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10-26-2016, 02:06 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Toad towing impressions.
I just got back from a trip to the Austin hill country. I pulled my Toyota Tundra truck for the first time other than a few trial tows around locally. My truck weighs in around 5400 lbs and is close to 23 feet with the tow bar. That puts me around 60-62 ft. I was particularly interested in how my small 300hp Cummins engine would tow the truck in the hills. The result was pretty good. For the most part I had the cruise set on 62-63mph. On small rolling hills the tranny stayed in 6th most of the time. It would occasionally down shift to 5th and on a few steeper hills I saw 4th but not often. The temps of the engine and tranny were pretty impressive. The engine temp ran 184F most of the time and the warmest I ever saw was 191F on a decent hill. The tranny ran 156F most of the time and the warmest I ever saw was 161F. I know these temps will rise on big grades but I felt this was a good test. I cleaned the radiator recently even though it was fairly clean so things must be good there. I"m still pretty new to the RV and towing. Driving impressions were also positive. I believe with the truck behind the Rv I had a little more play in the steering but never felt unsafe or out of control. Big rigs passing gave no change at all. The one thing that I would like to get a better handle on is judging distance in the rear view camera. When I'm towing the truck since it's pretty long I can obviously tell the car in the lane beside me is behind the truck but I don't know if I have 2 feet clearance to move over or 20. This really became an issue in Houston freeway traffic when I needed to make several lane changes to stay on course without much notice and cars were unwilling to allow me over in their lane even though my blinkers were on for a long time. Fortunately I always managed to get to the lane I needed but it took a lot of focus and nerve to make it happen. Maybe a better back up camera that was sharper would help. Maybe it's just a matter of more seat time. The learning curve is still steep but I'm gaining experience all the time. Sometimes the lanes around the Houston freeways are narrow and when a big rig with really wide mirrors are passing me it feels like inches between us with no room for me to cheat to the other side. Then there is the occasional guy pulling a trailer whose trailer is wandering in to both lanes while passing in the tight areas . Sometimes I think you need a little luck on your side as skill won't keep the other guy out of your lane.
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-26-2016, 02:58 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Fleetwood Owners Club Workhorse Chassis Owner Spartan Chassis
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Northern IL
Posts: 569
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Everything sounds normal to me, couple more trips and you will feel more comfortable. Takes awhile, a good gps will help warning about lane changes , but yes I know the feeling oh boy I gotta get over now.
__________________
2010 Dutch Star 4333
2009 Honda Accord- Brakemaster
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10-26-2016, 03:03 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 2,813
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Glad that your first real test went well. Your confidence and abilities to maneuver in traffic will increase over time. Luck, if now present, overtime will be replaced with experience and skill.
When passing others, watch the shadow (if available) that your toad casts on the road. That should (factoring in orientation of the sun) give you comfort in when to safely make that lane change. When the shadow is past the vehicle in the lane in which you wish to move into (again compensating for the orientation of the sun), you should initiate your turn signal and ease into your desired lane.
Having driven through Massachusetts earlier this year, I found that a a turn signal was an open invitation for the guy in the other lane to move up and block your lane change. DW's Massachusetts relatives agreed with my observation. They labeled the local drivers as "Mass-holes". I live in California...we have the same drivers here. I guess they are CA-holes. Nobody wants a big RV in front of them it would seem.
Travel safely...it will get better.
YMMV.
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10-26-2016, 03:31 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HavingABlast
Glad that your first real test went well. Your confidence and abilities to maneuver in traffic will increase over time. Luck, if now present, overtime will be replaced with experience and skill.
When passing others, watch the shadow (if available) that your toad casts on the road. That should (factoring in orientation of the sun) give you comfort in when to safely make that lane change. When the shadow is past the vehicle in the lane in which you wish to move into (again compensating for the orientation of the sun), you should initiate your turn signal and ease into your desired lane.
Having driven through Massachusetts earlier this year, I found that a a turn signal was an open invitation for the guy in the other lane to move up and block your lane change. DW's Massachusetts relatives agreed with my observation. They labeled the local drivers as "Mass-holes". I live in California...we have the same drivers here. I guess they are CA-holes. Nobody wants a big RV in front of them it would seem.
Travel safely...it will get better.
YMMV.
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Good tip on the shadows, I'll be more aware of that next time.
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-26-2016, 03:40 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by what next
Everything sounds normal to me, couple more trips and you will feel more comfortable. Takes awhile, a good gps will help warning about lane changes , but yes I know the feeling oh boy I gotta get over now.
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I recently bought a new Rand McNally Rv gps. I even bought one of those weighted bags to set it in on the dash in front of me. It's terrible in the daylight to see the screen. I don't mean when it's in direct sunlight either. It's almost useless. It's to bad because it has nice software that illuminates which lanes will allow you to stay on course which is essential when you can't get over quickly which seems to be the case with a 60 ft rig in traffic. I would buy a sun shield for it but that won't fix a crummy screen. I can't believe there is not a software fix for the poorly lit screen. It might be for sale for cheap!
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-26-2016, 03:57 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Another thing I thought of was to go to a parking lot with the tundra behind the rv and have the DW drive the jeep. Place the jeep behind and beside the truck at 1,2 and 3 car length intervals to get some idea of what the visual looks like in the rear view camera to build confidence. I don't like to move over in front of someone unless I'm putting 2-3 car lengths between us. Especially if I'm not accelerating away from them. Do any of you guys have review cameras that put lines and numbers on the screen between objects? That would be a nice feature I would think.
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-26-2016, 09:39 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Today? Clayton, North Carolina
Posts: 5,093
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Toad towing impressions.
Noserider.....
some rear cameras are near fisheyes, others give a reasonable view. You have to learn how much distortion you're dealing with before you can judge the distance.
Also, why not put simple numbers on your side? Do you know how long each lane stripe is? Have you checked? The gaps in between? If you know these things you can read your rear view camera like a printed diagram.
Generally, each line is 10 ft, each gap is 30 ft. If you can see 3 or 4 lines between your toad and passed traffic, you've got about 90 to 130 feet of clearance. That would be about 4-6 vehicle lengths of space.
Another method would be to count the seconds. At highway speed a 1 - 2 second gap would be roughly a 90 to 180 ft gap. I don't advocate this method, as it has you focused on the rear screen for multiple seconds, instead of being focused forward.
John & Diane, fulltiming since '12 02 DS40, FL, Cat, '04 Element NHSO RVM103
__________________
John and Diane (RIP Lincoln, 21 FEB 22) RVM103 NHSO
Fulltimers since June, 2012
2002 Dutch Star 40, Freightliner, Cat 3126, 2004 Element
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10-27-2016, 12:07 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JFXG
Noserider.....
some rear cameras are near fisheyes, others give a reasonable view. You have to learn how much distortion you're dealing with before you can judge the distance.
Also, why not put simple numbers on your side? Do you know how long each lane stripe is? Have you checked? The gaps in between? If you know these things you can read your rear view camera like a printed diagram.
Generally, each line is 10 ft, each gap is 30 ft. If you can see 3 or 4 lines between your toad and passed traffic, you've got about 90 to 130 feet of clearance. That would be about 4-6 vehicle lengths of space.
Another method would be to count the seconds. At highway speed a 1 - 2 second gap would be roughly a 90 to 180 ft gap. I don't advocate this method, as it has you focused on the rear screen for multiple seconds, instead of being focused forward.
John & Diane, fulltiming since '12 02 DS40, FL, Cat, '04 Element NHSO RVM103
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My camera would most likely be in the fisheyes category. Good points on counting the lines. I'll check that out and see if my camera is good enough to make out the lines. I think it should. Thanks!
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-27-2016, 11:00 AM
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#9
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Senior Member
Texas Boomers Club Oklahoma Boomers Club Nor'easters Club Spartan Chassis
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 533
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You might try adjusting the camera to show more of the road behind you. On my 2001 Mountain Aire and now my 2016 bayStar Sport it was necessary to looosen a few small nuts and change the angle for a longer shot. World of difference.
May have to go up and down the ladder a few times.
__________________
2016 Bay Star Sport downsize from 2001 MountainAire
Toad GMC Terrain, might leave it home on some trips.
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10-27-2016, 11:15 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Workhorse Chassis Owner Spartan Chassis
Join Date: May 2010
Location: McAlester Ok
Posts: 2,057
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I don't rely much on my rear view camera, except to periodically check the toad. My rig has side view cameras which are helpful, but not reliable. A lot of time the rig shadow makes the side camera useless. I rely more on the side mirror, and the parabolic mirror on the bottom half.
With experience you will learn the relationships with the mirror. For me, if I can fully see the entire front of the vehicle in the standard mirror, I am well clear, if I can see 2/3 of the vehicle I am close but ok. If I see half, it's going to be close....be careful.
I have a scan routine....big mirror, parabolic mirror, side camera view, back to big mirror. One more glance ( for motorcycles) in side camera.
__________________
2007 Newmar KSDP. 3912
2010 Nissan Frontier SE
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10-27-2016, 12:08 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DGBPokes
I don't rely much on my rear view camera, except to periodically check the toad. My rig has side view cameras which are helpful, but not reliable. A lot of time the rig shadow makes the side camera useless. I rely more on the side mirror, and the parabolic mirror on the bottom half.
With experience you will learn the relationships with the mirror. For me, if I can fully see the entire front of the vehicle in the standard mirror, I am well clear, if I can see 2/3 of the vehicle I am close but ok. If I see half, it's going to be close....be careful.
I have a scan routine....big mirror, parabolic mirror, side camera view, back to big mirror. One more glance ( for motorcycles) in side camera.
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Interesting comments on use of the side mirror. I'll pay more attention to that and try to get a better perspective of the toad in relationship to how much of the other vehicle I want to move over in front of I can see. I'm sure I'm being overly cautious but that's my nature. I ride motorcycles and that has taught me to drive very cautiously.
__________________
2002 Newmar Kountry Star 3669
Freightliner 300HP Cummins
Towing 2014 Honda CRV EX-L & 2010 Tundra W/Remco DD
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10-27-2016, 01:38 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Venice, Fl
Posts: 151
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Just a thought till you get accustomed to the toad.
Have wife park her vehicle like you said, 2,3,or 4 car lengths behind toad.
Then put marks on your screen with fine tip marker, or maybe small pieces of tape.
Hope this helps.
__________________
2004 Newmar DSDP 4025
Blue ox , Air force 1, 2016 GMC Acadia
NRA Benefactor
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10-28-2016, 11:28 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Today? Clayton, North Carolina
Posts: 5,093
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Toad towing impressions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noserider
My camera would most likely be in the fisheyes category. ....I'll check that out and see if my camera is good enough to make out the lines......!
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Well, I probably oversimplified a bit. At highway speed you probably can't count the lines, but if you check it out first on a small slow road or parking lot you'll get a good sense of the picture you need to see. My camera is not full fisheye, but it's a pretty aggressive wide-angle, so there's a fair amount of distortion. I know that the vehicle I'm passing has to look like it's way far back for me to have safe pull in room.
John & Diane, fulltiming since '12 02 DS40, FL, Cat, '04 Element NHSO RVM103
__________________
John and Diane (RIP Lincoln, 21 FEB 22) RVM103 NHSO
Fulltimers since June, 2012
2002 Dutch Star 40, Freightliner, Cat 3126, 2004 Element
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10-28-2016, 04:58 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Texas Boomers Club Oklahoma Boomers Club Nor'easters Club Spartan Chassis
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 533
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hillboy
You might try adjusting the camera to show more of the road behind you. On my 2001 Mountain Aire and now my 2016 bayStar Sport it was necessary to looosen a few small nuts and change the angle for a longer shot. World of difference.
May have to go up and down the ladder a few times.
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Would add that even with a longer view of the road i can still see the toad behind me.
__________________
2016 Bay Star Sport downsize from 2001 MountainAire
Toad GMC Terrain, might leave it home on some trips.
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