Renting a Tow Vehicle

Hi Friends, there are lots of threads on renting a TrailManor, but I've got a need to rent a tow vehicle to take this baby packin in the hills.

Background: I've got a 2616 that I pull to camping establishments within a 100 mile radius of home in the flatlands of the midwest. For these trips I'm using our 2008 Honda Odyssey with tow package, brake controller, and load leveling hitch. But this summer I would like to head to Glacier National Park where we'll have more hill climbing and decent that our van can handle.

Objective: I need to find a SUV for our family of 5 that has some legroom and storage space adequate for a week long trip.

Options Considered:
1) None of the major rental companies seem to allow towing. Even if I can find a vehicle like a Yukon or Suburban at a rental agency that could tow it, I need to know how I can quickly tell, ( while shopping for the right color ), if the vehicle is wired for me to hook up my brake controller. Furthermore, if the unit available when I go to pick it up does not have a receiver hitch I'll have an additional hassle.

2) The local Chevy dealer did not seem interested in renting out a vehicle.

3) I called our local RV dealer and they were unaware of any local shops that rent "exotics" that might be able to tow.

4) I've also considered buying a used vehicle at the start of the summer, and selling it at the end. But this is fraught with risk (gas prices are likely to make it harder to sell at the end of the season) and sales tax would guarantee a baseline cost.

Thoughts, or other creative options to consider?

[T and C]

Originally Posted by krusen

Hi Friends, there are lots of threads on renting a TrailManor, but I've got a need to rent a tow vehicle to take this baby packin in the hills.

Background: I've got a 2616 that I pull to camping establishments within a 100 mile radius of home in the flatlands of the midwest. For these trips I'm using our 2008 Honda Odyssey with tow package, brake controller, and load leveling hitch. But this summer I would like to head to Glacier National Park where we'll have more hill climbing and decent that our van can handle.

Objective: I need to find a SUV for our family of 5 that has some legroom and storage space adequate for a week long trip.

Options Considered:
1) None of the major rental companies seem to allow towing. Even if I can find a vehicle like a Yukon or Suburban at a rental agency that could tow it, I need to know how I can quickly tell, ( while shopping for the right color ), if the vehicle is wired for me to hook up my brake controller. Furthermore, if the unit available when I go to pick it up does not have a receiver hitch I'll have an additional hassle.

2) The local Chevy dealer did not seem interested in renting out a vehicle.

3) I called our local RV dealer and they were unaware of any local shops that rent "exotics" that might be able to tow.

4) I've also considered buying a used vehicle at the start of the summer, and selling it at the end. But this is fraught with risk (gas prices are likely to make it harder to sell at the end of the season) and sales tax would guarantee a baseline cost.

Thoughts, or other creative options to consider?

U-Haul rents pickup trucks. I believe you can tow with them. A phone call would tell you one way or the other. You would have to take two vehicles, which costs more, but you could stay in the trailer, which lowers the cost for accomodations.

Tom

[Mr. Adventure]

The difficulty is in the installation issues for the hitch, brake controller, and hookups. I would expect that ordinary rental places wouldn't want their vehicles tampered with to the extent necessary to make them into tow vehicles, and the cost of installations is more than you'd want to spend for just a week anyway.

I think I'd probably just tell everybody that we're going to be travelling on the light side and go for the adventure in the Odyssey. But you know your vehicle a lot better than I do. I'm sure the Odyssey owners here have important experience to contribute.

[wbmiller3]

Please fact check this, but Ford Expeditions since 2003 come prewired for the brake controller and all have the hitch installed so you could drive one of those off the rental lot and be set up pretty quick. You will probably need to buy a wiring harness to connect the brake controller though.

From my experience, with my 2720, my 2000 Odussey works fine as long as you don't have to be the fastest rig up the mountain. Depending on the year (as some years transmission coolers were included in the package and some not) I 'd add a trnasmission cooler if you don't already have one. Honda makes one that works well. It's not that big, but the Honda dealer that installed mine said a larger unit might lower the temp too much.
So far it has worked well.

Good luck.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by moaboy

I'd add a transmission cooler if you don't already have one.

Just to be clear, your transmission already has a transmission cooler. We are talking about an auxiliary transmission cooler here. This confusion has led a few of our members astray in the past.

Bill

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to start scoping out those Expeditions. I'm not opposed to getting a harness. As for my Odyssey, I have added the factory towing transmission cooler so I think it's probably as capable as I can make it.

One alternative that I came up with was to only tow the TM to a half way point in the Black Hills, camp for a couple nights enjoying the outdoors, and then leave the TM behind. We could then stay in hotels while in the really mountainous terrain. Finally, we could try another night in the TM at the half way point on the way back home. I don't think my wife's ready for a full week in the TM so it may be a good compromise.

[T and C]

Originally Posted by krusen

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to start scoping out those Expeditions. I'm not opposed to getting a harness. As for my Odyssey, I have added the factory towing transmission cooler so I think it's probably as capable as I can make it.

One alternative that I came up with was to only tow the TM to a half way point in the Black Hills, camp for a couple nights enjoying the outdoors, and then leave the TM behind. We could then stay in hotels while in the really mountainous terrain. Finally, we could try another night in the TM at the half way point on the way back home. I don't think my wife's ready for a full week in the TM so it may be a good compromise.

You know, that might be a good idea. There is only one road that goes from one side of Glacier to the other. It is called the "Going to the Sun Highway". When I was there a few years back you could not tow a trailer on that road. Seems to me there was a length limit that excluded them.

I would check this out. If you can't use that road you have to detour around the whole park.

Tom

[Mr. Adventure]

Before giving up on the Odyssey, I'd talk to some of our Odyssey owners. Ford and Chevy pickups can come with a built-in brake controller, and you can rent pickups from Enterprise (but I have no idea where, what cost, or if they're the right ones).

I'd forgotten about the length and other limits in Glacier. They're right, though, the road around to the South is a much better road for towing anyhow. Surprisingly, though, Logan Pass is just 6646 feet.

We had trouble with overheating on that trip, but not with the motorhome. The little Miata we towed along with us had trouble with the low speed 6000 foot traffic near the pass (we figured out later that there are 2 radiator fans, but the second one only turns on if the air conditioner is running!) (I think the guy who thought of this might have left Mazda to get a job at the power company).


Here's a link for FAQs about Going to the Sun Road:
http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/gttsrfaq.htm

^^ it's no wonder - it's hard to pull a motor home with a Miata!