Downsides of Towing? Newbie concerns
We are considering towing for the first time. We have RVed for 14 years in a Class C, 27' and now about 29 feet, and never had a toad. It's worked fine for us given our previous style of travel, where...
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We have had pop ups, TC's TT's and 4 years ago we bought a small 21 ft Class C (24 ft bumper to bumper) so we would not need to tow. However, on our first major trip, a month in Utah, we often would have liked to have had a small 4x4 to go exploring back roads and do some off road. So I sold an F150 I rarely used and bought a 2003 Tracker 4 door and set it up for towing. We just got back from our first trip, 5 weeks in Yukon and Alaska. We towed the Tracker 9500 kms and put on another 1500 exploring with it. Easy to tow, about a 1 mpg penalty in gas mileage. MH is on a Chev 3500 chassis with the 6.0.
I found I could back up a bit. If we couldn't find a drive through camp site, we would drive straight in with toad attached. If everything lined up straight, I could back out. With my back up camera, I can tell when the toad front wheels start going sideways, just a quick few feet forward to get it back in line then continue backing up. We also found that my wife could walk beside the toad and hold on to the steering wheel through the window and that helped. You do need to be backing in a straight line, otherwise it is easier to just unhook, which is easy if you have a good towbar.
Another hint: I found it easier to hook up when on a slight uphill grade. That way I could release the e brake on the toad and roll it backward until one or both tow bar arms locked, turn wheels to unlocked arm and drive MH forward gently. Worked great.
All in all, towing a toad was definitely worth it.
I found I could back up a bit. If we couldn't find a drive through camp site, we would drive straight in with toad attached. If everything lined up straight, I could back out. With my back up camera, I can tell when the toad front wheels start going sideways, just a quick few feet forward to get it back in line then continue backing up. We also found that my wife could walk beside the toad and hold on to the steering wheel through the window and that helped. You do need to be backing in a straight line, otherwise it is easier to just unhook, which is easy if you have a good towbar.
Another hint: I found it easier to hook up when on a slight uphill grade. That way I could release the e brake on the toad and roll it backward until one or both tow bar arms locked, turn wheels to unlocked arm and drive MH forward gently. Worked great.
All in all, towing a toad was definitely worth it.
