Flat tow-vs Tow dolly

[BobC]

My primary interest in stand-up storage is for at home, not on the road.

[Diesel-Lover]

If Dolly has brakes and lights too, you can even put aux lights that either work your towed vehicle tail lights or magnet mount on the roof or side. Ya got the full montey. Main thing is Dolly who brakes when you brake and allows you to back up too a bit more than flat towed any way.
Flat towed, yea no dolly but then ya got the headache of brakes on the vehicle! yes a big pain in the bumper and neck too. Remember to provide power to the towed vehicle and also make sure the steering wheels or ignition is not locked straight and some towed vehicles tend to do the shimmy so ya gotta secure the wheel with a bungee so it comes back to neutral or straight..... Gotta make sure you have that solved the brakes thing too, think big bucks then you are wedded to that towed vehicle further financially with a tow set up yea you can get a movable brake, but then you gotts do some contortions to hook things up just so and as we age those contortions are big tougher in the drivers foot well and some of them units are kinda awkward and heavy.

Yes you gotta make sure you strap the towed car to the dolly but then you are done, with flat towed its similar you gotta hook up that rig any way, plus the lights and the braking mechanism. All in all trailer tow is easy but then you get a garage with you or a parking pad!, but you hafta secure the wheels to the trailer floor any way so dolly is just as good only the dolly is smaller and more open for the strapping which can be done without laying on the ground once you get a hang of things with a notched jig pole to get the strap around the tire. Which serves as a thumping tool for all the tires! ALWAYS have a CHECKLIST before wheels up and off to the "runaway".

Done all the above, flat tow cost us mega big as switching vehicles is costly costly costly, final process was Dolly With Brakes, right now we have a mocycle that rides on a hitch carrier, yes gotta strap it down too but can back up for miles if needed etc etc.

[sundog964]

Are there braking systems with the dolly towing options? Seems like that would be important. When I tow the race car, the full trailer has brakes.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by sundog964

Are there braking systems with the dolly towing options? Seems like that would be important. When I tow the race car, the full trailer has brakes.

Although less expensive brakeless models are available from many manufacturers, most models are equipped with either surge brakes or electric brakes. The electric brakes are activated via a brake controller in the tow vehicle while the surge brakes operate automatically.

For example, the Acme dolly I ordered comes with hydraulic, surge disk brakes.

[BSchulz]

:thumbI have had a tow dolly and used it for 5 years. I now own a jeep and flat tow. It seemed that whenever i needed to hook up the tow dolly it was either raining, on hot asphalt or in some rough gravel area that i had to lay down on to remove the safety chains. Same for hook up. Not to mention that it takes additional time in the morning to get ready to leave. With the flat tow I can unhook it less than 5 minutes and hook up is equally as fast no longer than 10 minutes even in the rain. Since the change I have not had to lay on the ground 1 time and when i'm finished the hook up the coffee is still hot in the RV. PS I'm not that young anymore and getting on the ground is not as easy as it used to be........ so I vote for flat towing.

[Reniram]

I have towed our cars (Honda and Mini Cooper) for many years to Florida (Snobirds) on our tow dolly and have yet to have any problems either on the road or at campgrounds..I believe the people having trouble with dollies are mostly older and have problems bending down to tighten the hold down straps.The other reason I have the dolly is the fact I can tow Any FWD car or truck without any modifications..to me its a no brainer

[Sullivanclan]

Flat towing hands down. So many that started with the dolly switched to flat towing. So easy to disconnect and use your road quickly!

[Bo Walker]

I don't care if you use a tow dolly or flat tow. I don't care if your partner drives the car/truck while you drive the motor home. I prefer to choose what works best for me and what I enjoy most.

BSchulz, said, getting on the ground isn't as easy as it used to be. I don't have a lot of trouble getting on the ground. I can go down pretty quickly. But, now, though I get up, I take a little longer. I have enjoyed getting old (74). But, I certainly didn't know it was going feel like this. However, I am very thankful to God that I am healthy and need no assistance in walking, running and thinking. Well, I never was too good at thinking.
Enjoy your tow. I'll keep flat towing.

[Diesel-Lover]

Braking systems for flat tow are a bit cumbersome if you opt for the "removable" type which need to be affixed to the brake pedal and that involves getting into the foot well of the drivers side of the car. Not an easy feat with limited flexibility or mobility. Not to mention the expense of that gizmo. Remember ya gotta have a breakaway least your rig fires a 3000 to 4500 plus pound missile or a terrapedo! Tow dolly with electrical brakes can easily have the breakaway thing as well, same for surge brakes... if buying new make sure its all on there. Yes Dolly that brakes is out there as mentioned above or one has to retrofit brakes on it (trailer brakes with brake-away kit).
Fastening the vehicle to the Dolly or a trailer is same straps and chains. Yes rain would make it a bit messy but with that removable braking thingie going into the drivers footwell the wetness feels the same and you get it into the car or jeep too. If you may change your towed (toad) dolly or trailer is the way to go forsure... by the time you put a baseplate, braking mechanism, electric and lights mechanism and leave the keys in your ignition to keep the steering from locking....
BUT in the END it is what it is to the one who requires the process and how they view it. Across the pond and above the border many will walk or bike in the rain/snow and take the public transport to work leaving the buggies at home out of an abundance of care for the tiny blue marble and their priorities and those of the government. Is it Montreal where they skate to work on a stream? I was most amazed to see that. Hope I do not step on anyones toes by posting this pic.

[AJMike]

I went through this process about a year ago so I can tell you what I have found.

We have been RV-ing for a fairly long time and we flat-towed our Jeep Libertys (yes, several) behind two of our RVs, but then downsized to a travel trailer and, after that, a Class B RV, neither of which required a toad for us to get around wherever we went. When we bought our Winnebago Fuse I realized that there was going to be a weight issue if we towed something because the RV can only tow a little over 3000 pounds.

Since DW only drives an automatic our only choice for a flat-tow car was a Ford Fiesta and it ended up with the choice of that car and flat-towing or some other small car and a dolly. We ended up choosing a dolly and a Honda Fit and have been satisfied with the decision.

Flat towing has several advantages - connecting and disconnecting is easier and it takes up less space at campgrounds - but using a dolly also has several advantages - it is less expensive (about $2000 vs $5000), the dolly can be used for multiple RVs and multiple cars and if you get one with brakes you don't have to worry about a separate braking system like you have to with a flat-towed car.

In the end I have found that the connecting and disconnecting that I worried about is not as difficult as I thought it would be. Connecting time has dropped from 90 minutes our first try to about 15-20 minutes our last try, and has been helped by using some special tie-down straps that we found on Amazon (here). I actually expect that the hookup time will continue to decrease because using these straps I don't have to crawl under anything. Disconnect time is less than 5 minutes and the space issue at camping sites is much less of an issue because I have found that I can store the dolly under the RV. And I have found that I do not need a separate set of tags for the dolly where I live in Arizona.

All in all I have been more than satisfied with the tow dolly I bought and although we don't take a toad on every trip, or even on the majority of trips, the cost was not so high as to make me regret the decision. Our biggest issue is that it takes up considerable space in our garage but if you buy one that can stand on its end that problem also largely disappears.

[Higshar]

As far as having to license your dolly I think it depends on what state or province you live in. I have a dolly and live in Ontario Canada and I do not require a plate for my dolly.

I also have the Acme tow dolly and have had no issues other than replacing tires and straps. I am 65 years old have rheumatoid arthritis. I use a thick foam pad for my knees. I also put a mat on the ground to put on the safety chains so I am not rolling around in the dirt. If it's raining I put on a rain coat. It takes me about 30 min. to load on the car and about 15min to unload it. Storage at the campground is never a problem as it can be rolled underneath the back of the motorhome. Yes..you have to get out and tighten the straps shortly into your trip and check them again at fuel or rest stops but that is no big deal as I am out stretching my legs anyway....I have never flat towed so I have no input on that. I also drive a car I want to drive not one that is determined by whether it can be flat towed....

[dhuse]

I flat tow. I have since '96. But I have yet to figure out how to hook everything up without getting on the ground. My 74 year old body does not contort enough to attach the safety chains by just bending down. Could someone please enlighten me? But that said, even with me sitting on the ground, connect or disconnect is still under ten minutes. Oh, yeah, I have always towed jeeps.

[Americanrascal]

Originally Posted by dhuse

I flat tow. I have since '96. But I have yet to figure out how to hook everything up without getting on the ground. My 74 year old body does not contort enough to attach the safety chains by just bending down. Could someone please enlighten me? But that said, even with me sitting on the ground, connect or disconnect is still under ten minutes. Oh, yeah, I have always towed jeeps.

You raise a good point-- and it's a point debated frequently on the forums. There is no doubt that adding safety chains to a point rearward of the front wheels sitting on the dolly can be an important safety feature.

I also think that different dolly manufacturers seem to approach this issue from different perspectives. My American Car Dolly is not set up for an extended safety chain to behind the towed car's front wheels to chassis. Depending on which vehicle I tow though I sometimes add an extra chain or strap through the spokes/openings in the front wheel and secure it forward to a dolly turn pan frame member. Other times-- depending on the vehicle I have on the dolly-- I just run only with the wheel straps well secured and properly checked--- and it's done just fine.The likelihood of both wheel straps failing or coming loose is not all that high. In 7 years of towing over 70,000 miles, I have only found one wheel strap loose enough to be of concern. But the strap held in place and the vehicle held perfectly with the transmission in park and the other strap properly secured-- so there is some redundancy. I check my straps at least every 2 hours of running.

So using this system I never am on the ground hooking up. Yea-- I do have to bend over a bit and that gets more painful each year-- I think that while it's getting tougher its probably good for me LOL

[Buddy’s RV]

We just got into flat towing in August . Towing a 2020 Ford Ranger with our 2018 View 24D Sprinter diesel . Use Blue Ox towing equipment . Could not be happier with the decision not to use a tow dolly . Very " easy - breezy " ! Highly recommend flat towing .

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Americanrascal

My American Car Dolly is not set up for an extended safety chain to behind the towed car's front wheels to chassis. Depending on which vehicle I tow though I sometimes add an extra chain or strap through the spokes/openings in the front wheel and secure it forward to a dolly turn pan frame member.

I also now use an American Car Dolly and I found that there is no easy way to use a safety chain because the dolly is not designed to use one and there is no easy place under our Honda Fit to attach a chain.

I have also solved that problem by using two 10,000 pound straps, one through each of the front wheels to make sure there is some backup for the regular tire tie-downs. I replaced the supplied tie-down straps with some from Amazon and now find that I can set up the dolly and car, including the extra safety straps, in less than 30 minutes without having to crawl under the car and practice keeps cutting that time down each try.

I was somewhat concerned about using a tow dolly as compared to flat-towing but no longer. The dolly has electric brakes so I don't have to worry about a brake buddy getting out of position or failing and the dolly has lights and signals. I have been quite pleased using the dolly and consider it a good replacement for flat-towing. If the Fit could be flat-towed I would have done that but the dolly works well and has been easy to use.

[jayelldouble]

Originally Posted by Buddy’s RV

We just got into flat towing in August . Towing a 2020 Ford Ranger with our 2018 View 24D Sprinter diesel . Use Blue Ox towing equipment . Could not be happier with the decision not to use a tow dolly . Very " easy - breezy " ! Highly recommend flat towing .

Have you weighed the Ranger? I've thought about replacing my Jeep with one but the published curb weights are a little too close to the maximum towing capacity of my 2016 Navion "G". Just curious about which model Ranger you have and how well it's working out as a toad.

thanks
John in San Diego