Expy as a dinghy vehicle?

[NukeLife]

Considering an RV trip cross country and would like to flat-tow a car behind it.
Ideally we’d like to take my wife’s great little RAV4.

I did some research on how to setup and tow “dinghy” vehicles. Turns out the majority of modern cars can’t be towed with wheels on the ground anymore—including the RAV4.

But guess what can? Yep, my 3 ton Ford Expedition. Imagine that.
Sooo... was wondering if any of you had experience with RVing w/ a vehicle in tow. And what your thoughts are on the Expy being flat-pulled.

 

[Dan Johnson]

So, we just got into flat towing about 2 years ago and really enjoy it. We towed a 2019 Explorer behind our Super C Powerstroke for that whole time and amazingly, it made virtually no difference to the fuel mileage. (Ie it sucks with or without dragging something behind it!). We had Holiday World outfit the Explorer with the Blue Ox system and would definitely recommend that gear. You can probably find somebody cheaper to install the baseplate and wiring harness, but we used HW. Now...we just traded the Explorer in on a 2020 Expedition FX4 XLT and I need to get it rigged up to be our dinghy. I see that Blue Ox makes a base plate, and of course, I kept the yoke and the remote brake system (Patriot) so it wont be as expensive as before. I really wish there was a way to just “retrofit” the front tow hooks into something that i could latch onto (instead of having a whole separate baseplate). If you have experience in pulling a trailer, you should be just fine. Its a little intimidating at first, a little bit of a learning curve...but then you wont drive your rig without it! The only caution - you cannot back up with a dinghy...like not at all...I almost screwed things up badly by just going a few feet!

 

[NukeLife]

Well, I looked up the cost of outfitting my Expy for being towed. (Blue Ox)
$ 1500 for tow bar and mounting plates.
$ 1500 for the braking system

ouch.

 

[Deadman]

Has to have HEAVY DUTY TOW PACKAGE to be flat towed!

 

[JamaicaJoe]

Why can't a RAV4 be towed? Is there a mod? If you have to spend $1500, you would be better off towing a small vehicle.

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[Deadman]

They don't have neutral transfer cases......

 

[JamaicaJoe]

There was a thread on this board about towing a new generation Expy and big problems with the automatic parking brake system.

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[LokiWolf]

There was a thread on this board about towing a new generation Expy and big problems with the automatic parking brake system.

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And it is all about procedure supposedly. Others have had zero issue.


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[LokiWolf]

Why can't a RAV4 be towed? Is there a mod? If you have to spend $1500, you would be better off towing a small vehicle.

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Most modern vehicles can’t, especially AWD’s.


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[Dan Johnson]

$1500 is considerably less than we spent on our Explorer base plate install. The $1500 braking system sounds high though. In any case, if you get everything for $3k, you are doing much better than I did!

On the 2020’s, it has to have the neutral transfer case...which is only available with the FX4 option AND/OR the HD Towing option. If your 4x4 selector has 4L, you’ve got it. Also, if you scroll through the menus on the front display, you’ll see the option for Advanced Settings, Vehicle, Neutral Tow:

https://owner.ford.com/support/how-...t-towing-ford-expedition-on-four-wheels.html#