tow vehicles - R-pod Owners Forum

Towing an RPOD with a car as small as a Ford Escape. Yep it works. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum about this. And it is of course a good question after one has invested thousands in a Ford Escape and an RPod. I read all the posts I could find before we took our vacation and found out some really useful information.

One must have a v6. It is the only Escape that is weight rated high enough to pull an rpod.

Plan on cruising along at a brisk 60 mph. Like one of the earlier posts mentioned. 60 mph seems to be the sweet spot. It will pull it up to 65 and 70 but it does not get out of 2^nd gear.

Don’t use the over drive, except in areas of flat driving. That means really flat. It will work fine in cruise control mode but there will be more shifting then necessary.

My 2012 Escape has a hill assist feature which really works nice. The cruise control is off in this mode and the transmission shifts for uphill and downhill as necessary.

When I drove up steep inclines with cruise control on, the transmission of course eventually wanted to drop down to low. This shoots the rpm up to 4 or 5 thousand. Although it probably would not hurt to drive in low at that high an rpm for a short period; I did not particularly like stressing the engine or the transmission that much so I would disengage the overdrive and manually keep the rpms in the 3 thousand ranges and settle for whatever speed it would go.

Keep in the right lane and get used to people passing you. I discovered that if I maintained a steady 60 mph in the right lane I caused no problems for anyone. So slow down and enjoy the trip.

We just finished a 5000 mile trip across country and back which included a trip through the Smokey Mountains and Ozark mountains. No Problems.

Just slow down and enjoy the trip.

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dsmiths Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 10 Oct 2011 Location: Southern Ind Online Status: Offline Posts: 866	Topic: tow vehicles Posted: 08 Jul 2012 at 9:32pm
	Dan, dont beat yourself up, you did the right thing, but alas there is light at the end of the tunnel, buy the pod, and get a better tow vehicle, you wont regret it.
	Dane and Donna Smith 2011 RP-172 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4 lift kit prodigy wireless brake controller

Grayhawk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 03 Jun 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Posted: 22 Jul 2012 at 6:26pm
	Towing an RPOD with a car as small as a Ford Escape. Yep it works. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum about this. And it is of course a good question after one has invested thousands in a Ford Escape and an RPod. I read all the posts I could find before we took our vacation and found out some really useful information. One must have a v6. It is the only Escape that is weight rated high enough to pull an rpod. Plan on cruising along at a brisk 60 mph. Like one of the earlier posts mentioned. 60 mph seems to be the sweet spot. It will pull it up to 65 and 70 but it does not get out of 2^nd gear. Don’t use the over drive, except in areas of flat driving. That means really flat. It will work fine in cruise control mode but there will be more shifting then necessary. My 2012 Escape has a hill assist feature which really works nice. The cruise control is off in this mode and the transmission shifts for uphill and downhill as necessary. When I drove up steep inclines with cruise control on, the transmission of course eventually wanted to drop down to low. This shoots the rpm up to 4 or 5 thousand. Although it probably would not hurt to drive in low at that high an rpm for a short period; I did not particularly like stressing the engine or the transmission that much so I would disengage the overdrive and manually keep the rpms in the 3 thousand ranges and settle for whatever speed it would go. Keep in the right lane and get used to people passing you. I discovered that if I maintained a steady 60 mph in the right lane I caused no problems for anyone. So slow down and enjoy the trip. We just finished a 5000 mile trip across country and back which included a trip through the Smokey Mountains and Ozark mountains. No Problems. Just slow down and enjoy the trip.

dsmiths Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 10 Oct 2011 Location: Southern Ind Online Status: Offline Posts: 866	Posted: 22 Jul 2012 at 9:19pm
	Greyhawk, I agree, I have found that my trailblazer likes 55/60. I can pull it at 80mph but why ? When we are on the interstate, Donna and I plan, take our time, stay in the right lane. on steep hills ( we got em in southern indiana) I may slow to 50, downhill I may get up to 65. but I stay around 55 or 60, we are going camping, not responding to an emergency. I like you say Slow down enjoy the trip getting there as much as the camping. See Ya on the Road
	Dane and Donna Smith 2011 RP-172 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4 lift kit prodigy wireless brake controller