toads

[aboeck3]

2 questions: I have been counting toad vehicles today on a trip from Kansas City to Sikeston, MO. the majority of 4-down toads are Jeeps, why is that? 2ns Q, what are the pros and cons of towing with a dolly?

[D_E_Bishop]

Just from this thread I would surmise that Jeeps and CR-V's are the most popular toweds on the road. I love my two Suzukis, I have a Sidekick 4dr and A Grand Vitara 4dr, with transfer cases, one manual and one electric and both are light, 2700 and <3200. Easy to hook up and disconnect, both are air conditioned and have automatic transmissions.

I've had the Sidekick down in Canyonlands using the Island In The Sky road and the GV all over E/O Blouse AZ out in the mining area and on quite a few quad tracks. The DW prefers the Sidekick, says the seats are more comfortable. I like the GV due to the power and better EFI for better mileage. Both are easy on tires.

The only drawback so far is there is a recall on my GV and the earliest I could get an appointment is Oct 16.

[Mr_Mark1]

RFCN2 wrote:
The reason there are so many Jeeps towed behind motorhomes is because they are extremely easy to hook up and remove. There are no limitations on towing as far as speed and distance. No fooling around with starting the car up and running through the gears before towing.

I have a 2013 Jeep Wrangler 4 door I bought new. Why is it easy to hook up and remove.

1. The Jeep Wrangler is a great height for 66 year old backs to hook up. We had a Saturn LS300 before the Jeep. I like the height of the Jeep much better.
2. When you get your tow bar hooked up to make the Jeep ready to tow you pull the transfer case into neutral. Move transmission into park and pull out the key. Thats it. 20 seconds. When you unhook it is the reverse. Also 20 seconds.
3. No fiddling around with running your car and shifting the transmission to oil it up.

I have had my Jeep for 18 months. I have driven it 18,000 miles and towed it another 12,000. It has needed exactly zero fixes except I broke it at Moab last April. But Jeep made a very good vehicle.

The newer Wranglers ride better and are quieter. I went in to buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee and ended up with a Wrangler. I told the sales guy I could not live with the rough ride of a Wrangler and the noise. Guess what, they now ride smoother and are not so noisy. That said it does not drive nearly as smooth on the freeway or as quiet as my wife's Acura MDX.

The other car we were interested in was the Acura that is the same as the CRV. My biggest objection to the Honda CRV is that it is too slow with it's little motor. And the handling compared to an Acura is poor. Mushy and sloppy around corners. Our Acura MDX is like a sports car SUV with good handling. The Honda is not a sports car. But Honda in their wisdom put a six cylinder motor in the small Acura SUV and then stupidly made it so you could not tow. Same for MDX. Our old MDX (2003) was towable.

The Jeep has a six cylinder and far livelier acceleration than the Honda CRV. Plus the Jeep has tight suspension and it feels good going around corners. So for me I liked the Jeep for a tow car. But that is just my preferences. Many of my close friends tow CRV's. I have owned 2 Accords and 1 S2000 Honda. Great cars.

Jeeps also have a low range that Hondas don't. This means you can get yourself in places with a Wrangler that no Honda CRV will go. If you come to a huge steep hill you have to have low range. No low range and you will spend a lot of time waiting for your torque converter to cool.

There is no Honda CRV week at Moab. Enough reason alone to get the Jeep.

Please don't confuse a Jeep with a Honda. They are not the same and don't claim to be.

Jeep's are off-road vehicles, Honda's are not. The AWD Honda is made for snow or rainy slippery weather, not hill climbing, etc.

The Honda CR-V makes for a nice tow vehicle. The Wrangler four door vehicles are a lot heavier and certainly have their purpose. I find the Honda to have adequate power for the vehicle that it is. Good gas mileage, roomy for passengers and nice storage. It will not win races as it's a four cylinder.

It is high enough to go over the rubber gators in the road, follows a motorhome without problems. There are a couple of more steps on set-up by running through the gears to lube'm as it doesn't have a transfer case. Pretty easy really.

I find that the Honda handles very well as we are on second one ('07 and now a '13). It does what it needs to do.

MM.

[smacdiesel]

Trackrig wrote:

afrescop wrote:
We have many horror stories from the few Chrysler products we owned in the past so that company is a no-no.
.

Please don't call a Jeep a Chrysler product - I might be forced to sell mine. It's a 2002.

Bill

I tow a 1983 Jeep CJ 8 Scrambler, it is the king of jeeps. AMC product, old school jeep.

[RFCN2]

The reason there are so many Jeeps towed behind motorhomes is because they are extremely easy to hook up and remove. There are no limitations on towing as far as speed and distance. No fooling around with starting the car up and running through the gears before towing.

I have a 2013 Jeep Wrangler 4 door I bought new. Why is it easy to hook up and remove.

1. The Jeep Wrangler is a great height for 66 year old backs to hook up. We had a Saturn LS300 before the Jeep. I like the height of the Jeep much better.
2. When you get your tow bar hooked up to make the Jeep ready to tow you pull the transfer case into neutral. Move transmission into park and pull out the key. Thats it. 20 seconds. When you unhook it is the reverse. Also 20 seconds.
3. No fiddling around with running your car and shifting the transmission to oil it up.

I have had my Jeep for 18 months. I have driven it 18,000 miles and towed it another 12,000. It has needed exactly zero fixes except I broke it at Moab last April. But Jeep made a very good vehicle.

The newer Wranglers ride better and are quieter. I went in to buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee and ended up with a Wrangler. I told the sales guy I could not live with the rough ride of a Wrangler and the noise. Guess what, they now ride smoother and are not so noisy. That said it does not drive nearly as smooth on the freeway or as quiet as my wife's Acura MDX.

The other car we were interested in was the Acura that is the same as the CRV. My biggest objection to the Honda CRV is that it is too slow with it's little motor. And the handling compared to an Acura is poor. Mushy and sloppy around corners. Our Acura MDX is like a sports car SUV with good handling. The Honda is not a sports car. But Honda in their wisdom put a six cylinder motor in the small Acura SUV and then stupidly made it so you could not tow. Same for MDX. Our old MDX (2003) was towable.

The Jeep has a six cylinder and far livelier acceleration than the Honda CRV. Plus the Jeep has tight suspension and it feels good going around corners. So for me I liked the Jeep for a tow car. But that is just my preferences. Many of my close friends tow CRV's. I have owned 2 Accords and 1 S2000 Honda. Great cars.

Jeeps also have a low range that Hondas don't. This means you can get yourself in places with a Wrangler that no Honda CRV will go. If you come to a huge steep hill you have to have low range. No low range and you will spend a lot of time waiting for your torque converter to cool.

There is no Honda CRV week at Moab. Enough reason alone to get the Jeep.

[BigRabbitMan]

The degree of side scrubbing is not determined by the hitch as they all work the same. In my opinion, the two greatest factors are: 1. The distance from the pivoting rear wheels of the coach to the pivot point of the hitch, and, 2. the degree of castor designed into the toad.

The longer the distance between the coach pivot axel and the hitch pivot point, the longer the toad continues in the original direction and the sharper the path it takes when it is being pulled around the corner. As that path gets sharper and sharper, the faster and greater the toad front wheels have to turn to avoid scrubbing. At some point the toad wheels will scrub. If the toad front end design has greater castor, the front wheels will turn quicker and easier.

My Brat has minimal castor and, while the wheels turn to follow, it does some side scrubbing as the wheels don't turn as quickly nor as much as is needed to avoid all scrubbing.

[bshpilot]

Tom/Barb wrote:

we simply are aware of the problem, and make our turns a little wider and smoother. It only happens in sharp turns.

OBTW our hitch is 11.5 feet behind the rear axel. the jeep is 5 feet behind that.

FWIW

just measured mine this afternoon - I'm 11 feet from the center of the axle to the hitch and another 5.5 feet to the jeep.

[J-Rooster]

Mr.Mark wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:

2gypsies wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Tom, I think I would get a new tow bar. That can't be good for the Jeep front-end or the tires.
MM.

X2. I think the problem is with your tow bar. Our Blue Ox & Jeep poses no problems.

The Blue Ox works on the same principal as the Falcon, they both extend and lock.

we simply are aware of the problem, and make our turns a little wider and smoother. It only happens in sharp turns.

OBTW our hitch is 11.5 feet behind the rear axel. the jeep is 5 feet behind that.

Our coach has a tag axle but the pivot point is the drive axle. I've never measured the distance but it has to be about the same as yours. Our tow bar from the hitch to the front of the Honda is probably 3.5-4.0 ft.

I have raised the tag many times to make that sharp turn. I'm telling you that I've been amazed at how sharp I can turn our coach. Thank goodness the steering tires are behind the driver's seat as I can hang the front of the coach over a curb and make the tightest turns. The Honda steers normally.

Safe travels,
MM.

Glad to hear the good info Mark on your CRV, we just bought a 2014 but I haven't towed it yet!

[Mr_Mark1]

Tom/Barb wrote:

2gypsies wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Tom, I think I would get a new tow bar. That can't be good for the Jeep front-end or the tires.
MM.

X2. I think the problem is with your tow bar. Our Blue Ox & Jeep poses no problems.

The Blue Ox works on the same principal as the Falcon, they both extend and lock.

we simply are aware of the problem, and make our turns a little wider and smoother. It only happens in sharp turns.

OBTW our hitch is 11.5 feet behind the rear axel. the jeep is 5 feet behind that.

Our coach has a tag axle but the pivot point is the drive axle. I've never measured the distance but it has to be about the same as yours. Our tow bar from the hitch to the front of the Honda is probably 3.5-4.0 ft.

I have raised the tag many times to make that sharp turn. I'm telling you that I've been amazed at how sharp I can turn our coach. Thank goodness the steering tires are behind the driver's seat as I can hang the front of the coach over a curb and make the tightest turns. The Honda steers normally.

Safe travels,
MM.

[Tom_Barb]

2gypsies wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
Tom, I think I would get a new tow bar. That can't be good for the Jeep front-end or the tires.
MM.

X2. I think the problem is with your tow bar. Our Blue Ox & Jeep poses no problems.

The Blue Ox works on the same principal as the Falcon, they both extend and lock.

we simply are aware of the problem, and make our turns a little wider and smoother. It only happens in sharp turns.

OBTW our hitch is 11.5 feet behind the rear axel. the jeep is 5 feet behind that.

[2gypsies1]

Mr.Mark wrote:
Tom, I think I would get a new tow bar. That can't be good for the Jeep front-end or the tires.
MM.

X2. I think the problem is with your tow bar. Our Blue Ox & Jeep poses no problems.

[Mr_Mark1]

Tom, I think I would get a new tow bar. That can't be good for the Jeep front-end or the tires.
MM.

[Tom_Barb]

bshpilot wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:

Tom, I see that you have a DP and we, too, have never dragged our Honda like bshpilot (although he has a Jeep). And, I have made some seriously sharp turns and the Honda just follows us. Is it a Jeep issue?

MM.

sounds like a tow bar issue....ive got no less overhang than pusher....and i know guys w/ TWIN screw axles (conversion trucks, like mine don't have TAG/dumps)....i turn 90* plus turns in my neighborhood and campground....my JEEP front wheels turn.

if you're skidding the front tires of your jeep then it sounds like you've got a rigid tow bar, tow bar issue or locked steering wheel (on the jeep).

We do have a Falcon 2 tow bar, once locked it is pretty rigid, With the 07 wrangler we must leave the key in and in the on position to unlock the steering, and disconnect the battery with a battery disconnect switch.

when you drive into a right 90 degree corner as you enter the the coach turns right but the rear swings left until you straighten the coach wheels, at this time the jeeps is still entering the turn following the coach rear end and is at a angle to the coach. as the coach leaves the corner, the jeep gets dragged side ways exceeding its turn radius.

[koda55]

we tow a 2008 Chevy HHR four down. Never had any problems towing it.

[2gypsies1]

We had a 5th wheel fulltiming in it for 8 years. Friends took us Jeepin' and we were hooked, especially since we spend the majority of our time in the West.

We sold the 5th wheel and bought the motorhome and Jeep Liberty at the same time. The Liberty is a smooth-riding vehicle and it's super easy to hookup. In addition, we've had so much fun 4-wheeling. It's a great pasttime and there are many groups to join in order to have company and safety issues when doing the rough trails.

The Jeep Liberty is no longer produced but instead, the Cherokee took it's place - (not the Grand Cherokee). The Cherokee is a beautiful car inside and out and it rides like a luxery sedan.

As much as we enjoy the Jeep, I don't know why folks buy them if they don't take it off-road. That's the whole purpose.