Today’s Lesson is about

Alright children, time to pay attention.

          Today’s lesson is on Dingy Towing, Tow Bar Use and Installation, and the ever-popular Failed Tire Scenario.

          OK, calm down, try not to show too much enthusiasm, I know how much you have waited for this mind-gripping topic to show up!

          So here we go!

          Pay attention, there will be a quiz to follow.

           Yesterday we brought the Honda (which you may remember from the Javier post) up to Texas Custom Trucks to have the tow plate attached to the front of it. This will allow us to hook up the tow bars and related equipment to the rear of the motorhome.

          While in some ways this will be going backwards as in, we will now have to tow something else (after dropping the storage trailer in Colorado). We last left our intrepid towing experience in the Four-Corners Region. It has been nice to just drive around without worrying about anything dragging along behind us.

          But (there is always a but) we are confined to where this Big Baby can go and fit. The general idea is to drive to an area, find a nice RV Park, get a site, and then explore the region without dragging Gigundo around everywhere. We would just use her as a Base of Operations until it is time to move on to the next adventure. An example of this may be the Central Valley of California (basically the greater Fresno area)  where you can park the motorhome and venture into Sequoia National Park, Kings Canyon National Park (adjacent to Sequoia) , and Yosemite National Park. Large RV’s are banned from many of the back roads of these parks so getting to the good spots would be difficult if all we had to drive is our Big-Box-On-Wheels.

          Back to today’s lesson.

           Mr. Tow Bar and his Friends consist of several components that are more safety related than anything else. The tow bar must be D.O.T. approved, and is weight restricted. The Tow Plate is made custom to each vehicle make and model because the front bumper needs to be removed and some minor chassis work performed before it can fit correctly. The tow bar also has a wiring harness that not only operates the turn signals and lights, but it also keeps the battery charged while the dinghy is being towed. We will also have an auxiliary braking system that is about as simplistic as it gets but is an engineering marvel in its operation. The system is basically a box that sits on the floor in front of the driver’s seat and has a little arm that comes out of it (somewhat like the one that R2D2 has on him). That arm gets attached to the brake pedal and when this unit senses a decrease in speed (it is inertia activated) it presses on the brake pedal! The more inertia it senses, the more it presses down on the pedal!

          The system also has an option for sensing the air pressure in our tires. This is especially important on the dingy because by the time one may notice that there is an issue, it may be too late to avoid some serious damage. Remember, its just a little car being dragged by what is essentially a big bus. There are also enough tire “slots” available on this monitoring system to accommodate the six tires on the motorhome. There are any number of tire monitoring systems out there for motorhomes and their trailers, etc.  They are similar to what comes on many cars nowadays, but these independent systems actually notify you which tire may be having difficulties. A tire failure on a motorhome is not a pretty sight! The tires on ours are supposed to have 110 lbs. of pressure in them and I check them regularly after seeing photos of RV Carnage on the side of the road because of a tire failure. Interestingly, most tires on RV’s age out before they wear out. Ultra-violet rays, and the like, sap the essential components out of the rubber on the tires. This leads to what is called “dry-rot” and is the bane of any tire’s existence. All tires are not created equal and the manufacturing process and quality of the raw materials comes shining through when the recommended “age-out” data is analyzed.

           Let us use our motorhome as an example. When we acquired this baby, it had approximately 15,000 miles on the odometer.

           This is nothing in the wear department.

          But they were 6 years old!

          This is everything in the age department.

          There are many brands out there that age-out in about 5 years. Luckily for us these are a nice set of Michelins separating us from the road. These Michelins are rated up to 10 years before needing to be replaced because if age. So even if they cost a little more you can see how much more economical (and wise ?) it is to equip an RV with quality tires. This issue rarely gets noticed on your family car because, in most cases, you wear out your tires well before they age out.

          To add insult to injury, the use of most “Tire-Blackening” products actually hastens the demise of the tires that they are used on by speeding up that ageing process. This is because the chemicals used to make the tire look nice actually dry it out even sooner!

          What a bummer!

          I like a clean vehicle

          What is the sense of a nice, bright, shiny RV if the tires look like they just competed in the Baja 1000?

          Back to the Research Lab!

          The only product that I have used so far is one by Maguire’s. It was given to me by Don, our next-door neighbor, who is a truck driver and obviously knows a lot about maintenance. I will continue my quest for the Ultimate Safe Tire Dressing and report back to you at a later date.

          After reading and understanding this little lesson, you now know why when you see a parked RV, there is a good chance that it will have Tire Covers to help shield them from the Sun.

          Today we pick up the Honda from Texas Custom Trucks. We are driving the motorhome up there so that we can get a lesson on how to properly attach it to the Tow Bar, etc. Our timing could not be better because it is time to dump our Holding Tanks which obviously requires extricating ourselves from our parking spot and pulling into the local RV Park and using their Dump Station (for a fee of course).

          A photo of our Complete Rig will be published as soon as we get Honda and Winnebago married to each other. No gifts please.

          Alright, Are you ready for the Quiz?

          Please take out a piece of paper and your #2 pencils, no cheating, I can see all of you because you forgot to put a piece of tape over the camera eye of your laptops!

1. In the beginning of the lesson I talked about “going backwards”. Is this related to:
   1. Backing up without a back-up camera
   2. Backing up and running over the neighbor’s lawn ornament
   3. Backing down in an argument with Paula
   4. None of the above
2. The Tow Bar is used to:
   • Keep your toes aligned in your shoes
   • Get you out of a sticky situation down at Mulligan’s Bar
   • Give you a quick pick-up when consumed as a energy bar
   • None of the above
3. The Founding Fathers left “Tires” out of the “Created Equal” phrase Declaration of Independence because:
   • They thought that “tires” implied that they were getting weary
   • They did not like those “new-fangled” rubber things, wood worked “just fine”
   • King George III invented the rubber tire and they hated King George.
   • None of the above

• “Tire Dressing” refers to:
  • The act of selecting the proper garment for the tire’s social schedule
  • A tasty blend of just the right herbs and spices that complement any tire salad
  • The act of yelling at your tires when they misbehave and wreak havoc on your trip.
  • None of the above

Please pass your paper’s to the person in front of you and I will collect them at the front of the room. You will get the results after I get out of Mulligan’s Bar.