Would anyone be willing to share their procedure for hooking up and unhooking their two vehicle with a tow dolly? How does this work once you get to the place where you will camp? Where do you unload the tow dolly before you back in? How do you move the tow dolly once the car is off? We are planning to trade in our travel trailer in the spring for a class c or class a, but will need to tow a small car. Any help is appreciated!!

Welcome to the forum, Samantha.In answer to your question(s).1. Once you arrive at your destination, remove the car from the dolly. Move the dolly to the prescribed location. Often this is somewhere within the campsite. Many times they're slipped under the rear of the coach. Other times the campground has a dedicated spot for trailers/dollies/extra vehicles.2. Many campgrounds ask you to unhook your towed vehicle due to the narrow/curvy roadways. In this case it is advantageous to have a tow hitch on the towed vehicle so you can use that to move the dolly. If it's required that you unhook your dolly, they will have a place for you to do so.3. If your towed vehicle does not have a hitch, many campgrounds have a golf cart with a ball attached that can move the dolly to your site or wherever they require it to be.4. Other campgrounds have no limitations so you pull in, register, drive to your site, dismount the towed at your site and muscle the dolly under your coach.Now my recommendation. Unless you absolutely have to use a dolly, towing four down is more convenient, easier to hook up and unhook and eliminates everything you've asked about....best of luck and happy camping....Dennis

Hi Dennis,Thank you for your detailed response.I have heard that if you tow your vehicle four wheels down, then you have to drive it around every couple of hundred miles to ??? charge the battery??? Idk why. We were thinking of keeping our present car which you cannot tow four wheels down, but now my dh is thinking of trading that in for a CRV or some other such vehicle. TIA for any further info I guess another question is this: he wants to put kayaks on the roof of the towed vehicle. Is this a safe option?

The necessary procedures for towing four down vary widely (and wildly), depending on the vehicle.many years ago, I towed a 1963 Corvair. the recommended procedure was to stop every 250 miles and run the engine to ensure proper transmission lubrication.then I towed a Jeep Wrangler. No limitations at all! Any speed, any distance, no battery discharge, no problems. Later models will discharge the battery while being towed.the required procedures are VERY vehicle specific. All one can do is read the Owners Manual for the specific vehicle. All necessary instructions should be there.If you already have a vehicle that can be towed on a dolly (not all vehicles can), there is no need to buy a new vehicle. Try it. you just might find that all the doomsayers and naysayers statements simply don't apply to YOU! I tow my PT Cruiser on a dolly occasionally, and I don't have anywhere near the trouble described by some of the naysayers and doomsayers.Only YOU can decide what is right for YOU.Good luck.

Samantha525 wrote:I guess another question is this: he wants to put kayaks on the roof of the towed vehicle. Is this a safe option?Sure, if the towed vehicle is long enough to have the kayaks attached and NOT be in the way of turning radius.

Samantha525 wrote:Would anyone be willing to share their procedure for hooking up and unhooking their two vehicle with a tow dolly? How does this work once you get to the place where you will camp? Where do you unload the tow dolly before you back in? How do you move the tow dolly once the car is off? We are planning to trade in our travel trailer in the spring for a class c or class a, but will need to tow a small car. Any help is appreciated!!Sorry, I forgot to answer your basic questions while typing my rant.1. I hook the dolly to the motorhome, then drive the PT Cruiser on and tie it down. 2.When we arrive, if I have a pull-through site I leave the dolly connected and just remove the car. If it is a back-in site, I remove the car, unhook the dolly, push it to the back of the site, then park the motorhome. 3. For moving the dolly, I went to Harbor Freight and got one of their trailer dollys, just two wheels with a trailer ball above them and a handle. It makes moving the dolly and other light trailers no trouble at all, even for a 73 year old out of shape guy like me! I modified the little dolly to make it easy to disassemble to fit in the basement bay under the motorhome.When towing the truck four down, I connect it to the motorhome, hook up all the wires and cables, and get on down the road.When we arrive, it depends on the campground. Some require that you disconnect before proceeding to your site, some don't; some have first-come, first served sites, so it is easier (IMO) to disconnect the truck and use it to find a site, then bring the motorhome in.The variations are nearly endless...

Hooking up and unhooking vehicle and tow dolly | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

Samantha525
Explorer
May 15, 2015
Hi Dennis,
Thank you for your detailed response.
I have heard that if you tow your vehicle four wheels down, then you have to drive it around every couple of hundred miles to ??? charge the battery??? Idk why. We were thinking of keeping our present car which you cannot tow four wheels down, but now my dh is thinking of trading that in for a CRV or some other such vehicle. TIA for any further info

I guess another question is this: he wants to put kayaks on the roof of the towed vehicle. Is this a safe option?
Executive45
Explorer III
May 15, 2015
Welcome to the forum, Samantha.

In answer to your question(s).
1. Once you arrive at your destination, remove the car from the dolly. Move the dolly to the prescribed location. Often this is somewhere within the campsite. Many times they're slipped under the rear of the coach. Other times the campground has a dedicated spot for trailers/dollies/extra vehicles.
2. Many campgrounds ask you to unhook your towed vehicle due to the narrow/curvy roadways. In this case it is advantageous to have a tow hitch on the towed vehicle so you can use that to move the dolly. If it's required that you unhook your dolly, they will have a place for you to do so.
3. If your towed vehicle does not have a hitch, many campgrounds have a golf cart with a ball attached that can move the dolly to your site or wherever they require it to be.
4. Other campgrounds have no limitations so you pull in, register, drive to your site, dismount the towed at your site and muscle the dolly under your coach.

Now my recommendation. Unless you absolutely have to use a dolly, towing four down is more convenient, easier to hook up and unhook and eliminates everything you've asked about....best of luck and happy camping....Dennis

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Hooking up and unhooking vehicle and tow dolly

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