Tow Dolly Question

I bought a tongue jack with wheel from Northern Tool for $25.. Swivels to store out of the way. Very light duty, rated at 1000 pounds but I wouldn't trust it for more than a couple of hundred. It still makes it very easy to move the dolly around. Jacked up all the way you can pull it by the jack handle at a comfortable walking height.
Actually only paid $12.99 as it Was on sale for $17.99 and had one of their $5 coupons.

If you do end up getting a dolly for keeps...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_trailers-trailer-parts+trailer-jacks-dollies+trailer-dollies

Believe it or not, the cheaper $59 dollar pneumatic tire one is the better one. People who have bought the $99 one with the flat free tires complain that the tires do not hold up well. The only potential problem is that these "dolly dollies" (that's what I call them) are a little larger than they look, and may have to be partially disassembled to store in the basement. I have a Master Tow, and like a previous poster, had problems lifting it to a comfortable level for hand movement due to the ramps hitting the ground. The dolly dolly makes moving the dolly much easier, and is a real back saver.

For that distance, I'd probably get a dolly (rent or buy-used). Obviously there are costs for the dolly but you're probably looking at a good $200 of gas to drive there not to mention the wear / tear of 1500 mile drive.

Personally, the biggest difference will be the convenience of only having to drive one vehicle. You'll probably have to stop more often with two vehicles (two drivers getting tired, two vehicles to fill up, etc) and as stupid as it sounds, just following each other on a 1500 mile trip is not trivial.

Thanks again to all who replied. Since the car in question is going to stay in Florida once we get it there, and we're not sure whether we'll be towing in the future, I think our best bet is going to be to have one of us drive the car behind the motorhome. That was what we had thought about originally, until someone suggested we look into renting a dolly. The information you all provided leads us back to plan A.

Since you've never towed before you need to be much more aware of streets you travel on since you can't back up. It's one thing to get in a situation where you have to unhook to get out and another to get in a situation where you have to unhook and are blocking traffic. I have the same awareness with my flat tow.

A U-Haul dolly is light enough to move around by hand, by people strong enough to move it around by hand. Many consumer dollies are constructed lighter to make this easier (increasing the population that can move them), and some fold for storage.

U-Haul dolly will need wiring for lighting, and a 2" ball at the right height. U-Haul shop will make sure things are set up right, but not all outlets may let you tow their dolly with something other than their truck, they have some rules to manage their risks. They are usually OK with their dolly on a properly wired motorhome.

Your Sonic should dolly tow, if it has enough clearance to fit on that big U-Haul dolly. If your car doesn't fit their dolly (or otherwise is not dolly towable according to their book) U-Haul will want to rent you a trailer, which is unlikely that they will let you tow with your motorhome. Their trailers can also be moved around by hand, by persons strong enough to move them around.

The most trouble I have with a moving a tow dolly is, the ramps hit the ground when lifting the hitch and does not allow the tongue to come up high enough to be comfortable moving it around. Then where does one store it. I guess if you are backing is the car will be off and the dolly could be positioned behind the rig on the site prior to backing in kind of over the hitch end.

C&J wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. We'll be towing a 2013 Chevy Sonic behind a 2011 Itasca Sunova. Owners' manual says the Sonic can be flat-towed or dolly-towed. (We're not ready yet to set it up for flat towing.)

Besides renting the dolly, what else do we have to do? Trailer hitch, wiring harness, etc.?

Assuming you have a tow package on the Sunova??? If not you would have to have one installed. On ours we had the tow package, the only thing we needed was an adapter for the wiring. it was only a couple of bucks.
Before we got our dolly we rented from UHaul, it was pretty easy and quick.

kalynzoo wrote:
get a pull thru and don't worry.

X's 100

Yes, it can be pushed around easily unless you are on a steep hill. If you do not want to go with the four down setup now, I agree to consider buying a used dolly and then selling it. I bought one on ebay for $650, used it for 5 years and then sold it for $550. Cheaper than a U-Haul rental and I had it for all that time. Good luck and feel free to ask ANY questions.

Lou
05 Travel Supreme Envoy