Towing a Honda CRV one time - NC to Maine

[willald]

We are planning a trip up to Maine in a few months, up to the in-law's place up in Maine. We want to tow their 2018 Honda CRV vehicle with us, from North Carolina to Maine.

We normally tow our Jeep 4 down behind our Motorhome (see signature). Have been flat towing one vehicle or another behind our Motorhome for years, so we are very used to and comfortable towing with it. The CRV is not one that can be flat towed, nor would it make sense to spend all the $$ to set it up for such just for one tow. Sooo, we are looking at renting a tow dolly or flatbed trailer one way, to tow it behind the RV.

Here is the dilemma we are facing:

U-Haul’s tow dollies have no brakes on them. Although U-Haul says no problem towing this vehicle behind our RV, I'm not sure I like towing over 3,500 lbs. this far with no braking back there. Also, they limit speed with their tow dollies to 55 mph. There is NO WAY anybody could go that slow on the interstates we would have to take going up to Maine. You would absolutely be run over or cause a huge accident, hahaha.

Have checked with Penske and Budget rentals. Both of them do rent tow dollies, but only if you rent one of their trucks also to tow it. Not doing that. Sunbelt rents them also, but theirs do not have brakes. Cannot find anyone else that rents tow dollies that have brakes.

Am I being too paranoid about the braking thing, and should just rent the U-Haul dolly, and (cautiously) tow the CRV on up to Maine on the tow dolly and stop worrying? This is just a one-time thing, we most certainly would not be making a habit of this.

Does anyone know of any other company that might rent a tow dolly, that has brakes?

Tempted to just buy the one tow dolly I've owned before and really like (cartowdolly.com), use it and plan on selling it after we get back. But, that seems pretty foolish, and would be afraid we'd end up losing a ton of $$, or getting stuck with a $1600 dolly we have no use for.

Looked into renting a flatbed trailer from U-Haul. That resolves concerns about the braking and speed limitations, but creates a much bigger issue, in that it would almost certainly put me way over the Motorhome's hitch receiver limitations (500lb max tongue weight, 5k towing weight).

Ideas, thoughts?

[ferndaleflyer]

Its 86 here in NC today at noon

[willald]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Glad you had a good trip and let everyone know how it went We went to Myrtle Beach a couple of weeks back and it was 40 one night. Hope you took a coat up there.

Oh, we knew it would be chilly up here, so yes, everyone brought their coats and warm clothes. Its not been too awful bad, though. Today, right now, it is 50 degrees here. At night it gets down to upper 30s.

Bigger problem has been, since we're here right in the middle of Maine's mud season after all the snow has melted, we could not take the RV down the narrow, steep, dirt (muddy!) road going down to the lake house here. Was afraid RV would get stuck if I tried. Had to leave it parked at the top of the road. Fortunately, mom and dad have very nice neighbors that have plenty of land and solid ground at top of the hill, that let us park the RV there for the week while we are up here. Tomorrow, we will start heading back home to NC.

[ferndaleflyer]

Glad you had a good trip and let everyone know how it went We went to Myrtle Beach a couple of weeks back and it was 40 one night. Hope you took a coat up there.

[willald]

Update, conclusion: Well, we made the trip last weekend. All went well, we are in Maine now, at in-law's lake house. It is a bit chilly up here, but nice. We are having a great time up here.

Towing their car up here on the dolly went great, and pretty much flawless (except for all the rain we drove through, haha). It actually seemed like their CRV was slightly easier to tow than our Jeep we normally tow. I guess, it was less rolling resistance and better aerodynamics.

Uhaul got us an almost new dolly with surge brakes, so that worked great. The rig braked really well. Only bad thing was, they had NOBODY to help us when we picked up the dolly, so we had to do pretty much everything ourselves (wrestle the dolly over in back of motorhome, hitch it up, put the car on, straps, chains, etc).

Seemed like Mom and Dad really enjoyed the trip up with us, too. We took 3 days, nights to get up here, camped at campgrounds two nights, and boondocked at Kohl's parking lot the last night (since it seems no campgrounds were open this far north, before May). I think we blew Dad's mind, with how modern RVs work (he used to have an RV trailer many, many years ago, this was his first time in an RV since then, and first time in a Motorhome).

Anyway, guess this is one you can chalk up to, sometimes you just need to stop worrying about all the minor, petty stuff, get out there and enjoy life. We've had an awesome trip, and this is the farthest we've taken the rig so far.

[willald]

beachcomber_1 wrote:
Quick note, to the best of my knowledge all four wheels need to be off the ground if towing that year CRV. After 2014 non can be towed flat.
Dolly would not meet that requirement.

We really, really all need to do a better job of researching things before throwing out advice on here. Otherwise you risk posting misinformation like this, and that makes this whole forum look.....Wellllll, like not a very good place to go for advice.

A front wheel drive 2018 CRV most certainly CAN be towed on a dolly just fine. And, that comes straight from the Honda dealer, who looked it up in the manual.

[ferndaleflyer]

Like I said we do it with a front wheel drive CRV. By the way the name of the dolly mfg In Fayetteville, NC is Master Tow

[rjstractor]

beachcomber_1 wrote:
Quick note, to the best of my knowledge all four wheels need to be off the ground if towing that year CRV. After 2014 non can be towed flat.
Dolly would not meet that requirement.

That would be the case on an AWD CRV. The OP's is FWD, so I can't imagine how dolly towing would be an issue.

[beachcomber_1]

Quick note, to the best of my knowledge all four wheels need to be off the ground if towing that year CRV. After 2014 non can be towed flat.
Dolly would not meet that requirement.

[willald]

camperdave wrote:
Sucks that they don't have surge brakes anymore. I rented dolly's from uhaul a few times over the last couple of years, and it was about 50/50 if they would have brakes or not, I assumed if you called and wanted one specifically with brakes they could do it. Guess not anymore huh?

The last one I rented (last summer) was sweet, had a nice foolproof Demco EZ latch coupler and surge brakes. It looked brand new.

Whoa, as recently as last summer you rented a Uhaul dolly and it had brakes?

I didn't see anywhere you could request one with surge brakes when making the reservation online. I might just call Uhaul and see if its possible to request such, as I'd most definitely prefer to have some kind of braking back there if possible. This isn't until April, so got plenty of time...

[camperdave]

Sucks that they don't have surge brakes anymore. I rented dolly's from uhaul a few times over the last couple of years, and it was about 50/50 if they would have brakes or not, I assumed if you called and wanted one specifically with brakes they could do it. Guess not anymore huh?

The last one I rented (last summer) was sweet, had a nice foolproof Demco EZ latch coupler and surge brakes. It looked brand new.

[willald]

We decided to go ahead and rent the Uhaul dolly and do this.

Trip isn't until April, but already reserved the Uhaul dolly and planning to do this with the dolly. Will plan on being extra cautious, and definitely going to take our time and not break any speed records. Planning on 3 overnight stays (two in campgrounds, one night boondocking), 3 days total on the road to get there.

Thanks to all, for your input, thoughts on this. It seems, this is one case where I was being a bit paranoid, and just need to relax, slow down, and enjoy the ride. 🙂

[willald]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
OK, want some advice from someone that has done just what you suggest with the same equipment? Here goes, we tow our 2018 FWD CRV all over on a dolly with no brakes. Does just fine from West Palm Beach to Cleveland, in the mountains and on the flat. Not sure about coming back with no weight on the dolly as it might get to bouncing, not really sure. There is a manufacturer in Fayetteville that sells them cheap with or without brakes. There you go.

Thank you, Ferndaleflyer, this helps a lot.

If we rent the dolly from uhaul, there would be no empty return trip, we’d rent it one way and drop it off in Maine. Think that’s what we gonna do.

[ferndaleflyer]

OK, want some advice from someone that has done just what you suggest with the same equipment? Here goes, we tow our 2018 FWD CRV all over on a dolly with no brakes. Does just fine from West Palm Beach to Cleveland, in the mountains and on the flat. Not sure about coming back with no weight on the dolly as it might get to bouncing, not really sure. There is a manufacturer in Fayetteville that sells them cheap with or without brakes. There you go.

[Tyler0215]

Rent the dolly from U Haul and go. They rent thousands a year with no problems.