Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > MOTORHOME FORUMS > Toads and Motorhome Related Towing
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 12-17-2013, 06:15 AM   #15
Senior Member
 
Brockx's Avatar
 
Fleetwood Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Port Charlotte Florida
Posts: 2,721
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryinreddin View Post
I was not blaming the dolly for our mishap. I only told the story because I was looking for tips and insight from those that have more experience than we do. I know this is the best fit for the car that we now own. With practice I am sure we will get the loading down. Brockx, the tires spinning was just as you explained, when I hip the hump that's when it happened. We will look into getting some of that sandpaper tape stuff and see if it helps. Hopefully we have learned from this experience. If nothing else works we will drive the car until we find a suitable spot to put it on the dolly. That's what we finally ended up doing before. When the ground was dry and the ramps were dry we had no problem at all getting the car up. Thanks for all your suggestions. And, yes it was going to cost two times as much as the dolly to get this car wired so it would work properly. When you are dealing with a plug in hybrid car it is a whole different story than towing a regular car.
Just had a brain spasm!!!
The ramps for the ACME were actually made for elevating a car for home repair, oil changes and such. The little "humps" are there to keep from driving off the end of the ramps. Acme is no doubt just using them as an available item so they don't need to engineer and pay tooling costs to manufacture them.

I think a small square of plywood about 3/8 or 1/2 inch thick and nested in the pocket on the top of ramp, held with a few screws, would pretty much negate the whole hump issue.

Also, the smaller the tires the more problem the hump will present.

I don't have my dolly here to get precise dimensions but I'm sure you get the picture.
__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]2008 Bounder 38P F53 24/30K V10, 2013 Kia Soul Basic 6 speed manual, Ready Brake Elite tow system (previous equipment 1996 Pace Arrow Vision w/Acme Dolly)
Brockx is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 12-17-2013, 09:09 AM   #16
Senior Member
 
gman69's Avatar
 
Thor Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Boise, Idaho
Posts: 164
since my Honda Fit sits pretty low, I bolted a 2" thick piece of wood to the top of the ramp (which now is even with the hump). this lifts my Honda just enough for a smooth ride up the ramp onto the dolly, preventing the low hanging bumper from dragging ramp and dolly when loading. only other two things I did to my Acme dolly was to get different straps (Tow Dolly Basket Straps - Wheel Net Car Tire Tie Down Basket Straps ) than the ones supplied, plus I redid the wiring using flexible conduit to protect the wiring underneath the dolly. think wiring on any dolly is at risk of damage from road debris, etc., and protecting it with this steel flexible conduit works great. I really like the dolly since it is easy to use and light enough to move around once the car is off of it. it easily slides underneath the rear of my motorhome once I am parked, eliminating any need to find someplace other to park it. we've traveled across the US many times with this dolly with no problems.
gman69 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2013, 09:26 AM   #17
Moderator Emeritus
 
Scarab0088's Avatar


 
Damon Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Lone Star State
Posts: 19,203
Quote:
Originally Posted by maryinreddin View Post
...When you are dealing with a plug in hybrid car it is a whole different story than towing a regular car.
Maybe a little off topic...
Do you/Have you plugged the car in to charge at any campgrounds with provided power at the post...what did they say?

Probably applies to those with electric golf carts too...?

This whole electric car thing is going to blow-up - I think...As Gov't regulators direct business owner to accommodate electric cars.

If they do, a plug-in hybrid or all electric car would be THE BEST dingy for the free juice

Of course I could be wrong.

Safe travels
__________________
Kim and Steve, Mustang LCDR (USCG Ret), Outlaw #1193
https://www.irv2.com/attachments/signaturepics/sigpic84535_7.gif
WE LOVE OUR OUTLAW RV
Scarab0088 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2013, 01:43 PM   #18
Senior Member
 
spritz's Avatar
 
Vintage RV Owners Club
Fleetwood Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: c above
Posts: 5,525
hmmmm I see some of the posts are taking Acme Car Dollys, I have a KARKADDYSS never had a slide or a spin.

__________________
1982 Pace Arrow P30 454
KarKaddy SS, Toad: 2009 Genesis
Tim, Joe and Lilly too. Mpls Minn.
spritz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2013, 04:05 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
Brockx's Avatar
 
Fleetwood Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Port Charlotte Florida
Posts: 2,721
Quote:
Originally Posted by spritz View Post
hmmmm I see some of the posts are taking Acme Car Dollys, I have a KARKADDYSS never had a slide or a spin.


With Caddys you should have KarKaddys. I looked but they don't make KarKias.
__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]2008 Bounder 38P F53 24/30K V10, 2013 Kia Soul Basic 6 speed manual, Ready Brake Elite tow system (previous equipment 1996 Pace Arrow Vision w/Acme Dolly)
Brockx is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2013, 10:15 AM   #20
Senior Member
 
spritz's Avatar
 
Vintage RV Owners Club
Fleetwood Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: c above
Posts: 5,525
[QUOTE=Brockx;1848853]With Caddys you should have KarKaddys. I looked but they don't make KarKias. [/QUOT

I thought so too...
__________________
1982 Pace Arrow P30 454
KarKaddy SS, Toad: 2009 Genesis
Tim, Joe and Lilly too. Mpls Minn.
spritz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2013, 07:29 AM   #21
Senior Member
 
osok's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Huffman, TX
Posts: 792
Well the two above thread killer's showed up. OP ask for help with their Acme and get thread killers. Lots of good tow dolly's available including Acme and that is the one the OP has and are asking for help to prevent another accident. We all go through learning curve using whatever dolly brand and all dolly's have pluses and minuses.

Many great suggestions from real world experiences using the Acme have been posted above. I use an Acme and learned a modification that I'll make to my ramps.

Sorry to the OP for your accident. As a successful and happy user of Acme dolly, I understand accidents happen that no one thought could happen. Your experience has enlightened Acme users of a potential accident and the solutions.
osok is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2013, 09:26 AM   #22
Moderator Emeritus
 
Scarab0088's Avatar


 
Damon Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Lone Star State
Posts: 19,203
Quote:
Originally Posted by osok View Post
Well the two above thread killer's showed up. OP ask for help with their Acme and get thread killers...
Didn't you see the OP's question was a week ago? These weren't thread killers - they were keeping the thread alive.

The OP also got lots of info on a duplicate post called "Tow dolly or Toad."


Now, I gotta agree that KiaKaddy or whatever is off topic but I am still waiting to hear about charging a plug-in car at a campground

Safe travels
__________________
Kim and Steve, Mustang LCDR (USCG Ret), Outlaw #1193
https://www.irv2.com/attachments/signaturepics/sigpic84535_7.gif
WE LOVE OUR OUTLAW RV
Scarab0088 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2013, 09:31 AM   #23
Senior Member
 
wa8yxm's Avatar
 
Damon Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 24,024
Seems to me it would have been easier to fix the dead battery problem. I know several ways to do that, from pulling a fuse and installing a switch (With same fuse) in it's place. to the "Toad Charge" system, to the proper selection of aux brakes (some provide a towed vehicle charge).. I have such a set up on my towed.
__________________
Home is where I park it!
wa8yxm is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2013, 11:38 PM   #24
Senior Member
 
maryinred's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Redding, CA
Posts: 210
Thanks again for all the support and suggestions. We have modified the ramps and hopefully it will work for us.
Because my car is relatively new in the plug in hybrid world, I really didn't want some inexperienced rv tech rooting around in my electrical system to put in a brake control, or exterior lights, or even putting on a tow bar. In order to do this, they would have to remove my whole front bumper (which I just had replaced because of the accident) and then try to put it back on without breaking any of the plastic clips that hold it in place. Putting a charge wire probably wouldn't have been too hard since it does have terminals in the front. The whole rear of my car is one BIG battery so you have to be very careful when you are dealing with any electrical issue in this car. You cannot pull a fuse in this car or disable the car being in neutral thing that so many people have tried. What some of the people are doing with this car instead of installing a charge line is continually jumping the starting battery. And what's happening is the batteries have been failing and Ford is having to replace them under warranty. I would not like to be stuck somewhere with a totally dead battery. I am sure that Ford will figure out a way to program this car into turning everything off if it is in neutral but right now that is not an option. So, I chose the tow dolly route and I know my car will last a lot longer than the ones being towed 4 down.
__________________
Mary and Pat Barrow
2005 Winnebago Journey 39F
2013 Ford Cmax Energi
maryinred is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2013, 11:58 PM   #25
Senior Member
 
maryinred's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Redding, CA
Posts: 210
Another thing we were wondering. Where do you put your safety chains on the tow dolly? We didn't use them the first time we towed the car but I would feel better if the car was attached to the dolly besides the straps. My husband thinks he can find a place under the car to attach them but can't really see any place on the dolly to put the hooks. Thanks.
__________________
Mary and Pat Barrow
2005 Winnebago Journey 39F
2013 Ford Cmax Energi
maryinred is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2013, 12:00 AM   #26
Moderator Emeritus
 
Scarab0088's Avatar


 
Damon Owners Club
Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Lone Star State
Posts: 19,203
You are smart not to try to modify your car, when a dolly is so easy to set-up, to use, and will keep your car up high and safe.

We have been dolly towing a Hybrid Escape for going on 3 years and took the dolly route for similar reasons.

We hook our safety chains to the factory tie-down loops in the front of the car...the chain falls across a part of the frame directly below the loops...we wrap the chain around that point on the frame and take the chain back up to the tie-down loop. It doesn't have to be tight...just there for safety.

Best luck and safe travels
__________________
Kim and Steve, Mustang LCDR (USCG Ret), Outlaw #1193
https://www.irv2.com/attachments/signaturepics/sigpic84535_7.gif
WE LOVE OUR OUTLAW RV
Scarab0088 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2013, 12:01 AM   #27
Senior Member
 
maryinred's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Redding, CA
Posts: 210
[Do you/Have you plugged the car in to charge at any campgrounds with provided power at the post...what did they say?]

We are going to find out if anything is said about this on our next trip. I will let you know if there was a problem.
__________________
Mary and Pat Barrow
2005 Winnebago Journey 39F
2013 Ford Cmax Energi
maryinred is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2013, 01:42 AM   #28
Senior Member
 
Dunner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Phx, Arid~zona
Posts: 11,106
Try a boat shop for the sandpaper type stuff.



__________________
2004 32' National Sea Breeze 1311 Class A on a F-53 Chassis, CHF, TST TPMS, 5Star Tune.
If Dunner (RVM23) can't fix it, it ain't broke!
Cheap Handling Fix Poll. Click Here to vote?
Dunner is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
dolly, tow dolly



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:48 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.