Considering a Toad: What should I know first?

[The Rookie]

If your tow bar is level, the weight on the hitch while not moving is about half the weight of the tow bar and all your cables. The other half will be on the toad's base plate.

Thanks

 

[CALJefe]

TOADs can be towed one of 3 ways:
Flat towed - all 4 wheels on the ground - This can only be done with cars that the manufacturer has designed/engineered/evaluated and allowed to be flat towed
On a dolly with the front wheels off the road - This can be done with many Front Wheel Drive cars, almost no AWD cars, and many of the same flat tow cars.
On a trailer with all wheels off the road - this can be done with any car that fits the trailer and weight requirements.

Most people like to flat tow and many have dolly towed only to change to flat towing after finding how much easier it is.
Make sure your prospective TOAD can be flat towed or dolly towed by referring to the Owners Manual. It will list the procedure in either case.

Make sure your prospective TOAD meets your needs for side adventures. A family of 4 won't work in a Smart Car. That Chevy Sonic won't work well on those off roading trails in Utah.

Because of the long overhang behind the rear wheels the TOAD will go anywhere the RV will. And do to the large weight difference, most likely will not be felt behind the MH. If you can maneuver that MH into the gas station lane, the TOAD will follow you tire tracks and not clip the corner of the pump like a trailer behind a pickup truck.

Preferred brands? They all do the job. The big difference is in the choice of type of braking system: Permanently installed in the TOAD with minimum hook-up or portable with a little more hook-up.
And lighting systems which range from magnetic wireless systems to systems wired into the TOAD's lighting system.

What do you use for a braking system on the Colorado, I see some portable braking systems require power from the toad's battery, but with the battery disconnected how is power applied to the portable braking system? Thanks for any info.

 

[16ACE27]

What do you use for a braking system on the Colorado, I see some portable braking systems require power from the toad's battery, but with the battery disconnected how is power applied to the portable braking system? Thanks for any info.

I use the Patriot III. My remote battery disconnect also supplies power to a dedicated "Cigar Lighter" port under the dash that the braking system is plugged in to.

 

[Richie Rich-THOR]

Last August we moved from a 28ft class C to a 36ft class A Gas motorhome. I said I needed a year before I'd feel comfortable towing. Now that time is approaching. We have only been RVing for 5 or 6 years, and neither of us has ever towed anything. We're at that Unconscious/Incompetent state; we don't know what we don't know. So I'm reaching out to all of my fellow Thor owners.

In considering the purchase of a flat-towing vehicle, what factors should I consider aside from price?
In terms of towing equipment, what are the requirements and preferred brands?
In terms of driving behind a 36ft Class A, what kind of impact does it have when turning?
Is there anything I may not have considered? What should we know about towing a vehicle that you wish you'd known earlier?

Thank you for your expertise.

You've had a LOT of responses to this Question...
My Two-Bits >>> Flat Tow is the ONLY way to go! No Jeeps! Too HEAVY!

 

[Chateau_Nomad]

You've had a LOT of responses to this Question...
My Two-Bits >>> Flat Tow is the ONLY way to go! No Jeeps! Too HEAVY!

Jeeps too heavy? Not true. My bone stock TJ CAT scale weight is 3800#... fairly light for a towed. That said, they're usually heavily modified for off-road which can easily bump weight to 4500#.

Finding a quite capable COMFORTABLE towed under 5000# isn't too difficult. That keeps weight easily within specs of most small motorhome hitch capacity.

 

[Joe O-THOR]

We have used a flat Toad set up for 11 years. First a Honda Fit manual trammission. With our newer RV, a 39 foot Thor Challenger 37FH, we wanted something that could carry more then 4 people. We found a chevy traverse coming off lease and since the curb weight was several thousand pounds under the hitch max weight, this allows us to haul bycycles and kayaks with car and stay under our max gross weight.

A lesson learned for us was a failed tow bar that we determind was 18 - 20 years old. Luckily for us in failed ina grocery store parking lot and
not on the highway which we were going to next. We discovered that useful life of a tow bar is 10-12 years.

Some damage to front bumper plastics on traverse that I stitched back together with zip ties and touch up paint.

 

[16ACE27]

a chevy traverse coming off lease and since the curb weight was several thousand pounds under the hitch max weight,

Your hitch weight is NOT the limiting factor on how much you can tow. Luckily the Traverse is 1000 Lbs below your tow capability.

 

[darrenbellouny]

Very smart to reach out and ask. I went down the tow dolly path and switched to 4 down quickly for the sake of saving my marriage. The dolly was a PIA. As others say expect to drop about $3K-3500 for a flat tow set up. I bought a Buick Envista as the toad. I learned the hard way.

 

[Eeyore-THOR]

I went the dolly path as I have to take my wifes FWD Telluride or she will not go, to me it was easier than trying to work a flat tow system with it... never felt the dolly was a pain to handle. If I had a dedicated toad that was flat tow capable, I would consider but not interested in another vehicle to sit in the driveway most of the time.

 

[Chateau_Nomad]

I went the dolly path as I have to take my wifes FWD Telluride or she will not go, to me it was easier than trying to work a flat tow system with it... never felt the dolly was a pain to handle. If I had a dedicated toad that was flat tow capable, I would consider but not interested in another vehicle to sit in the driveway most of the time.

Your method will definitely work. There's essentially two paths you can take:

Buy a towed vehicle and compatible towing setup which works with your existing motorhome.

-OR-

Buy a motorhome and compatible towing setup which works with your existing towed vehicle.

One method is considerably more difficult, but if it means saving a marriage...

 

[ducksface]

I would maybe consider keeping my marital relationship to myself.

 

[Joe O-THOR]

Hi 16ACE27 -

Thank you for your feedback. Help me to understand the limitations to my towed vehicle set up. The 2018 Thor Challenger comes with a 8000# load rate and a 500# tung load rate. The 2019 Chevy has a curb weight of 5400#. Our new Blue-OX tow bar is rated to 10K#. Our CAT scale weight put both the RV and towed vehicle, 6 people and 6 bicycle/racks at just over 29K#. Our max combined weight is 30K#. What other factors do I need to be considering? We normally travel with 3-4 persons and 3-4 bikes unless the whole family; Adult married children and spouses are on the trip.

Thanks again

 

[16ACE27]

Hi 16ACE27 -

Thank you for your feedback. Help me to understand the limitations to my towed vehicle set up. The 2018 Thor Challenger comes with a 8000# load rate and a 500# tung load rate. The 2019 Chevy has a curb weight of 5400#. Our new Blue-OX tow bar is rated to 10K#. Our CAT scale weight put both the RV and towed vehicle, 6 people and 6 bicycle/racks at just over 29K#. Our max combined weight is 30K#. What other factors do I need to be considering? We normally travel with 3-4 persons and 3-4 bikes unless the whole family; Adult married children and spouses are on the trip.

Thanks again

There are several limitations as to the total weight you can tow. Your MAXIMUM weight will be what causes any of the limitations to be exceeded. You listed two:
8.000 Lb hitch weight - not an issue in your case
500 Lb tongue weight - not an issue with flat towing UNLESS you add more stuff to your hitch to exceed that weight. Like electric bikes and rack.

The difference between your GCWR (30.000 lb and your GVW (unknown, but if you are at your GVWR of 24,000 lb the limit would be 6,000 lb).

The GVWR and GAWR are not tow limits, but they are chassis limits that MAY be exceeded by towing a trailer.

Sounds like you are good. I just didn't want anybody to think you could tow an 8,000 lb TOAD just because you have an 8,000 lb hitch.

 

[mjd-THOR]

Last August we moved from a 28ft class C to a 36ft class A Gas motorhome. I said I needed a year before I'd feel comfortable towing. Now that time is approaching. We have only been RVing for 5 or 6 years, and neither of us has ever towed anything. We're at that Unconscious/Incompetent state; we don't know what we don't know. So I'm reaching out to all of my fellow Thor owners.

In considering the purchase of a flat-towing vehicle, what factors should I consider aside from price?
In terms of towing equipment, what are the requirements and preferred brands?
In terms of driving behind a 36ft Class A, what kind of impact does it have when turning?
Is there anything I may not have considered? What should we know about towing a vehicle that you wish you'd known earlier?

Thank you for your expertise.

Etrailer.com has excellent videos that explain what you need and how to install and use the equipment.

 

[paulwadley]

I am currently flat towing our 2025 Dodge Durango AWD R/T. It has the required 2 speed transfer case so I can switch it to neutral to be flat towed. I also have the Demco Stay N Play Duo braking system installed on the Durango as my towed vehicle braking system. I used to dolly tow, but after one year, I moved to flat towing. It is so much easier to set up and maneuver behind the motor home. It does cost a bit more in the beginning. The Durango can seat up to 7 which is what we needed since we often take friends with us on our travels across the USA. We used to flat tow our 2014 Ford Flex, but it developed a mechanical issue which wasn't cost effective for us to repair and keep using so we went to the 2025 Dodge Durango AWD R/T.

Paul