Never seen this toad setup before

blue_goose · December 16, 2014, 01:51:19 PM

The owner is one of my neighbors, he has been doing this for a long time. I think this is the third car that he has been tooting. He lives full time in the coach and puts lots of miles on it each year. I am sure he will be back to the Arcadia rally again this year.
Jack

Jeremy · December 16, 2014, 02:26:04 PM

There was a thread about the legality of doing this some time ago, and the conclusion was that it was illegal to do with a Smart car in the US because they're longer than the maximum permissible width, and although there are shorter car models out there (primarily various French makes), none of those models can be bought in the States.

Having said that, a quick Google search shows plenty of examples of people doing it and presumably getting away with it

And there are various others...in some cases with the car on an angle to reduce the width, such as this example:

Jeremy

PS - Can't comment on the Prevost engineering aspect

Scott & Heather · December 17, 2014, 02:29:48 AM

I'd be interested to see it up close at Arcadia. It's a marathon coach. I have heard horror stories of engine cradle stress doing ugly things...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Clumsy fingers may contribute to mistakes.

Jon · December 17, 2014, 03:08:16 AM

In the top photo above the rods running from the top down to the carrier have the load greatly transferred to the longitudinal truss which relieves a lot of the stress on the engine cradle.

bobofthenorth · December 17, 2014, 04:17:15 AM

I don't know if its the same one or not but there was one of those at Arcadia whenever it was that we were down there. That has to be over 5 years now so - if its the same one - its lasted that long at least. At the time I thought it was an accident looking for someplace to happen but maybe it has lasted longer than I thought it would.

blue_goose · December 17, 2014, 05:33:49 AM

Quote from: bobofthenorth on December 17, 2014, 04:17:15 AM
I don't know if its the same one or not but there was one of those at Arcadia whenever it was that we were down there. That has to be over 5 years now so - if its the same one - its lasted that long at least. At the time I thought it was an accident looking for someplace to happen but maybe it has lasted longer than I thought it would.

It is the same one and he will be there again this year.
Jack

gumpy · December 17, 2014, 06:08:12 AM

Quote from: blue_goose on December 17, 2014, 05:33:49 AM
It is the same one and he will be there again this year.
Jack

Jack,

Maybe you can take some photos of the details in the setup and post them back here for us. Obviously there's more going on than we can see or
understand, and it would be a real learning experience to see how they've overcome the problems.

This setup is similar to something I've considered for mauling motorcycles.

uncle ned · December 17, 2014, 07:13:45 AM

Grumpy I thought I was the only person that mauled motorcycles.

Every time I go dirt bike riding it comes backlooking like it was mauled.

have a great day.

only 15 more days till i get to head to Arcadia. baring a lot of snow and if the old Detroit starts.

uncle ned

Dawgs · December 17, 2014, 10:27:05 AM

I don't want to maul my bike, but I would like to take it with me!!

Ace · December 17, 2014, 10:41:58 AM

I will be there and I can look it over!

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jetart · December 17, 2014, 11:15:44 AM

I think I read someplace that Prevost makes a kit to beef up the back end so you can pull 20,000#. I'm not sure if that also increases the tongue weight capacity as well.....but the general rule of thumb is 10% of the trailer weight should be your tongue weight.

gumpy · December 17, 2014, 11:50:36 AM

Quote from: uncle ned on December 17, 2014, 07:13:45 AM
Grumpy I thought I was the only person that mauled motorcycles.

Every time I go dirt bike riding it comes backlooking like it was mauled.

have a great day.

only 15 more days till i get to head to Arcadia. baring a lot of snow and if the old Detroit starts.

uncle ned

Haha. That one got by me. Maybe there's some truth in it though I prefer not to maul my bike.

Jon · December 17, 2014, 12:43:27 PM

Quote from: jetart on December 17, 2014, 11:15:44 AM
I think I read someplace that Prevost makes a kit to beef up the back end so you can pull 20,000#. I'm not sure if that also increases the tongue weight capacity as well.....but the general rule of thumb is 10% of the trailer weight should be your tongue weight.

20,000 lb. trailer weight, 1500 lb. hitch weight, 8" from the face of the receiver.

The standard for Prevost was 10,000 lb. and 1000 lb tongue weight, but more recently I believe the heavier cradle has been used, although you can get the heavier one retrofitted.

RJ · December 17, 2014, 04:09:13 PM

Jon -

Nice, thoughtful comment about the Prevost structure, well worth noting.

This also tells me that some of these entertainer Prevosts that pull a big (25'+) box trailer with their equipment could also be destroying the coach due to a heavy tongue load.

Another reason to spend the $3500 or so for a TrailerToad (www.trailertoad.com)

FWIW & HTH. . .

chessie4905 · December 17, 2014, 04:23:21 PM

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/jumbo-shrimp-smart-car-conversion.html