Thor Forums

[EA37TS]

Originally Posted by brussam

The states don't say if you have safety cables, you don't need brakes. Any trailer over 3000 lbs, or 1500 lbs in a lot of states, needs break-away brakes. That is why surge brakes are not offered as much any more because they did not meet the break-away requirement.

Safety cables are important. But in most cases, the safety cables are attached on the same hitch mount as the ball or tow bar. A failure of that attachment point, will let loose of both things.

As for a dolly/car combination, the dolly can disconnect from the tow vehicle but the tongue will tend to drop to the ground and cause a halt. That doesn't remove the requirements for brakes for the dolly as the dolly is rated for weight with the car loaded.

The surge brakes on my 2014 Master Tow meets the brake requirements of all 50 states and Canada. For breakaway protection, there is a cable that connects an actuator lever on the brakes to the tow hitch on the coach. If the dolly were to disconnect from the motor home the cable becoming tight would activate the dolly's brakes before the safety chains took hold.

Most tow dollies have 2 sets of safety chains. One set goes from the dolly to the hitch in the event of a break away and the second goes from the dolly bed to the car.

As to Chance's statement about transmission gear selection when using a dolly. The loading instructions for most dollies will state that after the car is loaded and the straps are tightened the transmission is to be placed in "Park" or in "Low Gear" for a manual transmission. This is to aid in the prevention of a car rolling off the dolly should a strap break. If the car, by some stroke of imagination, came off the dolly it would come to a stop rather than free wheel along the road.

As to laws, they differ from state to state. In Virginia a car being flat towed is considered a trailer and requires registration, supplemental braking (if over 3000 pounds) and if registered in Virginia a valid safety inspection. A car being towed with "two wheels off the ground" requires none of the above because it is considered a "car in tow". A tow dolly in Virginia does not require titling, registration, safety inspection or brakes.