Can you back up with a toad 4 down

The bottom line is;
IF you choose to ignore the towbar manufacturer's warnings
and
IF you choose to ignore the experiences of other people who have tried it and will not do it again
then
It IS, after all, YOUR rig, you can do whatever your little heart desires with it!
It IS up to you to make your own decisions, and YOU will have to live with the consequences of those decisions.
good luck.
Personally, having tried it, and having had exactly the results that the above referenced Blue Ox experiment did, I will NOT try it again!

Well after six pages of reading, don't back up with any towbar! I will evaluate things up in my winter trip and decide if I want a toad or keep my motorcycle only.

Thanks all.

Rollnhome wrote:
How to back up a motorhome with towed vehicle hitched.

yep, they didn't have the toad running for power steering. why does backing up the toad harm it if it is being pushed by the motorhome and yet you can back up the toad as much as you want to under it's own power? guess there is some magic involved and the steering mechanism knows what is causing it to go backward. but yes, a friend at work had a second cousin who heard that somebody had gotten a broken arm from doing this. :s
bumpy

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
I think anyone ahould at least know what they can do.
I encourage you to be ready for that rare time you may need the skill, knowledge that you can, teach by example.
i urge you naysayers to listen to , try out the yes sayers ways. Prepare yourself for any forseeable contingency before it happens.

something about teaching an old dog new tricks.
bumpy

Kidoo wrote:
What is the best tow bar for the quickest disconnect?

one with levers to release it, not slip rings.
bumpy

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
I think anyone ahould at least know what they can do.
I encourage you to be ready for that rare time you may need the skill, knowledge that you can, teach by example.
i urge you naysayers to listen to , try out the yes sayers ways. Prepare yourself for any forseeable contingency before it happens.

Sure, you can try it and sometimes it will work. I have never attempted backing up as the tow vehicle and tow bar are designed to move forward. Reversing changes the whole dynamics of the situation.

It only takes a few minutes to disconnect so why risk it? If a person is dead straight and rolling back might work. But, any distance is asking for trouble and risk of damage.

In the 7.5 yrs of motorhoming, we have had to disconnect 3 times. I've never tried to back up as so much can happen that could be very expensive.

Good luck,
MM.

I think anyone ahould at least know what they can do.
I encourage you to be ready for that rare time you may need the skill, knowledge that you can, teach by example.
i urge you naysayers to listen to , try out the yes sayers ways. Prepare yourself for any forseeable contingency before it happens.

It only takes me about 2 minutes to unhook and another three to hook back up. For five minutes, I'm not taking the risk of damaging something.

In a dozen years towing, I've had to do this maybe 4 times. Once you've done it a couple of times, you learn how to avoid it. It's not hard to avoid these situations in the first place.

Kidoo wrote:
What is the best tow bar for the quickest disconnect?

There is no "best", there is merely personal preference.
I towed Jeeps for many years and thousands of miles with a simple, inexpensive fixed-arm adjustable width towbar. I had no problems at all with it, yet many people flatly state that they are too much trouble and pretty much useless.
Now, since I wanted a little more capacity (6000 instead of 5000 lbs.), I have a telescoping arm Roadmaster Stowmaster bar. It is MUCH heavier than my old fixed arm bar, and, IMO, not all that much more "convenient". It is rather nice to be able to fold it flat on the front of the truck, though.
It is, of course, a ball hitch. I like that.
I can only recommend that you look at all the advertisements that you can find for the various towbars, go to their websites and read about them, then make an informed decision on what is "best" for YOU.
Good luck.