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Trailer vs.Toad
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There have been a couple of occassions when I needed to back a short distance. Pulled in a truck stop to fuel and pulling in to the lane noticed it was out of service. Had to move over to another lane. We tow a Jeep Wrangler and if I need to back up I put my wife behind the wheel of the Jeep to keep the front wheels from cambering sideways and she can steer it in the direction I need to go. This is never done fast or very far. One other time I needed to do this was parking for the night at a truck stop. All slots were single back in or double rows back to back. Could not find a pull through on a double row but had several slots together on one side. Pulled in and swung around as straight as I could get and then let Karen steer us back into the slot. This works for us.
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Oh ya, we want to hear the story again!
I would think the tongue weight of say my Dodge Dakota would easily exceed our Prevost limit.
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On backing up with someone controlling the steering wheel of the toad. Becareful when the tires decide to shift sideway they can turn the steering wheel very fast and break a wrist. So don’t lock your thumbs around the wheel.
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Well since Roger is off making even more money and owning more dealerships than Roger Penske, I will tell the story he wants to tell. I must issue a disclaimer. This probably never happened.
We were heading to south Florida and decided to spend the night at a campground in Wildwood just off the turnpike entrance. The instructions to the campground were very explicit. Go up this road and turn left into the campground. They were explicit in saying the LH turn was into the campground. Reality was something different.
It was almost dark and the camground was in sight ahead on the left hand side of a divided highway. Just prior to the campground was a turn lane specifically for turning into the campground. Right up until across from the campgrouind entry road it looked like it was directly across from the entry road, but in reality the divider went beyond the campground entrance by about 30 feet. So the turn into the campground from the turn lane was actually a U-turn and then a right hand turn into the campgrouind. We might have actually made the U turn had we been able to take both traffic lanes and all of the shoulder. But sometimes fate steps in. I made the sharpest turn I could and before I could complete the turn a traffic sign on the far side of the shoulder ended up about dead center in my windshield. I couldn’t back up because of the Hummer on back, and I couldn’t go forward without putting a traffic sign through my window.
Roger saw what was happening and he was at the hitch on the Hummer as quickly as I was. We arrived there just about the time the cop did. The cop seemed to indicate he wanted me to stop blocking all the traffic lanes with the bus. I don’t recall responding to him because Roger and I were focussed on unhitching the Hummer so I could back up and then complete the turn with the bus. The cop made faces like he was pissed, but I think I paid a little more attention to the endless row of headlights of cars stopped waiting for the big bus to complete the turn and get the hell out of the way. Amazing how much traffic can build in a few minutes.
My somewhat pointed request to the campground owner to change the wording in their directions about the turn were met with the comment “we can make that turn all the time”, followed by the qualifier “in our 34 foot Whatever”. He was too drunk to pursue the matter anyway. Keep in mind the above is a fable. Roger has no pictures to prove it and it is just my word against that of a used car salesman. Who are you gonna believe?
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I so enjoy reading the misadventures of fellow bus nuts/bus conversion owners and realizing that the things that have happened to our family in 30 plus years of the “sport” of tin can camping have actually happened to others. Here I thought that keeping the misadventures quiet and not mentioning them to anyone else (and threatening my wife with her life not to tell anyone) would prevent me from being embarased when the fellow bus nut/conversion owner said “Say what, I can’t believe you let that happen to you”. But over the past few years, I have now realized those things aren’t misadventures but are really adventures and that is why we (both my family and fellow bus nut/bus conversion owners) pursue this crazy “sport” we do. It’s all about the adventure! Thanks for sharing your “adventures”, it is so entertaining and relives the stress on my brain from holding back all the “adventures” we have been through and I have suppressed in the far reaches of my brain.
Rob
91 LeMirage XL40, self conversion
Missouri
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Rob,
It never happened. It never happened and there are no pictures to prove it.
That’s my story and I am sticking to it.
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We have two trailers. A Forest River 24’ enclosed, and a 22’ split tail open trailer 22’. The enclosed trailer although nice, is as Jon has pointed out, too heavy for the bus. We weighed it out and it came in close to 10,000 with the toad inside, which puts us above bridge limits in a lot of states. Total weight on both toad and trailer is about 9450 lbs.
Our split tail with the toad on it, weighs roughly 50% less than the enclosed trailer. It serves us well, and our length is less than 64 feet overall. I usually try to find a space in the back of the lot at Truck-stops, it is easy to back in if required. At a campground I will inquire about something in the back. It has never presented a problem so far. We have however been in some tight spots with the HHR and had to unhook and I am dead sure a trailer would have been a nightmare.
One plus. It is easy to back up, so that is not a problem.
Our trailers have electric brakes on all axles and I have an independent brake controller if the need should arise. I have at times locked all four of the wheels up on the trailer, never on the bus. So we can downshift the tranny, bus activated trailer brakes, a jake and optional trailer brake boost. It usually boils down to one thing with us … The best bet is … defensive driving and trying to look ahead.
The campground issue sometimes can present a problem, u-turns with a bus pulling a trailer or not, can be a problem. Stopping distances increase and I suppose fuel mileage suffers but I have no data on that. There are plenty of campgrounds that can accomodate a bus (short bus like mine) and a trailer. This shot was at Lake Mead in the Recreational Area, a U.S. Public campground area.
Our toad, an HHR is rigged with tow-bar and all that, but I do not like pulling it (cannot see it) and we seldom use the tow-bar set up any more. I also cannot get the backing up while still hooked up to the bus concept in place with my wife so that it is not an option. We stay in church parking lots, WalMart, Truckstops, where-ever we can find 65′ of level ground and so far, the trailer has never been an issue.
Hope this helps.
BCO
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