Towing

The drive wheels must be off the ground, so use a dolly and tow it from the front with the front wheels on the dolly.

Tom

 

There are two options:
1. As Tom says, a two wheel tow dolly with the Prius front wheels on the dolly. This puts the rear wheels on the ground at an angle, and can be tough on the car.
2. A proper trailer that you drive the Prius onto, taking all four wheels on the trailer. I prefer this option as it gets the Prius up a bit and out of the grit that the tow vehicle (motor home) stirs up. It's also easier to integrate brakes for a trailer than for a car into your motorhome braking system (though some tow dollies do have integrated brakes). Prius weights about 3000 lb, add in the trailer weight (probably about 1000 lbs) and it's a good idea to have integrated brakes for a tow load of that size.

 

i would definitely reccomend using a TRAILER and not a DOLLY. just for the added safety of the brakes alone. another 3000+lbs with no brakes can make for some interesting moments in a panic stop.

 

What size is your motorhome?

I have heard of two wheel dollys with electric brakes. It would probably be safest for your Prius and your motorhome to use a proper 4 wheel flatbed transporter.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dfu @ Jan 1 2007, 07:51 AM) [snapback]369228[/snapback]</div>

I often tow my 2005 Prius behind my 2001 Bounder 39Z using a two-wheeled tow dolly, and haven't had any issues. The front wheels have to be off the ground, but the back wheels can still contact the ground and be fine. I leave the Prius off and in park... the back wheels move freely in this mode. One trick is to drive the Prius onto the dolly, put on the emergency brake, and roll down the window. Once you have the wheel straps on, and the car is tightly secured to the dolly, get back in, release the emergency brake, and roll the window back up. Whatever you do, don't drive the RV away with the window down. If you do, you've probably forgotten to release the emergency brake!

A couple of caveats, though: after a long trip, you'll smell a strange smell as soon as you hit the brakes for the first time (in your Prius). I panicked when this happened, and drove it straight to a mechanic. He explained that road gunk sprayed on the brakes, and I was smelling that combo of dirt and small debris burning off. Apparently, this happens all the time, but we don't gather enough muck on the brakes in normal driving to notice. Pull a Prius a couple thousand miles, though.... Doesn't do any damage. Also, watch your trailer height compared to the back bumper. If your trailer brings the front of the Prius up too much, the back end can ride a bit close to the ground. I always worry about damaging the back bumper, but haven't done it yet. Lastly, don't ever try to back up, and avoid situations where you might have to back up. Dollies don't back up at all. If you have a backup camera on the RV, you'll find it very convenient to 'watch' your Prius... gives a sense of security.

My dolly has brake lights on the dolly wheels, so I don't have the Prius brake lights connected at all (state law in Nevada doesn't require it). As well, the Prius is apparently under the weight where electric dolly brakes are required, although I purchased a dolly with electric brakes and had a brake controller installed in the RV.

I recognize that the safe way to tow a Prius is a full four-wheel trailer, but this isn't very practical to RVers, as I'm sure you already know. The empty tow dolly fits neatly under the back end of my Bounder when I'm parked in a campground.

Good luck, and welcome to the club. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

Dan

 

If one tows the Prius with all four wheel off the ground, can it remain in park?
Or, is there a way to have it in neutral without power? Does not seems so.

I always tow my other cars in neutral (and e-brake off with safety wheel chocks) so as not to rock the trans back and forth.

 

You mean, with the Prius on a trailer? Certainly. You want it in Park to be more secure. Also set the parking brake so the car won't rock against the parking pawl.

 

There is a way to have it in neutral without power, but neutral in the Prius does not physically disconnect the transmission so it probably doesn't help.

Prius tech training

 

I'm a new Prius owner and had a flat tire at 167 miles. I wasn't about to tear into the spare tire with the car being this new, so I had it towed to the dealer.

I requested a flat bed tow truck, and here's what I had to do. The tow truck driver pulled the car up onto the angled flat bed, and I couldn't figure out how to keep the car in neutral and turned off while he pulled it up with the wheels on the ground. So I kept it running in neutral, then climbed up on the flat bed and turned the car off after it was up.

Is this really how you have to do it in this situation with a flat bed tow truck? Is there really no way to keep the car in neutral without having it turned on?

 

You did the right procedure regarding keeping the car READY (IG-ON would also work) and in N.

There in fact is no way to keep the car in N without doing a tricky thing beyond the scope of a normal owner (i.e., pulling the fuse providing power to the transmission control ECU while the car is in N, but this would log a DTC.)

I'm wondering why you had the car towed to the dealer, as any tire store could repair the flat.

 

You could always try summoning the spirit of a dead relative to help hold out the park pawl solenoid. Oh hang on, you're not that John Edward right. JOHN EDWARD - International Psychic Medium - The only official website worldwide

Sorry about the sick joke.

 

It's also fine to turn it OFF, set the parking brake, and let them drag it up onto the flatbed. It just scrapes the tires a little.

 

Hi Richard. Do the parking brakes apply braking to all 4 wheels or just the rear two?

 

Just the rear.

Tom

 

Ok that's what I thought. So applying the park brake doesn't reduce the stress on the transmission or anything if you're dragging it then.

 

D'ohh!! Thanks for the correction. So *don't* set the parking brake.

 

No, but it does make it harder to drag.

Tom

 

Don't do this...

We have towed our Prius over 10,000 miles on our EZE Tow Dolly. All you need to do is, ensure you insert your key in the ignition, turn on the Prius, move the wheel back and forth a little to ensure it is loose and then turn the ignition Off but LEAVE THE KEY IN THE IGNITION. Lock the door with another set of keys. Ensure the Parking Brake is OFF and the vehicle is in Park.

Works like a charm.

Oh yeah, if you have water in your tail lights, check out this YouTube video.

 

Don't reply to a 7 year old post.