Buying my first Toy hauler any advice is appreciated

[Mike Furness]

OK ... Thanks ... Makes sense.

[IMPDLN]

Sorry it took me a couple weeks to reply. Been gone. I think Fred asked about disconnecting bars for off road driving. Very good question. To be honest I have never seen any frames bent, especially by sway bars. Sway bars would break long before bending the trailer frame. Weight distribution bars are a different story. However there are so many models and different designs I'd have to recommend asking the particular manufacturer that question. Certainly I have seen damage to all those types of systems, however mostly because they had a rollover accident or lost control and jack knifed. I do know some manufacturers even recommend disconnecting just to back up. Most of the weight distribution bars I see these days have a specific receiver mount as part of the kit and the bars attach to the frame with chains. Of course those will allow more movement than other systems that are attached in a more solid fashion. The sway bars I see mostly these days, I assume are sold with the trailers from dealers, seem pretty light duty to me. I'm not sure that they even do much to be honest, but certainly not heavy duty enough to bend your frame.

Driving off road can put abnormal strain on these kinds of devices for sure. If your going to be driving in terrain that will have your vehicles flexing in opposing directions, you certainly could have issues with any of these devices. We have thousands of weekenders up here in the rim country every summer. They transition from pavement to dirt without slowing down all the time. I never saw anybody stop to disconnect any of these devices. except when separating the vehicles at camp or when we are towing the broke down rig. So check with the specific devices manufacturer for recommendations concerning off road driving. We don't use any of those items in the towing industry because our trucks are heavier than what we are towing and the wheel lifts that we attach trailers to are hydraulic so we can level the trailer properly when loading.

Just a final note.....now that summer is coming, as temps rise, our weekend traffic is again on the rise. Thinking about this post today I made it a point to look a little closer at all the trailers coming up the highway. Probably about 80% of them going down the road improperly balanced. Most of them too tongue heavy. Just accidents looking for a place to happen. Future work for me? Possibly. Best advice I can offer is keep the load level when towing. Anytime your hitch system gets put in a bad angle that creates binding you can certainly do damage or have some kind of failure. This can happen just turning into a driveway with a messed up transition or steep pitch. Off road driving can certainly expose more opportunities for binding around hitch systems.

You guys have fun out there. Know your equipment. Set up you equipment and maintain it properly for years of happy trailering. Dennis

[fredm]

Thanks, Dennis;

I like to prevent problems rather than fix them. Your advise will certainly help prevent problems.

thanks again

fred