Towing a VW Beetle or? on an Acme Tow Dolly

[seb1899]

I sold my Diesel Silverado and we now have only one car a Hyundai Azera.

We acquired a new Fleetwood Tioga Montera and I plan on buying a second car and I would like a Beetle Convertible (lost youth ha ha) and might tow it with an Acme Tow Dolly that is made in Kernersville a little west of Raleigh.

My question is do some cars tow better on a dolly than others? My first thought was for a Fiat 500 about 2500 lbs curb weight but now lean towards a VW at about 3000lbs curb weight. ( Fiat's past record in North America is not good) I think a VW would be more easily serviced in NA but will it tow/track on a dolly or are their better models to consider? Volvo or ??

[willald]

seb1899 wrote:
Glad everyone is happy towing 4 down but that is not an option for me.

The Acme dolly is light weight, can be stood up or stowed mostly under the m/h. I would like the option of buying/selling a front wheel drive car with no investment in braking etc.The Acme dolly has surge brakes and would be readily saleable should I do not want to continue to tow and is reasonable in cost...

I tow 4 down now, but I towed with an Acme dolly before and agree 100% with you on it. The Acme due to its design almost eliminates a lot of the disadvantages people frequently associate with dolly towing.

We were able to stow ours almost completely under the MH when camping - it takes up less space back there than even the foldable Demco Kar Kaddy SS that costs 3 times as much. Really like the separate, detachable ramps - eliminates the risk of the ramps hitting bottom of your car like can happen on dollies with fixed ramps. As you said, the surge hydraulic disc brakes are a really nice feature, too, that not many dollies come with.

Also, not sure if you've noticed or not, but the way the Acme is designed with its smaller wheels and fenders, you can turn really, really sharp turns with it, and there is almost no chance of its fenders making contact with the front fenders of your towed vehicle. And, it does that without using a pivot table or steerable wheels. Really nice design, IMO, that nothing else really compares to.

'Tis also the only dolly I found anywhere, that would handle heavier vehicles like a 4500 lb minivan, but was still light enough to allow you to tow such a vehicle and stay under the 5,000 lb limit so many MH hitch receivers have.

Like so many, we prefer flat towing, but would have no problem going back to dolly towing if circumstances changed and required such. However, it would ONLY be with an Acme EZE dolly.

I wouldn't worry about a specific model of car towing better or worse behind a dolly. As long as the car is within the tow dolly's weight and width limits (not an issue with the Acme), you should be fine.

[j-d]

I should have added, to answer your Dolly Security Question, there are ANY Number of "trailer locks" that secure your Coupler, hobble your Wheel(s) etc. etc. Just saw a trailer lock that was sort of like the "Boot" that police use against repeat parking offenders.

I think a piece of quality chain through a hole in a wheel and around the dolly frame, secured with a good padlock, would be a good approach.

[wbwood]

We put the ACME. We out the tow dolly at the end of the campsite and the coach over the tow dolly. It will go over about half to two thirds of it.

[j-d]

It's good to have a trailer hitch on the vehicle that you tow on the dolly. Then you can use your towed vehicle to handle the dolly.

[stargirl96]

We have never used a tow dolly but may have to if we get the class c motorhome we're looking at. When you get to a campground, what do you do with the tow dolly? How do you keep it secure when you're away from the campsite?

[FireGuard]

Towing my VW Bug TDI 5 speed was what I wanted to do and ordered a Blue Ox base plate.
After a PIA 4 hrs I got the front of the car taken apart and was already to mount the plate, but it wouldn't fit because I have an aftermarket heavy duty skid plate to protect the venerable oil pan on the VWs. 1 large rock or pothole can ruin your engine.
It took about 6 hrs to put the car back together. What a pain with all the plastic parts.
So, I bought a Jeep and it took about 2 hrs total to mount the base plate.
I looked at the Acme tow dollys and they seem to work well.
I believe the front wheels need to be able to turn left/right with the dolly and with my car the key needs to be turned to the first position to unlock the steering. This pos will drain the battery. If yours is the same, you will have to find a way to keep from draining the battery.
I think this would be a good option for you.

[gwol]

seb1899
I tow a 1963.
See the attached post

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27667983/gotomsg/27776332.cfm#27776332


No break system (under 1,500lb.) easy to set up.

[wbwood]

We have the ACME tow dolly. Picked it up in Kernersville ourselves. We tow a Toyota Yaris (weight in the 2000 lb range). The tow dolly is good up to 5000 lbs. We love it. And for $1300 with surge brakes, it can't get any better. We did a trip down to Destin Florida with it and back. No issues at all. Stayed in 3 different campgrounds. Unhooked and hooked at each with no problem. Takes no more than 10 minutes max to hook up. The ACME is the lightest one made. The first campground was a pull through and we didn't have to disconnect it. The second campground, we unhooked the car at check in and when I got to the site, I got out, unhooked the dolly and pushed it to the back of the site and set it down. My wife guided me with the RV into the site and I was able to back over the dolly, where only a couple feet stuck out. When we went to the next campsite down the road, I unhooked it at the site and was able to roll it off to the side as the entire site was gravel. It was out of the way. We store it in our garage. It can be stored in the upright position if you have some 4x4 wood blocks.

It is by far cheaper to do it this way over 4 wheels downs. A base plate for the car was over $300 alone and that is not including installation. Installation is also going involved cutting the fascia, which I was not happy about. Plus if I trade in this car, I gotta start all over with the base plate thing. I'm good with the dolly. You also have to include the tow bar, braking, lighting and etc. A coworker priced out getting a car set up 4 down for his Class C and he was quoted twice as much as I paid for the dolly. For being a weekend warrior camper and maybe a couple weeks out of the year for vacation, we feel this was the best decision for us.

[Tom_Barb]

If I'm Pulling a trailer, ( a tow dolly is a trailer) I putting all 4 up. Then it doesn't matter what car.

[kjburns]

I have a Fiesta ST and use an Acme dolly. I don't think the car matters much in this equation. Almost any FWD car will work equally well, including the Beetle. The Azera would work too.

My car is pretty low and it went up the ramps without scraping. I have only pulled it once, but it wasn't a problem at all. Four down is preferable, but that's the price we pay to drive some cars. Fiestas are generally towable, but not the ST.

[seb1899]

Glad everyone is happy towing 4 down but that is not an option for me.

The Acme dolly is light weight, can be stood up or stowed mostly under the m/h. I would like the option of buying/selling a front wheel drive car with no investment in braking etc.The Acme dolly has surge brakes and would be readily saleable should I do not want to continue to tow and is reasonable in cost. The car HAS to be an automatic as DW has never been able to master a standard.

I just wanted opinions if any models on a dolly performed better than others

[AKsnowcampers]

We put 10k last year towing our 2010 VW Jetta sport wagon TDI
with a manual 6 speed trans 4-down with no problem. Works good
Ken

[ed6713]

When you get to your camping area, a tow dolly can be a real PITA. One more thing to deal with, park, and haul around. Towing four down is , by far, a better choice.

[Tom_Barb]

We towed our type1 baja 4 down never a problem. just a tow bar and a light set. no brakes required. it went every where we did for several years.