It takes a while, and perhaps a "cocked wheel" incident to realize that in
every turn, at the start, the toad's front wheels turn OPPOSITE to those of
the towing vehicle. Think about it: When you turn left, the rear of the
tow vehicle moves RIGHT to establish the new attitude. The toad is forced
to the right 'cause it only follows the rear of the tower. Once the new
attitude is established, the toad s wheels swing back in the turn direction
to conform because the tower's now dragging it that way.
Where the problem arises, and I had it happen to me towing a light Toyota
pickup behind the 40' Safari with probably 7'+ rear overhang, is when the
toad doesn't transition from the right to the left turn. In my case I made
a sharp turn out of a parking place in soft Florida sand. The ruts formed
as the truck turned right prevented the wheels from pivoting back left.
Instead they went full lock to the right, and stayed there. Until I saw
the big cloud of dust in my rear view mirrors and camera. The truck was
coming along behind the big coach just fine -- but its front wheels were
still wanting to go right.
Some people have had so much trouble with that, notably with VW Beetles,
that they center the steering wheel with bungee cords. I have no idea how
effective that is.
Ken H.
Americus, GA
'76 X-Birchaven w/Cad500/Howell EFI & EBL
www.gmcwipersetc.com
On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 10:26 AM, Armand Minnie wrote:
>
>
> Flat towing - I keep an eye on the front tires as I make sharp turns to
> make sure the wheels turn like they are supposed to - no apparent problems.
> I could see dragging the fronts a little sideways in sharp turns but how
> many of those happen in relation to all towing? Not much I would guess.
> --
>
