tow dolly?

[Snaykebyte]

Evening all, hope everybody is doing good. Here to pick brains smarter than mine.......usually easy to find lol. Here's the scenerio, I currently have a 35 foot Georgetown gasser that I tow a tow dolly with a Honda Fit. I'm trying to figure out hot to tow it and a small side by side UTV at the same time. The car is 13 and change long, say 14 foot and scales about 2800. The UTV is right about 1000 and about 103 inches long while being about 60 inches wide. I have a 5000lb hitch and 800lb tongue weight rating. I'm not all that concerned an\bout the gross as I'll be about 1500 over. However, I am concerned about tongue weight since I have about 12 feet of overhang in the rear of the coach. I'm thinking about a 20 foot trailer and side load the UTV in the front and rear load the car. I can only guess at the tongue weight, but it's gonna be more than 800lbs. Don't want to put 1000 lbs of more in hitch and unload front axle too much. I saw something on line and saw one today on the way back from Tennesee and searched for it and can figure it out. It was what I call a "dolly" that goes between the RV and trailer to carry the tongue weight. Anyone have any intell on such a contraption? I appreciate any help............-Curtis.

[Lt Dan]

First off, Welcome to iRV2!

What you should investigate is called a Tandem Tow Dolly that lets you dolly tow a vehicle and load a UTV, motorcycle etc up front. Here is just one example.

[Snaykebyte]

But I would still have the 1000 plus tomgue weight issue right?

[Lantley]

No because the vehicle in the rear is riding on the axle of the trailer. It is not putting any weight on the tongue

[Gary RVRoamer]

With something like the Tandem Dolly you DO have more tongue weight because whatever is in front of the towed car is forward of the dolly axle and thus its weight is spread between the dolly axle and the hitch. If that's a 1000 lbs in your case, roughly half that 1000 becomes additional tongue weight. The exact amount will vary slightly and is best determined by weighing. Usually a tow dolly has very little tongue weight but the addition of the extra UTV load changes that substantially.

[FrozenInTime]

Originally Posted by Snaykebyte

I'm thinking about a 20 foot trailer and side load the UTV in the front and rear load the car.

I've also been wondering about how to tow a couple vehicles behind our class c (separately not together.. LOL). I happened to notice going the other way on a hiway (in ND) a car trailer with a motorcycle in the front and a small car on the back of the trailer so I would say someone thinks it's possible. I think it was a pretty good sized class a so I don't think I will try that on our class c. One thought, a small pick-up you can tow 4-down and load the small utv in it's bed? Another thought, spend a little extra and purchase an aluminum trailer, a few lbs lighter. Good luck in your en-devour.

[Snaykebyte]

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

With something like the Tandem Dolly you DO have more tongue weight because whatever is in front of the towed car is forward of the dolly axle and thus its weight is spread between the dolly axle and the hitch. If that's a 1000 lbs in your case, roughly half that 1000 becomes additional tongue weight. The exact amount will vary slightly and is best determined by weighing. Usually a tow dolly has very little tongue weight but the addition of the extra UTV load changes that substantially.

I never thought of it like that, but it makes sense now that you mentioned it. In that case I should be well within specs. About 3800 combined payload leaves me about 1200 to work with for the weight on the dolly........might just be crazy enough to work.

[Snaykebyte]

Now I need to find out if they are built with a swivel wheel platform, looked at several websites but can't really tell from pics.

[US1]

Originally Posted by Snaykebyte

I never thought of it like that, but it makes sense now that you mentioned it. In that case I should be well within specs. About 3800 combined payload leaves me about 1200 to work with for the weight on the dolly........might just be crazy enough to work.

Dont forget the extra tongue weight with just the tandem dolly do to the steel.

[Snaykebyte]

Right, I gotcha

[VanDiemen23]

the device you were thinking of that carries the tongue weight is a trailer toad.

looking at things strictly from a financial standpoint, I think you'd be better off with an aluminum car trailer. a trailer toad is not cheap and neither is a combo dolly.

If you side load the UTV and then back the Fit on, the high front axle weight on the Fit being well behind the trailer axles will take some of the load off the tongue.

[Snaykebyte]

Originally Posted by VanDiemen23

the device you were thinking of that carries the tongue weight is a trailer toad.

looking at things strictly from a financial standpoint, I think you'd be better off with an aluminum car trailer. a trailer toad is not cheap and neither is a combo dolly.

If you side load the UTV and then back the Fit on, the high front axle weight on the Fit being well behind the trailer axles will take some of the load off the tongue.

I aint made of money so what you say might warrant some looking into. I don't know where the center of gravity is on the little Honda, but it would make sense that the front would be heavy. Thank you and I'll look into a trailer.

[FrozenInTime]

Originally Posted by Snaykebyte

might warrant some looking into.

I've been shopping for an 18ft aluminum car trailer, different dealerships come up with about the same price for different brands. A new one in my neck of the woods runs from $8,100 to $8,600. This seems to be the current sale price, all 3 listed over $10k regular price. Throw in the tilt bed trailers (no ramps needed) and price goes up about $3k and comes in 20 foot. I sold a 20ft car trailer recently. All steel and weighed in ~2,500 lbs. Too heavy in my opinion, add 5k lbs for my car or truck and I'm pushing the max hard.



I have been watching Craig's list for the whole state of ND, only one listed right now is $7,500 well used.


With everything I've been reading, some RV parks make you disconnect and pay over night storage fees for the trailer. The total length of RV + trailer limits the camping spot length, I'm starting to re-think what I'm going to do. For me, 30' bumper to bumper, plus 18' +2' tongue trailer length means I will have to find pull through sites at-least 50 foot to stay connected. I've heard from many you don't want to back a trailer, loaded or not, with a class c as it will be very hard on the transmission.


So now I have 2 trains of thought. No toad, stay in areas close enough to metropolitans with car rental joints and just rent a car in each area for a few weeks to months. When you think of the increased cost of fuel to operate moto home, add the cost of extra space rental, and the cost of the car hauler, might be financially sound to to just rent a car? Not all our stops need another vehicle, they are just stop/relax/recuperation stops. Short trips are only a bus or taxi ride away.


My other thought, just buy a vehicle that can be towed 4-down, so I have been looking for a 2-door jeep, with taxes puts me around $50k (for a new one), plus cost of towing set up to then be added. I can sure rent a lot of cars and come out in the end for less over-all $$?


Just throwing this out there for the op to consider. This is where I'm at thinking of a trailer also.

[Snaykebyte]

All things considered, I'm leaning towards a trailer toad and a 7000lb steel trailer. This is about the same cheese as an aluminum trailer and eliminates the very specific way I would need to load everything to make sure tongue weight is within specs.