Saw a motorhome last week towing a Ford Ka via a short towbar. No friver in Ka, all four wheels on ground. I've seen breakdown trucks towing this way too.
So how does the towed car not decide it wants to take a different course to the one that's towing it? Tracking, tyre pressures, etc spot-on? Steering locked? Or do vehicles towed in this way just behave themselves naturally?
And what happens on sharp corners and roundabouts. Does towed vehicle just follow obediently regardless (implying that the front wheels turn into the turn)? Or do the front tyres drag across the tarmac (like a three-axle trailer on an artic)?
Is there some magic at work here? Or just something (else) I don't understand?
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A-frame set-up attaches the towee via the wheels, so they will turn with the turn, so to speak. I'd assume you have to leave the keys in the ignition so the steering doesn't lock.
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It must work OK. It is very common in the USA to see motorhomes dragging the family car in this way.
The need to leave the steering unlocked must be a pain when a comfort stop is required. Remove keys, have lunch, reinsert key else well scrubbed tires by teatime? At least you can use the parking key, unlike most UK cars, to reduce the risk of thefts from the trunk.
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Some of the systems used by motorhomes are rigid a frames that have special mounting point connected to the chassis of the towed vehicle. Others like the ones used by breakdown companies and car sales returning from auctions are universal that strap onto solid structures underneath the vehicle.
I believe that there are the usual weight limits involved about braked trailers where most modern system will have a brake cable on the frame that attaches to the handbrake cable of the towed vehicle.
All one man system though employ the same principal of the towed vehicle having the key in to disengage the steering lock , but I have seen a few motorhomes where they take the second set of keys with them so that the towed vehicle is locked with the second set of keys.
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. I believe that there are the usual weight limits involved about braked trailers where most modern system will have a brake cable on the frame that attaches to the handbrake cable of the towed vehicle.
How does that work? Handbrake cables come in all varieties. Some are doubled all the way from the handbrake, some have a single cable that then pulls a span to the individual wheels. How does the the attachment on the frame connect on?
If the towed car had a front wheel handbrake, that would still leave the trailing rear end unbraked, for which the towed limit is 0.5 tonne?
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At Folkestone last weekend a motorhome arrived (average-sized European one, not one of the enormous US-style ones) with an Honda HR-V in tow. I thought that must have been over the safe limit!
Attachment was to a standard tow-bar but with a "steering" A-frame rather than a rigid one.
Terry
"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand"
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Always seems a pity to me to 'put miles on' the car, whilst it's not doing anything.
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Saw a motorhome last week towing a Ford Ka via a short towbar. No driver in Ka, all four wheels on ground. I've seen breakdown trucks towing this way too.
Suddenly, towing a caravan seems to make so much sense!
:-o
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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I can never understand the logic of towing a small car behind a small motorhome. I saw numerous examples of this in France when I was there last year.
One was a motorhome, with a Fiat 1.9 diesel engine, towing a Nissan Micra. Motorhomes are not the quickest vehicles, and I'd have hated to get stuck behind that on a single carriageway.
Why not tow a caravan with a decent motor?
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Best way is to have a large-ish motorhome, with a couple of motorbikes strapped to the back.
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You can leave the ignition unlocked with a key blank, but you can't turn the key to start the car, or activate the systems.
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Towing a vehicle via a 'A' frame is an unbraked trailer, so the vehicle towing must be checked for its towing capacity for an unbraked trailer and must use a safety chain as you must with an unbraked trailer incase of a break away.
These frames have been around for years, they are nothing new.
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Reminds me of the time we were on a bus outing, there I was sitting in the nearside of the bus enjoying the views of our glorious countryside as it came into my field of vision, the bus driver was slowly overtaking traffic when, overtaking a large salloon car I was shocked at seeing what appeared to be a driverless car!.
Must admit I was relieved to see it was being towed.
Mal.
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