Towing a motor home with a toad

[Brittany Dogs]

This is a great topic! First of all, if Bill invites everyone on the forum to his quiet dead-end street for the same weekend, the "quiet" dead-end street will become just a dead-end street.

Everyone has great input here including how the transmission might give up the ghost and gush its lovely red fluid all over the road. That could quite possibly happen.

I guess I would be inclined to add a sign to the dead-end road entrance that shows a picture of a motor home and a toad with the words "DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!"

Second, I would have a video camera ready. Maybe it could get you $10,000 on that Sunday evening show I see from time to time.

Depending on the toad vehicle size, to me, if everything is taken real slow, and I mean slow, as in near zero jerk vector, it would seem the mechanics of the toad hook-up would survive and Bill's suggestion would play out OK.

But have a video camera handy anyhow. If the toad vehicle wheels start to spin and nothing is moving, I suppose that is a clue that a bad idea is starting to form.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Brittany Dogs

I would have a video camera ready. Maybe it could get you $10,000 on that Sunday evening show I see from time to time.

Oh, we have a great time on our little street, and someone usually has a video camera at hand. Sometime I will spin out the story of the guy who wanted to avoid the $5 fee at the town boat ramp, so he drove his boat up onto the beach. Then he went ashore, and drove his brand new 4WD pickup, boat trailer behind, down onto the sand. Soft sand. Clearly signed "No vehicles allowed on the beach". As he backed down toward the water, his truck sank into the sand right down to the frame. So he told his buddy to go get HIS brand-new 4WD truck, and come down and pull the first truck out. And his buddy agreed (I think there was some beer involved). You guessed it - two trucks mired to the frame. And the tide coming in. Next morning, after two high tides, they found someone with a bulldozer (about the only possible vehicle on soft sand) to pull them out with a long chain, water gushing from every door and window. Their insurance companies weren't happy. Nor was the local DEP, who levied a huge fine for gasoline and motor oil in the water. The bulldozer guy was pretty happy, though ...

Somewhere there is a video of this.

Bill

[ShrimpBurrito]

Bill - your story reminds me of a scene I witnessed at a boat ramp, which are always great places to sit down with some popcorn and a drink. We had just pulled our boat out of the water and up the ramp and were stowing things away to go home. Then all of a sudden, a pick-up truck appeared with a jet ski in its bed. I didn't really think anything of it -- maybe he was just there to meet a friend of pick someone up or something. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that he was here to launch his jet ski, but that is exactly what he did.

He dropped his tailgate and started backing down the ramp (which was concrete). I couldn't believe it. How was he going to get the jet ski in the water? It was quite a drop from the tailgate to the water. No worries. He just backed his truck INTO the water until his rear wheels where completely submerged. The water level was above the bottom of his cab doors, so I'm sure it got wet inside, and bubbles were surfacing from his exhaust. Then all of a sudden, his jet ski began to wobble! You could tell he had done this before, as this was his cue. With the truck engine running, and the truck probably almost floating, he jumped/swam into the bed, hopped on the jet ski, and drove it out of the truck.

To date, it is still the most incredible thing I have seen at a boat ramp. It even beats the amphibious Jeep Wrangler I saw drive completely into the water and jet off.

Dave

[Brittany Dogs]

Getting back to the original question about if the smaller vehicle in tow could reverse the Class A back out of the dead end street, I started to wonder, how would any steering corrections be made? The toad might attempt to make a steering correction but could not possibly be able to drag the rear wheels of the Class A in any left or right direction. The only hope, as I see it, is for somebody in the drivers seat of the Class A making some of the corrections.

This could get really tricky.

[Bill]

BritannyDogs -

Good point.

I mentioned how nicely an 18-wheeler (long trailer, short tow vehicle) can back up and maneuver. But the difference between an 18-wheeler and the toad-as-tug situation is that an 18-wheeler has a single axle trailer, whereas a toad would be towing a double axle "trailer".

Bill

Originally Posted by happybeebob

My dad in my much younger days mentioned that when the vehicles of his time met on a one lane hill road the ones that were headed down would back up because they were the ones that had much more control. Gearing.

Bob

This is required by motor vehicle code code in some states.
Besides gearing, drum brakes perform poorly in reverse, so relying on drum brakes backing down a hill in non-optimum.

Move the toad to the front. Have mirrors wide enough on the toad to see around the MH. Lift the MH front wheels off the ground so that it is now a trailer instead of a large toad 4 down.

After that it should be easy.

This is where a toy hauler MH has an advantage.

[T and C]

Originally Posted by Bill

BritannyDogs -

Good point.

I mentioned how nicely an 18-wheeler (long trailer, short tow vehicle) can back up and maneuver. But the difference between an 18-wheeler and the toad-as-tug situation is that an 18-wheeler has a single axle trailer, whereas a toad would be towing a double axle "trailer".

Bill

Many years ago I rode along with a friend in his 18 wheeler on a couple of trips from southern California to the Bay area. One night at about 3-4:00 AM he made a wrong turn into a residential neighborhood. We were trying to find the rear entrance to a hospital under construction to deliver a load of light fixtures. I was amazed at how he was able to turn that huge rig around in a residential intersection w/o backing into parked cars etc.

Tom