Equinox as Toad?

Snakebite · 03-17-2019, 06:38 AM

Is anyone towing a Chevy Equinox? If so, what year?

WinnieView · 03-17-2019, 07:54 AM

We have the GMC Terrain (2014) which is the equivalent. They are both very popular as toweds. One thing to be aware of is the 4-cylinder which is equipped with electronic power steering (EPS) can experience the "death wobble". We have not had the issue so have not changed from the original towing procedure, but GM did issue a revised towing procedure last year;

thompwil · 03-17-2019, 08:12 AM

We're towing a 2014 Equinox. So far towed it 17,000 miles with no problems. Just have to start it up and run it in gear to lube the transmission. Our manual recommends doing it every 300 miles if I remember correctly. I do it every stop which is much less miles and only takes a few minutes.

Ramjet · 03-27-2019, 04:22 PM

Towed a 2014 Equinox for over 30,000 miles with no trouble except when making a hard turn that gets electric steering to wobble or higher speed turn. The higher speed return to highway from construction zone over rough section caused a wobble. Other than that, no issues if you cool transmission after several hours driving by starting motor for 5 minutes or so.

Your limited to 65 mph long term towing but passing at higher speed had no problems to date.

Mike
2017 Tour.

DGundy · 03-27-2019, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snakebite

Is anyone towing a Chevy Equinox? If so, what year?

Check motorhome.com for a list of approved vehicles to flat tow.

onholdguy · 03-27-2019, 05:00 PM

Been towing a2016 4 cylinder equinox since new. Never had a problem. Tows great no death wobble. Going to probably buy a2019 model as lease is up. Might get a new style Blazer. Both can be towed 4 down just by turning off the ignition. Read they owners manual. It's simple. I use a demco to bar and love it. Now on the 4 the vehicle with the tow bar.

bwodom · 03-27-2019, 07:10 PM

Have been towing our Equinox for past two years. Last year trip from SC through Texas-New Mexico, up through Utah parks and finally to Washington Olympic Peninsula. Then back to SC through Montana and northern states. Only problem we had was replacing battery (was original and we should have done that before leaving!)

Light enough to tow with our 31' C and room enough for us to store a lot of our stuff in the back!

Thundr56 · 03-28-2019, 05:33 AM

I tow an ‘18 with a Ready Brute tow bar and have had no problems. Towed about 7k miles so far. Installed the base plate myself.

Park Super · 03-28-2019, 07:22 AM

No problems towing. Hardly know it is back there.

jkbpeavey · 03-28-2019, 10:26 AM

Getting my 2017 rigged up in a few weeks. We'll be using the Ready Brute elite tow bar. Just to clarify...with manual update in earlier post.. no longer remove #32 interior panel but remove 15 AND 16 from engine panel? or just #16? Most of time we just travel 1-3 hours at a time, still need to remove fuses? all help appriciated!

WinnieView · 03-28-2019, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jkbpeavey

Getting my 2017 rigged up in a few weeks. We'll be using the Ready Brute elite tow bar. Just to clarify...with manual update in earlier post.. no longer remove #32 interior panel but remove 15 AND 16 from engine panel? or just #16? Most of time we just travel 1-3 hours at a time, still need to remove fuses? all help appriciated!

According to GM's revised towing procedure you don't want to make a change unless you've had problems.

onholdguy · 03-29-2019, 05:15 AM

2019 you do not have to do anything special. Basically put it in neutral and tow

feiter · 03-31-2019, 04:56 PM

Bought my 2010 Automatic yesterday. Manual describes all necessary steps and quite easy.

feiter · 04-04-2019, 01:25 PM

So, I just bought a 2010 Equinox and getting ready to tow. Have ordered a ton of items including Blue Ox Alpha (6500#) tow bar, Ox front Baseplate, Brake Buddy System including break away, tail light hook up, and a battery charge system and the fuse 32 shut off switch....a couple of questions for the experienced.
1) new tow instructions call for pulling fuse 15 from engine compartment while old is fuse 32 in passenger compartment...fuse 15 in engine is HUGE and will not fit in the cut off switch ordered...based on input here I am going to use the cut off switch and rely on old system most have said caused no problems.

2) it appears NOT NECESSARY to have the slow battery charger installed at all....Do all long term users agree? Thanks

WinnieView · 04-04-2019, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feiter

So, I just bought a 2010 Equinox and getting ready to tow. Have ordered a ton of items including Blue Ox Alpha (6500#) tow bar, Ox front Baseplate, Brake Buddy System including break away, tail light hook up, and a battery charge system and the fuse 32 shut off switch....a couple of questions for the experienced.
1) new tow instructions call for pulling fuse 15 from engine compartment while old is fuse 32 in passenger compartment...fuse 15 in engine is HUGE and will not fit in the cut off switch ordered...based on input here I am going to use the cut off switch and rely on old system most have said caused no problems.

2) it appears NOT NECESSARY to have the slow battery charger installed at all....Do all long term users agree? Thanks

GM has stated that owner's should not use the "revised towing procedure" unless they have had a problem.

Agree.

thompwil · 04-05-2019, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feiter

2) it appears NOT NECESSARY to have the slow battery charger installed at all....Do all long term users agree? Thanks

I have the charge line fused at 10 amps at the toad battery connection. The charge output at the round 7 plug on our coach is switched on/off with the ignition through a relay. I've never had a problem since the charge current to a good toad battery is minimal. No different than charging a travel trailer or 5th wheel coach battery while driving. The fuse at the battery is mainly for protection from a scuffed or damaged wire on the toad charge line to the round 6 plug when not being towed. So far no problems.

feiter · 04-05-2019, 01:15 PM

Thanks everyone for the input. Wow, it is amazing to me how much is required to tow a vehicle. I have now decided to go with the RVI3 brake system and purchased including the direct to battery cable for its power so may need to go with the Toad Battery Charge line after all. I am now returning everything "BrakeBuddy". Had a problem with original order for BlueOx products through Amazon...merchant promised prime delivery by 4/3 and generated UPS shipping label and charged my CC...Never actually shipped as of today and complaint to Amazon has resulted in full refund so yesterday I ordered direct from BlueOX in CO and they shipped yesterday (BTW, with offered 10% discount it was actually $150 less and I ordered the towed vehicle brake light system designed for Equinox with plug in fittings...$78 value). Next week going to be busy with installation of BasePlate and the RVI brake system components on the Equinox. BTW, the fuse switch installation took about 15 minutes and works well.

WinnieView · 04-05-2019, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feiter

Thanks everyone for the input. Wow, it is amazing to me how much is required to tow a vehicle. I have now decided to go with the RVI3 brake system and purchased including the direct to battery cable for its power so may need to go with the Toad Battery Charge line after all. I am now returning everything "BrakeBuddy". Had a problem with original order for BlueOx products through Amazon...merchant promised prime delivery by 4/3 and generated UPS shipping label and charged my CC...Never actually shipped as of today and complaint to Amazon has resulted in full refund so yesterday I ordered direct from BlueOX in CO and they shipped yesterday (BTW, with offered 10% discount it was actually $150 less and I ordered the towed vehicle brake light system designed for Equinox with plug in fittings...$78 value). Next week going to be busy with installation of BasePlate and the RVI brake system components on the Equinox. BTW, the fuse switch installation took about 15 minutes and works well.

The paying part was the easy part.

Let us know if you need any help with installation part.

feiter · 04-15-2019, 08:08 PM

Update to my 2010 Install. I purchased Blue Ox Alpha Towbar and the Blue Ox baseplate for 2010-2015 Equinox/Terrain. Two problems with self install...instructions actually omitted or improperly identified two screws in wheel well area that needed to be removed to remove fascia/bumper. Second problem was bolting into frame...requires 4 bolts on each side and you can only see the back of one bolt each side the other 3 are inside the hollow frame of the vehicle. There is one 1.5" square hole for access and included in kit are 6 what they call wire nuts (actually a heavy square nut with a 14" piece of 10 gauge wire welded to it. You have to place the nut next to bolt holding the wire up through the access hole to complete install. This took me hours!!

In addition I installed the Blue Ox custom towed vehicle wiring harness and other than having to run wire from taillights to front of vehicle under the car it was easy and worked to perfection...the custom harness is per vehicle and does not require any cutting and splicing like other wiring packages.

I also installed the RVi3 brake system...wow, highly recommend this product. it applies the brakes in the toad when you brake the RV and if you want you can manually brake the toad using the included control table you keep in the RV with you. Rather than use the only 12v outlet (cigarette lighter) in the vehicle I also installed a direct to battery line and the installed the toad battery charger line.

Towed for the first time yesterday and everything worked terrific. Setting up the Tow bar to vehicle took 10 minutes and about 5 to disconnect.

here are some pics.

feiter · 04-15-2019, 08:22 PM

Help everyone...I thought I would mention this in a separate thread as it is another issue.

I am actually UNABLE to follow the dinghy towing procedure as written in my 2010 owner manual...wondering if anyone else has this issue or could I have an electrical or switch problem?

After positioning and hooking up vehicle:

Manual says Turn Ignition key to ACC /Accessory

Shift the transmission to N(Neutral)

Turn all accessories off

To prevent battery draining remove fuse #32 Discrete Logic Ignition Switch

Remove the #32 fuse

I am unable to move the gearshift lever with the Ignition key in the ACC position.

I have to turn key to On/Run position before I can move the gearshift to N and then move the Ignition Key to ACC after shifting.

I then shut off the #32 fuse using the fuse bypass switch I installed and lighting on dash goes away

Your help is appreciated. Really like to hear comments before I go to dealer.

Bill