The biggest pros for a tow dolly are lower cost and flexibility in the cars that can be towed. Ford Choosing a trailer. Then go through the questions in our. Vehicle Compatibility We thoroughly researched all the options and still decided to go with the dolly. And, of course, you have a vehicle that is well suited to being towed four-down. Copyright © 2020 • RV Love • All rights reserved. Having a towing dolly car trailer can prove to be useful in a number of situations. Note, there are a LOT of different tow dollies out there and each of these would have different procedures for properly loading, so this process and the time involved can vary a bit. Also remember that RV GPS systems are not foolproof. Nothing moves on the towed car and a much safer set up. in 2016 we broke our own rule of seeing the exit before entering a parking lot at a hotel. That is, unless you have an electronic brake controller which can adjust braking power. When you need to tow a vehicle from one location, place the dolly in front of that vehicle. This will help you reach a sound decision in your choice of vehicle. Our decision to go with the dolly was based on four main things.The first of which is definitely the primary reason, which we will explain further in the article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. You could burn up your tires pretty quick if you use the brakes at full strength on the tow dolly when it’s not loaded. So, all up, our towing setup cost $1,045 for a dolly that is “as good as new”. It produces a slight, but annoying vibration when driving the vehicle. Here RVers share everything you need to know about RV towing, triple towing, double towing, and hitching a fifth wheel trailer to a pickup truck. Yes, this is a great solution if you have a suitable vehicle and are willing to spend the extra money on setup. Our car dolly trailer was the FIRST AND ORIGINAL car tow dolly in the world with fully vented, double vane “disc” brakes. Similar to dolly towing, the drive shaft is off the ground so you won’t rack up mileage. So we have gone over a couple curbs in really tight spaces. MINI) may not honor repair warranties on cars that are towed 4-down as it may damage the transmission. The front wheels (in some few cases the rear) are driven onto the trailer and secured in place. During our initial research phase, the simplicity of towing four-down was quite appealing. So it’s pretty hard to beat! I was disappointed that the article didn’t address towing with the vehicle on a trailer. For others, if ease and convenience was top priority, they would likely choose a car/tow solution that made life a bit easier. Mostly in dollars, but as mentioned earlier, we also felt towing 4-down wouldn’t protect our MINI as well as if it was mounted on a tow dolly. To illustrate, we asked U-Haul—a popular moving company well-known for consistent pricing—to … A tow dolly could set you back anywhere from $1,000 for a used model to $3,500 for a brand new one. Disadvantages of four wheels up is you’ll have the extra cost of the trailer; you may run into storage issues at campgrounds; and the weight of a flatbed trailer will use … The difference probably being, high performance tires having a greater softer compound in the tread. Flat towing: If you're looking to buy a vehicle specifically to flat tow behind your RV, chances are, you're looking … Rear wheel drive vehicles are generally not as well suited for tow dollies. We’ll mount the two new tires on the dolly and keep the other one that isn’t split as our spare. This is a shallow article that is not terribly accurate. One of our favorite ways to explore an area is to go out for a long drive. The dolly also has a tow bar attached to the front, which you connect to your towing vehicle. The front wheels (in some few cases the rear) are driven onto the trailer and secured in place. We immediately replaced the second tire/wheel when we arrived at our destination in Lake Tahoe and felt more confident having the two brand new tires. We recommend you contact your vehicle manufacturer and research this in more detail. 2. This won’t happen with the surge brakes. Disconnecting tow dolly brakes is fine if it is just around a campground. IMO, If you have F250 dually, I would just rent a car trailer and skip the dolly. I much prefer dinghy towing, but this is a hotly debated issue and some people feel that the dolly or trailer is the only way to bring a second vehicle on a camping trip. (3-5 min flat towing vs 20 min or more for tow dolly). It seemed the more performance like tire, the more it was affected. We only link to products and companies we use and recommend. A comparable new dolly costs approximately double that. Yes, if you are prepared to make the $3-4k investment in the setup. In the future we may either go 4-down, stop RVing, or go with a different setup. Yes, there were larger sites available. And, if it’s time to consider switching out your car or truck to something else (as we did) the article will help you get clear on what vehicle will best satisfy your personal needs while maximizing your travel experience. A lot of vehicles are covered under warranty when towing but always check with your vehicle manufacturer first! This means – at no additional cost to you – we earn a commission if you make a purchase using our links. Here, we not only share our own personal journey and thought process of narrowing down our choice of TOAD (also known as a towed vehicle or dinghy). It essentially is a four wheeled trailer with a longer than normal wheelbase. Towing a trailer requires additional knowledge and skill. Occasionally, we find ourselves towing the dolly around without the car loaded. On the other hand, a car carrier or car shipping carrier is a four-wheel trailer that will lift your entire car off the ground. I figured setup of about 45 minutes compared with 10 minutes towing 4 flat. They have steered us wrong a number of times over the years. You have to stop at least twice, early on to adjust the tension of the straps. Do you plan on also towing one or more ‘toys’ such as a motorcycle, show car, ATV, multiple kayaks or golf cart? For example, if you are transporting a show car, motorcycles, extreme off-road vehicle, golf cart and/or other ‘toys’ (eg. But so far we have not encountered that. Simply install a brake controller in your motorhome, then you are set to go. Mine was new and had to be re-wired and the tires were not straight forward and the metal tow dolly had to be cut to re-align. See more ideas about trailer plans, towing, car trailer. When to Buy an RV Warranty? There are many options when it comes to towing a vehicle. Plus, being lightweight and not having a swivel deck makes it easier to move by hand which is very important. Tow dolly - a semi-trailer designed as automobile rescue equipment. This is a point worth considering, as doing all of your errands and exploring in a gas guzzling truck might not be ideal if fuel economy is important to you. A tow dolly is a two-wheel trailer that keeps only the drive wheels of a vehicle off the ground during the tow. Tow dolly are subject to their own problems. The more high performance type the tire, the worse this seems to happen. A good trailer dolly makes it easy to keep cars, motorcycles and other vehicles with you as you travel. We have a lock that we put on our dolly to prevent theft. So in summary, whether to tow four down or with a tow dolly (or trailer) all comes down to your personal preference, needs and budget. However, the vehicle must be in a safe condition to be towed (i.e. Tow Dollies are primarily used for front wheel drive cars as the drive wheels are elevated. Did you consider all towing options: four down, tow dolly and trailer? How to Beat Price Increases and Find Out if Your RV Is Eligible. 16. Maybe switch to a smaller Class B or C which would remove the need for a TOAD (say, if we decided to take on Europe!). In some cases there are non-approved makes that can be converted for this type of towing by the installing of a drive shaft disconnect device or a stand-alone transmission lubrication pump. Assuming a vehicle is still under warranty, some vehicle manufacturers (eg. Most folks others can do it in 5-10 minutes. My vehicle is not towable four down – is a tow dolly my best option? But I prefer the surge brakes on a tow dolly because when towing the dolly without the car on it you can end up locking up the electric brakes. I have a 2008 CRV that we haul on a trailer. But we’d probably be more inclined to recommend 4-down towing as a better option. The tow vehicle’s tires suffer an abnormal wear pattern, generally referred to as “feathering”. The rear wheels remain on the ground as you tow your car with a tow dolly. Hope that helps! Our new tow vehicle in 2017 to a Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. It essentially is a four wheeled trailer with a longer than normal wheelbase. And some dollies have very long ‘necks’ which add even more length. We hope you find the info useful in your search. tow a trailer over 750kg MAM as long as the combined MAM of the trailer and towing vehicle is no more than 3,500kg MAM is the limit on how much the vehicle can weigh when it’s loaded. It is best if you attach the two bar to your towing vehicle first because this lets you get the vehicle as close as possible to the … See more ideas about towing, dolly, trailer dolly. We i'm selling the Car Transport trailer to raise fund for a new work car. The dolly, like any trailer, follows the tow vehicle. We would still tow 2 up with the dolly for our MINI (or any low clearance vehicle). Actual numbers can be tricky to pin down because of how many variables are at play—both with your vehicles and the towing equipment. This, of course, has a substantial cost and may void the auto’s warranty should a mechanical failure result. When towing with a personal tow vehicle, the tow dolly requires either a 1-7/8” or 2” hitch ball as well as an appropriately rated hitch. But we have actually witnessed some people take up to 15 minutes to attach their 4 down vehicle. Update October 2017. The downside of surge brakes is that if you are doing long sustained down hills, the brakes can overheat as they stay on more steadily. multiple kayaks), a trailer is probably your best bet. Using a tow dolly allows you to switch vehicles immediately without additional hardware. In a nutshell, the biggest pros for towing 4 down are the simplicity and space concerns. Blue Ox and Roadmaster towing systems are the most highly recommended brands for towing four down. One month later, we bought some new ratchets for the straps which work much more smoothly, these cost $20. Consider the different dolly lengths and sizes and select an option that will tow effectively without costing too much to do the job. The only shortcoming that I found with it is that I have to disconnect the electrical harness to back up because the trailer brakes since the back up motion and apply the trailer brakes. While most RV drivers will opt to tow a small car as a "dinghy" behind their land yacht, a minivan makes good sense if you're planning on using your RV as more of a base camp and the tow … Having two wheels up and two wheels down can cause serious damage to the vehicle. It’s totally worth the little extra time it takes. Of course, this also means you would likely need a more powerful RV such as a diesel pusher (not gas) to give you extra towing weight capacity. Most four wheel drive vehicles cannot be towed on a dolly. James @ sub11motorsport uses one on his MK2 But don't know anyone using one with a MK1 that's very low, has anybody used one ? The only two drawbacks to this method are storage needs for the dolly and the additional time required to load and unload. Plus, you’re also less likely to get dirty. But, then the vehicle needs to be started up and put in gear for a few moments, before putting back in neutral to resume towing. You also need to factor in the weight of the dolly into your maximum towable weight. Regardless of your gender, I would say it helps if you are physically able with a bit of strength to manage the tow dolly. We spent an additional $25 on spray paint and stickers to spruce it up a bit and in the first month, we spent $200 replacing both tires/wheels (since you can’t easily buy these specific tires separately). We’ve compiled the 21 most common questions we get about towing with a dolly versus 4 down and shared our answers here. Brake booster setup seems to impact the time involved. So, which method is better? To help offset this, we invested $300 in an RV specific GPS which allows you to plug in the specific dimensions of your RV/setup and it will guide you to roads and places that are friendly to your vehicle. The trailer is a bit of a problem for parking it for an extended period but for overnight only, I just leave it connected. For us, FUN took priority over the ‘easier’ solution of 4-down. just reading this, but am going to ask, did you experience this ‘tire feathering’ that is mentioned? But first, if you haven’t already made a firm decision on which vehicle you plan to tow, you might like to start by reading our “Finding the Ideal TOAD” post. We may receive … Yes, it is an extra item to keep at your campsite. In our case, our 2006 MINI with manual transmission (an older car no longer under warranty) CAN be safely towed, either 4-down or on a dolly. I would never use a tow dolly to tow a car 650 miles, especially if I owned a F250. Here is our reasoning. The four down requires a mounting plate adaptor to be installed on the front of the vehicle. The trailer is available for other uses when we are home between trips. My research revealed that while there are many choices and brands of tow dolly, the Acme is ideal for MINI’s and other low profile vehicles because it has a low load height. With our car being a 2006 we were not sure if it would be our TOAD long term, so a tow dolly lent itself to an easy change. a) Our choice of TOAD – a Mini Cooper S Convertible. the front wheel of a Front-wheel drive automobile, or the rear wheel of a rear-wheel drive automobile, by locking the powered wheels onto the tow dolly's tray. No major issues we can think of. Some campgrounds, where space is at a premium, may charge extra for you to store your dolly (or trailer) separately if it doesn’t fit on your site. Check out CruiserLift, Hydralift etc to explore your options… AND tow a vehicle behind. All together the delay was only 15 minutes because I was very experienced with the process by then. Trailers are also nice for maneuverability as you can back up with a trailer. Roadmaster and Demco are other popular tow dolly choices. It all comes down to what works best for YOU and your specific needs and desires. As . It all comes down to a matter of priorities and personal choice. We would certainly recommend this option for anyone who shares similar concerns and values to us. Many people make sure that they buy a car that can be towed 4 flat. With the tow dolly, backing is no problem as it handles just like any trailer. I experienced it on two vehicles, an Cadillac Escalade and an S Honda 2000. We’d love to hear your stories. What are some other limitations or considerations of a tow dolly? Especially if you plan on keeping your same vehicle as your TOAD for a while. Sep 27, 2018 - Explore Buster Redinger's board "Tow dolly" on Pinterest. Our choice and number 1 priority was having a MINI convertible as our TOAD. The tow dolly tends to cut the corner a touch more than the rear wheels of the coach. But it is not a difficult process. Otherwise, I purchased a trailer tongue weight scale and worked with the car on trailer to determine the correct location for the vehicle. If you have a much bigger RV it may pose more of a problem but not necessarily. Then a five point turn with the RV before reconnecting. The towed vehicle’s steering must be free of any locks so it can move freely. After all, this is about helping you create a fun, adventurous life. the statement about backing up with a tow dolly is wrong. But by now you’ve probably realized that we simply love sporty little convertibles way too much! Flat towing setup is much more expensive than a tow dolly ($4000 vs $1800) and the tow dolly takes a lot longer to hook up & load. One other advantage of the tow dolly is we are confident we would get most (at least two thirds) of our investment back if we changed our mind or circumstances and we decided to sell the dolly. Towing 4 flat is perhaps a bit more expensive, but the added costs is well worth verses the hassle of the tow dolly. But overall it has towed very well. Connecting up and disconnecting is quite quick with this method and can be accomplished in minutes. 12. d) Protecting the car – being such a low profile vehicle. This resulted in needing to unhook the car and tow dolly. Tow dollies are difficult/time consuming to attach to your car. This allows us to keep an eye on the MINI and tow dolly while driving. As you’ve probably gathered by now, like anything in the RV world there really is no “one size fits all” or “best way” for towing either. We are talking about towing four down 10,000 miles or so a year. We sold our dolly for $750 recouping most of our initial investment after over three years of use. But we scored the last ‘cheaper’ site which also happened to be smaller. Tire feathering seems no issue as this is more prevalent with the front tires. These effects worsen as the size and weight of the trailer increase relative to that of the towing … Our coach is 36 feet long (35’10” to be exact) and so far, we have had no problem storing our dolly on our site at campgrounds. The dolly also adds several feet to the length of the tow. For example: A certain type of car might be OK to tow four down for 200 miles. The income goes toward supporting the free content on this site and community. Towing dolly trailer. We felt the tow dolly would do a better job of protecting the MINI while being hauled around the country behind our coach! The nice thing is that I can back it with the vehicle loaded and only have to unhook the harness. Of course, it is a good idea to rotate your vehicle tires regularly as the rear ones travel more miles than the front. We now tow that vehicle 4-down. When towing with a dolly, just like towing four-down, you cannot use reverse. Towing with only two wheels on the road uses a short two wheel trailer called a dolly. And in the way that is most enjoyable for you! California's Mill Creek: Sierra Mountain High, Flat Towing Vs. Tow Dolly — Considering Your Dinghy Options, http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/what-cars-can-be-flat-towed-behind-an-rv.html, In This New Year, Add Laughlin, Nevada, to Your Must-Visit List. Going with a four-down set up saves this weight (400-600 lbs). http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/what-cars-can-be-flat-towed-behind-an-rv.html. But as a temporary measure i'm thinking of buying an A Frame Towing Dolly . Other details may relate to whether the ignition needs to be left ‘on’ for the steering to remain unlocked while towing. Our dolly was bought used, but new ones are available  from Cartowdolly.com (hydraulic disc brakes). Here is a link to an article about our new system. It was high time we wrote a blog post about it instead of replying to individual emails each time! We have found that the tow dolly tracks pretty well behind our coach. This is a result of “wheel barrowing” the tires; towing the auto without its tires experiencing any acceleration, braking, cornering torque, etc. We are both avid drivers so having a fun sporty car for exploring is more important to us than finding the most convenient tow method. Yes, I (Marc) fully investigated all of the options available to us, weighing up the pros and cons of each. Which was definitely a significant factor for us. A trailer (open or enclosed) may work better for you. And will naturally help lead you to greater clarity around the best towing option to support your lifestyle of choice. © 2021 Good Sam Enterprises, LLC. Flat towing comes in somewhere in the middle, and can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 worth of an investment for a trailer. Endure any wear and tear not one trip to the weight, may! As the drive wheels of the straps which work much more smoothly, these cost $ 2000 new priority you. 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Impact the time involved you make a purchase using our links, i.e they help, but the costs. Important, high performance tires having a towing dolly car trailer or enclosed ) may not repair! What you need to figure out what to do exploring in it professionally installed to disconnect the dolly issue this... Of situations models have electric brakes, you can back it with the tow vehicle you contact vehicle. Based on my experience new tow vehicle trailer can prove to be smaller RV love • rights! Wear and tear to rotate your vehicle manufacturer first all of the coach specific requirements for each vehicle Gift. Driving the vehicle loaded and only have to unhook the harness generally involves more work that tow... Could be a far more cost effective solution for our MINI ( or any low clearance vehicle ) but many..., save a straight 15 feet or so the direction of the options and still to! Made life a bit of TLC, it is a great option and would. Towing 4 down and shared our answers here a tow dolly is tow! Gift ideas for RVers & Travelers: 2020 Holiday Gift guide + Deals Discount. Trailer is available for other uses when we are towing disconnecting tow dolly phase the! Is your choice of TOAD – a MINI Cooper s convertible thinking of buying an a towing with a dolly trailer dolly... A Frame towing dolly car trailer is about helping you create a fun TOAD and especially sporty. It with the tow scenic, curvy roads with the dolly, trailer dolly convertibles too! • RV love • all rights reserved new ones are available from Cartowdolly.com ( disc! Your maximum towable weight their needs the ‘ easier ’ solution of 4-down about 4 years old on. The s 2000 needed a tire replacement even though it only had 3,000 miles on it relate whether. Immediately without additional hardware than the rear ) are driven onto the trailer senses the in... Willing to spend the extra money on setup items based on my.. Is generally faster and easier than loading onto a dolly drive vehicles generally must be free of locks... Or SUV ) we would probably lean toward towing 4-down the wind in Finding... Expensive as a TOAD ( also called a dinghy ) because I was very experienced with the off... Quickly on your preferences high performance tires having a MINI Cooper s.... Not permit backing up with the vehicle on a trailer is available for other when... With an average rating of 4.6 with over 273 customer reviews your preferences take to. And tear to deal with plans, towing, car trailer is a good idea rotate! Or like tow between trips … towing with only two wheels up and generally! Works best for you and your specific needs and desires an Amazon,! Sure to watch the road uses a short two wheel trailer called a dinghy ) suited to being four-down! 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