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skbrla's avatar
skbrla
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014

Dinghy front wheels dragging/sliding on a turn

I am considering moving from my ACME tow dolly to 4 down towing but have read that a MH with a lot of swing, such as our 36' Vacationer on a F53 chassis, could cause the front wheels of the toad to drag/skid sideways on a turn and break a bead. What degree of turn can cause this, normal city driving/turns or extreme maneuvering like into a campsite? Is there a way to calculate the max turn before this happens or is it trial and error?
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  • rk911's avatar
    rk911
    Explorer
    Apr 08, 2014
    skbrla wrote:
    what caused the jeep to lock up? Did the key just rotate enough to lock the column?


    the couple traveling with us was behind us at the time and reported to us that the wheels locked up after the toad hit a pretty bad pothole. the MH passed over it but the jeep being narrower apparently hit it. no trouble before or since on either jeep.
  • othertonka's avatar
    othertonka
    Explorer
    Apr 08, 2014
    I am not as long as you are, 32ft, but the only time I even came close to dragging the front toad wheels was when I made a real sharp right turn and then a real sharp left turn without letting the whole unit come back to straight before making the last turn. I saw that the wheels were going to slam to one side and stopped and went back and straightened the steering wheel and then completed the turn. So no more back to back sharp turns without straightening the MH first.
  • Jagtech's avatar
    Jagtech
    Explorer
    Apr 08, 2014
    A sharp turn from standstill may well cause the wheels to slam to one side. Always remember to get rolling a bit before making a sharp turn.
  • Bobbo's avatar
    Bobbo
    Explorer II
    Apr 08, 2014
    Be sure your steering wheel is unlocked, and you won't have a problem.
  • 427435's avatar
    427435
    Explorer
    Apr 08, 2014
    No problems with our toad after 38,000 miles of towing behind a 35' MH.
  • Tom_Barb's avatar
    Tom_Barb
    Explorer
    Apr 08, 2014
    skbrla wrote:
    I am considering moving from my ACME tow dolly to 4 down towing but have read that a MH with a lot of swing, such as our 36' Vacationer on a F53 chassis, could cause the front wheels of the toad to drag/skid sideways on a turn and break a bead. What degree of turn can cause this, normal city driving/turns or extreme maneuvering like into a campsite? Is there a way to calculate the max turn before this happens or is it trial and error?
    I'm a Newbie at this forum thing... What do the three options regarding 'Do Not Subscribe, Subscribe, do not send emails, Subscribe, send email notification' mean?


    You can exceed the turn radius of the toad, it depends upon the length of the overhang of the coach, and the turn radius of the toad. Our 40' Newmar has 14' of overhang behind the rear axle to the hitch, this leaves the Jeep almost 90 degrees to the coach when you straighten steering wheel on the coach, which will drag the jeep around the corner beyond its turn radius. On one occasion it has broken loose, scared us really bad.

    So now when we are long tripping, we load the coach on a trailer, this allows us to back up too.
  • CA_Traveler's avatar
    CA_Traveler
    Explorer III
    Apr 08, 2014
    Our toad turning radius is much smaller than the MH so no problem and this is common.

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  • wirenutz's avatar
    wirenutz
    Explorer
    Apr 07, 2014
    We towed our 2001 Malibu behind our 40 foot Fifth Wheel Toy Hauler, that was being pulled by our truck, we are 58 feet long from bumper to the hitch on the back of the TH with no problems, total lenght was over 80 feet
  • skbrla's avatar
    skbrla
    Explorer
    Apr 07, 2014
    what caused the jeep to lock up? Did the key just rotate enough to lock the column?
  • rk911's avatar
    rk911
    Explorer
    Apr 07, 2014
    we've been towing our jeeps ('03 wrangler or '10 liberty) behind our 35' class A on the F53 chassis since 2003 and with the sole exception when the steering wheel on the wrangler locked up we've had no problems.

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