Dolly restriction?

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Remember, toilet bowl cleaners say "Do not swallow" on the bottle for a reason!

Sure, but that is for legal protection.

I think the point is that disconnecting a loaded tow dolly is OK under the proper precautions. My understanding was that there was some real reason for not doing it, not that it should only be done carefully. Operating carefully is something that every. RV owner should already be doing.

As I mentioned I have no plans to do this, but as with other things I see and hear I wondered why not. It seemed like a reasonable enough thing to do when necessary. There are good reasons for not drinking toilet bowl cleaner and not eating those "Do Not Eat" desiccant packets. Apparently there is no good reason for not unloading a loaded tow dolly, provided one is cautious when doing so.

[atreis]

Originally Posted by AJMike

Apparently there is no good reason for not unloading a loaded tow dolly, provided one is cautious when doing so.

You CAN disconnect it. You CAN'T unload it while disconnected. The tongue will flip up as soon as the wheels of the toad move aft of the axle.

[GOLDWINGER2]

Originally Posted by atreis

you would also want to block the wheels of the dolly or rear wheels of the car to keep it from rolling. If it falls off the bottle jack (by twisting sideways a little or rolling a little) you'll have a heck of a time getting it back up again without unloading the car, and you can't unload the car. You can't unload the car with it unhitched (or even unlatched but still on the ball) because when you move the car's front wheels aft of the dolly wheels the tongue of the dolly will flip up, and the dolly could also get pushed forward. If it flips hard enough, it could flip all the way over onto the hood and windshield of the car. If it gets pushed forward hard enough it could do a lot of damage to whatever is in front of it. Obviously, there's also significant potential for injury here ...

Exactly!

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by atreis

You CAN disconnect it. You CAN'T unload it while disconnected. The tongue will flip up as soon as the wheels of the toad move aft of the axle.

Only until the fixed ramps hit the ground on mine.
That will be about the same as when I pull the tilt pin and back off.

Once off the ramps, the ramps may smack my front bumper if I'm not fast enough.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by atreis

You can't unload the car with it unhitched (or even unlatched but still on the ball) because when you move the car's front wheels aft of the dolly wheels the tongue of the dolly will flip up, and the dolly could also get pushed forward. If it flips hard enough, it could flip all the way over onto the hood and windshield of the car. If it gets pushed forward hard enough it could do a lot of damage to whatever is in front of it. Obviously, there's also significant potential for injury here ...

Wow, that sounds like an episode from CHiPs.

Have you ever used a tow dolly ?

[atreis]

Originally Posted by twinboat

Have you ever used a tow dolly ?

Yes. It doesn't have fixed ramps though, so there's an interesting difference.