2005 Sprinter Toad

asodergren

Member
I decided to turn my Sprinter into a tow vehicle, rather than buy another vehicle, when we recently got our Travel Supreme coach. All that was required was a Roadmaster base plate and a Remco driveshaft disconnect. I've run it about 2500 miles in the last month with no problems. The only other thing required is to run the front wheels stop to stop to clear the air out of the steering cylinder after you tow. That takes about 15 seconds and you are ready to go.
 

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asodergren

Member
That is a good tip. Any odd tire wear patterns noticed so far?



:laughing:

Tough crowd here.

Very nice looking rig by the way. :thumbup: vic
Thanks. No noticeable tire wear. The front wheels are free to caster so, I'm not really expecting any unusual wear. I guess time will tell.
 

rbrennick

New member
Great rig- for us gearheads:
- What's the combined weight of all pieces?
- And to make us all feel better, how do you do for MPG and at what speed do you run?
Rich- Michigan
 

windchaser

New member
2 questions ,, i have been wanting to tow our sprinter also..do you have a brake system installed and do you leave the key in the on position all the time or does the steering wheel not lock,,and also what do you mean by stop to stop to clear the air ,, thanks
 

Boater

New member
Eeek!

I wouldn't want to meet you on a single track road, come to think of it, I wouldn't want to meet you on the A82 between Tarbet and Crianlarich, it's difficult enough when you meet a coach!
I don't think our roads are suitable for that kind of combo - the motorways and most trunk roads would be fine, but camp sites are often down twisty narrow lanes....

It's a serious piece of kit!

Jim
 

asodergren

Member
Great rig- for us gearheads:
- What's the combined weight of all pieces?
- And to make us all feel better, how do you do for MPG and at what speed do you run?
Rich- Michigan
Combined weight is 44,000 lbs. The coach and motorcycle are 38,000, as loaded. The sprinter is 6,000 including all the gear we store inside. It is kind of like having a drivable enclosed trailer.

I run around 62mph. The coach alone gets 7.9mpg. With the motorcycle and Sprinter, it drops to 6.9 mpg. In the mountains, the whole rig drops to about 6.5mpg
 

asodergren

Member
2 questions ,, i have been wanting to tow our sprinter also..do you have a brake system installed and do you leave the key in the on position all the time or does the steering wheel not lock,,and also what do you mean by stop to stop to clear the air ,, thanks
I have a Brakemaster 9160 system for it, but I haven't installed the air lines on the coach yet. I know, a bit late, but it seems to do pretty well without it. We are taking a few months off, but I definitely plan to complete the installation when we return to the coach. We left it in an enclosed garage in California and drove the Sprinter home.

You turn the key on, place the transmission in neutral, disengage the driveshaft, place the transmission back in park and turn the key to off. This does leave the wheel unlocked as long as you leave the key in the ignition. If you pull the key out, it will lock again.

While towing, the steering cylinder tends to get air in it. I had read about this on another post before I started towing. After towing, all you have to do is turn the steering wheel full left and full right a couple of times. This seems to get the air out of the system.
 
Alan,

Does that Brakemaster unit maintain a vacuum on the power brake booster?

I have towed my Sprinter behind my class A for many years. Without a true proportionate brake system, it will eat up the tow bar. I went thru many tow bars before installing the Air Force One Brake System. Now all is good.
 

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asodergren

Member
Very interesting, Mike. I do happen to have a proportional control valve left over from a previous installation. I had not seen anything indicating that it was required for the Sprinter. Thanks
 
The trick is to always have power brakes on the Sprinter even when the engine is off. That is what the Air Force One does. By keeping a vacuum on the brake booster, it takes very little push for the air cylinder to propertly apply the Sprinter brakes.

A lot of braking systems push on a dead brake petal (no vacuum in the booster). I have seen one that actually broke off the pedal.
 

asodergren

Member
OK, I'll look into how the proportional control valve works and see if it fits the bill. We used it on the Mercury Mariner Hybrid we used to tow with a previous motorhome. I know it is also required when towing Hummers. I suspect it will do the job, but need to talk to Roadmaster to make sure. Thanks again for the heads up.
 

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