Re: $&#@Trip Report

sticks <wolverine01@charter.net> wrote:

On 7/18/2025 12:00 PM, George.Anthony wrote:

 
We left the Seattle area this past Monday headed toward Utah and made it as
far as LaGrande,Oregon. Then the bad news. Leaving the RV park, something
broke on the towed vehicle base plate. When I glanced at the rearview
camera I could see the truck swaying left and right. Uh oh!
 
One of the tow bar connections was hanging down almost touching the ground.
Disconnected the truck from the motorhome (with some difficulty) and headed
back to the RV park. We were able to drive the truck so we found a local
dealer who got started on repairs right away. However the old parts
availability bug bit so we will be here a while.
 
Nothing against LaGrand but there are better places we could be stranded.
More to come as information becomes available.

 
Sorry to hear about this, George.  Would love to see images of the
damage and more info if you get any since I also pull a TOAD.  That must
of been a real shock seeing that.
 
I'm also wondering if you have any braking on the toad and if it either
didn't work, or the emergency cable just didn't get pulled out?  I was
thinking about checking the torque on the brackets I installed on the
Bronco, but didn't want to break the lock tight loose doing it.
Probably still worth putting a torque wrench on them just to make sure
they're still good.  I know you said yours broke somehow, and I should
of also given a good look at the welds on the pieces to make sure no
cracks appeared after the 4000 miles I drug it around.
 
Good luck getting it fixed!
 

Actually, it is the weld(s) that gave way. I have towed this truck nearly
40000 miles with no known issues. I always check connections, etc. I guess
checking welds will be added to the list. We did go over some terribly
bumpy roads that no vehicle should have to endure. My conclusion is that
several hundred miles of this flexed and weakened the welds and they
eventually gave up the ghost. Luckily the insurance is covering $2700 of
the $3700 total. Of course they will get it back when my rate goes up. Must
be nice to be in a no risk business.

I do have auxiliary braking on the truck. The breakaway cable would not
have pulled out since the truck didn’t come loose from the RV. Oh, also, no
pictures. I was so pissed I didn’t think to take any.

I am towing a 4WD GMC Canyon, by the way.