I've been following the "Best TOAD Light and Easy" thread with interest. Since we haven't yet found our Foretravel, thinking about dinghies might be putting the "cart before the horse", but I guess it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. Yesterday I noticed a TOAD parked in the "Car For Sale" corner of our Walmart parking lot - it was a 2002 Chevy Tracker LT (4D, 4WD, V6, Auto). Nice looking little CUV - very clean inside and out. It was rigged up for towing behind a motor home, with all the required hardware bolted on the front. I couldn't help being impressed with how UGLY all that junk was stuck to the nose of a otherwise cute little truck. Got me wondering: are all TOADs this unattractive, when detached from the tow vehicle?
Which brings me to my question: which TOAD vehicles, when rigged up with all the required towing hardware, are the "cleanest" looking? In other words, which ones require the least (or least conspicuous) amount of permanent hardware bolted to the front?
You can not see the tow hooks on mine. They come out with a blue ox. You are probably looking at a road master setup.
We're shopping for our toad now, too. From what I've read, there are two kinds of attachment arrangements. What you saw is one kind, where everything stays on the toad. The other kind has a base plate (mounting attachments) on the toad, and the tow bar assembly either stays on the motor home or can be removed and stored out of sight. The second kind makes for a cleaner-looking toad, and probably provides a bit more security. That's the route we're going. I think it may be a bit more expensive, though. From what I've seen, if you are starting from scratch that's what you will find.
John,
I think you are correct - I found a photo of the Blue Ox setup for Tracker - MUCH cleaner than the one I saw! This, I could live with.
(https://www.foreforums.com/imagecache.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etrailer.com%2FMerchant2%2Fgraphics%2F00000001%2Fpics%2FB%2FX%2FBX1636_v_1000.jpg&hash=992ae50d60f4808f9e0cb146d6d38b71" rel="cached" data-hash="992ae50d60f4808f9e0cb146d6d38b71" data-warn="External image, click here to view original" data-url="http://www.etrailer.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/pics/B/X/BX1636_v_1000.jpg)
We have the Blue Ox setup and we are really pleased with it. When not towing, the equipment on the car is nearly invisible. While it can obviously be seen when closely inspected, I don't think anyone casually passing by would even notice it.
Here is the front of our Wrangler with one side ready to tow and the other with the hook removed.
I think there are some square plastic pieces you can put in the exposed tubing but I usually leave the hooks on.
It only takes pulling a pin to remove the hooks. The tow bar stays locked to the coach (with a vinyl cover on it.)
We've towed a Suburban many years with this setup and now the Jeep. Great setup in my opinion.
It's the Roadmaster Blackhawk 10,000 pound Roadmaster Inc. - Tow Bars, Braking Systems & RV Accessories (http://roadmasterinc.com/products/towbars/blackhawk2.html)
It's even batter than that. Those two silver bars pull out with just a pull pin release and leaves two black "receivers" that are very difficult to spot with the untrained eye.
We have a Roadmaster setup with a quick disconnect but we have never disconnected. We just leave the Xbar attached to the Jeep and don't worry about it. The tow bar folds up and stays on the coach covered in the vinyl cover.
Same for me, sort of a "deer catcher"
Forget Roadmaster baseplates and only buy Blue Ox baseplates for a "did not know that car is setup for towing" look.
Only use the towbar style that permanently mount in motorhome receiver. These are most common and have a hinge pivot instead of ball.
If you have to have a non-Blue Ox motorhome mounted towbar, get Blue Ox connection adapters to connect your towbar to a Blue Ox baseplate.
Use TowDaddy Tow Daddy - The Best Designed RV Products on the Planet (http://www.towdaddy.com/) tow car wiring for a very easy invisible tail light connection. ( we have it on our 2012 Jeep Grand)
Good luck on picking a tow car braking system as there are many to choose from. Some require additional hoses / wires between motorhome and tow car.
We had the Roadmaster Falcon on the '96 Saturn Sl1 4DR we just sold. We had it on Craigslist for only a few hours before a party contacted us, and we shook hands on the deal the following afternoon.