Towing Honda CRV

[John Locke]

I thought I would cover some of the events to deciding and implementing the tow package for a 2013 Honda CRV. FYI, the last year model CRV that's flat towable is 2014.

Total cost to setup the CRV for towing was about $2600 consisting of:

BX7365 Blue Ox Alpha towbar $720
BX2258 Blue Ox front plate for Honda CRV $500
RM-8700 Invisibrake system $950
RM76512 Honda Fuse bypass sw $86
RM-15267 Taillight wiring kit with diodes $128

I bought this all from eTrailer.com because they have very good installation videos that help a ton to learn all the tricks of installing this gear myself. I'm pretty handy, but didn't want to install it. However, when my local RV shop quoted $800 to install JUST the front tow plate on my CRV, I realized I would be installing all this hardware myself. So be it.

With the eTrailer videos, the tow plate on the CRV took about 4hrs. It was pretty straightforward. I have never done this kind of install before, but it was pretty easy. After doing it once, I'm sure I could do it in 3hrs, and if I had a helper, 2hrs.

The invisibrake was another story. Although I got it installed OK, it took me about 5 days, but in hours it was more like 12hrs, since I took my time and had to order additional parts. I had difficulty adapting the invisbrake to the CRV, only with one aspect. The issue was the length of the pedal actuator inner cable was about 2" too long, so I had to come up with a way to shorted it, which wasn't easy. The cable has to be exactly the right length for the angle of the pulley to be in the right place, in relation to the brake pedal, and with that installed, then the outer cable housing has to have a parallel exit of the inner cable to the outer housing, which was my problem. There is about 1" of adjustment in the pedal cable fittings, but that's not enough to work with the Honda CRV floorboard length and angle. It's hard to explain without a photo, but it added about 4hrs to my job to shorten the inner cable length. Roadmaster really needs to have options for different inner cable lengths, which would make thing much easier.

Lastly I had to install the wiring kit, which was straight forward, but tedious. Just follow the directions, it all made sense. Running wires from the front bumper to the rear lights isn't fun with a car hoist, I can tell you that, but it's straightforward.

One trick I'll share is the brake system signalling wire install. Normally you need to run one wire from the Invisibrake controller in the toad, to the front dash of the RV, to install a red light and buzzer. This RED LED light is to confirm the brakes are being applied when the RV brakes are applied. The wire is a safety feature so you know everything is working OK. And if the LED stays on for more than 15 seconds, a buzzer goes off, letting you know something is wrong. Normally the brakes will only apply for 15 seconds, then automatically shut off. So if you ride your brakes downhill, the towed vehicle brakes will not stay on, it automatically turns off after 15 seconds.

Anyway, I didn't want to run that wire to the dash, as it's a big hassle. Since I already had trailer brakes installed on the RV, I had a 10GA blue wire that powers electric trailer brakes, and that wire isn't being using when towing the CRV. So I used that blue wire and put a SPST toggle switch to isolate the blue wire from the trailer brake controller, and used it for the Invisbrake warning wire for the LED and buzzer. That saved me a lot of hassle stringing a wire 32' to the front dash. The nice part is the wire is part of the normal coiled wire harness that plugs into my RV connector, so I don't have to hassle connecting a separate single wire everytime I hitch or disconnect the car, which is how Roadmaster instructs you to installed. I got rid of that lose wire connection chore.

Hope this helps others on the install issues, and process. I've towed my CRV over 3000 mile now, and I haven't had any issues. I really like the Blue Ox products, it's a very high quality setup for flat towing. I have learned the secret to easy disconnects of the tow bar too. You've gotta tow straight for 100' before you stop to disconnect, otherwise there could be high tension on the pins, making them difficult to pull out. I actually made a tool to simplify hammering out the tow pins out if I ever get myself into a bind. I've had to use it once already, so this tool turned out to be a lifesaver. BTW, this happened AFTER I learned the correct way to disconnect. Things just happen sometimes that are out of your control.

Sorry for the length of this. I have a lot of time on my hands during Covid19 isolation. My wife and I isolated ourselves in the desert at an RV park near Salton Sea. We'll be here for a month. Oh joy.

[n0ukf]

Originally Posted by John Locke

I thought I would cover some of the events to deciding and implementing the tow package for a 2013 Honda CRV. FYI, the last year model CRV that's flat towable is 2014.

I have to ask... What is the first year (not counting manual tranny models, if there were any)?

[John Locke]

Originally Posted by n0ukf

I have to ask... What is the first year (not counting manual tranny models, if there were any)?

I don't know the answer to that, but motorhome magazine has a lot of that data in their special issues about toads, listing the popular cars to tow on an annual basis.

[John Locke]

Here's a little followup on the towing package I installed on our Honda CRV. This year I put 12,000 miles on the RV, all while towing the CRV. I've been pretty happy with everything. The BlueOx products are stellar. The car is quick and easy to connect and disconnect. I've learned that's it's desirable to disconnect on flat ground, and after towing the toad straight for about 100' to prevent major pressures on the disconnect pins. The Invisibrake also has worked like a champ. It's expensive, but convenient and efficient. I was a bit hesitant to flat tow our Honda CRV, even though hundreds of others have been doing that for years, but with the trans prep process before each 300mi tow distance, it has worked flawlessly. It just gave the chills flat towing an automatic transmission car for the first few hundred miles. No worries now.

[Topsail]

Good morning John, I've enjoyed your write up and got a chuckle on your signature line. Good for you.

I do have a question since I've hit a wall (a firewall) when running a power wire into the engine compartment fuse box. I don't have an electric brake controller installed so I need to complete a power wire from the wire bundle that goes to the 7 pin connector. My 2008 has the wires already installed from the 7 pin to the drivers side location for a brake controller.

I could probably buy an after market firewall bulkhead connector for a clean and safe look, but I wonder how yours is set up. How does your brake controller make the connection through the firewall? I have found a couple of places I can go through. I want it to be right before drilling holes and dangling wires.