R1S flat towing behind an RV?

[SeaGeo]

[

Brice,

No offense intended, but I have personally participated in many posts that have wandered much farther off course and/or further off topic than this one. I know because I frequently help to hijack them. It continues to be great fun and I've had some fantastic company in the meanderings that can and do happen. Often!

If you poke around some more, you'll likely find some that I think you'll agree are odder. While they can get weird, they're always fun (well, maybe not for everyone). The nice part is that I usually come away better educated. I'll likely reflect back on this post whenever I spot an RV flat-towing a 'toad' in the wild, especially if they're doing donuts in the middle of a stream.

I'm looking forward to meeting some of the folks here when the chance arises and hope to share some more laughs along the way.

Take care and enjoy the detours! ?

No offense taken for sure. I love the randomness of the threads!

I was just saying that it confuses me that this specific thread seems to have lasted longer than any other thread except the real photos thread...? Maybe one other? Small target audience of really passionate peeps. ?

Sponsored

 

[DucRider]

Any thoughts on converting it, other than being a fool's errand?

So lets wander a bit more off topic

The only cars worth converting at this point are those that have lots more value than the book says.
There are still a couple of places in Oregon that do conversions, and if it is something you want to tackle yourself I can point you to people that will answer your questions and tell you the pitfalls they encountered.

Depending on what exactly you mean by "around town", a ballpark is ~$40K(+) if you pay someone else to do a complete conversion. Doing it yourself could potentially cut that in half.

Easiest route is to adapt to the current transmission. Usual MO is to just keep it in 2nd. There are integrated drive units available, but that moves you into a different $$ bracket.
Local company (now a division of Borg Warner) has some cool stuff.

https://www.cascadiamotion.com/integrated

They did the powertrain for the GM eCOPO Camaro among other things.





We like to sit one of their motors next to a cutaway BMW ICE at shows. 400+HP motor @ ~110 lbs with 2 moving parts next to a 350 lb 238 HP twin turbo X3 motor with 1,500 + moving parts. A lot of "Hey Bob! C'mere! You gotta see this!" from the gearheads.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming on TOADs and flat towing....

 

[SeaGeo]

Brice,

No offense intended, but I have personally participated in many posts that have wandered much farther off course and/or further off topic than this one. I know because I frequently help to hijack them. It continues to be great fun and I've had some fantastic company in the meanderings that can and do happen. Often!

If you poke around some more, you'll likely find some that I think you'll agree are odder. While they can get weird, they're always fun (well, maybe not for everyone). The nice part is that I usually come away better educated. I'll likely reflect back on this post whenever I spot an RV flat-towing a 'toad' in the wild, especially if they're doing donuts in the middle of a stream.

I'm looking forward to meeting some of the folks here when the chance arises and hope to share some more laughs along the way.

Take care and enjoy the detours! ?

Speaking of detours - what I suspect is a generational difference. When people address me by name, I assume they're angry with me. And younger staff that work for me assume I'm mad at them when I use punctuation in text messages/instant messaging/etc.

So lets wander a bit more off topic

The only cars worth converting at this point are those that have lots more value than the book says.
There are still a couple of places in Oregon that do conversions, and if it is something you want to tackle yourself I can point you to people that will answer your questions and tell you the pitfalls they encountered.

Depending on what exactly you mean by "around town", a ballpark is ~$40K(+) if you pay someone else to do a complete conversion. Doing it yourself could potentially cut that in half.

Easiest route is to adapt to the current transmission. Usual MO is to just keep it in 2nd. There are integrated drive units available, but that moves you into a different $$ bracket.
Local company (now a division of Borg Warner) has some cool stuff.

https://www.cascadiamotion.com/integrated

They did the powertrain for the GM eCOPO Camaro among other things.





We like to sit one of their motors next to a cutaway BMW ICE at shows. 400+HP motor @ ~110 lbs with 2 moving parts next to a 350 lb 238 HP twin turbo X3 motor with 1,500 + moving parts. A lot of "Hey Bob! C'mere! You gotta see this!" from the gearheads.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming on TOADs and flat towing....

Let's convert a modern FJ cruiser! Since they're basically worth as much now as they were new.

 

[DuckTruck]

Speaking of detours - what I suspect is a generational difference. When people address me by name, I assume they're angry with me. And younger staff that work for me assume I'm mad at them when I use punctuation in text messages/instant messaging/etc.



Let's convert a modern FJ cruiser! Since they're basically worth as much now as they were new.

Maybe the name usage is a generational thing. I simply try to use names more out of respect. As a kid, nicknames were frowned upon, so I called people by their first name, unless they were adults. Then it was always Mr., Mrs., or Miss X. Regarding getting mad at someone, if I'm writing to someone who's raised my ire, I try to take Lincoln's approach and write a scathing comment, set it aside, come back later and take the anger out of it before sending it. I haven't found much success venting on people, unless I've pissed myself off. Then I really let me have it! Even when I tell myself to go to Hell, I usually end up doing so in a manner that makes me look forward to the trip.

I love how tough some people can get in an anonymous setting, like in forums similar to this one, but not here. All the bluster in the world, until they're found out or confronted face-to-face. I am really pleased with how civil the discourse is in this forum. This is the first time I've ever ventured into online discussions with people and it's been a lot of fun. In many other blogs and comments sections, it's almost voyeuristic to follow the rants of some people going back-and-forth at each other. It's easy for folks to talk tough from behind a keyboard. If their teeth were in danger of being separated from their mouth, I suspect their conversations would be far more civil.

Maybe more generational is the use of punctuation. I am old school in that respect. Back in my high school typing class, we got grilled by our teacher if we failed to double space after each and every sentence. Although I still do it, even here, the system "corrects" me and drops the spacing back to single space. Yep, there are those damned quotation marks!

Enough for the night. Again, another fun detour in which I'm learning something new. I hope your evening in Seattle is as awesome as it is in Portland right now. Nice to have warm air again!

Be well!

By the way, my name is Bruce.

 

[DuckTruck]

So lets wander a bit more off topic

The only cars worth converting at this point are those that have lots more value than the book says.
There are still a couple of places in Oregon that do conversions, and if it is something you want to tackle yourself I can point you to people that will answer your questions and tell you the pitfalls they encountered.

Depending on what exactly you mean by "around town", a ballpark is ~$40K(+) if you pay someone else to do a complete conversion. Doing it yourself could potentially cut that in half.

Easiest route is to adapt to the current transmission. Usual MO is to just keep it in 2nd. There are integrated drive units available, but that moves you into a different $$ bracket.
Local company (now a division of Borg Warner) has some cool stuff.

https://www.cascadiamotion.com/integrated

They did the powertrain for the GM eCOPO Camaro among other things.





We like to sit one of their motors next to a cutaway BMW ICE at shows. 400+HP motor @ ~110 lbs with 2 moving parts next to a 350 lb 238 HP twin turbo X3 motor with 1,500 + moving parts. A lot of "Hey Bob! C'mere! You gotta see this!" from the gearheads.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled programming on TOADs and flat towing....

DucRider,

Thanks for heads up. I will be in touch to get contact info. I'd really like to have that conversation with them to learn more. I've waited for over 30 years since parking the Corvair. I've got to believe lower-priced options will appear going forward. I probably spent way more than that in inflation-adjusted dollars on bad dates in my early days, with nothing to show for it.

That Camaro would be fun to watch live!

Thanks again!

 

[Vern Bybee]

That is easy, just get a flatbed trailer, and you can flat tow the Rivian.

Then when you get to the FULL RV park what do you do with the trailer
You must not RV much
A trailer Is the best way until it's empty

 

[Vern Bybee]

Stream fording is quite a but different than enabling flat towing.

You were always going to be able to ford streams, the only issue was how deep.

Enabling flat towing requires more hardware, software and testing. Disconnect all four motors/wheels, integrated braking, lighting, etc. If Rivian is using "Brake by Wire" the vehicle will need to be in at least a partial "on" state - likely needed for brake lights/turn signals as well. While all these challenges have solutions, the decision not to delay launch vehicles to enable them was probably the wise move. Sucks for those that are/were counting on the capability, but hopefully a solution won't be too long.

Flat towing is indeed likely the more useful feature over 3 foot fording, but also more resource intensive ($$, time, labor, testing) to develop for a relatively small number of potential owners.

My issue is that I had a buyer for my 40' rig 2 years ago but held on to it because RJ & I had a conversation in Denver and he told me that the Rivian would work as a TOAD
So I have lost 2 years depreciation and a buyer for my rig
Not easy to sell
RJ knows exactly what a TOAD is
He is a very knowledgeable automotive person
Not some engineer who has never been there done that
THIS ONE HURTS
I'm not leaving but this cost me a lot of money

 

[drhnbtx]

Let's convert a modern FJ cruiser! Since they're basically worth as much now as they were new.

I have an early '07 FJ that my 16 YO drives. I would consider a conversion!

 

[DuckTruck]

[
No offense taken for sure. I love the randomness of the threads!

I was just saying that it confuses me that this specific thread seems to have lasted longer than any other thread except the real photos thread...? Maybe one other? Small target audience of really passionate peeps. ?

Yes, indeed!???

 

[Eeyore]

Enough for the night. Again, another fun detour in which I'm learning something new. I hope your evening in Seattle is as awesome as it is in Portland right now. Nice to have warm air again!

Be well!

By the way, my name is Bruce.

I'd bet that we are in the same age cohort because no one names their kid Bruce these days.

My wife was an elementary school teacher for 30 years and not once in all those years did she have a student with our name.

I know other Bruces too and not one of them is younger than 45.

 

[DuckTruck]

I'd bet that we are in the same age cohort because no one names their kid Bruce these days.

My wife was an elementary school teacher for 30 years and not once in all those years did she have a student with our name.

I know other Bruces too and not one of them is younger than 45.

Ain't that the truth! I'm coming up on 64 and all I heard for years were hairdresser jokes, then Springsteen righted the ship with some help from Willis and Lee. By then, the world had moved on to new names like Dweezil, Gravity, and the ever-popular River Rocket Blue Dallas. Not judgin', just sayin'....

 

[Vern Bybee]

I just received a response from Rivian that there will be "other towing options" that they are not revealing yet

 

[pc500]

Even if it works, it's not ideal. Unless you have a diesel pusher, who wants a 6,000# toad?

 

[skyote]

Even if it works, it's not ideal. Unless you have a diesel pusher, who wants a 6,000# toad?

That's exactly who wants (and can afford) a Rivian toad.

 

[pc500]

That's exactly who wants (and can afford) a Rivian toad.

True. I get the afford part

It just doesn't make sense. Small cars, or Jeep Wranglers work greeeeat. Every now and then you do see a pickup or gigantic SUV as a toad A rivian pickup is as heavy as a diesel pickup

Sponsored