Learn me: Tow Dollies

All of my towing duties are currently handled by a 16' deck utility trailer with ramps and a winch.  The ramps aren't really long enough, so I often have to put the rear wheels of the tow vehicle up on oil change ramps to get the angle right.  The rails on the utility trailer make it impossible to open the door of the trailered car, so I either have to climb out the window or through a back hatch or just leave everything in neutral and winch it on and off.  All of that is livable for taking the Neon to rallycrosses and dragging Biturbos out of fields and stuff, but the other use case that we have is to be able to take a car with us behind the motorhome.  That means taking the Mazda 5 which means crawling in and out through the rear hatch and it also means having to find a place to put the trailer when we arrive at a campground.  Some places are fine with us unloading the car, dropping the trailing in a parking lot, and then proceeding to our site, but others don't really have a good place to do that.  On top of that, it's a not insignificant amount of work to get a car loaded and unloaded from the trailer, especially with having to crawl through.  Granted, that might get a little easier now since I just bought a set of those over-the-wheel straps, but still.  The other problem is that the 5 is about 3,500lbs and the trailer is at least 1,500lbs, if not more like 2,000.  That puts us a little bit north of the 5,000lb capacity of the motorhome.

I've thought about getting a Blue Ox setup to flat tow, but that really limits our selection of tow vehicle.  Mazda says the 5 can't be flat towed, and if I kept the trailer, whatever vehicle I replace the Mercedes with would have to be able to tow at least 5k pounds, seat 5 plus a couple dogs for at least a short drive, and weigh under 5k pounds.  Oh, and also have heated and cooled leather seats, adaptive cruise, heated steering wheel, rain-sensing wipers, and so on.  The wife has no interest in letting the Mazda 5 go.  So that pretty much rules out flat towing.

That brings me to tow dollies.  That would allow us to take the Mazda 5 with us behind the motorhome, and I could use it to take the Neon to and from events.  Anything that we bought to eventually replace the 5 would have to be FWD, of course.  I wouldn't be able to winch up a non-runner or tow home anything AWD or RWD without pulling a driveshaft.  But I could always rent a trailer for those sorts of adventures.  I'd need a little less space to store the dolly which means that I could easily stash it at pretty much any campsite.  I might keep the trailer and a dolly, but, really, I would prefer to have only one or the other.

I see a lot of tow dollies for sale in various price ranges, but they all seem to have flat-four wiring connectors, meaning no brakes.  I've used a Uhaul dolly once about 20 years ago and I think it had surge brakes, but most of the ones I see for sale on Marketplace don't appear to have that, either.  So question number one:  Would I be okay without brakes or would it be worth the effort to add them?  It seems like some dollies have bolted-on hubs/spindles that can be removed and replaced with ones that have electric brakes for not a crazy-huge amount of cash.

Next question:  Let's assume that the rallyx car has died in some fashion but the rear wheels are still turning okay and the front is together enough to be able to sit on its own wheels.  Can the car be jacked up and the dolly slid underneath?  Is there a realistic option for getting a dead car on a dolly?

What about a RWD?  Let's say I wanted to take the Miata with me because it would just be the wife and I on a trip.  Can the rear wheels be put on the dolly and the steering secured in some way or is that just a Bad Idea?

The tow vehicle is currently der Scheißwagen, but will become... something else before too much longer, I would assume.  The RV is a 35' long 2007 Winnebago built on a Ford F53 chassis.  My rallycross route has some hills, but nothing tremendously extreme at this point.  Camping, however, often takes us down I75 through Tennessee, so some mountain driving is to be expected.

Knowledgeify me!

wae said:

 

Is there a realistic option for getting a dead car on a dolly?

What about a RWD?  Let's say I wanted to take the Miata with me because it would just be the wife and I on a trip.  Can the rear wheels be put on the dolly and the steering secured in some way or is that just a Bad Idea?

 

1. Jacking up the car and getting the dolly under doesn't work well, the jacks get in the way. I've pushed multiple cars onto a dolly, but it takes at least two people. A winch would work.

2. Nope. Pull the driveshaft and put the front wheels on it.
 

I'll respond to all of this when I get home as a guy that only uses tow dollies

I've been using the E36 M3 out of my tow dolly.  It's a former U-Haul unit, but it doesn't have brakes.

I've loaded SEVERAL, non running cars onto it (I'm looking at you junk Pruii) and I've only ever used an actual come-along to load them.  I pulled my sons manual transmission Mustang with the tears on the ground (although it was just over 10 miles).

I drug that last one over a thousand miles home from Georgia.

So, I'd recommend it 

So some thoughts now that I'm finally home for the night. I bought a Demco car caddy because it has surge brakes and an articulated axle instead of the tilting wheel bed like most other designs. It also has built-in straps and a few other features that just make it a much nicer piece of equipment.

I typically use a come along to load up non-running cars that I can't push up onto it which has only been once or twice. Usually if you can get a little bit of a roll in my experience it'll roll right up on it as they tilt the bed down for loading.

Surge breaks make it tow very nice and easy.

Rear wheel drive cars with a manual transmission can generally be towed rear wheel on the ground however automatics generally cannot. You can put the rear wheels on the tow dolly and it's fine as long as you lock the steering wheel with the wheels pointed straight ahead. You also have to have the steering wheel locked with the front wheels loaded on the dolly and strapped down or the tires will walk themselves out of the straps. Ask me how I know.

Only time I've ever had to disconnect the drive shaft was all wheel drive.

I think that answers all your questions. 

My cars on my dolly: gmt400, legacy 2.5gt, 4 neons, 6 miatas, 2 70-76 dusters, winston cup car, amc spirit, mazda5, mazda6, protege5, couple of camrys, a few datsun z cars, and whatever the hell my buddies have used it for that ive forgotten. Failures: 2. Both from unlocked steering wheels. 

Not tow dolly related directly, but many of the Jeep awd/4wd products can be flat towed (or on a dolly) by placing the transfer case in neutral. 

You could potentially go with something like a grand Cherokee and get the leather, seating for 5, plus room in the back for dogs. Get the right options and you could have a towing capacity sufficient for your trailer or a tow dolly to haul your rallycross car. 
 

Edit: I thought I read in a different post that manual transmissions can have issue with flat towing for long distances. The reason given was that in neutral the countershaft isn't rotating, so the lube settles in the bottom of the trans rather than being slung around the rotating assembly by the countershaft gears. 

Awesome info, thank you all!

Follow-up question: What method do you use to lock the steering?  Just the regular ignition lock or is there something more that needs to be done?

Oh, and as far as tires are concerned, are those just regular trailer tires or are you using truck tires?  I assume you're airing them way down when the dolly is unloaded?

Funny story...  I was having this conversation with my wife as we were on our way to the landfill to dispose of a bunch of stuff and her reaction was that we should have both, so....

When I had a tow dolly I did a lot of miles towing the Miata in neutral with the driveshaft connected. Ignition lock only to secure the steering. 

The transmission later blew up (input shaft broke), possibly related?

I used regular car tires on the dolly wheels, because I was cheap and got them used and the dolly was not in good shape and chewed up tires quickly. 

No issue with not having brakes on the dolly, even towing it with the Volvo wagon. 

Ignition lock only. Occasionally ill add a seatbelt wrap if i feel it necessary  

Im using regular trailer tires on my dolly cause i couldn't find 10 ply in the right size. I air them way down when unloaded so it doesn't bounce all over. 40psi when car is loaded. 

I use a 1/2 ton gmt400 so brakes on my dolly were mandatory.