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.