Car Dolly

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Car Dolly

Postby raf24 » Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:17 am

Looking to buy a car dolly,any suggestions on make and model.What brakes are better surge or electric?Thanks Tim
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Postby Carl » Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:02 pm

I would go with electric. More responsive than surge. Only problem with electric is you have to set up your car/truck with a controller. Carl
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Car Dollly

Postby petenkathy » Thu Dec 30, 2010 4:18 pm

I agree with electric brakes. I also suggest you look for one with 14 inch tires. I have seen them with little tires and would be afraid of that. Mine has plastic fenders and I wouldn't get them again. I saw another rv'er that had been in snow with those and they broke. Mine have done alright but I stay out of the snow. Also under the fenders the wires plug into the lights and I have problems with mine coming loose when I travel. This is a pain and I haven't found a way to hold them in yet. I tried ties and that didn't work. I'm still working on that, anybody got any ideas?
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Re: Car Dollly

Postby Carl » Fri Dec 31, 2010 4:32 pm

petenkathy wrote:Also under the fenders the wires plug into the lights and I have problems with mine coming loose when I travel. This is a pain and I haven't found a way to hold them in yet. I tried ties and that didn't work. I'm still working on that, anybody got any ideas?


On my BILs tow dolly, we made up brackets similiar to those found on boat trailers and had them welded on the frame. His dolly had metal fenders but we still had problems with the darn lights mounted on the fenders. Carl
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Postby petenkathy » Fri Dec 31, 2010 5:28 pm

Good Idea as always from you Carl.
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Postby raf24 » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:03 pm

Do you need remote lights on the car or are the lights on the dolly enough?
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car dolly

Postby petenkathy » Sun Jan 02, 2011 7:15 pm

The lights on the trailer are enough, buuuttttt, being legal and safer are two different things. You are better off to put the extra lights on the car as the ones on the trailer are hard to see as they are hidden by the car. It's a safety thing.
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Postby raf24 » Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:30 am

Thanks alot for your help
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Postby Burnerman » Mon Jan 03, 2011 3:08 am

Go to this site, it has the info. that you need.
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/r ... t3.shtml#c
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Postby Cal » Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:15 pm

Burnerman wrote:Go to this site, it has the info. that you need.
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/pubs/r ... t3.shtml#c

Remember that is for Ontario and it may be different in other provinces or states.
I remember but cannot find a site that covers info state by state. Don't know if it covered Canada.
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Postby Carl » Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:32 am

On a dolly or not, it is always a good idea to use a set of magnetic lights on the car. They are not that expensive and can be used in many different situations. Carl
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Postby ron buckner » Tue Jan 04, 2011 4:40 pm

Carl,
I fully agree. Magnetic lights are almost always the simplest answer for towing a car. There are visibility issues involved with lights on a tow dolly that may or may not be applicable from one state to the next. And that leaves you open to a state troopers judgement and whatever "quota" they don't have to worry about.
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Postby Carl » Tue Jan 04, 2011 5:14 pm

Ron, whenever I tow my 66VW behind my motorhome, I use magnetic lights. One trip I had my girl friend tell me whether they were working or not. She said all was OK. Before we got from our home, a state trooper began to follow me. I wasn't worried because I knew they were working. As we got on the off ramp headed to the turnpike, the trooper pulled me over and told me politely that my lights were not working right. I had my GF hit the turn signal lever. Sure enough, I had installed them on the roof of the bug backwards. Trooper and I had a good laugh but I was glad he had pulled me over. Moral of the story, always check your lights yourself. Carl
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Postby Haffie » Wed Jan 05, 2011 5:24 am

Heya Carl,

She could have replied "Not they are working, now they are not, now they are, now they are not....... :lol:

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Postby ron buckner » Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:23 pm

I find the issue I have with "magnetic lights" really has nothing to do with the lights. It's finding the right place to store them and the harness, and how much stuff I have to move to get to them, our storage was pretty confined. We actually changed our tow car (went to a Saturn Vue - no more tow dolly), and this was one of the reasons why. But now come on thinking of it, I think thats the bigger problem I have with everything involved with that darned RV. Its like every move has to be a carefully thought out chess manuever,
Spent my youth working on RV's with my Dad. I'm just coming back to them now and found my child hood was not a total waste.
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