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Trailer Towing Aids - Trailer Toad / Hitch Extension / Two-Dolly

S

sae8425

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Location
western pa
Have any forum members used a Trailer Toad (or a similar device) or know of anyone who has/does?

See: TrailerToad.com

The Toad is an auxiliary hitch extension, or two-dolly, by definition (relevant FMCSA Regulation is subpart F_393_70).

This (and similar items) carry all (or most) of the trailer tongue weight.

This allows bumper pull trailers with high tongue weights to be towed without unbalancing the tow vehicles weight distribution.

Using a Trailer Toad could effectively be looked upon as turning a tag along trailer into a steered axle wagon.

Evidently these towing aids are very popular with motorhome owners who pull stacker trailers.

The owner claims that since buying the rights in 2008 there has not been one instanceof a claim, or an accident, with a Trailer Toad.

The heaviest version is designed to handle tongue weights up to 3000 lbs and gross trailer weights in excess of 24,000 lbs.

This would seem to solve the bumper pull tongue weight dilemma once and for all!
 
If you want to tow big...commit the funds and get a gooesneck/fifth wheel.

Maybe you want to hitch this device up to a mini ?
 
digger doug said:
If you want to tow big...commit the funds and get a gooesneck/fifth wheel.
Click to expand...
For the record, you can't tow big with a fifth wheel...not pickup size one anyway...trailers are too weak at the connection point. Gooseneck way better. Unless "big" means large bags of packaging peanuts ;)
 
Also wanted to add that moving machinery with a low-deck trailer eventually makes you hate doing that due to the fenders and the infinite rigging headaches it creates. I say eventually, as its good for some things and obviously tons and tons of machinery has been moved this way successfully. But move enough stuff and a deckover GN looks pretty darn good for the ease of getting the job done if forklifts are involved, even if there's a pre-engineered solution to the tongue load dilemma.
 
Milacron said:
For the record, you can't tow big with a fifth wheel...not pickup size one anyway...trailers are too weak at the connection point. Gooseneck way better. Unless "big" means large bags of packaging peanuts ;)
Click to expand...

Rutt Roh.

Neighbor converted his gooseneck flatbed trailer (2 5/16" ball Moritz 14k) to a camper fifth wheel, claimed better riding
(and no-one would borrow it....)

so I just assumed they were equal in weight hauling capacity.
 
Be careful about these. They are considered a trailer on their own, and depending on the state you are in and the one you got your license in, you could be operating out of class.
Also, with it taking all/most of the tounge weight, you are loosing traction for control and stopping.
If you need to bumper pull 14k, get a RV with 3-4 axles. Or better yet, a semi with a sleeper and tow with a true 5th wheel hitch. It would be cheaper and get better mpg than towing with a rv.
 
All in all, it seems like a great way to do it wrong...
The review did say you had to hop out and attend to a setting in order to back up. Didn't notice whether that meant you were scrubbing tires while backing with a hard turn, or not.
Never been a fan of towing while using a vehicle with an extreme rear-axle-to-hitch dimension, either. Long wheelbase with a short overhang is where it's at.
Braking is probably fine as long as trailer brakes are "leading" tow vehicle brakes, so the whole affair is stretched rather than compressed. Besides, everyone knows trailer brakes always work, right?

To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, a man's got to know his (tow vehicle) limitations.

Chip
 
aspp said:
Be careful about these. They are considered a trailer on their own, and depending on the state you are in and the one you got your license in, you could be operating out of class.
Click to expand...

Do you have examples? I have been lead to believe RV's and whatever they tow are regulated the same as passenger cars as long as there is not some "for profit" activity. I'm not saying it makes sense an 80 year old with a history of 4 heart attacks, diabetes, and has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel can drive a 50' motor home with the same driver's license as necessary for the Chevy Cobalt he is towing. But that is the law as I understand it.
 
I think the class that's being exceeded is the number of trailers behind the tow vehicle. If this gadget is a trailer itself, and then you have another trailer, then the first in line is bumper pull, and the second is fifth-wheel -- that could be a no-no in some areas/with some operators licenses.
As I mumbled thru somewhere above, in Ohio you can tow a bumper pull with a fifth-wheel, but not vice-versa.

Chip
 
Some states such as Oregon have a no triple tow rule. A dolly can be considered another trailer depending on the law enforcement agency.
 
New York State has interesting trailer rules. There are many "trailers" that don't need to be registered. They have to be only the described device. Add a toolbox, and it has to be registered:
http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv274.pdf
EXAMPLES OF TRAILER-TYPE
VEHICLES THAT DO NOT HAVE TO BE REGISTERED Not limited to these vehicles

◆ Welding machine mounted on a chassis
◆ Well drillers mounted on a chassis
◆ Wood sawing outfit mounted on a chassis
◆ Wood chipper mounted on a chassis
◆ Electrical transformer mounted on wheels
◆ Air compressor mounted on wheels
◆ Water pump mounted on wheels
◆ Pipe threading machine mounted on wheels
◆ Concrete mixer mounted on wheels
◆ Generator mounted on wheels
◆ Portable lighting units mounted on wheels
◆ Paint outfit (air compressor and tank) mounted on wheels
◆ Insecticide spray outfit mounted on wheels
◆ Portable sheep dipping vat mounted on wheels
◆ Trailer used as an office on a job site
◆ Trailer used for tools and equipment when equipped with shelves and bins, etc., on a job site (shelves and bins must be empty when towed on the road)
◆  Food vending trailer (shelves and bins must be empty when towed on the road). For example, hot dog cart or a barbeque grill on wheels
◆ Tow dolly
◆ Tar kettle mounted on wheels
 
Yah, that's just another version of a Joe Dog and they were a pain in the rear 40 years ago, can't see where anything has changed much. Just another way of trying to tow more than you should with the equipment you have. Same as 40 years ago. :codger:
 
gbent said:
Do you have examples? I have been lead to believe RV's and whatever they tow are regulated the same as passenger cars as long as there is not some "for profit" activity. I'm not saying it makes sense an 80 year old with a history of 4 heart attacks, diabetes, and has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel can drive a 50' motor home with the same driver's license as necessary for the Chevy Cobalt he is towing. But that is the law as I understand it.
Click to expand...

Its different in each state and I don't know all state laws, but what I do know is that to tow over 10k lbs in CA requires a commercial class a drivers license unless you are a farmer within x miles of the ranch on ranch business or you are towing a 5th wheel/gooseneck rv.
If you tow more than one trailer you need a doubles/triples endorsement.
If you haul a liquid vessel (tank or bottle) over 110gal you need a tanker endorsement.
Certain RVs require their own noncommercial drivers license.
There is a weight limit per axle and per tire for each class of license.
There are break requirements for weight and number of axles for each class.
This is what I can remember off the top of my head, and not comprehensive by any means.
I have had my commercial license over 10 years now, use it weekly, and I still have to double check laws and regulations regularly. They are always changing and there are a lot of special circumstances.
 
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