Options to protect TOAD from MUD?

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jymbee

jymbee

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2018
Posts
3,496
Location
Upstate NY
Just returned home after having our BlueOx tow system installed on our van. Quickly became apparent that the next step will be to install better mud flaps of some kind on the motorhome. Van was shiny clean as we ran it through a car wash to clean any dirt from the undercarriage before the install. After the 90 minute return trip home with TOAD connected during which time we had off & on rain, the van looked like-- well.. it was a mess.

Any recommendations as to good mud flaps?
 
Hi jymbee,

We took our mud flap off. There isn't anything wrong with having one BUT if it is installed too low to the ground they can pick up stones and pelt your tow vehicle and cause a lot of damage. The flap was already installed on an RV we bought used. I noticed our car was pretty dirty after we got back from a trip with rain. Heading out there was no rain and the car simply got a bit dusty. I may cut the flap down to proper size and re-install.

Remember that when you are going down the road, the back end can dip from suspension hitting low spots in the road, air bags and can raise lower your height, along with shocks wearing out and so forth.
 
Our Protect-A-Tow does a pretty good job of keeping our toad clean, as well as the rear of the coach. Dust can still be an issue at times on back roads, but I don't think anything short of a full car cover would help much with that.
 
Roy M said:
Almost any mud flaps will be better than nothing. A'bra' on the van will also protect it from stone bruises.
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The coach came with mud flaps but they didn't seem to do much good. Or perhaps the van would have been worse off without them. (?) Bra is an idea worth considering.
 
NY_Dutch said:
Our Protect-A-Tow does a pretty good job of keeping our toad clean, as well as the rear of the coach. Dust can still be an issue at times on back roads, but I don't think anything short of a full car cover would help much with that.
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That looks like an interesting-- but expensive option.
 
jymbee said:
That looks like an interesting-- but expensive option.
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It cost about $1500 to get the dings fixed on a previous toad after driving on some gravel roads. The Protect-A-Tow looked pretty reasonable after that, and there's been no more damage in the 30,000+ miles we've towed our current toad with it installed. It only takes a minute to hook it up after the initial installation.
 
The protect-a-tow worked well for us as well. Easy to hook up, protects well against rock bouncing up, and it was not that expensive as I recall. Just make sure your wife is not talking to you when setting it and the tow gear up,


Bill
 
While travelling in the rain there is not much you are going to do to stop the road grime. I have had times we couldn't even see out the windows to un hook.
 
NY_Dutch said:
It cost about $1500 to get the dings fixed on a previous toad after driving on some gravel roads. The Protect-A-Tow looked pretty reasonable after that, and there's been no more damage in the 30,000+ miles we've towed our current toad with it installed. It only takes a minute to hook it up after the initial installation.
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Good point. My initial thought re the expense issue was more along the lines of being pricey for a relatively simple system. Now that I look more closely it doesn't seem that bad. When searching around I see there's a number of other systems to protect one's TOAD-- ranging from a whole front cover, to what looks like a rubber wall, to even simpler "skirts" The thing I like about this protect-a-tow system is that it also protects your tow bar, wires, connections etc.
 
jymbee said:
Good point. My initial thought re the expense issue was more along the lines of being pricey for a relatively simple system. Now that I look more closely it doesn't seem that bad. When searching around I see there's a number of other systems to protect one's TOAD-- ranging from a whole front cover, to what looks like a rubber wall, to even simpler "skirts" The thing I like about this protect-a-tow system is that it also protects your tow bar, wires, connections etc.
Click to expand...

Yep, it does protect the whole works. We don't unhook ours from the rear of the coach when we drop the toad. We just roll it up along with the support rod, and secure it with a couple of short bungee cords. Hooking the toad back up only takes unrolling the PAT and clipping it on the two eyes on the toad, and clipping the support rod in place.
 
Dutch, that is such a simple thing, and it never occurred to me to do that, referring of course to just rolling the protect-a-tow up and then bungeeing it.  What a good way to do it. We used to just take the whole thing off every time we unhooked the car. Well live and learn.


Bill
 
I won't take credit for the idea, Bill. The neighbor that first showed me the virtues of the PAT at an RV park years ago before I bought one did it that way, and it just made sense to copy it. A small bungee at each of the two inner eyes is all it takes...
 
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