Need advice on selecting a car tow dolly

[Piney2]

Ok- I need some sage words of wisdom...


Looking to tow my 2019 Kia Soul, 6SP Manual, via a tow dolly.
First time having a toad for my 32 foot 2019 Coachmen Freelander class C w/ 5K towing capability.

There are a lot of makes/models of dollies out there and was wondering if folks would weigh in with some advice as to experiences with them so I can separate the wheat from the chaff.
Was contemplating going for flat tow option, but have read more than a few horror stories of damage(s) to TOADS and/or RV. Maybe I am being too cautious in ruling out flat tow?

Thanks in advance for your help.-Jerry


https://www.google.com/search?q=rv+c...t:hg&oshop=apv

[scotttkd]

Depends on if your current car can be flat towed (usually can be found in the owners manual), but if your planning on using the car often while traveling with the RV then flat tow is the way to go. A lot easier to hook and unhook as needed. If you are just towing the vehicle from point a to point b, then a dolly would be a viable option. My opinion from previous towing experience....had a dolly, got rid of it and set up one of our cars to flat tow. opinions will be varied here, as pluses and minuses to each. As far as dollys, there are many threads on the best/worse/most recommended on this forum to study up on.

[SteveJ.]

Whatever you get, make sure it has a braking system. A lot of them for some weird reason do not.

We use a Master Tow dolly with surge drum brakes for our "18 Soul. It has an automatic so must be on a dolly or trailer.

Surge brakes work well except when descending long grades. They stay on and get hot. We will pull over every 2000' of descent to let them cool.

Dollies are somewhat more involved when loading, just don't do it in a mud puddle. Unloading is pretty quick.

With a dolly you are not nearly as restricted when shopping for a toad replacement. You won't have to get a new base plate installed along with a new wiring kit for the brake actuator if you change to a different toad.

The dolly will add somewhere north of 500lbs to the weight being pulled.

The dolly may have to be unhooked from the RV in tight spots. On the infrequent occasion that this applies for us we just hook the dolly to the hitch on the toad and park it wherever.

[Bigceasar]

Personally, I would quit RVing if I couldn’t flat tow. That being said, I would make ease of moving the dolly around while unhitched from the RV my most important criteria. Over the years owning parks I watched countless people struggling with the tow dollies before they could park their rigs in back in sites. Some were setup to move around fairly easily by hand. Some required two people and some were so heavy and awkward the people had a bumper hitch on their towed that the used to jockey the tow dolly around. Try it before you buy it.

[ChesterRVs2]

I went through a similar search about 18 months ago and settled on the cartowdolly.com unit. I wrote a verbose post about my thoughts on it in this post: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/cart...ce-590420.html

It’s the lightest and easiest to store I found, and it tows well.

[KingKid]

I had giving to me a good use Kar Kaddy tow dolly to tow my toad, I haven't use it yet, but I have use one before. I can fold it in two places, I can fold the tongue and I can let the ramp up to make it smaller so it would take up less space.

[ChrisDParise]

Before I started flat towing I witnessed someone struggling with a dolly, with a car on it, and I couldn't figure out what had happened, but he was hammering on it near the front wheels something mightily

I asked if I could help and if I remember correctly he said no thanks and this happens once in awhile.

Don't know the dolly make but the car was Mini Cooper sized.

One of those lasting memories.

[DuaneMiller]

While I currently flat tow now, a Ram 1500 or a Jeep Grand Cherokee, prior, I used a tow dolly for for about 10 years. During those years, I never once experienced any issues, or had trouble hooking up or storing the dolly. As you can already see, you are going to get many folks telling you, or persuading you to forget the dolly and move over to flat towing... To that, I say, only you can decide what is best for you and your situation.

The only dolly that I ever owned and used was a Demco KarKaddy SS, pulling over the years a VW Jetta, and a Honda CRV. It folded neatly in my garage or at a campsite when it was not needed. I could load the car in about the same time it takes me to hook up my current tow bar/brake box. I traveled all over the mountains of NC and never had an issue with the surge brakes, and overall it pulled and tracked great.

The KarKaddy is a bit more expensive than some of the others, but for the features and the way it is built, I felt it well worth the money.

[dizcom]

We looked at dolly tows when we first started pulling a toad. It seemed like a simpler solution. For initial setup, maybe it was, but not by much. We flat tow now. It turned out to be very easy to setup initially and in terms of hooking/unhooking when we stop it is loads easier. Plus, no dolly to park somewhere. Either will work, but I would say flat towing is more intimidating than it is difficult or dangerous. I think anyone can do it. Good luck.

[twinboat]

I use a dolly, Stehl Tow, been 8 years now, and it's been fine and easy to use. Even towed a Kia Soul on it.

The pickup I now tow and the Jeep before it both have hitchs on them. Back off the dolly, pop it off the RV and on to the toad and no struggling to park it..

I bought one dolly. If I flat towed, that would have been 3 base plates, light kits and brake installs. Lot of money and work.

[TXiceman]

We have dolly towed and flat towed. If we were to go back to a motorhome, I would get a nice dolly with surge brakes. It does give more options for vehicles that you can haul/tow.

Ken

[EdInArk]

We dollied our RAV4 on long trips for six years or so, and I didn't find it nearly bad enough to buy another car and outfit it to flat tow. We were quite happy with the RAV4. I knew the car and had personally maintained it from day one. Buying a new one just to flat tow was out of the question, and I didn't really want to buy used. No doubt flat towing is easier and quicker, but we could load the car in a few minutes and unload it in just a few. It worked fine for us.

We used a Master Tow Model 80THD, and it held up well. It's not the most convenient to store, but we've got eight acres, so that wasn't an issue for us. At camp grounds we'd just roll it to the back of the site and back up to it. If space was tight we could back over it for several feet before anything touched.

I added a spare tire, and a manual tongue jack with a wheel to aid in moving it. I also put a trailer hitch on the RAV4 to move it around the campground if needed. Fenders were plastic, and I did have to replace one that started cracking from the sun. Parts were reasonably priced and easy to get.

[spierce617]

Just this year we bought a used Master Tow Dolly, Model 80THD to tow our 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid. This works like a charm. We only paid 1,000.00 for the used dolly. I am sure you could find some used ones in your area. I passed on a couple that did not have electric brakes on them. We had the brake controller in the motorhome already so we went with the electric brakes.

The surge brakes would of been OK except I had a friend tell me that when going down long hills the brakes heat up. Hence the electric for us.

[Warhorse6]

Echo kingkid. We had the exact same dolly and could not have been happier. Whatever you decide on measure the width of your front axle and compare it to the width of your ramps. Neighbor had a surprise when he bought a brand new dolly and his front axle was wider than the ramps. Opps