Anyone ever use a tow dolly for a long trip ? I am looking to transport a car cross country. Other than removing the driveshaft are there any other must do items. Let me know the pitfalls. Thanks, Bob
im not sure about other states, but in mass the vehicle that is being towed needs to be off the ground as in on a trailor or needs to be registerd in a dolly to be legal. Or as long as the tow vehicle has a repair plate that makes the unregistred car on the dolley legal.
last spring I got my self a tow dolly at u-haul in Portland, Oregon and towed a 1957 Ford van delivery to Houston, Texas. I had no problems at all. just take off the diveshaft, strap the wheels to the dolly and you're ok.
When you pull the driveshaft and put the car nose up fluid may pour from the trans when towing. Don,t need an excuse to be pulled over.Two methods of attachment as well as working lights,fenders over the dollie wheels and a plate.Make sure the rolling wheels of the towed vehicle are in good condition and properly inflated.Differential fluid level full also.....
Here's what I know...If you are towing a long distance, you will need to place auxilary taillights on the towed vehicle ( magnetic or otherwise ) and tie them into the towing vehicles lights. I know what you are thinking....The dolly has lights....They are for use when towing the dolly empty and can not be properly seen when a vehicle is on the dolly. PAY ATTENTION TO THE ADVISE ABOUT BACKING UP, IT'S NOT VIRTUALY IMPOSSIBLE, IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR MORE THAN A FEW FEET ( YEAH...3..). Here's what I've heard....Make sure you have all of the sale documents...Bill of Sale (notorized) a signed Title and a sign placed on the back of the towed vehicle saying vehicle in tow. Obtaining temporary plates or what ever you want to call them sometimes requires paying fees that amount to sales tax. With the proper documents you'd probubly be OK. Good luck and have fun!!!
To avoid having the tranny puke up fluid every time you hit a bump with the driveshaft out, take the u-joint apart so you can stick the slip yoke back into the tranny and wire it into place. That way it's sealed. Yeah, a full rear diff, good tires with a spare for both the dolly and the towed car, funtional lights, and fenders are all good points to make. What car are you pulling? I'm assuming it's not an enclosed driveshaft, right?
Even with all of this, you still are looking at inadequate brakes, or just barely adequate. It gets very, very old over a long distance.... U-Haul rents car trailers one-way. However, they are very picky about the towing vehicle...with a regular size towed car, you'd better have a F-250 or equivalent, or they won't rent a trailer to you.
For the minimal cost difference, go with the trailer. Hell even if its twice as much do the trailer. Im only speaking from recent experience with this
i have both and since I've bought my tow dolly I haven't used my trailer. use the tow dolly it will save on gas with the extra weight of the trailer if you are going a long way. recheck your straps after a mile then every other state. don't back up. Dabirdguy used it few weeks ago to bring back a 55 Merc from another state. I wouldn't trade my dolly for 2 trailers. I've towed everything from small imports to big trucks with mine. no problems at all.
Renting or own tow dolly?? If renting, just rent the UHaul trailer and avoid all the hassles. I've done both and the trailer was much nicer, easier. I did have to use a tow dolly on a grandville...big ass bitch would barely fit and kept sliding off to one side. Go to the UHaul site. They have drop down menus to determine if your vehicle will work or not and if you can haul what you want to. I usually just lie and tell them I'm hauling a BMW. Take it both ways. It's $49 a day if you bring it back to the store you got it from ($59 for trailer). However, it's at least $495.00 for a one way haul. I was working out of town and rather than triangulate, I just rented in Oklahoma and drove to Houston...$495..ouch.
I have tows cars half way across this country on tow dollys.. No problems.. would tow coast to coast in a second... do recommend buy a set of lights for night time
I dollied my roadster from Florida to New Mexico with no problems. I undid the driveshaft from the rear end and moved it over to the 4-bar and tie-wrapped it in place. That way the snout stays in the trans and the fluid stays in the trans. I also bared the brake wires for the dolly and tied them into the roadster brake lights. Make sure you run a ground from the car to the pulling vehicle for things to work right.
BUMP! I'm wondering about converting this old motorbike trailer into a dolly for my 1,500lb. (750 on the front) Bantam. No specific plans to take it anywhere, just looking for an excuse to use this trailer I've had sitting around, plus going anywhere long distance in a Bantam pickup is about as comfortable as flying coach between sumo wrestlers. What I'm wondering is if I could just build wheel chocks and drag the trailer tires in turns or would I need a pivot plate?
...for the driveshaft, just unbolt the rear joint from the rearend and wire it over to the side framerail so it cant come out of trans.
Having used tow dollies off and on for a few years, and having both spindle steer and pivot plate types, I would absolutely recommend a provision for steering vs "dragging the wheels" in a turn. Even with steerable units, some dragging occurs due to the necessary limitations of steering degrees. That is not only hard on the tow dolly itself, but also on the front end components of the vehicle being towed as well as the towing vehicle, though probably to a lesser extent to the latter than the former. Ray
Thanks Ray. Been doing a little more reading on tow dollies, they do make non-pivot plate dollies which require leaving the steering column unlocked (not a problem!) and leaving the cars front tires to turn. I'm still not sure how that works, but apparently it does. Here is a video. Skip to about 7:30 to see it in action.
If the car has a manual transmission you don't need to remove the driveshaft. A couple years ago I towed my '60 Edsel with a 3 on the tree 300+ miles from St. Louis to Louisville with the driveshaft attached with no problems....
Driving a 31 foot Winnebago and using a Stehl tow dolly that I put 12,000 miles on driving from GA. to AZ for 3 years, living in AZ for the winter. It was a good experience and never had a problem, you need to carry a spare tire, I put it in the tow vehicle trunk and never used it. check your tire straps the first 50 miles then every time you stop. If I cost $495 to use it one time and you plan on using it more, buy one you can get a good used one with low mileage for $1000 or less. Got a tow dolly over a trailer because it is a lot easy to store and less expensive. I was told NOT to leave the drive shaft in a manual trans car because even in neutral gear with the rear wheels turning the main shaft in the trans case is turning, the car is at a tilt and on a long tow it will burn up the front trans case bearings out. You can NOT back up, just look ahead and plan your turns. it will be a lot easier towing with a p/u or wagon over a large rv, if you are tempted to back up you can make the dolly unusable and maybe damage you are tow vehicle or vehicle you are towing. Its not a good to tow a dolly without a vehicle on it, it jumps up and down like crazy and at speed can break itself. never used the auxiliary magnets tail lights, the dolly lights worked great. electric pulse brakes on dolly help for braking and all you need is the 7 pin connector but every time you brake you will think you have warped rotors on tow vehicle. hope this helps, got a lot of this information at the experience of fellow rvers at happy hour at the rv park.
If there is clearance back car on and lock the steering wheel. One advantage with two people you can help back up by steering the front wheels of the towed car.
You can only leave the driveshaft connected if the trans is designed so that the cluster gear turns with the output shaft when the trans is in neutral with the engine off. Which leaves out almost all vintage manual trans... Trans lubrication is done by the cluster gear turning and splash lubing everything else. You'll get away with this for short distances, but not long ones. Putting a car on a dolly rear-first is another bad idea (DAMHIKIJK).... Your front end toe-in is now toe-out, and the towed car will sway like a drunken sailor. That's why when wreckers rear-tow a car, they dolly the front wheels. Tow dollys work fine for smaller, lighter cars (under 2000 lbs) when the towing vehicle weighs at least 50% more, but larger vehicles on one (particularly if the towing/towed weight difference is close) are not a safe long distance rig. Many states require brakes on each axle of the towed vehicle if the tow weight is above 1500 lbs or so, so be aware. I bought a car trailer after using both, much safer.
I have put a bunch of miles on many different types and styles of trailers. Last year I bought an OT vehicle in Florida for my son and had to get it upstate NY. Bought a tow dolly with electric brakes, tapped into the wiring harness with a HF trailer light kit and set up the lights on a 2x on the box. Only issue was the motorhome hitch was too high and the ramps dragged on every bump. Night time was a nice shower of sparks. Backing up is very difficult. Perfect straight back is possible but only for short distances. Towed a F150 with 5 speed never touched the drive shaft. Florida does not require dollies to be registered. Towed vehicle was not registered either. No one gave us any grief. Good luck.
To report back, I towed my heap from home to my cabin yesterday using the old motorcycle trailer pictured above with a few mods (yes I could have driven it but I want to leave it there for a couple weeks). So it functions as a 'non-pivot plate' dolly, that is instead of the car pivoting on the dolly when you turn, the front tires are fixed to the dolly and the front wheels of the car turn, as in the video I posted above. Worked great. I have a regular car trailer but wanted to test this out, it wheels around by hand, is a lot less work than dragging out the trailer and I can use a smaller tow vehicle.
It has been awhile, but I rented a Tow Dolly from U-Haul to make a military move. My car was a project car at the time, meaning no registration, no plates, and call me dumb, no insurance. The U-Haul Tow Dolly did not have plates but did have lights. 100 miles from the base I was meeting up the some of Indiana's finest, who escorted me to the nearest U-Haul to obtain a trailer. In the long run a trailer was much better for ease of mind and backing up. Another item I found out is that I had a bad rear axle bearings and they were just about gone, the rim was hot to touch. The officer did me a favor, help me out, use a little of his horse power to obtain me a trailer, and did not give me a ticket. Another point, that I have to bring up, is that i pulled over and went to sleep at a rest stop with the U-Haul truck lights on. I have to take the battery out of the project car and jump the U-Haul truck to get it going. What was the question...oh yea....tow dolly.....get a trailer, only about 10 to 15 dollars more at U-Haul.
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