Thoughts on ACME Electric Tow Dolly?

wbwood wrote:
We had and ACME tow dolly with the surge brakes. We don't have it anymore, not because we didn't like it. But because we no longer had a towable car at the time being. We sold it for what we paid for it as the prices went up a little on them. We will be purchasing another in the future as we now have a towable car. We loved ours...Fortunately for us, we live only an hour away from the manufacturer and pick up from them, saving the freight charge (which is now higher than it was a couple years ago). I don't think you will be dissatisfied with it. If you can swing the extra $100 for the surge (hydraulic brake) one, then I would go that way. No need to worry about a brake controller. They are really nice people and the owner quickly responds to emails.

wbwood: I'm looking at the ACME for my VW, towed behind our Winnie Aspect 30J. I see your rig is similar in length. I have no experience with dolly towing and have read all the negatives on them, but am thinking it might be the solution to our wanting to reduce the weight we are pulling with the E-450. Our current toad is a Chevy Equinox which weighs in at 4,400#.

Question: What sort of tongue weight did you experience with your car and did you feel the car back there? I guess I should ask what car you were pulling on the dolly. Our VW has a front axle weight of around 1180#, which translates loosely to a tongue weight of around 227# according to ACME website which says tongue weight is 10-15% of front axle weight. 227# is significant compared to the roughly 50# that our Blue Ox weighs. To stay with 4 down we would have to purchase another car, which is also in the mix....say a Smart Car or Mini.