How useful is a Toad?

This is my second year with a 4 down toad, and I feel a strong measure of extra relaxation knowing it's there. I no longer feel I need to carry every tool in the universe, cause now I can drive to get what I need whether it's a tool, part or whatever. Of course zipping around the attractions is the real purpose, but toads are great. Won't go anywhere without it.

When I had an 11.5 foot camper on a one ton dually, I towed a Jeep behind it, mainly because some campgrounds will not allow a camper to be unloaded and the truck driven off. Well, OK, also because the Jeep was more fun to drive than the one ton 4X2 dually.
Since we got rid of the TC and got motorhomes, we still tow something whenever possible. We did rent a car once rather than tow. Putting dogs in a rental is not a good idea, and leaving the dog in the motorhome can get one into trouble. We'll tow our own vehicle and eliminate the problem!

A Jeep behind a Class C I've done, back in the 1980's. No problems. I have even backed it up a short distance. This was back in the day before remote cameras on Rv's. I would worry a bit about how it was doing back there out of sight. It was great for touring around after getting the RV all set up.
I see no need for a towed behind a TC unless it is needed for off roading. That's the joy of a TC...anywhere a truck can go, the camper goes with it. Only place I had issues is fast food drive throughs. That's no big issue. Pulling another vehicle around sounds like more trouble than it's worth.
The 2 TC's I have had were never taken off the truck on a trip.
Dang, just get in the truck and go.

Wharfcat wrote:

FIRE UP wrote:

burningman wrote:
And after all that... did you read the question, which is about pulling a toad behind a truck camper?

Well,
As you can see in some of the answering posts, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that has any indication of WHAT he wants to tow his CRV with! He could be towing it with an M-1 Abrams Tank for all I know. All I read is his question, about potentially towing a Honda CRV. It doesn't matter what's in his sig. He was asking about towing a Honda CRV, PERIOD!
Scott

Yes my question was not well thought out. I'm a rookie, rookie mistakes. Class A owners seem to be the the ones I see pulling a toad, I guess mainly because of the size of the rig. Less often I see a Truck camper or a Class C pulling a toad the reasons I'm less sure of. I just don't want to spend several thousand bucks without at least doing some research. There are some special considerations for a Truck camper, mainly the hitch extension. This doesn't make all other opinions less valuable though. This is my last mea culpa on this. ;)

Wharfcat,
Your question was just fine. You asked about towing a Honda CRV and I answered it. Now, yes, there's a bit more consideration when towing with a T/C. We did it for a few years. The camper we had was a Lance, 11.5' and had an approximate 4' overhang off the back. The truck was a '79 Ford, F-350 Lariat with the 460 and it was the model with the extended wheelbase. I had to build an extension bumper for when the camper was on the truck. That was both a bit of a challenge and, it was fun at the same time

I used a "double" receiver type setup. That is, I mounted some receivers, one alongside the bottom of both sides of the frame at the rear. Then, I purchased some 1/4" wall, 2"x4" square tubing. Pretty heavy stuff, to say the least. I then purchased some 3/16" wall 4" x 4" tubing to be used for the bumper. I cut 2"x2" holes in both sides of the bumper where the tubing from the receivers would pass through.

Then I welded the ends and back sides of that tubing to the bumper. An "X" pattern was welded to the insides of that tubing to create latteral strength. Yep, that bumper did weigh a bit but, it easily handled the 250 lb. tongue weight I was applying to it.

I towed Jeeps, buggies, car trailers with cars and or Jeeps on them with that bumper and it never even had any issues. All that retained that bumper on the truck was two 5/8" pins, just like what you use in a receiver, one in each side. When we returned home, I'd off load the camper onto two, 55 gallon drums with 4"x 4" wood beams across them. Then, I'd pull the two pins and that bumper was removed and the factory Chrome bumper was inserted into those two receivers, the two pins were re-inserted and I was done. That whole operation took me approximately 15 minutes.

We see many, many class C's towing both Jeeps and CRVs etc all over the place, especially here in Lake Havasu AZ where snow birds flock all over the place with all kinds of towing setups. If your T/C is setup correctly, you'll have ZERO issues towing your CRV. Good luck and have fun.
Scott

FIRE UP wrote:

burningman wrote:
And after all that... did you read the question, which is about pulling a toad behind a truck camper?

Well,
As you can see in some of the answering posts, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that has any indication of WHAT he wants to tow his CRV with! He could be towing it with an M-1 Abrams Tank for all I know. All I read is his question, about potentially towing a Honda CRV. It doesn't matter what's in his sig. He was asking about towing a Honda CRV, PERIOD!
Scott

Yes my question was not well thought out. I'm a rookie, rookie mistakes. Class A owners seem to be the the ones I see pulling a toad, I guess mainly because of the size of the rig. Less often I see a Truck camper or a Class C pulling a toad the reasons I'm less sure of. I just don't want to spend several thousand bucks without at least doing some research. There are some special considerations for a Truck camper, mainly the hitch extension. This doesn't make all other opinions less valuable though. This is my last mea culpa on this. ;)

burningman wrote:
And after all that... did you read the question, which is about pulling a toad behind a truck camper?

Well,
As you can see in some of the answering posts, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that has any indication of WHAT he wants to tow his CRV with! He could be towing it with an M-1 Abrams Tank for all I know. All I read is his question, about potentially towing a Honda CRV. It doesn't matter what's in his sig. He was asking about towing a Honda CRV, PERIOD!
Scott

HarmsWay wrote:
My Ram has 2-1/2” receiver as well. Rather than cut up the Curt 24/36” extension I bought an 18” long 2” receiver tube and cut it down to a 12” extension. The 2” receiver tube gives a 2-1/2” outside dimension that the truck hitch needs. Unfortunately with the drop needed as well I have 3 joints - truck to extension, extension to drop and drop to Ready Brute. I use three NSA de-rattlers on those joints. Now that I’m happy with the extension length I may get a welder to permanently join the extension and drop. Or build one from scratch.

Just measured: extension and drop gives total extension of 19” with a 6” drop. Extension tube alone is 11”.

Yep this is going to be a steep learning curve for awhile I can see. Right now I've got the camper off the truck resealing the roof and every seam (it's a bit easier being lower) I'll load the camper hopefully next week and do some measurements. Thanks.

My Ram has 2-1/2” receiver as well. Rather than cut up the Curt 24/36” extension I bought an 18” long 2” receiver tube and cut it down to a 12” extension. The 2” receiver tube gives a 2-1/2” outside dimension that the truck hitch needs. Unfortunately with the drop needed as well I have 3 joints - truck to extension, extension to drop and drop to Ready Brute. I use three NSA de-rattlers on those joints. Now that I’m happy with the extension length I may get a welder to permanently join the extension and drop. Or build one from scratch.

Just measured: extension and drop gives total extension of 19” with a 6” drop. Extension tube alone is 11”.

HarmsWay wrote:
I needed about an 18” extension and 6” drop (BTW, I originally tried the Curt extension but it was way longer that I needed).

An 18" extension is what I was using to pull the boat but it was made for the 2" receiver on my old truck. The Ford has a 2 1/2 inch receiver so I bought the Curt extension. I was thinking I could cut it down to whatever I needed and just drill the pin holes. What is your solution for your extension?

Wharfcat wrote:
I can't seem to figure out how to add a signature so it shows what my rig is. I looked in the help section but maybe I'm missing it.

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