Towing on car dolly

[Bayou Jack]

Looking for advise and experience towing on a car dolly. Just moved to motor home from fifth wheel. I plan to tow a Ford TBird with the rear axle on the dolly. What recommendations for the best dolly, or does it matter, and will I need tail lights on the car or are the lights on the dolly all that is required? Thanks.

[kenandterry]

What year of Tbird you talking?
I’m not sure of the rules for lighting a towed vehicle in ALL states, but if you value the Tbird at all……I’d make sure to light it. Afterall, the majority of the length of the Tbird will be hanging out well past the dolly lights.

[SeaDog]

go to harbor freight and get an inexpensive set of towing lights that are magnetic and place on the rear of the vehicle. I did this for years towing a full size pickup truck.

[kenandterry]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

go to harbor freight and get an inexpensive set of towing lights that are magnetic and place on the rear of the vehicle. I did this for years towing a full size pickup truck.

SeaDog……

I know you know we know what you’re saying, however, the OP said he’d be towing the Tbird with the rear axle on the dolly, thereby, towing his Tbird backwards. So, if he placed the magnetic towing lights on the rear of his vehicle like you did on your pickup truck, his towing lights would be farther back from the tail end of his Tbird than the dolly lights.

Geesh. I think I confused myself trying to explain this.

[SeaDog]

Ya I should have said "place them on the vehicle" sometimes I forget how careful you have to be when responding.

[Thurman]

My concern with towing any car backwards is the difference in the length from the towing axle, in this case the rear axle, to the end of the car. Most cars are longer from the center of the rear axle to say the rear bumper than from the front axle to the front bumper. I'm thinking clearance from the rear of the Thunderbird to the rear of the MH on turns, , ,

[SeaDog]

I'm wondering why this car needs to be towed backwards instead of front on the dolly or four down? Is it a problem with the transmission not getting lubrication? or is it not wanting to put tow miles on the car? just wondering

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Thurman

My concern with towing any car backwards is the difference in the length from the towing axle, in this case the rear axle, to the end of the car. Most cars are longer from the center of the rear axle to say the rear bumper than from the front axle to the front bumper. I'm thinking clearance from the rear of the Thunderbird to the rear of the MH on turns, , ,

That's the second difficulty. The first one is getting the car on the dolly. This is always tricky, and the dolly tongue could flip up--right into the fuel tank or bottom of the trunk.

My dolly experience is only secondhand, but I'm thinking this might be real hard to do.

[DocP]

I was always told that you shouldn't use a tow dolly to tow with the rear wheels on the dolly because the weight of the engine at the end of the dolly will increase the likelihood of a "pendulum" effect (i.e., tail wagging the dog). I'm certainly no expert on this, but just relaying what my Master Tow dolly dealer told me.

[jnadeau794]

I’ve worked for U-Haul for 38 years and have set up a ton of towing vehicles. DocP is absolutely correct. You can’t tow the car backwards because of not enough tongue weight on the tow vehicle and it will sway. Because of the weight of the TBird, that could easily be an out of control sway. Be Safe First

[Sunseeker16]

I tow with a dolly but with front wheels up. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. There are several comments as to why this guy's idea is not desirable. Can someone give information more than an opinion why this is a bad idea? I for one would like to know in case I run into trouble on the road. The one point I see as valid is the length of the vehicle from the rear axle center line to the rear bumper and turning radius.

[Sunseeker16]

Originally Posted by Bayou Jack

Looking for advise and experience towing on a car dolly. Just moved to motor home from fifth wheel. I plan to tow a Ford TBird with the rear axle on the dolly. What recommendations for the best dolly, or does it matter, and will I need tail lights on the car or are the lights on the dolly all that is required? Thanks.

So to answer your question, I use a Stehl tow dolly with electric brakes. I don't use lights on the end of the toad. One reason is the motorhome only has a 7 pin plug and the tow dolly requires a 7 pin plug, so, no place to plug in lights mounted at the end of the toad.

[n1acguy]

You have to make sure the front wheels lock straight ahead if you mount a rear drive car backwards. Most dollies turn by allowing the front strapped wheels to turn as you turn corners. It would be a bit dicey at best.

That said, it's hard enough to deal with a low profile car on a dolly, and loading backwards will be a lot harder to get centered.

[jimmarako]

Originally Posted by Sunseeker16

I tow with a dolly but with front wheels up. I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination. There are several comments as to why this guy's idea is not desirable. Can someone give information more than an opinion why this is a bad idea? I for one would like to know in case I run into trouble on the road. The one point I see as valid is the length of the vehicle from the rear axle center line to the rear bumper and turning radius.

My guess when towing backwards that people may think can happen. I do not know either way, but have always heard that light tongue weight is bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06_lbECEqSg

Jim M.

[melvinjo]

Why rear axle on dolly (to keep miles off the odo?) Remove the driveshaft: Takes about 10 min

Towing wth rear axle on dolly, and that thing will be the worst ride ever, Can you say sway?

[GolfingDave]

Check to be sure your front bumper clears the dolly when hooked up before you buy. I just helped a lady remove her front bumper as the dolly had initiated it. Was not a pretty sight.

[Chuck_S]

None of these towing problems exist with a proper car trailer.

Some cars can be towed all-wheels-down by some magic settings to disengage the transmission but I don't know if this one can -- check the owner's manual for flat towing but it seems you can't tow all four wheels down as you need a dolly for what wheels are "on the ground."

-- Chuck

[Niels Jensen]

I strongly agree with the advice NOT to tow your car backwards. You will be in a world of hurt if the front wheels turn even slightly while you're going down the road. Plus its a lot harder to back onto the dolly than to drive on in forward. As others have pointyed out, the weight distribution will be all wrong. Bottom line: Backwards is Backwards. Regarding the magnetic lights. They are a great idea and many states REQUIRE them. Go to your local police station and ask someone to pull the statues for you. I bought a set of the magentic lights and the magnets scratched the paint on my Kia Soul. The paint jobs on Kia's is lousy, but check your car out before ruining your paint. Most states require a brake system on the towed vehicle or the dolly if the vehicle being towed weights over 3,000 lbs. Its a good rule because your stopping distance is very compromised without a supplemental braking system. I urge you to buy a dolly with brakes. Final comment: Unless you are young and flexible, its difficult to crawl under the dolly to attach the straps and safety chains. Especially if its raining. If you are going to keep your motor home for awhile, please consider the "all wheels down" systems. You'll need a car that is OK to tow all wheels down, but in the long run you'll be much happier.

[MillMitch]

RWD (which I’m assuming this is) would need to have driveshaft removed to tow with nose on dolly. You can try it backwards and have someone watch while towing to see if it sways. Could also look for a smaller car hauler trailer. Tbirds were fairly small as I recall. Not as small as my old MG Midget [emoji3], but small’ish

[llr]

They at least used to have driveshaft disconnects available, then you wouldn't need to actually pull the driveshaft. Since rear drive is rare these day they may not be available anymore.