Tow Dolly problems
My wife and her mother are traveling with our Class C pulling her RAV4 on a tow dolly. I helped her load this morning, and everything looked good. She just called and said that the strap worked ...
Forum Discussion
wbwood wrote:WILDEBILL308 wrote:wbwood wrote:Bobbo wrote:
ALWAYS stop after about 50 miles and check the straps. They will frequently need tightening! If they don't, you are good to go. If they do, I would tighten them and re check after another 50 miles.
Straps stretch. After a few months of use, their stretch will be much less and you will have to tighten them less frequently.
Ditto...and you said it was raining. That will affect newer straps as well.
How is rain going to affect plastic straps?
Bill
Plastic as in? Ours were nylon. I guess you can call that plastic. But they do soak up water and cause them to stretch more and easier.
I suspect if they're prone to shift and move being wet will exacerbate the problem. Hey! Do I get extra credit for using "exacerbate" in a sentence? ;)
Update. She got home fine from the trip just fine -- no problems. I examined the straps before removing and the straps are not too short; they do go over the top of the tires and make a good cradle.
Before she left we had pulled the car forward tight against the stop and set the brake before strapping it down. I suspect that and the rain allowed one strap to shift just enough to cause the problem.
We haven't used it since, but next time we do, I plan try Wild Bill's suggestion. And, of course, we'll check straps carefully after few miles and at every stop thereafter.
