Tow Dolly Question

[C_J1]

Thinking of renting a dolly from U-Haul to tow a car from Maine to Florida this fall. We've never towed before, so pardon us if this is a really stupid question. But--once you get the car off the dolly at a campground, how do you maneuver the dolly to the spot where you're going to store it? Is a dolly light enough to move around by hand?

[Peddler95]

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.

[DeWat]

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

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

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.

[michelb]

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.

[C_J1]

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.

[CA_Traveler]

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.

[tatest]

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.

[liberty2010]

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.

[jimroach]

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.

[jimroach]

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

X's 100

[sailor_lou]

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

[willald]

..Not familar with the Chevy Sonic, but it doesn't already have a hitch receiver on the back, does it? If so, all you have to do is buy a cheap drawbar and 2" ball, and you will then have an easy way to move the dolly around.

Thats what we did when we towed with a dolly. Dollies are light enough that most can be moved around by hand, but being able to move it with your towed vehicle will make it much easier. Especially if you have to move it a good ways. You may even want to look into installing a simple Class II hitch on your Sonic for this, if thats a realistic option.

More I'm thinking about it, I seem to recall that the dollies U-haul rents are some pretty stout (read: HEAVY) dollies. They may be a bit more difficult to move by hand. If towing the dolly around with your Sonic isn't an option, I'd try to get a pull-thru site like already said. Then, you probably won't ever have to move it.

I like the idea also, of just buying a dolly and selling it when you're done with it. Thats what we did, and we found there is a pretty good used market for those things.

[michelb]

As racer99 mentioned, depending on the cost of the rental and if you plan on using it again to return back home, it might be worth looking at buying a used one. If you buy at a decent price, you'll probably be able to sell for the same price if / when you decide you don't want it anymore.

Although brakes are not required everywhere, I'd certainly recommend them. However if you get surge brakes (which are much easier since you don't need a brake controller), the dolly will be significantly heavier. As far as U-Haul, if you want brakes, check because I'm pretty sure I've seen some in my area without them (Ontario does not require supplemental braking when towing a car).

I've never actually weighed ours but I suspect the tongue weight on our tow dolly when it's unloaded is easily over 100 lbs - I wouldn't be surprised if it was 200lbs+. (once the car is loaded there's a lot less weight on the tongue). The dolly itself weighs about 700 lbs I believe so moving it alone is not trivial.

Using a tow dolly is a bit of a pain but it is much more convenient if you plan on using different vehicles and the cost is less than four-wheel down and there's some residual value to it (used tow bars are not worth much since you need the adapters and I'm not sure how much of a market there is for used braking systems. Also on many cars, installing the brackets requires cutting some of the bodywork away so the resale value on the car is probably affected).

[Sez_Hoo_]

The U-Haul tow dolly will come with surge brakes. If you do not get a pull through site there will be NO BACKING UP into the site. It is almost impossible. First there is too many pivot points. It will be like trying to push a wet noodle up hill and keeping it strait. Then consider the surge brakes. When you start to back up it will push against the tongue of the dolly causing the surge brakes to apply. I have a Stehl tow dolly with surge brakes. I have plenty of experience backing trailers and I'm here to tell you that backing a tow dolly is almost impossible. :h

[racer99]

We tow our Ford Focus with a Demco tow dolly with surge brakes (bought it used for $500 and rebuilt it) it pulls beautiful, we run the wires through the chassis of focus and come out in front behind grill and in the rear Drilled a hole in trunk ,same wiring that operates the tow dolly is wired into car magnetic lights on car roof,when we get to campground just disconnect one plug undo straps and your good to go,as far as we are concerned tow dolly is the only way to go for us with one car and 2 trucks 3 years and 12,000 miles and only had to hook up straps in rain once,normally if it is raining real hard we can sit tight till it stops raining or at least lets up,I am 68 and not real good shape so it does not take a lot of effort to put down 3rd wheel and roll dolly to were ever I want it-Rich