| Author | Message | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1769 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20  Rating: N/A |
All - As a follow up to PapaTony's thread about trailer length, it's well known that a lot of coaches are not designed to pull trailers, especially ones with heavy tongue weights. GMCs in particular have been hashed over often. Anyway, while surfing around on some auto racing forums, I ran across this little goodie. Might be a much better solution than the "Tuff-Tow" unit that's also available. http://www.trailertoad.com/ Anybody ever seen one at a race weekend somewhere? They seem to be extremely popular in the Midwest. Be interesting to get some feedback from owners, not typical "testimonials" you get on the seller's advertising blurb. FWIW & HTH. . .  | ||
| Bruce Henderson (Oonrahnjay)
Registered Member Username: Oonrahnjay Post Number: 670 Registered: 8-2004 Posted From: 71.49.184.227  Rating: N/A |
Woo, $3200. You gotta need that bad. | ||
| FAST FRED (Fast_fred)
Registered Member Username: Fast_fred Post Number: 1426 Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.22  Rating: N/A |
You gotta need that bad. And the cost of a roadside repair shop reinstalling your engine and tranny after it hits the ground? FF | ||
| les marston (Les_marston)
Registered Member Username: Les_marston Post Number: 245 Registered: 1-2010 Posted From: 68.151.225.213  Rating: N/A |
I wonder if it would be legal in places that don't allow a two trailer set up. Here in Alberta it is ok for a truck to pull a holiday trailer and have a boat trailer behind that but in B.C. this set up is not permitted. I think it is a great idea but only if you can use it everywhere | ||
| Cory hart (Chart1)
Registered Member Username: Chart1 Post Number: 47 Registered: 1-2010 Posted From: 66.249.37.60  Rating: N/A |
Is that considered a extra axle for toll booths. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (Chuckllb)
Registered Member Username: Chuckllb Post Number: 1446 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 97.225.142.51  Rating: N/A |
That's a lot of cabbage. Plus, it looks VERY close to the rear of the vehicle...take a look at the spare tire. Tight turns....????? My guess is that is not a "hot" item for the retired bunch. Not for me, at least Ands my guess would also be that it definitely would be an added axle. That's the way I would plan my budget for toll fares....if I were going on a toll road in the North East. I'll say "amen and Amen" to FF's note. FWIW RCB | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1770 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20 Rating: N/A |
RCB - I found a video of the Trailer Toad in motion, but now I can't find the link. Anyway, this unit acts a bit like that retractable tag axle you see on loaded cement mixer trucks. It stays a rigid fixed length behind the tow vehicle, and the Trailer Toad's axle pivots in a similar manner to the cement mixer's. Think of it this way - it's just like extending the overhang and body of the chassis three feet back and putting the hitch there, with a couple of 15" caster wheels to support the overhang. Does that make sense? This thing doesn't pivot where it's plugged into the hitch receiver - that's fixed. Only the trailer pivots on the TT's ball hitch, with the TT's suspension supporting the tongue weight. Clear as mud? Hope so! FWIW & HTH. . .  | ||
| FAST FRED (Fast_fred)
Registered Member Username: Fast_fred Post Number: 1428 Registered: 10-2006 Posted From: 69.19.14.17 Rating: N/A |
About $700 at the local truck shop will find REAL dollies like Fed EX uses to haul tandem. There heavy themselves , but if your trailer is 20,000 lbs , no problem! FF | ||
| David Evans (Dmd)
Registered Member Username: Dmd Post Number: 545 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 24.46.196.121  Rating: N/A |
i bet the booth operators wont see it but if they do you are getting charged. /there must be you tube footage of me arguing with the GW bridge "highly trained" personel somewhere! Dave's bus 3, GW bridge 4. | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 170 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.223.57.13 Rating: N/A |
Just think go up a steep driveway and no pivot, walla, 15,000lbs on that axle pop pop tires. | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1771 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20 Rating: N/A |
Ralph - Are you saying that the leverage induced into the Trailer Toad by the tow vehicle, when pulling into a steep driveway, would blow the TT's tires? Or are you saying the trailer that's hitched to the TT would blow the TT's tires? Don't you think that between the TT's suspension and the tires there'd be enough "give" to absorb that type of operation? OTOH, do you pull into driveways so steep you drag the back end of your bus? If you know the driveway's steep enough to drag the tail, do you go for it anyway, or do you modify your approach to avoid the tail-dragging? I would think you would do the latter, and thus would do the same if you were using a TT. Or am I missing something? FWIW & HTH. . . | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 171 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.223.82.224 Rating: N/A |
RJ if this does not pivot up&down yes it will overload the hitch, and what happens when air bags go down. Both the Mci7&8 I have had had tail drag, slso many driveways to & from the older roads are short and steep. the state redid the entrance to our area not nice. I relocated my trailer hitch to the center of the bumper, now level towing, not worried about bottoming. Some railroad tracks are raised or below highway. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (Chuckllb)
Registered Member Username: Chuckllb Post Number: 1447 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 97.215.176.64 Rating: N/A |
RJ...See what you stirred up,??? Interesting. RCB | ||
| les marston (Les_marston)
Registered Member Username: Les_marston Post Number: 246 Registered: 1-2010 Posted From: 68.151.225.213 Rating: N/A |
So just to clarify, this dolly unit is hard fixed to the hitch on the back of the coach and has no up and down movement? What would be wrong with having it hook up to the ball and have both up and down plus normal side to side pivot on the ball? I don't see why this wouldn't work as well or better than having it hard fixed to the back of the coach. I see that Greyhound uses a pindel hitch for the cargo trailers they pull behind the coach. Are the tongue of those trailers hinged at the trailer to allow up and down movement without putting a lot of weight and bounce on the hitch? I got to go look at one! | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1772 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20 Rating: N/A |
Ralph - Stand by, more research underway. . . | ||
| Dal Farnworth (Dallas)
Registered Member Username: Dallas Post Number: 295 Registered: 7-2004 Posted From: 98.20.57.250  Rating: N/A |
Les, If it has side to side movement, you couldn't back it up.... that's why they call doubles and triples, "Wiggle Wagons". However, when I worked in the woods we had one truck and 2 axle full trailer that we hauled posts, poles and mine props on. It was a real bugger to back up without a skidder to pull it side to side, until I had the bright idea to weld a couple of pieces of heavy channel on the tongue and on each side of the hitch of the truck, then had 2 pieces of 1" X 3" bar stock that slid between the two units. This locked the units together and still allowed up and down movement of the pintle hitch. No reason you couldn't use that method on any converter dolly like the one being discussed, with modifications of course. Yes, I know you would have to install it with a pintle or ball hitch, but, hey, we can all do those mods, can't we? | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 172 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.223.31.102 Rating: |
Just called the mfgr. the dolly IS HINGED an he tows a 17,000 trailer. He said he wil take a look at this site. You cannot see the hinge and he has a nasty railroad crossing that he has to cross. | ||
| Dal Farnworth (Dallas)
Registered Member Username: Dallas Post Number: 296 Registered: 7-2004 Posted From: 98.20.57.250 Rating: N/A |
I voted for you Ralph... You da Man, or Busnut, or sumpin'! | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 173 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.223.31.102 Rating: N/A |
If I knew how to get the pictures that Jok the mafgr. sent me, I would post them. I am not putter savy. He registered here so he may show it works. | ||
| Dal Farnworth (Dallas)
Registered Member Username: Dallas Post Number: 297 Registered: 7-2004 Posted From: 98.20.57.250 Rating: N/A |
Ralph, send them on to me, I can resize or host them elsewhere and show them here for you. My email is in my profile/ | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 174 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.214.248.17 Rating: N/A |
Dal, well I tried let me know if you got it. | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1773 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20 Rating: N/A |
Ralph - You & I are on the same wavelength when it came to doing more research. You called, I emailed. We both heard back from Jok, the owner. (He said he would have posted here, but for the registration time-delay. . .) Anyway, the Trailer Toad is hinged at the front, like Ralph mentioned earlier. Solid mount into tow vehicle receiver attaches to adjustable solid mounting on TT's front cross-member. Has large bushings with zerk fittings for lubrication at pivot point on each side of the cross-member, as shown below. This allows TT to move up and down vertically, in order to handle driveways, railroad tracks, valley gutters, etc. - which was what Ralph was concerned about earlier and I knew nothing about. Here are three pictures Jok sent me, to help illustrate. This first pic is of the pivot bushing welded into the main frame of the TT.  The second pic is of the cross-member attached at it's pivot point to the main frame. Note the zerk fitting for lubing the bushing.  See the following post for more. . . FWIW & HTH. . . | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
Registered Member Username: Rjlong Post Number: 1774 Registered: 12-2000 Posted From: 71.195.124.20 Rating: |
All - This last pic is of the TT hooked to a Class A stick 'n staple. You can see the rigid drawbar installed in the hitch receiver, the adjustable drawbar brackets to level the TT to the tow vehicle, the cross member pivot points (gold-colored bolts), The red handled gizmo is one of the two locking pins used for backing up.  All in all, seems like a well-built unit that addresses a lot of the issues we busnuts face when towing a heavy trailer. A little pricey? Maybe, but FF hit the nail on the head when you compare it to the cost of repairing a failed engine cradle. The stick 'n staple crowd have it even worse, because heavy trailer tongue loads not only bend the frame behind the axle, but it also tends to pull apart the fiberglass box, too! (My neighbor works at an RV repair facility - tells very interesting stories of how the stick 'n staple rigs come apart after towing!) Lots of kudos on several of the auto racing forums - the guys who use them all seem to swear by them. It seems like it's only the folk who don't own one, have never seen one, or have never used one, well, they're the gearheads bashing the product. Ah, well, such is life! FWIW & HTH. . . | ||
| David Evans (Dmd)
Registered Member Username: Dmd Post Number: 546 Registered: 10-2004 Posted From: 24.46.196.121 Rating: N/A |
That explains the m/c guy who wrote the testemonial and did the test article. The legnth of his hitch under the slide in camper was over 4'.No up or down wieght its just a draw bar with this unit. Nice posting guys | ||
| Dal Farnworth (Dallas)
Registered Member Username: Dallas Post Number: 298 Registered: 7-2004 Posted From: 98.20.57.250 Rating: N/A |
No Ralph, I didn't get your email. | ||
| JC Alacoque (Jc_alacoque)
Registered Member Username: Jc_alacoque Post Number: 99 Registered: 7-2006 Posted From: 207.34.166.7 Rating: N/A |
Now that I see that it is rigidly attached to the tow vehicle, as opposed to hitched by a ball, it might be legal in BC, where two trailers are not allowed. JC | ||
| Ralph Peters (Ralph7)
Registered Member Username: Ralph7 Post Number: 176 Registered: 3-2004 Posted From: 75.223.239.4 Rating: N/A |
Sorry but RJ has the same pictures, by the way that is the mfger's stick&staple, he said his 17,000lb trailer when hooked the TT can be tiped up&down by hand. |
