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Old 01-15-2020, 12:30 AM   #21
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Old 01-15-2020, 03:40 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by 16ACE27 View Post
I don'y knoe what "w/o" means, but you can't back up much with either a dolly or flat towing.
Key being much. As far as I have been told tow bars are very easy to damage. But with a dolly I can back up a few feet to clear something you misjudged. Like in a gas station.
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Old 01-15-2020, 03:43 PM   #23
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Old 01-15-2020, 05:56 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by petefoss View Post
Key being much. As far as I have been told tow bars are very easy to damage. But with a dolly I can back up a few feet to clear something you misjudged. Like in a gas station.
If the dolly has surge brakes you can not back up at all. The rearward pressure on the hitch will apply the dolly's surge brake and you may cause damage to something.
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Old 01-15-2020, 06:03 PM   #25
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Don't some of them have a mechanism that allows you to disable the brakes?
(For the purpose of backing up?)
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Old 01-15-2020, 06:15 PM   #26
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Originally Posted by Bob Denman View Post
Don't some of them have a mechanism that allows you to disable the brakes?
(For the purpose of backing up?)
Yes: Our Eze tow has a cam that you can use to effectively disable the surge brakes for backing up.

https://youtu.be/ZoizMRJ6aUo?t=96
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Old 01-15-2020, 06:28 PM   #27
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Don't some of them have a mechanism that allows you to disable the brakes?
(For the purpose of backing up?)
Some folks will say yes but I haven't seen a dolly where you can easily disconnect the surge brakes.
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Old 01-15-2020, 07:26 PM   #28
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Everything about towing is just like everything about RV's...everything is a sacrifice to something else.
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Old 01-15-2020, 07:32 PM   #29
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My favorite expressions are:

Pick your poison
Added costs only hurt a little while
Easy, better is best
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Old 01-15-2020, 07:48 PM   #30
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Our Acme Eze Tow has a small key that you put in a hole that disables the surge brakes.
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Old 01-17-2020, 08:53 AM   #31
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Originally Posted by 16ACE27 View Post
I don'y knoe what "w/o" means, but you can't back up much with either a dolly or flat towing.

That would mean "without"
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Old 01-18-2020, 01:23 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by EA37TS View Post
If the dolly has surge brakes you can not back up at all. The rearward pressure on the hitch will apply the dolly's surge brake and you may cause damage to something.
Mine has electric brakes.
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Old 01-21-2020, 12:04 AM   #33
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Hi-ho the Derry-o, it's a flat towed toad for us!
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Old 01-22-2020, 01:04 AM   #34
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We flat tow a 2019 Honda Fit, 6 speed manual, behind our 2017 Thor Gemini TR. This setup tows great. Good acceleration, even through the mountains of Virgina. We use the RVI3 braking system, which works good. It took us a little bit of time to get a small enough brake actuator to fit in the small drivers floor well.

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Old 01-22-2020, 01:05 AM   #35
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Flat Tow a Honda Fit

We flat tow a 2019 Honda Fit, 6 speed manual, behind our 2017 Thor Gemini TR. This setup tows great. Good acceleration, even through the mountains of Virgina. We use the RVI3 braking system, which works good. It took us a little bit of time to get a small enough brake actuator to fit in the small drivers floor well.

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Old 01-22-2020, 07:10 PM   #36
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I have search and read a bunch of the threads listing to pros and cons of tow dolly or tow bar. Seems as though there is not a firm consensus.

Here is our situation:
There are a couple of cars that we could tow. The most likely candidate is our 2013 Civic automatic.

We were given a hand me down Blue Ox with a bracket for some sort of Kia. We thought we would use the Blue Ox and get a bracket for the Civic and one of the brake systems. Even with owning the Blue Ox, the total cost seems to exceed a dolly and I am stuck with using one car. Plus the bracket for the Civic is not bolt on. There is a bunch of metal and plastic modifications to be done. All of which I can do myself. It seems expensive and limiting.

So we started looking at dolly's. They seems to be more flexible in that we can put any FWD on it. And the have a brake system included. I have a place at home to store it. Are they trouble in the camp ground? So far about half of the camping site we have been in are back ins so I would need to disconnect the dolly. Easy to move by hand? Do they seem to tuck away somewhere so I don't bust a shin on it while at the site?

Right now I am thinking the dolly is the the easy button.

Do I have that right?
Storage? At Home? at your campsite. 1 more hassle.
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Old 01-22-2020, 07:16 PM   #37
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Storage? At Home? at your campsite. 1 more hassle.

You can always change your mind and sell the dolly.
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Old 01-22-2020, 08:07 PM   #38
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Originally Posted by carlgorski View Post
Storage? At Home? at your campsite. 1 more hassle.
My Master Tow slides easily under the rear overhang of the coach with only a couple feet or so stinking out.
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Old 01-22-2020, 08:14 PM   #39
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Originally Posted by raffaelli View Post
I have search and read a bunch of the threads listing to pros and cons of tow dolly or tow bar. Seems as though there is not a firm consensus.

Here is our situation:
There are a couple of cars that we could tow. The most likely candidate is our 2013 Civic automatic.

We were given a hand me down Blue Ox with a bracket for some sort of Kia. We thought we would use the Blue Ox and get a bracket for the Civic and one of the brake systems. Even with owning the Blue Ox, the total cost seems to exceed a dolly and I am stuck with using one car. Plus the bracket for the Civic is not bolt on. There is a bunch of metal and plastic modifications to be done. All of which I can do myself. It seems expensive and limiting.

So we started looking at dolly's. They seems to be more flexible in that we can put any FWD on it. And the have a brake system included. I have a place at home to store it. Are they trouble in the camp ground? So far about half of the camping site we have been in are back ins so I would need to disconnect the dolly. Easy to move by hand? Do they seem to tuck away somewhere so I don't bust a shin on it while at the site?

Right now I am thinking the dolly is the the easy button.

Do I have that right?

I had the dolly, and I have been towing a 2011 ford fusion hybrid. The biggest problem I had was winching it up tight enough. You also have to check on the straps now and then because they tend to come lose. We bit our lip and invested in our fusion to have it all four wheels down. The cost was hefty, about $4000. So far we only towed it home, but it was a breeze. I hope its worth it in the long run for us. Either way it pulled the car fine.
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Old 01-22-2020, 08:51 PM   #40
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Originally Posted by TurnerFam View Post
we tow dollied our car at first, but 'negotiating' with the straps, chains, driving it up on the dolly, and getting down on hands and knees in the hot sun, rain, and sometimes in less-than-desirable 'muddy' places, grew old pretty quick. Moving the dolly out of the way, or to another location is also aggravating at times, and having to remove your car, and detach the dolly just to back into a site is not always an easy proposition, as every campground or rv park is different, some very, very tight, and others with few places to 'park' your dolly.
But, there are certainly folks who do it everyday, and don't think twice about it. You can get used to anything, if you will, and if you don't really 'move' places that often, it's just fine. If you find yourself traveling cross country and needing to disembark your vehicle almost at every stop, though, you may find out that it is one of those 'chores' you wish you didn't have to deal with.
What he said!!

We tow dollied for two years and after putting on a show for the RV park a couple of times trying to load the car in the rain, we sold it all and bought a 6-speed manual trans Mini Cooper that we have flat towed for about 5 years now.

While using the tow dolly, we carried the "dolly dolly" too. It certainly made handling the tow dolly easier when not on the hitch but what a pain in the posterior to carry otherwise.
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