Dolly my car or pull it

[normandlegra]

Originally Posted by paulchinnici

The car we will be towing is a 2010 Honda Civic front wheel drive. We have a forest river Georgetown xl 2015 37 feet.

In Motorhome's revues, the only Honda that can be towed 4 wheels down is the CRV, except the newer 2015. You'll probably need to buy a dolly to tow it or buy another toad that can be pulled 4-down.

[cwit]

When we started to tow my wife needed a differant car and by listening to the people here we bought a Jeep Liberty . We also bought the ready brute elite tow bar. Best of both worlds. I towed with a dolly and did not like the fact it would go on the outside of the motor home turning .

[Dennis Dean]

I have the acme EZE tow dolly for my 2013 Hyundai Elantra. I see the post often about the dolly not staying behind the coach in a turn and don't quite understand that post. With the EZE tow my vehicle tracks directly behind my coach, I check my straps when I stop for fuel or some other need but do not stop every 30 minutes just to check my straps. I have yet to have a problem with the straps being too loose. I have backed 10 to 15 feet with my dolly attached (its not hard assuming you aren't doing any huge turn radius). I will not "BUY" a whole other vehicle just so I can tow 4 down. We like our Hyundai and it is a fantastic car. The EZE tow dolly is lite to move by hand and most the time I don't even unhook it at the camp ground because of its small foot print with out the car on it, but if I do it will easy roll under the rear of the coach out of the way. I also have a 4 bike carrier in front of my dolly to carry our bikes, I watch it all on my rear camera and have never seen anything that concerns me while traveling.

Good Luck, unless you want to buy another vehicle, I would recommend the EZE tow dolly for your FWD vehicle, or one of the other high quality dollies mentioned.

[Timon]

Originally Posted by Dennis Dean

...I also have a 4 bike carrier in front of my dolly to carry our bikes, I watch it all on my rear camera and have never seen anything that concerns me while traveling...

I would have thought the bikes would have gotten in the way when turning. Could you post pictures please.

[spsm]

I vote with Post #10, just plain and simple.

[Dennis Dean]

Originally Posted by Timon

I would have thought the bikes would have gotten in the way when turning. Could you post pictures please.

LOL, well I don't have a single pic of the back of my coach. Every other angle practically including some under carriage shots but no Rear end pics (there's a joke in there some where) When I pick it up next week I will take a good shot of the tow set-up with my car on and the bike rack. I can say tho there is no way I could ever turn and have any of the bikes contact the dolly. The carrier is high enough that they set above any part of the dolly and the car is well away. I use a dual receiver hitch with a 6-8 in drop down ball for the dolly to get it to the desired 14-16 inches above the road. The bike carrier sets in the top potion of the dual hitch receiver.
Ultra-Tow Dual Hitch Extension — 4000-Lb. Capacity | Hitch Adapters| Northern Tool + Equipment

[MSHappyCampers]

I would NEVER use a dolly unless I had a car that cannot be towed 4-down and couldn't afford to get another one! JMHO!

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by paulchinnici

The car we will be towing is a 2010 Honda Civic front wheel drive. We have a forest river Georgetown xl 2015 37 feet.

Honda says it can't be towed four down but they said that about our '05 Odyssey and we've towed it many thousands of miles with no trouble and they are not noted for having great transmission life.
BTW: we've towed the Ody both on a dolly (KK-460) and four down with the same MH. Kind of 6 of one and half a dozen of another.
For saving wear and tear on the towed I prefer the dolly plus I can tow our Civic if I want with no modifications or extra expense.
If I was changing toweds often I'd use a dolly.

[dix39]

As many others have said, it will depend a lot on your individual circumstances, but now you have a lot of good information to draw from.

We have a dolly, but have always flat towed a Samurai and now a Tracker. I installed driveshaft disconnects on both after a trip or so towing them from OR to WV just to cut down on some wear.

Lately I've been thinking about modifying the dolly to be able to carry both a vehicle and a 500 lb. motorbike. I would use it for that, but otherwise it seems to just sit around and be used to retrieve the disabled vehicles of family members and neighbors.:-))

IMHO, flat towing removes a layer of complexity that is added by the dolly, but sometimes that is necessary.

Best of luck.

Steve

[Waiter21]

I tow both 4 down and with a dolly. Here are a couple thoughts.

If you travel a lot and like to use the car during the overnight / short stops, 4 down is what I prefer. Hooking up / unhooking with 4 down is a lot faster and more convenient than the dolly.

If you travel once or twice a year and generally don't use the car except when you get to your destination. then the dolly may be a better choice. Reason, you generally can tow just about anything on the dolly without any special modifications to the vehicle being towed.

I prefer 4 down over the dolly, but occasionally when I need to take a car that isn't set up with a base plate, I use the dolly.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by Dennis Dean

LOL, well I don't have a single pic of the back of my coach. Every other angle practically including some under carriage shots but no Rear end pics (there's a joke in there some where) When I pick it up next week I will take a good shot of the tow set-up with my car on and the bike rack. I can say tho there is no way I could ever turn and have any of the bikes contact the dolly. The carrier is high enough that they set above any part of the dolly and the car is well away. I use a dual receiver hitch with a 6-8 in drop down ball for the dolly to get it to the desired 14-16 inches above the road. The bike carrier sets in the top potion of the dual hitch receiver.
Ultra-Tow Dual Hitch Extension — 4000-Lb. Capacity | Hitch Adapters| Northern Tool + Equipment

I have the same kind of dual hitch bike rack setup with my dolly.

I can't imagine a position where the car would be close to the bikes or dolly.

Well if I was rear ended, my toad might drive over the dolly.

[Dennis Dean]

Originally Posted by twinboat

I have the same kind of dual hitch bike rack setup with my dolly.

I can't imagine a position where the car would be close to the bikes or dolly.

Well if I was rear ended, my toad might drive over the dolly.

LOL X2 Twin

[barmcd]

Originally Posted by Grey Ghost I

What you want is opinions from someone who has done both. I bought a tow dolly and used it a few years and came to hate it. There is sometimes a problem finding somewhere to park it at a campground. It was wider than my coach and I did not like that. The lockdown straps were dirty and a real pain to install, And it was a must to stop in about 30 minutes to retighten the straps. The biggest pain of all is when you get in a place where you can not back up or turn around so you must unhook the tow dolly so you can get out. That happened to me twice and was the last straw. It will happen sooner or later. Ten years ago, I bought a Ranger pu in excellent condition with manual shift. Installed the baseplate myself, bought Demco towbar and have been very happy with it ever since.

I thought you couldn't back up with a four down toad either. Am I mistaken?

[barmcd]

We went through this exercise and decided to go with a tow dolly for now. The dolly with electric brakes was only $1250 with tax so it was cheaper and less work than buying a tow bar and having a base plate and aux braking system installed.

We may anticipate towing the car when we purchase our next vehicle, but going with a tow dolly was the simplest route to take at this time.