If you’re a powersports vehicle enthusiast and you love to go camping and off-roading, then the recreational vehicle of your dreams is a toy hauler. Toy haulers were specially designed to carry powersports “toys” to 
and from campsites, off-road areas, trails and competitions while also providing you and your fellow travelers with safe and comfortable accommodations. However, you need to exercise some care when loading up your powersports vehicles into your toy hauler as you can do damage to your toys and your trailer if you’re not careful.
Day Bros. RV Sales, with locations in London, KY, and Lake Park, GA, is your local toy hauler dealer. Here are some tips for loading your toy hauler safely and easily with as little fuss as possible.
Prepare Your Hauler
Make sure that your toy hauler is in good condition and ready to go before you lay down the ramp and drive up your off-road vehicles. Preparing the toy hauler now can help reduce the risk of an accident occurring due to neglect.
Check the tire pressure on your toy hauler’s tires and air them up to the recommended psi levels in your owner’s manual. Look over each tire to make sure there are no embedded objects, cracks in the sidewall or bald patches.
When you have your toy hauler hitched up to your towing vehicle, get in the driver’s seat and check your visibility to see what you can see out of your sideview mirrors. Adjust them as needed to reduce your blind spots.
Look over the trailer brake light system and make sure that all your lights and signals function so that you can see the road ahead and alert other drivers to your movements.
Distribute Weight Evenly
One of the most important things to stay aware of when loading your toy hauler is weight distribution. The weight that you load into your toy hauler should be evenly distributed between left and right to avoid putting undue pressure on one side of tires. Uneven weight distribution can also cause your trailer to sway more as you drive and may increase the risk of an accident.
Try to distribute weight evenly from back to front in addition to left to right. The ideal ratio is considered to be 60% of the total cargo in front of the front axle of the trailer with 40% behind it and 10% balanced over the hitch.
Load Vehicles Carefully
Now it’s time to load up your powersports vehicles. Park your toy hauler on a flat, even surface with lots of clearance and room to drive up your vehicles. Set down the ramp and make sure it’s secure and sitting flat on the ground and at a relatively low angle. Chock up your trailer wheels to keep the trailer in place.
Get on your powersports vehicle and drive away from the ramp, then head back to it at an even but slow pace in as straight a line as possible. Give yourself enough speed to get up the ramp, but not so much that you blow through the front of your trailer. Turn off the engine as soon as your vehicle is inside the trailer to avoid fume buildup, which can create excess carbon monoxide.
Secure Your Toys in Place
Now you can use tie-downs to secure your powersports vehicles in place in your vehicle. Use ratchet straps if you want to hold down the suspension and D-ring tie-downs to latch the toy to the interior of the cargo bay. Shake your powersports vehicle a few times to make sure it’s firmly in place and you should be good to go!
Ready to check out some toy haulers in person? Come by one of our dealerships in Kentucky or Georgia to take a look at our full selection of new and used toy haulers for sale. Day Bros. RV Sales proudly serves the cities of Lexington and Louisville, KY, as well as Valdosta, GA.
