Flat Tow on Dirt Road?

[Tilzbow]

Has anyone flat towed their Bronco on a dirt road for 30-60 miles? Road would be a well maintained dirt road that you could drive a Bronco or pickup 40 - 50 MPH on. There would be some washboard but not too bad. If you‘ve done this, how dirty and dusty did your rig get?

My concern is the level of dust in the engine compartment and the potential of heavy dust buildup on the outside and inside. I’d plug the air intake on the Bronco and probably take a leaf blower and blow off the heaviest dust before unhooking and driving the Bronco.

Background for the above question:

I’ve towed my Bronco over 10,000 miles behind my motorhome without incident, all asphalt miles except a few dirt roads within some RV parks and campgrounds. I plan to use my Bronco for a few 2-3 week long big game hunts over the coming years. To haul enough gear and transport the game back home I either need to spend $5,000 to $8,000 on a small off-road capable cargo trailer or tow the Bronco behind my diesel pickup. If there’s an RV park close to the hunt area I’d use the motorhome but most areas I hunt require a fairly long drive on a dirt road to get into a good camp location. I keep going back to the diesel pickup towing option since I don’t have to spend the money on a trailer and I don’t have to find a place to store the trailer 50 weeks out of the year but I imagine the Bronco would be a dusty mess at the end of the drive.

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[Fordified1]

It will be dirty as hell. I use a cordless leaf blower to blow mine off. And I have a sheild that attaches to the towbar that deflects rocks and some dust from the grille area. Plugging the air intake isn’t a bad idea.

 

[Mr176]

1100 miles up and down the Dempster Highway in Canada's Northwest Territory, but we did several shorter stretches of dirt road without issue.

 

[Mr176]

Don't forget to make sure the doors are closed all the way.

 

[Tilzbow]

1100 miles up and down the Dempster Highway in Canada's Northwest Territory, but we did several shorter stretches of dirt road without issue.

That‘s what I was thinking mine would look like after 40 to 50 miles. I suppose once it gets to a certain point it can’t get much worse.…. On our long trip we had several 4 - 6 hour drives in rain storms and the highway grime was nearly as bad as your picture above.

 

[Tilzbow]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Thinking out loud…. If it weren’t for the fact I need to buy a separate auxiliary brake controller for the Bronco when towing with my pickup, I’d simply hook it up, find a dirt road and experiment to see how bad it gets. But my current brake controller operates off my diesel pusher motorhome‘s air brakes and won’t work unless the tow rig has air brakes. That said a short pull on a local dirt road would probably be safe enough and worth the time before I invest another $1,000 or more in another auxiliary brake system.

 

[grtharris]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Thinking out loud…. If it weren’t for the fact I need to buy a separate auxiliary brake controller for the Bronco when towing with my pickup, I’d simply hook it up, find a dirt road and experiment to see how bad it gets. But my current brake controller operates off my diesel pusher motorhome‘s air brakes and won’t work unless the tow rig has air brakes. That said a short pull on a local dirt road would probably be safe enough and worth the time before I invest another $1,000 or more in another auxiliary brake system.

I would not be to concerned about pulling the Bronco on a local dirt road without aux brakes. Connect the lights up as normal. My dad an I pulled his Bronco up a dirt road in Colorado one fall with dust like flour. Snowed 6" two days later. Luckily there was a creek at out camp site so we could rinse it off.
Be sure the heater/AC is off and that's a good ideal to plug the air intake.

 

[Tilzbow]

I would not be to concerned about pulling the Bronco on a local dirt road without aux brakes. Connect the lights up as normal. My dad an I pulled his Bronco up a dirt road in Colorado one fall with dust like flour. Snowed 6" two days later. Luckily there was a creek at out camp site so we could rinse it off.
Be sure the heater/AC is off and that's a good ideal to plug the air intake.

Nice old Bronco! My brother had a ‘69 and later a ‘74. Yeah, I’m going to hook it up, drive to one of the many dirt roads around where I live and try it out. My diesel pickup has engine brakes so that’ll help. If it works out and isn’t too bad I’ll look into a drop in auxiliary brake controller like the RVi Brake 3 or another that‘ll work with my pickup. Most of the areas I plan to hunt are at least 250 - 300 miles away and include several mountain passes.

 

[zuke]

Thanks for the responses so far!

Thinking out loud…. If it weren’t for the fact I need to buy a separate auxiliary brake controller for the Bronco when towing with my pickup, I’d simply hook it up, find a dirt road and experiment to see how bad it gets. But my current brake controller operates off my diesel pusher motorhome‘s air brakes and won’t work unless the tow rig has air brakes. That said a short pull on a local dirt road would probably be safe enough and worth the time before I invest another $1,000 or more in another auxiliary brake system.

It sounds like it won't really help if you've already got an Air Brake based setup installed, But if your Diesel pusher is a Freightliner Custom Chassis build, as most are, it probably is also setup with a pigtail plug in under the lift up dash where you can plug in a regular old electric brake controller...

 

[Tilzbow]

It sounds like it won't really help if you've already got an Air Brake based setup installed, But if you're Diesel pusher is a Freightliner Custom Chassis build, as most are, it probably is also setup with a pigtail plug in under the lift up dash where you can plug in a regular old electric brake controller...

Not sure I understand what’s being suggested. You’re speaking about a pigtail in the MH correct? Are you suggesting I convert the motorhome to an electronic brake controller that would be used with both the MH and pickup?

.

 

[grtharris]

Nice old Bronco! My brother had a ‘69 and later a ‘74. Yeah, I’m going to hook it up, drive to one of the many dirt roads around where I live and try it out. My diesel pickup has engine brakes so that’ll help. If it works out and isn’t too bad I’ll look into a drop in auxiliary brake controller like the RVi Brake 3 or another that‘ll work with my pickup. Most of the areas I plan to hunt are at least 250 - 300 miles away and include several mountain passes.

My dad had it about 6 months before he brought it to Colorado for this hunting trip. I was stationed a Lowry AF in Denver. Was the first V8 Bronco in Oklahoma.

 

[zuke]

Not sure I understand what’s being suggested. You’re speaking about a pigtail in the MH correct? Are you suggesting I convert the motorhome to an electronic brake controller that would be used with both the MH and pickup?

.

No, That's why I said it probably won't help, Because it sounds like you already have invested in an air setup for the MH to tow the Bronco....

I have both available on my Motorhome, But I'm using the electric only now, and will on any future towing setups just because it's easier and lots cheaper to use it with other tow rigs.

But if you do end up wanting to use an electric setup with your F-150, It might be worth while to convert the MH, just for ease of setup, two Electric setups would likely cost less than one Air Setup conversion for the F-150.

Plus if the MH isn't a Freightliner Chassis, the whole question might be moot... I don't know much about the other chassis' and if they have Ebrake hookups from the factory or not.

 

[dgorsett]

I normally tow the Bronco behind our Motorhome but tow behind our pickup in hunting situations like yours, use the RVI for both. Personally I unhook have a hunting partner drive the Bronco when we leave the pavement.

 

[Tilzbow]

I normally tow the Bronco behind our Motorhome but tow behind our pickup in hunting situations like yours, use the RVI for both. Personally I unhook have a hunting partner drive the Bronco when we leave the pavement.

Having a hunting partner drive after hitting the dirt road would definitely be plan A but there are times I’m going solo. During the solo tows I’m thinking about a grill cover to help a little with the plum of dust. Since I don’t have tags that require travel and camping I’ve got another year of pondering

 

[dgorsett]

Having a hunting partner drive after hitting the dirt road would definitely be plan A but there are times I’m going solo. During the solo tows I’m thinking about a grill cover to help a little with the plum of dust. Since I don’t have tags that require travel and camping I’ve got another year of pondering

Right. I do it as much to avoid towing on washboard as dust

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