Toad or trailer?

[MemoriesByTheMile]

How many of you have used a trailer hauling your car and also have experience using a toad? If you had to make a choice again, what would you choose?

In our RV journey we have always trailered our car. We know the general pros and cons of trailer and toads but are now considering changing to a toad.
We have friends who recently gave up RV'ing who used a toad and they had a negative experience with their jeep getting $7K in damage while being towed on a trip. After knowing our friends had so much damage, my wife is concerned about the damage a toad can incur.

We sold our trailer and are looking for a toad but are having second thoughts - reconsidering all this extra work of selling the car, outfitting it for toad or do we just get a shorter/smaller trailer and keep our beloved car? But with the trailer we HAVE to find longer campground spots, which takes more time to find when planning trips and keeps us from many campgrounds.

Thoughts?

 

[team bradfield]

?? 7k damage towing, how?

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

?? 7k damage towing, how?

Boy, I want to know also. I've probably towed over 100,000 miles and never had any issues.

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

I don't recall the specifics of what they hit (a big pot hole or debris in the road?) but it broke the suspension on the Jeep Cherokee suspension enough that they couldn't easily get a jack under it to see what broke.
This was one of our first friends we met after starting our RV life.

Texas Clodhopper - nice to hear a positive side that you have towed 100k+ miles without incident.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

The same could have happened when towing a trailer. The trailer could have blown a tire causing the trailer to turn over with the vehicle on the trailer. That most likely would have been more than $7000 in damage.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

The same could have happened when towing a trailer. The trailer could have blown a tire causing the trailer to turn over with the vehicle on the trailer. That most likely would have been more than $7000 in damage.

Jim, is this statement fear mongering? How many if any trailers have you had experience with that have rolled due to a blowout?

I want to know because I have never had a blowout on a trailer that even had a control issue.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

It didn't happen to me but it happened right in front of me.

 

[DennisT]

Been pulling a toad with no trailer for 8 years now with no issues.

Once I got into a spot where I couldn’t make the turn and had to do the fire drill of unhooking while blocking traffic.

Would not go to a trailer - extra hassle of parks, trying to figure out where to put it while camped, etc.

No issues selling the last toad that was setup and it didn’t last a week in the dealers lot when we traded it in.

Pulling a 2022 Cherokee now and no issues. Did cost a bit to have it setup but comes with the territory. Just hookup and go, no straps to hold vehicle to trailer etc.

 

[Rollin Ollen]

How many of you have used a trailer hauling your car and also have experience using a toad? If you had to make a choice again, what would you choose?

In our RV journey we have always trailered our car. We know the general pros and cons of trailer and toads but are now considering changing to a toad.
We have friends who recently gave up RV'ing who used a toad and they had a negative experience with their jeep getting $7K in damage while being towed on a trip. After knowing our friends had so much damage, my wife is concerned about the damage a toad can incur.

We sold our trailer and are looking for a toad but are having second thoughts - reconsidering all this extra work of selling the car, outfitting it for toad or do we just get a shorter/smaller trailer and keep our beloved car? But with the trailer we HAVE to find longer campground spots, which takes more time to find when planning trips and keeps us from many campgrounds.

Thoughts?

We have towed a XJ, TJ and now a JK well over 100,000 Km between the three and have never had a problem. All were simple to make ready for towing. Did your friend not shift the transfer case into neutral or not hook up properly?

Darrell

 

[Diesel Pusher]

I've used a tow dolly for cars not flat towable but much prefer towing my Jeeps four down. So much easier to use and less expensive to set up. No dolly/trailer to store and the tow bar stays on the motorhome.

I've replaced several destroyed transmissions and transfer cases in Cherokees (electronic actuators), YJs, TJs, and JKs for others because they had a brain fart and didn't engage the transfer case properly or left the auto or manual transmission in neutral!