Not every vehicle can be towed behind a motorhome with all four wheels on the ground; automakers have to engineer a genuine driveline disconnect or a neutral transfer case before they’ll approve it in the owner’s manual. RV owners who skip that step risk a ruined transmission or transfer case a few hundred miles down the interstate. Here are twelve vehicles manufacturers have rated for flat towing.
1. Jeep Wrangler: The Default Dinghy
The Jeep Wrangler’s four-wheel-drive system includes a transfer case with a genuine mechanical neutral, disconnecting the front and rear axles from the drivetrain entirely. That feature, standard on manual and automatic Wranglers alike, is why Jeep has approved the SUV for flat towing behind a motorhome for decades without a tow dolly or trailer.
Owners still need to follow the printed procedure: shifting into neutral in the correct sequence, releasing the parking brake, and respecting the towing speed and mileage limits in the manual. Skipping those steps voids the drivetrain warranty and can strand the coach hundreds of miles from a dealer.
2. Jeep Gladiator: Same Truck, Same Trick
The Jeep Gladiator pickup shares the Wrangler’s solid-axle four-wheel-drive architecture, including the same transfer case that shifts into a true neutral position. That shared engineering means the Gladiator carries the identical flat-tow approval as its SUV sibling, letting owners pull it behind a motorhome with all four wheels rolling on the pavement.
The extra length and payload of the truck bed make it a favorite for owners who want to haul gear along with the vehicle itself. As with the Wrangler, the towing procedure and speed limits are specific to the model year and must be followed exactly.
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadra-Trac: A Neutral-Ready Quadra-Trac
Not every Grand Cherokee can be flat towed, but SUVs equipped with Jeep’s Quadra-Trac transfer case, as documented on the model’s Wikipedia entry, can be shifted into neutral independent of the transmission. That disconnect lets the front and rear axles spin freely, the same requirement every automaker demands before approving a vehicle for towing behind a motorhome.
Trim level matters here: base four-wheel-drive Grand Cherokees with the Quadra-Trac system qualify, while all-wheel-drive-only trims and the V8 Trailhawk variants generally do not. Confirming the exact configuration against the owner’s manual is essential before hooking up a tow bar.
4. Ford F-150 with four-wheel drive: Neutral Case, Not Neutral Gear
Four-wheel-drive versions of the Ford F-150 can be flat towed once the driver shifts the electronic transfer case into neutral, a setting separate from the transmission’s own park or neutral position. That two-step process disengages the front axle and driveshaft so all four tires can roll freely at highway speed.
Rear-wheel-drive-only F-150s are not approved for this procedure because they lack the transfer case that isolates the front axle. Ford specifies a strict towing speed cap and requires the ignition to remain in the accessory position during the tow.
5. Chevrolet Silverado 1500 four-wheel drive: GM’s Two-Speed Advantage
Four-wheel-drive Chevrolet Silverado 1500 trucks use a two-speed transfer case that includes a dedicated neutral position, letting the front and rear driveshafts spin independent of the engine. That mechanical disconnect is the same feature GM has built into its full-size trucks for generations specifically to support flat towing.
Two-wheel-drive Silverados cannot make the same claim since their driveshaft stays connected to the transmission at all times. Owners towing the four-wheel-drive version still must check tire direction and battery disconnect instructions specific to the model year.
6. GMC Sierra 1500 four-wheel drive: The Silverado’s Badge-Engineered Twin
The GMC Sierra 1500 is built on the same platform as the Silverado and inherits its two-speed transfer case, including the neutral setting that disconnects both axles from the powertrain. Four-wheel-drive Sierra trucks are therefore flat-towable under the identical procedure GM publishes for its Chevrolet counterpart.
Denali and AT4 trims carry the same transfer case as base models, so trim level does not change eligibility. GM still requires owners to confirm the vehicle identification number against its published towing guide before hitting the road.
7. Ford Bronco: Off-Roader Turned Dinghy
Ford built the current Bronco with the same transfer-case neutral position used on its F-150 stablemate, letting four-wheel-drive versions be towed with all four wheels down. The feature was a deliberate carryover aimed at the overlanding and RV-towing crowd that made the original Bronco a classic dinghy choice decades earlier.
Not every trim qualifies, and Ford excludes some Sasquatch and Raptor packages from its towing approval list. Buyers shopping specifically for a tow-behind Bronco should cross-check the exact trim against Ford’s current owner’s manual before assuming it qualifies.
8. Chevrolet Equinox with front-wheel drive and a manual: A Compact From The Manual Era
Older front-wheel-drive Chevrolet Equinox models equipped with a manual transmission could be flat towed simply by leaving the gearbox in neutral, since a manual transaxle has no pump that requires the engine to run. That mechanical simplicity made compact crossovers like the Equinox a common budget dinghy before automakers phased out manual options.
Automatic-transmission Equinox models are not part of this approval, since most automatic transaxles need the engine running to circulate lubricant to moving gears. Shoppers hunting for a tow-behind Equinox need to verify the manual gearbox and front-wheel-drive layout before buying one for that purpose.
9. Honda CR-V of the manual era: Honda’s Manual-Gearbox Window
Early Honda CR-V generations offered with a manual transmission share the same towing logic as the manual Equinox: with the shifter in neutral, the transaxle has no engine-driven pump and the wheels turn freely. That window closed once Honda moved the CR-V lineup to automatic-only transmissions in most markets.
Finding a manual CR-V today usually means shopping the used market for a specific early model year and trim. Owners should still confirm the exact configuration in period documentation, since Honda did not offer the manual gearbox on every trim or drivetrain combination.
10. Chevrolet Colorado four-wheel drive: The Midsize Truck’s Same Trick
Four-wheel-drive versions of the Chevrolet Colorado carry a transfer case with the same neutral setting found on its full-size Silverado sibling, allowing the midsize pickup to be towed with all four wheels on the ground. GM engineers the smaller truck’s four-wheel-drive hardware to the same towing standard as the larger models in its lineup.
Two-wheel-drive Colorados lack the transfer case entirely and cannot be flat towed under any configuration. Owners of the four-wheel-drive truck still need to disconnect the battery or follow GM’s accessory-power steps to prevent parasitic drain during a long tow.
11. Ram 1500 four-wheel drive: A Neutral Case On The Ram Side
Four-wheel-drive Ram trucks, part of the Ram Pickup lineup, use a transfer case that shifts into a genuine neutral, mirroring the same mechanism GM and Ford build into their competing full-size trucks. That shared engineering across the segment reflects how central flat towing has become to the truck market.
Two-wheel-drive Ram 1500s are excluded from this approval since they have no transfer case to disconnect the front axle. Ram specifies its own speed and distance limits for towing, and those figures can differ from the Ford and GM trucks it competes against.
12. Ford Escape of the recreational-tow years: A Crossover Ford Once Approved
Ford once listed specific Escape configurations as approved for recreational, or flat, towing behind a motorhome, provided the crossover had the correct drivetrain and transmission combination for that model year. The approval applied to a defined window of years and trims, not the Escape lineup as a whole.
Buyers looking for a tow-behind Escape need to track down the owner’s manual for that exact model year rather than assume every generation qualifies. Later Escape generations moved away from that approval as Ford redesigned the platform and its available drivetrains.
More from Morning Overview
