Sunseeker, 2400R MBS Series - Flat Towing

[Rogergib]

Hi everyone,

We are brand new to the Forrest River Forum, and we have ordered our First ever Motor Home! We are moving from an Arctic Fox 5th wheel to our new 2400R MBS Series. Hopefully we will have a great experience with the Forest River brand.

I will always be looking for Tips and Tricks on this Forum, and I have found some really good ones already.

I believe we do wish to tow a vehicle behind our Mercedes V6, so we can travel away from Camp.

A couple of questions jump out at me:

The V6 diesel is rated at 4,200 lbs Max towing capacity. May I have your thoughts on maxing out to the 4,200 or should I plan to stay 10% under the 4,200?

As far as a Tow vehicle, I of course need to make sure a vehicle can be towed, and if so, what are the proper steps to take. I am looking for some real life examples of what folks tow behind their 2400X Sunseeker V6 diesel coaches. Any and all comments are welcome.

Thanks!
Roger

[Rkloud9]

Originally Posted by Rogergib

Hi everyone,

We are brand new to the Forrest River Forum, and we have ordered our First ever Motor Home! We are moving from an Arctic Fox 5th wheel to our new 2400R MBS Series. Hopefully we will have a great experience with the Forest River brand.

I will always be looking for Tips and Tricks on this Forum, and I have found some really good ones already.

I believe we do wish to tow a vehicle behind our Mercedes V6, so we can travel away from Camp.

A couple of questions jump out at me:

The V6 diesel is rated at 4,200 lbs Max towing capacity. May I have your thoughts on maxing out to the 4,200 or should I plan to stay 10% under the 4,200?

As far as a Tow vehicle, I of course need to make sure a vehicle can be towed, and if so, what are the proper steps to take. I am looking for some real life examples of what folks tow behind their 2400X Sunseeker V6 diesel coaches. Any and all comments are welcome.

Thanks!
Roger

Hey Roger!

After 14000 miles in our 2017 SunSeeker MBS 2400w, we went down the toad road. Since we plan to put a lot of miles on our rig, our motivation is to minimize stress on the system. We searched for the smallest vehicle we could stand, and purchased a Chevy Spark with a stick shift, 13 ft. long and 2300 lbs. This little car is fun to drive, with great gas mileage, in the low to mid 40's. We installed the Blue Ox base plate (8 hours, not too difficult) and the "bulb-insert-inside-lens" tail lights (4 hours, pretty easy). If you can do this stuff yourself, you will save at least $1500. We added the Patriot braking system, which runs off the toad's battery, and on a long day it will kill the car's battery. We had a lot of trouble with the 7 pin plug on the coach, as it was wired incorrectly... be sure to test this early in the process. Now that this has been repaired, we plan to add a 12v plug in the car that is powered by the coach.

We took the back seat out of the Spark (really easy), and we store a bike and a portable solar panel kit in the car. Without the car, we average about 15mpg, with toad about 13mpg (4000 miles so far). Having a high clearance 4wd vehicle would be an ideal answer, and I have read about folks pulling various larger cars, mostly Jeeps. But the smallest jeep is 3400 lbs, and many more $$$.

Hope this helps... see you Out There!

Bob & Cynthia
2017 SunSeeker MBS 2400W

[Hoglou]

We also use a patriot brake but on a jk jeep. I have a 12 volt access that is always hot regardless of having the key on in the jeep. Once you have a constant 12 volt access in your toad for the patriot brake I suggest using a "Hopkins 39332 BrakeBuddy Towed Vehicle Battery Maintainer". This keeps the toad batt charged while towing without 12 volt feed back to the coach. It is about the size of a old pocket box of matches (1"×2"). The 7 way will have a constant hot, we use the "Hopkins Endurance Flex-Coil Trailer Connector Adapter w/ Nite-Glow - 7-Way to 6-Pole - 8' Long" cord to mate the toad and coach..

3 years plus on set up, tracks well..

Just got back from a week at the coast, prepping to roll again soon..

[SeaDog]

Welcome to the forum its a great place to get your questions answered

[maryanna]

We towed a 2016 Prius cross country from Ohio to Arizona with an Acme tow dolly in December. Car weight just over 3,000 lb. Averaged 14mpg.

[TNSolera]

17 2400W; we purchased a 17 Honda fit Manual Transmission for our low weight toad.. working fine and Fit has a lot of room with back seats folded up.. Lot of research and meets our needs. I have Blue Ox system with Patriot controller. Also ordered a dual Box receiver so can use our already owned lightweight bike rack and bikes so good to roam n enjoy

[PenJoe]

We do not have a MBS, but we do have a Sunseeker and a toad. Last fall, we went through what you planning to do now. FR pre-wires the 7-pin wiring harness for towing. They do wire a positive wire for power to the toad. The ignition must be on in the MH for the feed to be active. I bring up this point because some toads require the ignition on when being towed. Though our Jeep Liberty did not, it did require juice from the toad battery to operate the Patriot brake controller. So, I added a RVibrake TBC12014 battery charger ($60). Super easy to install and keeps the toad battery charged while the MH is running-off with the ignition to prevent battery drain. The Jeep started without a hitch after 4-days travel and 1700 miles.

The other suggestion is to use a Blue Ox Aladdin hitch that is aluminum. The new version is 7,500 lbs, but if you can find a used one, the older model is 5,000 lbs that would suit you just fine. I have both. The difference is that the 5,000 lb is all aluminum and the 7,500 lb has a steel receiver bar.

[Peterowe]

I tow a 2006 VW New Beetle Diesel. We did 6500 miles in our MBS 2400 last summer without incident. VW weighs about 3000lbsm with mileage dropping to 13MPG. Swore I would never tow, but have since changed my mind because of the greater flexibility. Well worth the extra expense to have a car to explore with.

[Rogergib]

Thanks to everyone so far with the ideas and advice! We truly appreciate it. Please keep them coming, as we have a lot of decisions to make!

[Joseph Carozzoni]

We have a Sunseeker Ford V10 and toad weight is not an issue, but we didn't want to tow something big just because we could. The Ford Focus is also a good choice. It is just under 3,000lbs, has plenty of room for us two and a big German Shepherd, and is rated at 26/38 MPG. As someone stated before, you'll save about $1,500 installing the equipment yourself. There is also an excellent thread showing in detail how to setup a Ford Focus for flat-4 towing at:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/2016-...ng-275177.html

Motorhome Magazine has a toad guide, but I found it missing some cars and not 100% accurate. For the best information, try to get the towing guide from the manufacturer directly. For Ford, you'll find it here:

RV & Trailer Towing Guides | fleet.ford.com

[bob5560g]

We have a 2015 Forester MBS 2401W. Didn't take long to realize that you need a toad to explore.... Bought a '98 Suzuki Sidekick 4 x 4. At 3,200 lbs, that leaves us 1,000 lbs under the max tow capacity. Since the 2401W is so close to max weight by itself, we put heavy stuff like cases of drinking water into the toad. Still stays below the max, but saves stress on the MBS chassis, suspension, etc.

I bought a used Roadmaster tow bar and had it professionally installed. Then added an RVI brake controller to the Sidekick, with their battery maintainer thingy that keeps the Sidekick charged from the MBS.

Just this weekend I found out the hard way that if you forget to turn the ignition off on the towed vehicle, it drains both batteries. (We camped at a crafts fair and never did unhook the toad for three days and two nights.) I also found out that on my MH, luckily the generator also charges the engine battery. So I was able to start the MBS in about 20 minutes. Not sure if draining both batteries (due to me not turning off toad ignition) is normal, will have to ask RVI.

The 2401W is the heaviest MBS floor plan due to the full side slide, so it averages about 13.5 mpg by itself, and about 11.5 mpg towing.

[knockando]

Highly suggest Blueox tow bar and baseplate, great equipment! The Patriot II has worked great so far for our braking.