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03-31-2015, 03:23 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 116
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Anyone ever lost a toad?
Just curious if anyone has ever lost a toad and what happened, did brake dis-connect reliably stop the car and what kind of damages?
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03-31-2015, 03:27 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Home in warm Sou Calif for the winter.
Posts: 1,401
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There was one just a week or so ago involving a Chevy Equinox that was on utube and several of the rv forums.
I don't remember if there were any specific reasons for the toad to disconnect from the mh. Parts were scattered for quite a distance and the car eventually ran off the road without hitting anyone. I think the emergency disconnect came off with the base plate assembly and never activated the toad's brakes.
Ron
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Ron, Sandie and Lilly
2013 Tiffin Phaeton 42LH 400 ISL | 2011 GMC Terrain SLT-2
Roadmaster All Terrain | US Gear Unified Brake System | Pressure Pro
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03-31-2015, 03:28 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 10,309
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2012 Essex 4544 2011 Jeep JK, M&G Braking, 2014 MTI 27' Hog Hauler, Wireless brake control, 2006 Ultra & 1989 Springer, 2003 Harley-Davidson
FLHR Road King Anniversary
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03-31-2015, 03:33 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club Holiday Rambler Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: michigan-tip of the mitt
Posts: 1,444
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Had the pin in the receiver fall out as we were driving on I-8. Blue Ox setup. Had the coiled cables criss-crossed under the tow bar as the instructions say (yes, some men do read the instructions) and they held the tow bar up and close to the motorhome. I would feel a little tiny bump and checked the rear view camera and could see the car wobble left to right a little. Slowly pulled to shoulder and found no damage to anything. Had another hitch pin, I don't know why, installed it and on our way again. Close call? You bet.
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2003 Class C, 29' Gulfstream
Next stop?
Previous rigs..2 Pickup campers,2 TT's, 3 DP MH's
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03-31-2015, 03:36 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Newmar Owners Club Spartan Chassis
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Sterling Heights, MI
Posts: 2,723
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We were coming back from Alabama years ago and saw a car in the ditch along I65. Got a mile or so farther and there was a motorhome on the shoulder with a couple guys looking at the back end of the motorhome and down the expressway. We figured it was his car in the ditch.
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Tricia & Dennis Lockhart
2010 Ventana 4333
Spartan MM w/Cummins 360 ISC
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03-31-2015, 04:17 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Thor Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,657
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I have not but some friends of ours were coming to visit us a few years ago. They were getting pretty late and just as I was calling they pulled up. In a little town 12 miles away they came around a turn and their Ford Explorer ( they were towing behind their fifth wheel) came off and they never knew it. They were pulling. 40' Teton with a semi tractor. The hitch broke away from the frame, as they came around the corner it separated and ran up into the front yard of the hospital! Someone had to chase them down as they didn't have a clue. Fortunately no one was hurt or hit. That right there is the perfect example of why ain auxiliary brake should be used.
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2015 Thor ACE 29.3
Ohio, 900 Watts Solar 400 ah lithium batteries, 2022 Jeep Gladiator JT Toad FMCA 317123
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03-31-2015, 04:22 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner iRV2 No Limits Club
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 1,111
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While we waiting, and kind of, sort of, maybe on topic...
On my last trip to AZ, I tested the brake away switch before leaving. I yanked on the cable, pull the pin out and nothing happen, brakes did not activate. I clean it using a spray contact cleaner and got it to work. I got a new one went I got home. Moral of the story is: hooking up the brake away cable is not enough, test it see if it works.
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Mark
1999 Bounder 32H Ford V10, 2012 Ford Focus, Pretty DW, 1 cat. Retired USAF
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03-31-2015, 05:06 PM
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#8
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Registered User
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: NW Ohio
Posts: 7,114
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About 40 years ago, I'm driving up I-44 near st louis. In front of me is a travel trailer, all the sudden blue smoke is coming from both sides of the trailer and it stops in its lane.
I pull up beside it and there is nothing towing it. It must have broke away and I was surprised how it stopped straight and true.
I did have an axle break on a tow dolly once, shower of sparks in my rear view mirror.
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03-31-2015, 05:45 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 4,645
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrt_1111
While we waiting, and kind of, sort of, maybe on topic...
On my last trip to AZ, I tested the brake away switch before leaving. I yanked on the cable, pull the pin out and nothing happen, brakes did not activate. I clean it using a spray contact cleaner and got it to work. I got a new one went I got home. Moral of the story is: hooking up the brake away cable is not enough, test it see if it works.
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Just finished our first big trip. We have an Eze Tow trailer with hydraulic surge brakes. When we got home yesterday I found my breakaway cable had come off the receiver somehow. Would have never worked
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2023 Winnebago Travato
2023 Airstream Flying Cloud BH 30'
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03-31-2015, 05:51 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Appalachian Campers
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 908
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The parents of an instructor of mine did, this guy puled up beside them causing a commotion trying to get them to stop, finally mom hit dad and said "I think I know what he wants." as she watched the Nissan Sentra take off to the right, down the ditch, up the other side jumping the field fence and landing in a grain field. Being in farm country they had to ride a couple of miles trying to figure out just which house to knock on. They figured it out, the farmer didn't believe them but carried them out to look.
The car was somehow unharmed, the farmer pulled it out for them and mom drove it to town. They offered to pay him and he just laughed it off asking that he be allowed to repeat the story.
Something broke in one of the bars, wrenching the other bar off. A new hitch and a braking system later they were on their way. Tom, the instructor, said that for a few years afterwards every time you turned the AC on after towing wheat would blow out.
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2001 HO Cummins powered Dodge 2500
2014 Sierra 346RETS
Nights camped in 2014-28
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03-31-2015, 06:05 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Troutdale, Oregon
Posts: 1,109
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About 10 years ago we stayed in Skagway. A RV'er came in and parked next to our spot. He told me he and his wife left Whitehorse and when they got to Skagway their toad wasn't there. The park called WH and they didn't see his car there. The Royal MP patrolled the road and couldn't find it. Really don't know the end of the story except we left to go to Prince Rupert and when we got back they were still there and no car. He told me the police said that if the car went off into the brush they may never find it. I think they forgot to hook it up completely.
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03-31-2015, 07:09 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Graham, WA
Posts: 772
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Didn't happen to me but I saw one in KY on southbound I-75. Toad came loose, crossed the median, both northbound lanes and stopped as it hit a large tree. Fortunately it didn't hit anyone on the way. MH was off on the right a quarter mile or so down the hwy.
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2006 Gulfstream Friendship G7, Cat C7 and Allison 6 spd
Honda VTX and Cruiser Lift on the back
Blue Ox Aladdin, Brake Buddy, 2019 Chevy Blazer RS toad
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03-31-2015, 09:32 PM
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#13
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: California
Posts: 611
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I have seen one break loose, and it had a Brake Buddy in it. The car wondered into the median and came to a stop. The guy did not use safety cables, thought it would never happen to him.
After watching that I make sure the safety cables are attached, the emergency stop pin is in place and hooked up, even test it every now and then to make sure it still works. I never realized how fast one could break loose, or how they go where they want.
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2007 Fleetwood Excursion 40E
2007 Chev Classic CC LB D/A - Toad
2013 Jeep Sahara Unlimited - Backup Toad
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03-31-2015, 10:08 PM
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#14
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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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Pickup toad didn't come loose, but was close. Driving in the Smokies on I -40 in a light rain. I feel some strange lurches, look in the rear view screen and see the toad was connected by only the right arm, the left one was disconnected. Got stopped on the shoulder, the pad lock that I had used to replaced the pin had sheared off and was a missing.
Called Roadmaster later, and they questioned the height ratio of the toad to the motorhome. Turns out when it was installed on the new pickup, they had the wrong brackets, or installs them upside down. The height difference of the tow bar hitch point to the motorhome was way out of spec. I had hit a bump somewhere in the road and the up and down action was enough to shear the padlock hasp.
Pretty scary to see your toad wandering left to right on its own. I do have a Brake a Buddy, but it never actuated, since we got stopped before the other arm sheared. The cross bar on the tow bar was bent. I could make it fit till we got home, then I took it to a machine shop where they were able to straighten it.
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2007 Newmar KSDP. 3912
2010 Nissan Frontier SE
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