Forum Discussion

jcoygcsc's avatar
jcoygcsc
Explorer
Feb 15, 2014

Towing a 2013 Silverado 2WD with tow dolly

I'm trying to find out the best way to tow my truck, I've been told that a tow dolly would be best since GM does not recommend towing 2WD on all four wheels, they indicate that I should also tow it with the rear wheels on the dolly. Does anyone here have any experience doing this?
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    If you had a bigger MH/DP I'd say no problem contrary to what others will post. Because of the huge amount of rear overhang on your 32' MH I'd recommend renting a dolly with surge brakes and try it. Use the seat belt to lock the steering wheel, not just the steering wheel lock. You will hear that you cannot do it because of the caster/camber/toe-in being wrong with it going backwards. Might want to click on "How I tow" below and with over 75K miles of being backwards there are no adverse affects of doing this. A vehicle on a dolly backwards is not as stable as one on the normal way.
    OP, my concern is that doing this could increase the amount of wag you will get from this combo hence renting a dolly first. At 45 mph clear of other traffic give the MH some left/right steering input. If you immediately go back to straight ahead without any wag, then try it again with even more L/R. As long as the tail does not want to wag the dog then I'd go for it. If the wag does not stop on it's own then you have too much overhang and too much tail to do this safely. Your Silverado is plenty big even if you could tow it four down.
  • Either get under it and disconnect the driveshaft, or get a driveshaft disconnect, and tow it four down.
    I once had a Datsun 2 wheel drive diesel pickup that could not be towed four down. I could get under there, remove the clamps from the differential yoke, wrap the u-joint caps with tape to hold them in place, and tie the driveshaft up out of the way in about 5 minutes. Upon arrival at our destination, it took another five minutes to put it back into driving configuration.
    Saving the several hundred dollars for a driveshaft disconnect was well worth the 10 minutes out of each trip, IMO.
  • Why not get a drive shaft disconnect for the rear wheels and tow it 4 down? That is what I would do.
  • I Would tow it with the front wheels on the dolly and disconnect the drive shaft. I wouldn't feel comfortable towing with only the steer axle down, but that's just me.