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Old 01-27-2020, 01:28 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Flagstick View Post
Just for information on selecting a tow car. I have towed a 2008 Honda Fit automatic four wheels down for over 50,000 miles with no problem. I can't confirm other year models but the 2008 automatic can safely be towed.
I believe that there was a change somewhere along the way. Every reference source I check says that the 2019 Honda Fit manual can be flat towed but the automatic needs a dolly.

I would love to be told that I could flat tow this Fit. I was going to buy a Chevy Sonic because it can be flat towed, but due to the GM strike there were no Sonics anywhere in the Phoenix area and at least one dealer said that they did not know where there were any new Sonics available at all.
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Old 01-28-2020, 08:18 AM   #22
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Interesting. The 2018 manual specifically states they cannot be flat towed, but can be dolly towed. As many have said before: “check the owner’s manual and call the dealer if it isn’t clear”. I think we all agree that This is an expen$ive repair if you make a mistake!
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Old 01-28-2020, 08:31 AM   #23
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Interesting. The 2018 manual specifically states they cannot be flat towed, but can be dolly towed. As many have said before: “check the owner’s manual and call the dealer if it isn’t clear”. I think we all agree that This is an expen$ive repair if you make a mistake!
I do not have any personal knowledge about the manual transmission Honda Fit's capability for being flat-towed. I am only repeating what I saw on some forum posts, so perhaps the manual transmission model can not be flat towed at all.

Much of the information on forum posts can be extremely helpful but you are correct in stating that people should always check the user manual for the vehicle and with the manufacturer or the dealer's techs before accepting something as being accurate. I have sometimes been told things that turned out to be completely wrong, so I always try to double or triple check what I find out. Especially, as in this case, where a repair could easily be thousands of dollars. I would not want to be responsible for giving out incorrect information on this or any other topic.
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Old 03-08-2020, 08:51 AM   #24
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Thinking about using a tow dolly for our Toyota Avalon front wheel drive sedan . We would use it behind a 2019 View 24D on a Sprinter chassis . How would this work out for us . I have no experience with a tow dolly . I do tow our 20 foot boat with the View and it works out fine . Any advice or recommendations would be helpful . Do tow dolly's require license tags ? What is a good brand to look for ? Thanks
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Old 03-08-2020, 09:19 AM   #25
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Thinking about using a tow dolly for our Toyota Avalon front wheel drive sedan . We would use it behind a 2019 View 24D on a Sprinter chassis . How would this work out for us . I have no experience with a tow dolly . I do tow our 20 foot boat with the View and it works out fine . Any advice or recommendations would be helpful . Do tow dolly's require license tags ? What is a good brand to look for ? Thanks
Having just gone through this whole thing I can suggest some things to keep in mind but the final decision has to be based on your individual needs and wants. I can not say with certainty the the Avalong FWD can be dolly towed so you want to check your manual and your dealer although I believe most FWD cars can be dolly towed.

1) Keep in mind that your dolly will probably be wider than your RV. Our Fuse is 90 inches wide as is, I believe your View, and the dollies are generally 102 inches wide so they will stick out from the sides of your RV about 6 inches on each side.

2) Tow dollies come in a variety of lengths. We have seen them from 7 feet long to 11 feet long and the length may be important if you intend to store it in your garage or other indoor space. We chose an 8 foot dolly for that reason.

3) Make sure you think about the tongue weight of the dolly if you will be picking it up without help of a lift. Dolly tongue weights seem to vary from perhaps 25 pounds to perhaps 65 pounds and if you will be hooking it and unhooking it manually (as compared to a jack lift) this may be important.

4) Consider if you want electric or surge brakes. Electric brakes will require a brake controller either in your RV or on the dolly itself. Surge brakes do not require a controller and work on the principle that slowing down forces the dolly to push against the RV and thus activate a brake. This may or may not be an issue if you are in hilly areas.

Different states have different laws about requirements for brakes on a tow dolly and your state may not require them but I would recommend them in any case, just for safety. The state I live in does not require them but I had them installed anyway.

5) You probably need to check your state law about license plates. The state I live in does not require them.

6) Prices of new dollies vary from slightly less than $2000 to more than $4000 and weights vary as well. You need to think about how much you are willing to spend.

7) You need to check to see what your towing weight and the allowable tongue weight for your RV is. The weight your RV can tow is almost certainly not the weight your hitch is rated for. You need to determine what weight your hitch can tow, what weight your RV can tow and use the smaller of the two values.

For your View you can check the Winnebago website specs and look for the difference between the GCWR and GVWR and use that as an estimate but the best way to determine the weight you can tow is to weight your RV when loaded as you would normally load it and then subtract that weight from the GCWR. It is not the hard to weigh your RV. We just stopped at a Love's Travel Stop that had a scale at the start of a trip, spent about $10 and about 15 minutes and got our weight.

Remember to combine the weight of the dolly with the weight of the car you will be towing when figuring out what the actual towing weight will be, and think about how much tongue weight your dolly and car will have and make sure it is also within the allowable tongue weight of the hitch and RV.

8) A dolly may or may not come with a break-away switch and your state may or may not require one based on the weight of your dolly. I would think you would want one and if the dolly does not come with one you can buy one easily enough for about $50.

9) There are generally used tow dollies for sale and you may be able to save yourself about 1/3 to 1/2 the price if looking at them as well.

I am sure there are other considerations that I have missed and that others will add their comments.
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Old 03-08-2020, 09:30 AM   #26
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Originally Posted by Buddy’s RV View Post
Thinking about using a tow dolly for our Toyota Avalon front wheel drive sedan . We would use it behind a 2019 View 24D on a Sprinter chassis . How would this work out for us . I have no experience with a tow dolly . I do tow our 20 foot boat with the View and it works out fine . Any advice or recommendations would be helpful . Do tow dolly's require license tags ? What is a good brand to look for ? Thanks
We have a 2018 Navion 24D and regularly tow a Honda Fit on a Stand-Up EZ haul tow dolly with surge brakes (https://towsmarttrailers.com/collect...d-up-car-dolly). It will adjust to various widths to exactly match your vehicle. No license required in CA for tow dollies (personally verified this at the DMV). It tows like a dream and is easy enough for my wife and I to do. Nice feature is it is built to store upright (saves a lot of room). It tows like a dream and my research showed it was a lot less $ and lighter than others of the same weight carrying capacity.
Several other makes & models to choose from; some have folding tow bars, some have welded frames. Bolted version I have Works just fine. There was a competing model I was going to get, but they didn’t deliver to CA (so check that aspect carefully). We needed a tow ball that was on an 8” drop for the EZ haul- I’m guessing each brand will be different.
If you don’t have a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), then you are well advised to get one as the tow dolly and rear car tires aren’t so visible when towed. We got the EEZTire - 10 sensors: $440 (and you don’t need the anti-theft option). That of course means you also need metal tire stems (dually or borg)
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Old 03-08-2020, 09:42 AM   #27
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It will adjust to various widths to exactly match your vehicle.
I did not know that and the folks did not mention it to me when I called. Had I know that I would have ordered that dolly instead of the one I got.

One of the things that worries me a bit is the fact that my tow dolly (American Car Dolly) is 102" wide and my Fuse is only 90" wide.
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Old 03-08-2020, 09:52 AM   #28
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That of course means you also need metal tire stems (dually or borg)
Are you saying that anytime you add a TPMS you need to switch to metal tire stems? Or only for specific TMPSs?

I ask because I was planning to add a 4 sensor system to the dolly and tow car and I did not think I needed to change the stems for that.
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Old 03-08-2020, 12:46 PM   #29
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AJMike: My comments refer to the RV tires needing metal stems, not the tow dolly nor the car. Sorry I didn’t make that clear. BTW, if you are getting a 4-sensor system, I don’t think it is that much more to get a 10 sensor system (adding in the 6 RV tires). It sure makes life easier to check the air pressure before heading out and gives peace of mind the whole time you are driving (high or low pressure, high temp).
Why metal stems on the RV? First, the OEM tire valve stems that came with my rig on the rear tires were rather difficult to reach (let alone attach a TPMS sensor) and they had rubber “extenders”. Those rubber stems & extenders wobble quite a bit with the “relatively” heavy pressure sensors attached. The EEZ TPMS manual warns against rubber extenders and recommends the use of metal bodied stems or T-valve type” (although I don’t know what “T-valve type” is). Besides, I had dually metal stems put on in place of the OEM valve stems mostly because it made checking the air pressure/adding air SO much more easy. Lastly, there were many others on this forum who also recommended using metal valve stems.
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Old 03-09-2020, 04:57 PM   #30
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Why metal stems on the RV?
The value stems on inner rear tires on our Fuse had a decent rubber extender and I could get to it easily enough but the value stems on the outer tires were nearly impossible to reach and I had them replaced with solid stems. Without them I could not even measure the tire pressure in the outer tires.

I have not replaced the valve stems in the other 4 tires and that is one reason I have not put a TPMS on the RV, the other reason being that I assume if I have a blowout I could tell by the handling of the RV.

The car on a dolly is a different story and I suspect I would never know that either the car or the dolly had an issue with the tire and I have been thinking about adding a 4 sensor TPMS to them but have not yet done anything. I would want to make sure I got a decent system capable of sending information from the back of the car to the front of the RV and that is probably between 30 and 35 feet.
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Old 07-27-2020, 07:10 PM   #31
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We have a 2018 Navion 24D and regularly tow a Honda Fit on a Stand-Up EZ haul tow dolly with surge brakes (https://towsmarttrailers.com/collect...d-up-car-dolly). It will adjust to various widths to exactly match your vehicle. No license required in CA for tow dollies (personally verified this at the DMV). It tows like a dream and is easy enough for my wife and I to do. Nice feature is it is built to store upright (saves a lot of room). It tows like a dream and my research showed it was a lot less $ and lighter than others of the same weight carrying capacity.
Several other makes & models to choose from; some have folding tow bars, some have welded frames. Bolted version I have Works just fine. There was a competing model I was going to get, but they didn’t deliver to CA (so check that aspect carefully). We needed a tow ball that was on an 8” drop for the EZ haul- I’m guessing each brand will be different.
If you don’t have a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), then you are well advised to get one as the tow dolly and rear car tires aren’t so visible when towed. We got the EEZTire - 10 sensors: $440 (and you don’t need the anti-theft option). That of course means you also need metal tire stems (dually or borg)
OK, I am going to jump in on this because I am new and just learning. I just bought a 2003 30' Winnie. I have a 2009 Honda Fit automatic.

I have lots of experience towing boats but just learning to drive the Class C home. We have a long trip coming in the late fall from Texas to Oregon and we were thinking of towing the fit with us so we don't have to pack up everything to have to go somewhere if we are staying someplace for a few days.

I don't know if a 2009 Fit can be towed 4 wheels down or if it is best to get a dolly like this stand up one?

Just new and confused.
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Old 07-27-2020, 08:03 PM   #32
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According to edmunds auto guide a 2009 Honda Fit Automatic can be safely towed four down, with the caveat of religiously following the set up procedure each and every day you tow it or after eight (8) hours in one day.



So totally up to you but from reading this I would not be in a hurry to go through the hassel of dragging a dolly or car trailer for the 2009 Fit. Get it set up properly for dinghy towing four down and away you go.

https://www.edmunds.com/honda/fit/20...t%20of%20stuff.
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Old 07-27-2020, 08:21 PM   #33
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According to edmunds auto guide a 2009 Honda Fit Automatic can be safely towed four down, with the caveat of religiously following the set up procedure each and every day you tow it or after eight (8) hours in one day.



So totally up to you but from reading this I would not be in a hurry to go through the hassel of dragging a dolly or car trailer for the 2009 Fit. Get it set up properly for dinghy towing four down and away you go.

https://www.edmunds.com/honda/fit/20...t%20of%20stuff.
Wow thanks that looks like the ticket. I assume I need a towbar mount needs to be added and some think for the electrical?
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Old 07-27-2020, 11:03 PM   #34
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I can only speak to what the rules are up here in Canada; and yes you must have a tow bar, the vehicle must have active brakes with an emergency breakaway dynamite mechanism, working tail and brake lights. I would also recommend you supply a 12 Volt charging line from the MoHo to the towed, ensuring the towed battery maintains its charge while being towed as the ignition switch in your Fit will be in the Accessory position all the time you are towing. And if you choose a portable braking system (such as the RViBrake 3) it will be plugged into the 12 volt accessory plug, continuously drawing current, quickly depleting the towed battery.

Here is some info on Towed vehicle braking systems

https://campaddict.com/towed-vehicle-braking-systems/

Regardless of the legality of needing supplimental braking, a safe reliable tow set up protects you and all others on the road - not an area where you want to take any shortcuts or try to MacGiver something together.

Here’s an example of one of the better known manufacturer’s towing set up

https://www.blueox.com/

A LOT of info, but a lot of it is pretty straight forward, and a lot of it you can do yourself - especially fitting the tow points on the Fit, ensuring 12 volt charging current is available on your seven pin connector on the MoHo, etc.


One note of caution; towing a car behind your MoHo is NOT the same as towing a boat; you simply cannot back up with the car hooked up. (some will say you can a tiny bit if you are set up perfectly straight and go very slowly but not really) because remember the front wheels on the towed are not locked and immediately will start to caster making it want to jack knife on you
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Old 07-27-2020, 11:09 PM   #35
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Thank you very much
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Old 07-28-2020, 08:13 AM   #36
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OK, so looking at this it seems that it is more expensive to tow the car with the four wheels on the ground vs. on a tow dolly when you add in the cost of the tow bar equipment and auxiliary brake system.

What are the advantages on towing with 4 wheels down vs. up on the tow dolly?
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Old 07-28-2020, 08:26 AM   #37
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What are the advantages on towing with 4 wheels down vs. up on the tow dolly?
Towing 4 wheels down is much easier. You don't have to load the vehicle on the dolly, you don't have to worry about securing the straps to keep the car on the dolly, you don't have to worry about having the dolly attached to your RV when you are camping and using the car, you generally have a longer tail when you use a dolly and unhooking it is almost as much of a pain as hooking it up. On the other hand it is much more expensive. When I did some research on getting our new car set up for 4 wheel down towing the shop gave me an estimate of over $5000 for the tow bar, setup for the car itself and the braking mechanism. A tow dolly usually is complete and costs somewhere around $2000, although some are much more expensive.

Still, if you can't tow 4 wheels down a tow dolly can be a reasonable alternative.
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Old 07-28-2020, 08:34 AM   #38
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We have a 2018 Navion 24D and regularly tow a Honda Fit on a Stand-Up EZ haul tow dolly with surge brakes (https://towsmarttrailers.com/collect...d-up-car-dolly).
I don't know why I did not ask this when you posted, but I wanted to know what year Honda Fit you used with the tow dolly, and if it was a manual or automatic.

I ask because Honda told me that if I want to tow our 2019 Fit (automatic transmission) we should make sure the transmission is in neutral when it is towed, while everyone else tells me it should be in park. I was wondering what you used - neutral or park.
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Old 07-28-2020, 11:53 AM   #39
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I have the 2008 Fit Sport with paddle sifters. The trans must be in neutral, never ever park. I don't know if the Sport has a different transmission but the front wheels lock up in park.
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Old 07-28-2020, 12:04 PM   #40
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I have the 2008 Fit Sport with paddle sifters. The trans must be in neutral, never ever park. I don't know if the Sport has a different transmission but the front wheels lock up in park.
I was asking about neutral or park because I need to tow my 2018 Fit on a dolly - it is an automatic and it can not be flat-towed. The local Honda dealer says to use neutral, not park, on a dolly, although they do not seem to know why. When I asked why they just looked at me blankly and gave me no reason and when I asked if I could use park they said yes, but better to use neutral. Again, they gave no reason.

The idea that the front wheels lock up in park is exactly what I would think that you would want on a dolly - the front wheels not moving - and I worry that leaving the transmission in neutral will allow the car to slide off of the dolly if the road gets too rough.
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