Tow Dolly or towed vehicle ?

Hi.Trying to decide which method is better .We have a 2006 Mustang which Ford says cant be flat towed,and A 2015 Traverse .If we flat tow Traverse it will put miles on it,which I don't really want to do if I'm not driving it.That eliminates the tow bar which everyone says is easier to hitch and unhitch.If I go with the dolly do they all come with brakes?Do I need additional safety straps in addition to wheel straps?Or just wheel strap?What do you guys do with the dolly after you are in the camp site?Some of the campsites don't look like there big enough for a car +  dolly .We tried renting a car last time,but that wound up being expensive.Would use car for eating out,shopping,sightseeing,etc .Thanks for any suggestion you may have.

Dollies can be bought with, or without brakes, but most states require some braking mechanism, so if you get a dolly, probably should go with one with brakes.

Dollies also can add significant weight load to your towing package. And, as you mentioned, they do create some adventures with some campgrounds.

From all of my research, I plan to stay with vehicles that can be flat-towed.

This site has a lot of good info on Dollies.
https://rv-roadtrips.thefuntimesguide.com/rv-tow-dolly/

I don't know of any vehicle putting miles on the odometer while being towed on 4 wheels. Is the Traverse different?

Your Traverse is 4-down towable as is, and your Mustang could be towed 4-down with a drive shaft disconnect installed. As said, most modern vehicles do not add mileage to the odometer when in tow.

As far as I know it is a stock Traverse.I haven't done anything to it.I'm 73 so disconnecting the drive shaft isn't a option for me .Do I need to do anything special to Traverse to not add miles on  it?I said adding miles because thats what 'people' told us about flat towing.I have no idea about it .

You definitely want brakes on any dolly. Many states require them and just for stopping safety and potential liability. We have an Acme EZ Tow dolly that came with surge disc brakes.  You will have the tire straps and safety chains to hook from the car to the dolly.  In addition, in most states, you will need another set of brake lights to put on the back of your car unless the ones on the cars activate with your dolly brakes.  We bought a set of magnetic lights for the toad which are amber on the front and red on the back. This allows me to verify they are working because I can see the amber in my backup camera.  Towing 4 down is more convenient and quicker to hook/unhook, but more expensive than a dolly and with a dolly you aren't stuck with only one car that you take.  If you decide on the dolly route, check the length of the ramps that you load with.  Some that have attached ramps have a very steep angle of attack making loading impossible for a low profile car.  Our EZ Tow has removable ramps that are fairly long so we can load our PT Cruiser.  The air dam does scrape though . . .  Our dolly is light enough I could roll it around by hand and pretty much stash it under the back of the MH.  We only boondock on land we own so not a problem.  They come with a brake lockout so after you unload, you can back up with it attached.  It is pretty twitchy but you can do it.  With the toad on it you can back up a little if you are in a straight line and watch the camera like a hawk!

fred1845 said:

As far as I know it is a stock Traverse.I haven't done anything to it.I'm 73 so disconnecting the drive shaft isn't a option for me .Do I need to do anything special to Traverse to not add miles on  it?I said adding miles because thats what 'people' told us about flat towing.I have no idea about it .

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There are mechanical drive shaft disconnects that can be operated from the driver's seat that could be fitted to your Mustang. The Traverse needs nothing added to keep the odometer from recording mileage. Since the advent of all the electronic sensors in cars, the old mechanical cable driven speed/odometers have been extremely rare. Modern setups need the ignition on before the computer can add mileage. Oh, and I'm 73 as well, and while I'm still capable of disconnecting a drive shaft, I'd much prefer to just sit in the driver's sear and operate a cable release if the Mustang was my choice of toad.

If we flat tow Traverse it will put miles on it,which I don't really want to do if I'm not driving it.

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Don't know where you got that info, but it is incorrect. The Traverse doesn't accrue miles, at least not if you follow the tow instruction in the owner manual. And if you don't follow the instructions, mileage is the least of your concerns, since you will soon need a new transmission as well.

We have towed An Acadia, a sister to the Traverse, for over 50k miles without a blip.

SUMMARY:

You can tow the Traverse 4 down.  You will need a base plate to connect to your tow bar.  You will need brakes.  You will need lights on the tow.  Ready Brute is a tow bar AND brake system in one package and is fairly simple to connect.

The Mustang can not be towed either 4 down or on a dolly unless it has a drive shaft disconnect.

Neither car will accumulate mileage while being towed.  Both would accumulate tire wear.

fred1845 said:

As far as I know it is a stock Traverse.I haven't done anything to it.I'm 73 so disconnecting the drive shaft isn't a option for me .Do I need to do anything special to Traverse to not add miles on  it?I said adding miles because thats what 'people' told us about flat towing.I have no idea about it .

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Fred, Stop listening to people who don't know what they are talking about.
The Traverse WILL NOT ADD MILES WHEN FLAT TOWED.
Flat towing is much easier on a 73 year old than loading and unloading a dolly.
Happy New Year.
Bill

Like I said,I was asking questions since I am new at this.Disconnecting drive shaft make sense since Mustang in a rear wheel drive. I'm assuming installation for tow bar needs to be done by a professional .How do you hook up lights on tow vehicle?This is a tougher decision then I thought .

Fred, I use Blue Ox towbar and baseplate and I installed their led bulbs so I had a separate system not tied into my Honda wiring. I didn't want any questions if a warranty issue came up.The common practise is to tie into the car's wiring for the brake and tail lights.
http://blueox.com/products/
Just so you know, you don't need to crawl under your Mustang everytime you want to conect or disconect the driveshaft.
http://www.remcodsc.com/driveShaft.php
Yes if you arn't mechanically inclined  and in shape to do the work you will need to take it to someone to install the baseplate and the wiring harness. You don't need extra lights on the back of your car, use the stock lights or add bulbs to the existing lights.
Bill

Adding a driveshaft disconnect will cost well over $1000 and you still need all the other stuff (base plates, tow bar, braking and lighting).

There are several alternative for stop/turn/tail lights and the details can vary depending on how the car itself is wired. The three basic chocies are:
1. Splice wires from the coach system to existing car bulb fixtures
2. Add additional & independent bulbs to the existing fixtures and wire to them to the coach system
3. Externally mount independent, portable lights, e.g. magnetic base light fixtures

#1 can be complex on newer vehicles with digital-control multiplex lighting systems. Have to make sure the wires from the coach are spliced into the actual bulb power feeds and not the control lines. Diodes are also usually needed to prevent current backflow. There are kits available for this that include instructions, though, and a handyman type can do it himself.
There may also be a requirement to mate incompatible light systems, i.e. either coach or car may have  separate stop & turn signals or integrated ones. There are adapter kits available to handle the various combinations of that as well, so the only complexity is identifying what you have.

A handy person can mount the base plates too. It's just basic wrench-work, but on most newer cars involves removing a lot of fascia to get at the vehicle frame. Most people hire a hitch shop, though.

I suggest you go to a place that sells Tow Dolly's and ask them if you can push one around their parking lot three times. Do that while it is dark and raining. If they have some crushed gravel road surface push it over that too while you are at it.

Then go and find a place that will install all the necessary equipment to flat tow your Traverse. Have it all installed and be on your way.

I'm 72...you couldn't pay me to use a dolly. 

Arch is right - moving an empty dolly around is a PITA (I'm a reasonably fit 72 as well). We used one last year to move our car just twice, to our summer campsite and then back home again. Had to get help to move the empty dolly on anything other than level pavement. It's awkward for one person, even with a wheel added to the tongue. No comparison to the insignificant physical effort for a 4-down tow rig.

Look around you can probbabley find a used "brake buddy" of similar devise and a used towbar. I would use a new baseplate.
Bill

Make sure your RV is capable of towing the Traverse, weight wise... it's a pretty heavy SUV (I have a new-to-me 2013).  Also I am wondering if the AWD version has any additional limitation for 4-down towing, so check into that as well if yours is AWD over the stock FWD.

I always like the versatility and portability of using a tow dolly (when we had our motorhome), and getting down on the ground for strapping/connecting didn't bother me.  Plus I did not want to spend the additional money on setting up a single vehicle for 4-down towing.  But I was in my early 30's when I was using our dolly, which I'm guessing is a little different than doing the same in your early 70's.   

I'll say the same thing about a brake buddy.  Go get one, get on your hands and knees and attach it to the brake pedal and then plug it in. Do that at night while it is raining. 

What happens is you tend to not hook it up because of the hassle.

So go buy a good  brake system that is permanently installed and out of sight.

scottydl said:

Make sure your RV is capable of towing the Traverse, weight wise... it's a pretty heavy SUV (I have a new-to-me 2013).  Also I am wondering if the AWD version has any additional limitation for 4-down towing, so check into that as well if yours is AWD over the stock FWD.

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Both versions of the Traverse are 4-down towable as is according to the Remco towing site.

You can get magnetic lights that use the trailor plug on the rear of your motor home for your lights if you don't want to do a permanent install at a fairly reasonable cost. BTW, I am 75 and have towed with a dolly and 4 down and would never go back to a dolly.