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trapshooter · 06-04-2006, 10:13 AM

My question is simple. I want to tow a vehicle but don't want to buy something other than what I have. What is the big deal about a car dolly? When I talk to folks they all say no. Any ideas?

trapshooter · 06-04-2006, 10:13 AM

My question is simple. I want to tow a vehicle but don't want to buy something other than what I have. What is the big deal about a car dolly? When I talk to folks they all say no. Any ideas?

doc · 06-04-2006, 01:44 PM

Had a dolly and now tow four down.

You can tow just about any front wheel drive vehicle that will fit on the dolly. (is that the only positve??)
Dolly is a pain when you get to your destination. Where do you store it? We used to slide the tongue under the rear of MH as far as possible. Still you have to manhandle it into and out of storage.
The loading and unloading of the vehicle on the dolly is slow and you have to be careful strapping it down. Check it often - surprising how loose the straps can get.

Dolly is two more tires to wear out, but I guess the two carried on the dolly offsets those two.
We never had any problems with our dolly, but a set of surge brakes on it would have been nice. Stock tires wore out pretty fast and we were only towing a Camry.

The best recommendation for 4-down is the speed and ease of hooking and unhooking. Three to five minutes with our Tracker. Dolly used to take at least 15 to 20.
Doubt we will ever go back to a dolly.

rebelsbeach · 06-04-2006, 02:52 PM

I never towed with a dolly, but have seen many folks that have....I agree with the doc...

I left this morning to head home,hooked up the tow bar,the chains,the light plug and the breakaway switch and was on my way.
When at the campground,the tow bar stows right on the back of the motor home in the receiver hitch.

I have removeable tabs for my Chevrolet Trailblazer and keep everything but the tow bar in a Tupperware plastic box in the toad.

Gary RVRoamer · 06-05-2006, 06:20 PM

Chances are good you don't have to buy another vehcile to tow 4-down. Just have your existing one pgraded for 4-down towing. Remco can probably help you out with either a transmission pump or drive line disconnect.

A dolly is just more hassle all the way around. Mostly it's wheeling it out of the way at the campsite and finding a place to store it while camping and again when you get home. Maybe that's not an issue where you camp and where you live.

John Dotas · 06-05-2006, 07:05 PM

Shooter...I'll wager that most will advise you to tow 4 down. Certainly nothing wrong with that. Personally, I've been towing the same MasterTow dolly for about 6 years give or take. Just bought my second set of tires for it. Had to get about 40 or 50 thousand miles out of the first set. I do carry a spare for it. In all that time, I have had to take the dolly off at only several campgrounds and then it was stored under the rear of the motorhome with no problem. I can easily move it around when it has to be hooked-up to the coach. I store with the dolly hooked to the coach. It might take me a bit longer to put my cars (note cars) on the dolly, but I never found the extra 5 or 10 minutes to be a problem. I've also watched some take a WHOLE lot longer hook up to their tow bar. My total investment in the dolly was $800 and the tires were about $100 installed. It's really all in what you prefer but I sure haven't had any probs using a tow dolly. Regards, John D.

Retird2Golf · 06-06-2006, 02:38 AM

Shooter, I "Dollied" for 5 years, Last year I changed to 4 down when I got my Jeep Liberty.
All the other "pros and cons" are valid points.
Just boils down to what you are comfortable with.

"Ride it like a Ford"

Dave Head · 06-24-2006, 11:31 AM

I went back and forth over this for the last year. It finally came down to money at this point in my RV journey. One of our 2 cars can't be towed 4 down (Jetta TDI wagon auto), the other can only be trailered (AWD Audi). To tow 4 down I would have to buy another vehicle, and I'm not willing to give up either of the cars. So I would have to find an older Saturn (say 2500), buy base plates and nice tow bar (another 1000) and then an aux braking system (another 1000). I then have the added insurance on the towed.
Instead I bought a used Master Tow dolly with electric brakes on ebay (800.00 - and the guy delivered it to me!) and a Prodigy brake controller from PPL (106.00). With the drop hitch, locks and wiring myself I'm still out only 1000.00. Yeah it will take me a little longer to hook up and unhook. But I'm not in much of a hurry. I'll likely dread an 'in the rain & mud' hookup...

Point is, there's good and bad point on both sides. If I were fulltiming I would likely go 4 down. It I were going a lot of places each trip I might be inclined to 4 down. But at this point, this works fine. Plus, dollies in central Florida sell well - I won't lose much selling this if I change my mind!

Plenty of people tow without aux braking, either 4 down or with a dolly. Me, I like brakes. Brakes are cool and more brakes are better! The next thing going on my MH is a PRXB Pac brake and 65# valve springs. With the toad I'm pushing 15 tons and I want all the braking I can get. There's crazy people here in Florida!

Retird2Golf · 06-24-2006, 02:03 PM

Amen !!! Been there .... Done that !!

Prefer my 4 down .

"Ride it like a Ford"

GaryKD · 07-24-2006, 03:21 PM

My signature says it all. I been doing both for many years. We purchase a car, based on our stand alone car requirements. Towing has always been a secondary consideration. I like the dolly so much, last year I bought the Demco Kar Kaddy with the foldable tongue.

For me, the bottom line is that the tasks may be different but the work is the same to tow. I have never had a problem with the dolly at home or a CG. I have never had to unhook the dolly and store it under the coach or seperate from our site. When making the reservation I ensure the CG knows I want a site that will accomodate the coach, dolly and toad. Admittedly, at home it is a bit different. The dolly has its' parking place in an unused garage bay. This not the dolly's fault, but I do tend to pile stuff around it, between trips. I'm getting better.

For each trip, the decision what to tow is made based on the trip and who is going. If we are going to put on a lot of miles with the toad, the wife's Caddy is tough to beat. Lots of people going, then the toad choice is the van. If we are going to need 4WD, then the ENVOY gets the call.

georgetown350 · 12-27-2006, 02:22 PM

Im also thinking of getting a dolly to pull our windstar. Im going to wait until I here some more pros and cons. Some have surge brakes, some have electric, some have none. Not sure which to get. Thinking I like the idea of surge ( less wiring to worry about ). Dont mind the idea of handling the dolly at the campgrounds.

wallynm · 12-27-2006, 02:40 PM

I have and do it both ways depending on what I to tow. My answer is to fo it the way you want.
Do not worry about what any one else thinks.

georgetown350 · 12-27-2006, 04:29 PM

Wallymn. Which way do you prefer? and do you have surge brakes?

Chances are if 99 out of 100 hate using a tow dolly then probably I would to but from what I hear so far I dont mind the idea .

Godda do my research

wallynm · 12-28-2006, 05:18 AM

As I said it depends on what I am towing. We have two FROGS (Four Rolling On Ground) set up with a base plate and for those we use a Brake Buddy with the break away switch and alert system. Our tow dolly has surge brakes and articulate steering. That mwans the wheels turn when we go around a corner. IMHO a FROG is generally a little easier and faster to hook up and we use a tow shield. The tow dolly take a little longer to get hooked up but the car is a little better protected from rock chips.