tow with a dolly

[dirtpoor]

i did a search first but found nothing i was wondering what is the first thing you do before towing on a car dolly. i was towing a car the other day that i just bought i was running about 55 when the back tire came off the car i was towing . every lugnut on car was only hand tight all 4 wheels i have never check the lugnuts before i towed anything i was told by someone that its the first thing you check before you tow so i was at fault not that any one was hurt or anything like that.so i was just wondering what someone else does

 

[AllanD]

You learned a valuable lesson.

I'm willing to bet almost anything you'll never tow again without checking.

I make sure I have a spare tire for the vehicle I'm towing, a spare for my dolly
and often two spares for the "tow vehicle"
I also don't do a towing job with a dolly unless I have sufficient fuel onboard
to complete the entire tow job without stopping for fuel..

why? because manuevering a vehicle on a tow dolly is hard enough on the road, manuevering through a gas station? Not only "no", "but HELL NO!"

That is a great part of the reason I have modified my truck for as
much fuel capacity as it has... To minimise the number of times I
have to subject myself to people driving like complete jerks in
confined spaces....

Like cutting me off to save themselves eight steps between their
car and their next pack of smokes or their lottery ticket.

I hate being in situations where I cannot legally
shoot stupid people for doing stupid things that
make my life more difficult.

Being older and wiser makes me plan ahead to avoid
those situations as much as possible.

As for the dolly itself?
I refuse to trust the factory straps as the sole means of holding the
towed vehicle on the dolly.

Also having a dolly with brakes is very important.

Mine is a 2005 Master-Tow and it has electric brakes.
If it didn't have brakes I'd have either added them or cut it up for scrap.

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[Will]

I hate not being able to back up. My brother was taking a shift bringing a Ranger back from Iowa with a 2500 Chevy and decided to pull into a McDonald parking lot while I was snoozing. That was a bad scene.

I had a rental dolly break up one time. I used it to deliver a car I sold and on the way home it just started shaking like mad--it got so bad I had to pull off the road. It was assembled with bolts and every bolt on it was loose. I used the wheel straps to pull tension in the frame so I could tow it back--I wasn't about to tighten 100 bolts.

Also, make sure your car fits. I dinged the fenders on my '64 because it was too wide for the dolly.

I like a full-sized trailer. I couldn't use a dolly because my yard is a manueverability challenge. And I couldn't use them because I don't like them.

 

[86ford]

i towed my 89 b2 home with an 86 f250 diesel with 3speed auto and never had a problem manuevering it. now granted there wasent ANYONE on the road or in the gas stations at 1am on a sunday BUT it was not too terribly bad, well other than the fact i drove for 13 hrs that day NEVER once drove a vehicle i had driven before. that stupid f250 was not able to get out of its own way, now that part sucked.

86

 

[AllanD]

you CAN back up with a dolly, but it's far from "easy", infact it's usually a royal PITA, and manuevarability is quite limited.

With a dolly going forward you are limited on turn radius.

the "nice" thing about a dolly is that they typically weigh 400-500lbs
any trailer that can carry a car weighs 1500-2000lb.

In point of fact my 16ft dovetail trailer weighs 1880# empty,
but it has a maximum capacity of 8000lb

the nice thing about the dolly is that on the deadhead leg of any trip it is barely noticeable.

Not having to drag an additional 1400lbs up all those hills and slow them down the hills
is "nice"

Each has it's place and purpose, which is why I have BOTH the dolly
and a real trailer.

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[Will]

I have backed up a dolly about 10' in a straight line after over running a pump. But you can't manuever it backwards. And if you ever get really jammed, you have to unload it because even going forward you risk damage in too tight of a turn.

My trailer weighs 2,200# empty and it doesn't take anything away from my fuel economy when it's empty. Its just in the noise. I think my old body style Chevy hits too much air for it to matter, but I get 20mpg empty, as I did this weekend, though for the first 300 miles I had an 800# engine on the tailgate--which didn't do anything except make my truck ride more smoothly. And I get 20mpg with the empty trailer. A 4,500# lifted B2 sticks up in the air and is heavy enough to bring me down to 14. I'm sure a Ranger would feel it more because it has a much smaller frontal profile.