The Unicorn of towbars

If the castor is w/in certain limits, any towbar will back a toad around a corner. Don't need no special X bar to do that.
What a bunch of BS. Plain to see why the guy went broke. And plain to see why there is no such thing being made, and probably never was.
And yes, back in the 60s, some vehicles would not steer on a towbar. We just tied the steering in the center position, and it worked great. A little tire scrubbing in the corners, but it never showed on tread wear.
And even now, if you tie/lock the steering wheel in center, you can back up any toad forever.

"the toe and castor on the toad had to be within certain limits and it enabled you to back up around a 90 degree corner."

I was the one that made this statement, not the OP. And yes, this is what the inventor of the bar told me at a FMCA convention.

The entire bar articulated so that it would push on one side while pulling on the other. It had two connections on the coach side as well as the toad side. M&G had a mock up you could play with and see exactly how it worked.

Late 60's Fords or Chrysler products used NEGATIVE caster can't remember wich.. They drove good.

No, I saw that. First, who is going to ignore the car maker's spec and set caster zero (or some non standard setting)? Now the vehicle drives weirdly every time used.

Secondly, forward caster is needed moving forward. Reverse caster moving backward. One setting won't cut it for both directions.

The whole theory is bogus.

FIRE UP wrote:

Ductape wrote:
Nothing in a towbar is going to reverse caster in the toad suspension when you reverse, so it's easy to see why that concept did not sell.

Yeah, I kind-a wondered about that too. I'm no engineering genius by any means but, the thought of backing up a toad, that has free steering on it, especially around a 90 degree corner, much less even trying to go straight back for any distance is, well, let's just say, seriously perplexing. I'd sure as heck would like to see one of these "mysterious" tow bars. To me, it's kind-a like one of those "100 mpg carburetor" things. Sorry to be a bit skeptical but, anyone who tows all wheels down, knows the consequences of making a mistake in calculations and, the potential need for backing up. And, if someone made a tow bar that would allow that capability, I'd sure as heck think it would be selling way better than hot cakes.
Scott

Excuse me, but I think both of you misread the OP's statement. He said "the toe and castor on the toad had to be within certain limits and it enabled you to back up around a 90 degree corner.". I don't think he stated that the particular towbar would reverse the castor when backing up. Not sure how the subject towbar would permit backing up.

Ray

If it connected to both the coach and he toad in two places, it would force the toad to either steer or scrub tires. I can imagine where turning the coach could force the toad's steering back toward center after caster had tried to take it to the stops on one side.
I think doing that, and accomplishing a turn like the 90-deg corner mentioned above, would take a lot of skill on the coach driver's part plus a very good spotter looking at the toad's wheels.
Sounds like something a skilled demonstrator could pull off at a show, but that the average RVer would be unlikely to be able to duplicate.

Ductape wrote:
Nothing in a towbar is going to reverse caster in the toad suspension when you reverse, so it's easy to see why that concept did not sell.

Yeah, I kind-a wondered about that too. I'm no engineering genius by any means but, the thought of backing up a toad, that has free steering on it, especially around a 90 degree corner, much less even trying to go straight back for any distance is, well, let's just say, seriously perplexing. I'd sure as heck would like to see one of these "mysterious" tow bars. To me, it's kind-a like one of those "100 mpg carburetor" things. Sorry to be a bit skeptical but, anyone who tows all wheels down, knows the consequences of making a mistake in calculations and, the potential need for backing up. And, if someone made a tow bar that would allow that capability, I'd sure as heck think it would be selling way better than hot cakes.
Scott

Nothing in a towbar is going to reverse caster in the toad suspension when you reverse, so it's easy to see why that concept did not sell.

As I recall they were manufactured someplace in west Texas. Have a friend who bought it at the factory,according to him at the time was the only place one could buy one, friend no longer has a motor home a d has moved on so can't provide any more info.

The bar you are talking about was designed and built by M&G Engineering. I saw one at a FMCA convention and I talked to the designer (forgot his name) and he said the toe and castor on the toad had to be within certain limits and it enabled you to back up around a 90 degree corner.

M&G never built the bar in mass production and from what I heard, M&G sold the rights to Roadmaster. Don't know how true that is but I do know that bar was pretty slick.