FLAT TOW EMERGENCY

[Travler]

I have flat towed for a long time , I had this happen several years back with a Jeep grand Cherokee, some times it worked and some times it didn’t, I have been flat towing my 2021 Bronco for about a year , the park break light in it is intermittent also , as someone else suggested always check and make sure every thing is in order and free wheeling

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[Dusty]

I dunno, man. I've been flat towing for years (Early Bronco, JK Rubicon, and my 6G Bronco). I learned a long time ago to keep an eye on things back there when you first pull away after hooking up. I watch everything back there closely as I start rolling, using the rear camera and side mirrors, or my wife will watch from outside the coach as we start to roll, then jump in when everything looks good. A couple of times we've seen that the parking brake was still on (once with the Rubi, and once with the 6G). Both times we caught it after only a couple of feet. Is this something that I can blame on the manufacturer? Not really, in my opinion. Like most things about operating and towing a motor vehicle, you need to pay attention.

 

[Haddixx]

I would have expected when you put the Bronco into Neutral Tow mode it automatically disables the electronic parking break. The issue I have with the current process of enabling neutral mode is that you need to be in accessory mode and cannot see the parking brake status or turn off the parking brake in accessory mode. It makes ensuring everything is setup correctly a little klunky.

The checklist we created has us first connect the tow bar so the vehicle is secured and wont move, then we fully start the Bronco and disable the parking brake, then turn the Bronco off and then turn it back on in accessory mode and follow the instructions in the manual to enable neutral tow mode.

 

[Dirtrider]

eBrake dash light DOES NOT work when in Flat Tow neutral. So you have no way of knowing if the brake is ON or OFF.
I found this out this morning when evidently the brake was ON when I began to flat tow. NO INDICATOR LIGHT.
When I saw smoke in my rear RV mirror, it was too late. It shredded both back tires.
1,800 miles on the Bronco.
Do I think Ford will own up to this major problem ?? Hell no.

I just finished the install and did my first test of the Air Force One braking system in my 2.3l 7 spd black diamond. It went into neutral tow mode just fine but after towing for a while when I was disconnecting and taking it out of neutral tow, I set the ebrake and I didn't get the sequence correct to take it out of neutral tow (my first time). Finally, after not finding the instructions during a search of the on-board manual, I stumbled upon getting it out of neutral tow. However, the ebrake light stayed on even though I could drive it and the ebrake was obviously off. I was a bit worried that I had created a problem but shut it down, parked the RV and when I restarted the Bronco, the light was out. No further drama.

I stopped using the ebrake when hooking up to the RV on our previous TOAD (2014 Honda CRV) after I left the ebrake on and dragged it a mile before I remembered (RV didn't even feel it). Fortunately the ebrake wasn't on hard, just enough to heat the brakes a little, no harm. Lesson learned! No 'easy' setting on the Bronco ebrake......

 

[tfrazier]

Yeah, drive it. Park it. connect it without engaging the park brake. This is a true guarantee that the park brake was not on.

Yeah...uh.. drive it. park it. connect it without engaging the park break. This is a true way of knowing you have connected it without having the park brake on.

 

[dgorsett]

Sorry this happened to you. I seldom use the p brake and never when setting up neutral tow.
Years ago a friend helping set up flat tow on my jeep set the p brake, fortunately it never worked very well and worked even more poorly after that.
I always watch in the mirrors on a turn to be sure wheels turn and steering turns and starts back to center, especially on the first turn after hookup.
Lots of stuff can go wrong. I once forgot to unlock the steering on the Jeep, jacknifed and crashed two of my cars in one wreck.

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