1st time long distance trip need advice
We bought our motor home last fall, we took one short trip with nothing in tow. We are now planning to drive 1500 miles one way pulling a Jeep Wrangler. I’m Apprehensive but reasonable confident. ...
Forum Discussion
Lots of great advice so far. I'll add a couple of "lessons learned" from my toading experience:
Use a checklist for connecting your toad, even if it's a mental one. A Jeep is pretty simple to hook up, but connecting a toad is one of those things where a minor misstep can be expensive or even catastrophic. Somewhere online I read an article about a poor fellow who left his manual trans Jeep in first gear with the transfer case in 4L and towed it merrily away. Apparently a Pentastar V6 doesn't like to be spun at 30000 rpm, and the input side of the trans didn't appreciate it either. Luckily for me the only one was getting distracted during a hookup and dragging an '87 Dodge Colt Vista almost 100 miles with the parking brake on. It wasn't on hard luckily, but the back wheels were pretty warm! With a 13000+ lb rig and 6.8 liters under the hood, I didn't feel it. Which leads me to the next thing- once you're rolling down the road it's easy to forget your toad is there. You won't really feel it, (a little bit on hills) and unless you have a camera you won't see it while going straight. When changing lanes, try to remember your combination is close to 20 feet longer.
Use a checklist for connecting your toad, even if it's a mental one. A Jeep is pretty simple to hook up, but connecting a toad is one of those things where a minor misstep can be expensive or even catastrophic. Somewhere online I read an article about a poor fellow who left his manual trans Jeep in first gear with the transfer case in 4L and towed it merrily away. Apparently a Pentastar V6 doesn't like to be spun at 30000 rpm, and the input side of the trans didn't appreciate it either. Luckily for me the only one was getting distracted during a hookup and dragging an '87 Dodge Colt Vista almost 100 miles with the parking brake on. It wasn't on hard luckily, but the back wheels were pretty warm! With a 13000+ lb rig and 6.8 liters under the hood, I didn't feel it. Which leads me to the next thing- once you're rolling down the road it's easy to forget your toad is there. You won't really feel it, (a little bit on hills) and unless you have a camera you won't see it while going straight. When changing lanes, try to remember your combination is close to 20 feet longer.
