bsprague

To be clear, my wife's 2007 Ford Edge I tow behind our motorhome does NOT accrue any mileage while being towed. The key is off. The odometer is off. Everything is off. The wheels still turn because it is in neutral. The only time the odometer shows increasing numbers is when the engine running, the transmission is in gear and there is forward speed. My wife's edge shows 35, 000 driven miles on the odometer but it has rolled about 60,000 miles because it has been towed about 25,000. For what its worth, this is common on vehicles with electronic odometers. My wife's

Remco is famous for making cars that can't be towed into towable cars by providing lubrication to transmissions and disconnecting drive shafts . The Edge is not a car that needs any of that. I doubt Remco would even sell you a lube pump. The 2007 owner's manual is a little vague in its wording but it says the AWD version is towable with all four wheels on the ground. After you have it fully attached to the motorhome with a Roadmaster or Blue-Ox towbar you release the parking brake, put the transmission in neutral and turn the key counterclowise as far as it will go. If you stop for fuel or at a rest stop consider running the engine for a few minutes. Don't expect the local Ford dealer to know much about this. So few of their customers buy cars to be towed that their experience level is very low. The experts will be at the larger Roadmaster and Blu-Ox dealer/installers.

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My Blu Ox base plate installation came with two stout attachment points that stick out from the grill. They are positioned next to the attach points for the towbar. The coiled cables that came with the Blu Ox towbar kit has stout hooks that go into those attach points. If the hitch broke, the cables broke, the towbar broke and the baseplate broke there is still the auxillary brake system that would independtly stop the car. With the Edge base plate there are bolts instead of permanent chain. The cable instructions are going to be generic and many other cars may need the chains. I had a Suburu like that. Follow the instructions that came with the base plate, not the cables.

I'm not from Palmdale, but it shouldn't be hard to find a shop to do this. One way is to go to any place that sells big diesel motorhoms and ask where they send their towbar work. There are several towbar brands, but the two major ones are Blu-Ox and Roadmaster. Blu-Ox seems to dominate the east and Roadmaster (from Oregon) seems to dominate the west. Their websites will lead you to welding and hitch shops that do the work. Camping World is a national RV chain store that has selected Roadmaster as their towbar line. Their website will lead you to their stores all over the country. Bill

This is a slow moving thread! I don't check here often, so sorry I missed your question. The install was done by TL Central in Kent, WA. As I recall it was a little over $1,000. It might have been $1300. I sort of closed my eyes and handed them a credit card! TL Central does so many of these things it was a routine procedure. Part of the kit is a bar across the two front seat rail bolts. It looks nice and does not get in the way. It provides the stationary attach point for the air cylinder. A large part of the expense is the breakaway equipment that is installed under the hood. If the car uncouples from the motorhome it will automatically apply the brakes in the car. I asked them to leave that part out, but I guess the lawyers won't let them. I had one disagreement with them. They tapped into the motorhome brakes at the aircan with plastic tubing. The instructions and airbrake standard applications never use plastic tubing from the frame to a moving part on an axle. That is what rubber hose is for. When I complained they rescheduled me and changed it so that there is a tee fitting on the frame. Bill PS: We've made several more trips towing the Edge without issue.

My orginal point was to alert anyone interested to NOT TRY PUTTING chains on the back wheels. Stuff will break for sure. If for some reason you need them put them on the front. A better choice is to stay off the road and in front of a fire with ?????.

Probably not. But old habits die hard! I've been driving in the Pacific Northwest longer than than the average age of the Edge target market! And that includes a lot of ski trips. Washington State has "carry chains" laws for driving the mountain passes. I don't know of anybody that ever got a ticket for not having them. The idea is to be prepared. The Troupers can require you to stop and put on chains. Usually it is a "winter tires" or chains requirement. Conditions I've seen where they were necessary involved rapidly melting road ice or rain on existing ice. Picture a slightly sloping parking lot at a ski area where it has become a sheet of ice after all the cars were parked closely together. Then it starts to rain or melt. If the snow, compact snow or ice remain cold any FWD or AWD vehicle will have the traction to go. The problem is that many drivers forget that it is more about stopping. The Edge does that well too!

17"

Last year I bought "Security Chain Super Z6, SZ429" cable chains from Amazon in case they were required by either me or the troopers. I tested them for size but did not try driving on them. We had some snow and ice this week in the Seattle-Tacoma area so it was time for a test drive. I was not sure if they would be best on the back or front. The owners manual says nothing except to not use chains on anything but the standard size tires. Thinking that stopping control would be better if they were on the back, I tried that first. DON'T DO IT. The inside cable won't clear the lower shock bracket. I can't see were any chains would fit in back. On the other hand, there is lots of clearance on the front. I drove about 5 miles, including some lock to lock turns and found no problems. I tried a 25 mph panic stop on ice and the car's computers took over and we stopped in a straight line. The automatic traction system is a good one, but if you are ever forced to put on tire chains get "S" class cables and only put them on the front. 30 mph is stated as the max by Security.

Our first requirement has not been mentioned on this thread. Our list: 1. Towable behind a motorhome (our last car was drug for 50,000 miles) 2. Automatic Transmission (our last car had a standard transmission) 3. All Wheel Drive 4. Roomy and comfortable back seat for large adults (our last car was OK for children) 5. Small enough to fit in our garage in a condo Not a single car on the market met those five requirements. Some were close, but flunked the back seat test. A dealer near to where we were staying in our motorhome had a loaded "last years" Edge without a BAMR, that qualified for great financing and they gave us a good trade on a four year old car with a failing transmission. Ford does not seem to promote that the Edge can be towed without modification. Yet, under a section in the owner's manual titled "Recreational Towing", they clearly endorse it. In the RV world it is called using the car as a "dinghy" or "toad". Towing "four down" means that you tow the car on its own wheels. Aftermarket companies (Blue Ox and Roadmaster) supply "base plates" and "tow bars" that are attached to the front of the car so that it can be connected to the motorhome hitch. Other aftermarket companies supply "auxiliary braking systems" that apply the brakes in the car when the brakes are applied in the motorhome.

Ours came with the standard 17 inch wheels. I was surprised reading the owners manual after we owned it that Ford does not want you to use chains if the tires are any bigger. I looked up on tirerack.com for winter tires to fit the 17 inch wheels and found many choices. If you buy an Edge to use the AWD for winter conditions you may need the standard 17 inch wheels to get the most out of the car. The larger wheels and tires look good, but might be for the drivers that don't want to leave Los Angeles! I drove to Paradise on Mt. Rainier in some snow and ice last weekend. The AWD was impressive.

The computer says I get about 24 on the freeway. You have to reset after you get up to speed to see that. The average for most trips that include a mix of local roads and freeways seems to be around 18 to 20.

If you have it, use the one that came on the car. All the bike racks, accessories and hitches you could possibly use on the car can be purchased to fit the smaller hole. If all you use is a bike rack, get a new one. If you just bought a new car you can afford a new rack! If you already have a collection of accessories, get an adapter.

The odometer is electric. It does not register while being towed. My first choice is made by M & G Engineering (http://www.m-gengineering.com/index.html) but a phone call determined it would not fit. My second choice is a Brakemaster by Roadmaster (http://www.roadmaster-tow-bars.com/brake9160.php) . It is an air operated cylinder that fits to the brake pedal. I'm having it installed on January 2.

Yes. Because the engine is running. You can't get it out of Park without starting the engine. It is assumed you start the process of hooking up to your motorhome by starting the engine so that you can get the Edge to the towbar. If it is hooked up from the previous day's towing, you need to start the engine anyway so that you can run it the required 5 minutes that is stated in the owner's manual. Except for the requirement to run the engine and get it out of park, it would not matter. As long as the parking brake is off, the transmission is in neutral and the key fully off (with the steering unlocked) the car would roll fine.

I used a Roadmaster All Terrain Falcon 2 to tow a Subaru 60,000 miles. It is a good system and I had no problems. For our new Edge I went with Blue Ox because of how it looks with the towbar removed. Yes, you can remove the Roadmaster cross member but there is never a good place to store it. For four years the Subaru had the Roadmaster iron stored on the front of the car. The Blue Ox cross member is permanently attached behind the grill and is part of the “base plate” engineering so, there is nothing to store. Even the “bullets” remove easily. You can download the base plate instructions (with pictures) here: http://www.aemfg.com/pdfs/BX2190.pdf After getting the car and towbar set up I towed the Edge from Virginia to Washington State. My battery went dead on day two. The owners manual instructions are not as clear as I think they should be. After starting the engine, hooking up the towbar, shifting to neutral and releasing the brake you are to turn off the engine. As you rotate the key from RUN to OFF you see the dash go dim, the GPS turn off and the engine quit. It looks and sounds “off” but, it is not. You need to turn the key one further “click” counter clockwise. You will see the clock display on the GPS panel go out and there is no other visual indication. If you listen hard you may hear a relay click open behind the dash. You can’t turn it too far because, while it is in neutral, it won’t let you. The steering remains unlocked and the key won’t come out.

Update: I have completed the trip from Virginia Beach to Milton, Washington. Except for the confusion about the two ACC positions, there have been no other issues. The Edge was a great "toad". Once I learned to rotate the key fully counter clockwise against the stops, the battery remained charged. As long as the transmission is in Neutral, it won't let you turn the key too far and the steering remains unlocked. The towing equipment attached to the front of the Edge is made by a company called Blue Ox. The design of their system for the Edge is very "clean". By that I mean that most of the extra framework (or "baseplate" as it is called in the RV world) his hidden behind the grill. Very little is visible in the grill when the tobar equipment is disconnected. http://www.aemfg.com/pdfs/BX2190.pdf is a copy of the installation instructions. http://www.aemfg.com/images/Baseplates/BX2190.jpg is a link to a picture. The two "bullets" projecting forwards out of the grill are the attach points for the towbar. They remove with a twist for an even cleaner look.

Respectfully, you are reading the manual wrong or have the wrong manual. The book says you can't tow it on a "dolly" where the front is off the pavement and the rear is on the pavement. The book says: -Run the engine for five minutes -Put it in Neutral -Release the brake (after it is connected to the motorhome) -Put the key in the ACC position. In the last week I have towed the car from Virginia Beach to Rawlins, WY. On the second day the battery was dead. I found that odd and did some home work. Although the owners manual says to turn the key to ACC, it does not say there are two ACC positions. One leaves some accessories on and the other does not. With the it in neutral, you turn the key as far counter clockwise as you can, which by feel, is two clicks. I bought an amp meter and confirmed there is about an 8 amp drain in one position and less than an amp in the other. Before I bought the car I confirmed that it was towable. I used the owners manual, an RV sales guide that Ford prints for their dealer sales reps, an RV users net forum on the Internet and a Ford customer support line.

We bought one last week. The last car we owned as a "toad" was "towed" 60,000 miles in four years. The Edge has all that is required and in a lot more car than the Subaru it replaced. The first trip for the new Edge will be from Virginia Beach to Tacoma, WA being drug behind our motorhome. It will arrive with about 400 miles on the odometer after a 3,000 mile trip! The towbar is a Blue Ox Aventa.

My grandfather started the third Washington State Ford dealership. Of course it is no longer in the family and he is long gone! Over the years all of his heir drifted to other brands. With the help of my wife, we have reversed the trend. Last week we bought a 2007 SE+ while we were in Virgina. The first stop for the car was to a shop that installs "tow bars" that make it possible to drag it behind a motorhome. Our last car, a Subaru Forester, logged 60,000 miles as a trailer and an additonal 60,000 being driven. The Edge will have the same challenge. This week we are pulling it "home" to Washington State. Why and Edge: 1. Towable "four down". (See "Recreational Towing" in the owner's manual) 2. Automatic transmission (Not common in cars that can be towed behind a motorhome) 3. Roomy back seat 4. AWD 5. Not too ugly 6 Not too flashy So far the car has 400 miles on it and an additional 600 miles as a trailer!