us right in an RV spot so we had full hookups. They then called us on Monday morning to make sure we were up and ready for the tow truck to come back and tow us to the repair facility! Now that is service.

[Randy Perry]

So I got a call from the tow company that broke the driver mirror and he wanted my VIN number to match the paint! Since I bought the coach 5 years ago, I don't think it's the original paint. Question is, is it a "stock" Beaver color? It's got 3 shades of green as pictured in my previous post on this thread. I remember passing a Beaver like mine on I-10 a few yeras ago and they looked like twins!