| [GMCnet] How I learned to live with a good tow dolly [message #312729] |
Wed, 01 February 2017 17:35  |
glwgmc
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
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Background. We full timed in a rolling condo for four years back at the turn of the century (sounds like a long time ago, doesn't it). With all that hp and torque we easily towed a Subaru Outback four wheels down. In the 15 years we have owned GMCs we never saw the need to tow until this year. We are not getting any younger and SHE doesn't like to ride her bike as far as she once did, so we decided to buy a tow car.
First requirement was a fully modern car with an auto trans, air bags, crumple zones, etc., and one that could carry four in a pinch. Both of our coaches (1978 Royale and 1977/1994 Clasco) are geared 3.67 and have very strong new 455 engines, but we live in the mountains of southern Oregon so we wanted the smallest, lightest, fun to drive car we could find even if that meant using a tow dolly. A new Fiat Abarth filled the bill well for us on all counts. At 2500 pounds and a bit less than 12 feet long it seems perfect for our needs. The "issue" was that it required a tow dolly and we had no experience with those. We have heard all kinds of horror stories about how much of a hassle they are so went into this with a lot of trepidation.
What we have learned so far. The horror stories about hassle are wrong, at least for the combination of car and dolly we selected. It is a little less handy than towing four down but not by much. And, towing on a dolly like we use involves no mechanical drag so it is easier to tow this way than four down even for the same car.
We found toe dollies come in two basic flavors - the common type which has a pivot point so the car wheels stay straight and the tow dolly articulates around corners, and a newer design where the tow dolly is rigid and the strapped down wheels pivot on the cars own suspension system as you go around a corner. We selected the latter type made by Acme Tow Dolly company.
It is a very robust constructed unit that can carry up to a 5500 pound vehicle (IIRC) riding on special small, wide, load range E tires so load height is exceptionally low to clear even this very low Fiat Abarth. I wanted to keep the hitch raised enough that we did not have to worry about scraping on dips in the road so used a hitch drop 2" less than recommended. To compensate I built a 1.5" thick platform under both wheels so the front member would not scrape on any part of the bottom of the very low car while loading or while going down the road.
It works like a charm and is quick to load or unload. I do find the weight on the unloaded dolly a bit of an handful for me to move around on my own, so to make it easier to move around I purchased a robustly built aluminum two wheeled trailer dolly. Slick! Stick the ball under the hitch, push down on the handle and the tow dolly suddenly is easy to move around manually. This tow dolly also stores standing up right so you can nestle it behind the coach even in back in sites.
Since there are no pins to pull, no pivot points and the very low load height, this tow dolly is very strong and rigid. The cars own chassis takes all the road shock just as though you were driving the car over the same roads so there is no extra load or wear on it. From what we found in our research, I would caution you to examine carefully the more common tow dolly designs as I found many looked to me to be way to flimsy and flexible to be very useful over the long run. Looking at tow dollies along the way on this trip has confirmed that concern. Lots,of junk out here in tow dolly land.
We are now about 1500 miles into our winter trip to Mexico and the whole experience with this Acme Tow Dolly has been far more positive than I expected. If it stays like this for the next 3000 or so miles I might even change the title to, "How I learned to like living with a tow dolly".
Jerry
Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed & hand crafted
in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building
in historic Kerby, OR
http://jerrywork.com
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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
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