Tow dolly what do I need

Being that you are an insurance salesman you will want the BEST insurance you can buy in a towing device. :)

As has been shared by others you are confusing what you have in mind. Do you want to tow 4 down or use a dolly? The two are totally different systems.

If a dolly you need one with brakes and the proper tow hitch and a lighting system.

If a 4 down tow you will need the proper hitch, tow bar, lighting system, and braking system.

If you want the easiest one to use then go with the 4 down tow and have the towed vehicle wired for the light system. I use the Blue Ox tow bar and Brake Buddy and they are a snap to use and only takes one person 5-10 minutes to hook up or unhook. There is no need to find a place to store the dolly with this system nor two people to hook up. The quality of insurance...er...towing equipment if often reflected in the price you pay. Also you probably will need to be sure the towed vehicle had adequate liability insurance as I understand the MH insurance does not cover the towed vehicle should there ever be an unexpected separation of the two.

Check your wheel base clearances to match vehicle with dolly. I had a great offer from a known source till I checked the car out side wheel dimension and found that it would not fit inside the dolly wheels. Car is a sienna pretty wide track and not suitable to dolly towing because of it. I believe u-haul has some tables that can help with this issue

PapPappy wrote:
With a tow dolly, you will still need brakes, and a light package (either tied into the vehicle, or magnetic type that are placed on the trunk or inside window).

Not true on either point. Perhaps in some states but not all. In some states the lights on the dolly are sufficient as are no brakes if the weight is within a threshold. Not saying it's not a bad idea to have brakes on the dolly or extra lights for that matter, but they are not required.

This is a confusing question. You talk about a dolly, which requires no installation, and then talk about installation of $3500 which seems high for a 4 down or dolly set up.

Dolly is simple, hooks to a ball on your receiver, drive the front wheels on the dolly, strap it and go.

4 down tow bars require plates installed to your towed vehicle as well as the hardware (tow bars) light and brake hookups, battery disconnects if required etc.

4 down is defnitely easier once it's set up, both can be comparable in cost, Dolly is more versatile in that you can use just about any vehicle, but it's an extra axle to care for as well as a place to put it. Tow bars are specific to that vehicle.

Either way $3500 is robbery.

I shopped used tow dolly's on craigslist around Austin TX for a few months. All the $500 ones weren't equipped with brakes. To get a TD with brakes put me in the $1000-$1200 range. I finally found a TD with brakes that needed some minor repairs for $500, so I snapped it up. Nobody wants to repair anything anymore, if you're at all handy you can find some very good deals.
Steve

kidkasha wrote:

I am not cheap, but thrifty as I saw tow dolly's on Ebay for around $500. What else do I need to complete a tow package, and how should I start and what are my possibilities...

When I was looking for a tow dolly the cheaper ones that I found on eBay or Craigslist needed more work than they were worth. If you go this route make sure you check it over well, including tire manufacturing dates.

I have a dolly that we certainly have established a routine to make it as short and simple as possible. But, having said that.... the biggest downside to having the dolly is that it requires two people to set it up, one to drive the car and another to direct that person onto the ramps and stopping points. Normally that's OK, but if one of you is not feeling well or doing other tasks, it sure puts a wrinkle in your set-up procedures.

If you are mechanically inclined you can save on some of the labor by doing things yourself, but you still have the cost of the components. If I had to do it all over again I would more than likely choose 4 down. JMHO


Doug

I should add, last time I set a vehicle up for 4 down towing was my Dodge Dakota truck and I installed the baseplates myself. They weren't that difficult on a truck. I don't know how hard they are to install yourself on a car. The time before last I had a Jeep Cherokee. Just the install charges alone from the RV shop was something like $800 just to attach the baseplates. My local Jeep dealer had a body shop so I took it there. I showed them to the body guy and gave him the instructions and he installed them for $300. He had never done them before, but he was a regular body shop mechanic so was probably way more skilled than the workers at Camping World.

Actually, I think you may be confused. You mention 4 down and installation charges, and you talk about a Tow Dolly. A Tow dolly is a small trailer like object that the front tires of the vehicle ride on. It is not 4 down towing and does not require any installation.

You sound like what you want is a tow bar and that does require installation of base plates on your towed car as well as installed lighting on the towed car. $3500 for the full package seems about right for Camping World, but they are very expensive.

With a tow dolly, you will still need brakes, and a light package (either tied into the vehicle, or magnetic type that are placed on the trunk or inside window).

If you know that you will be using the Fusion as your toad for the next few years, it may make sense to go with the 4-down, as it's much easier to operate once you have it installed....taking a couple of minutes to hook-up, compared to all the work involved in putting the car up on the dolly.......a big thing, when it's raining out:(

I will probably go with a dolly myself, but because I want the ability to tow different vehicles, depending on what we need for a particular trip.

Your diesel should have no trouble with any option you go with!

Happy Camping:)