Car dolly brakes

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

chaz1040

Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Posts
15
Location
Bellingham, WA
I have a 2002 Gulfstream 40 foot DP with air brakes. I am looking at buying a car dolly to tow my Hyundai Elantra, which has a curb weight around 2,700lbs. Do I need a car dolly with its own braking system or will the motorhome handle the extra load?
 
A dolly with brakes is no that much more than one without,  cheap insurance.  Requirements change from state to state, so  it may also depend on where you live or travel.

The car is light enough that you might be able to get by, but I wouldn't try it.
 
chaz1040 said:
I have a 2002 Gulfstream 40 foot DP with air brakes. I am looking at buying a car dolly to tow my Hyundai Elantra, which has a curb weight around 2,700lbs. Do I need a car dolly with its own braking system or will the motorhome handle the extra load?
Yes you need brakes on the dolly. I have a Acmey with surge disk brakes and it works well.
Bill
 
I also have an ACME EZ tow dolly for my Hyundai Azera. It's surge brakes proved to be great this past month during our vacation to the Smoky Mountains.

Many states demand dolly brakes, some demand brakes if towing over 2,000 lbs. It will depend on where you live and where you plan on traveling. For peace of mind, I would spend the extra couple hundred and get the brakes.
 
Even if the coach has enough excess braking capacity to stop the car & dolly, the stopping distance will ALWAYS be shorter if the dolly has brakes. ALWAYS!  Let's say you are towing a 4000 lb car on a 400 lb dolly. That's 4400 extra lbs that need to be brought to a halt on every stop. That's about 15% extra on a 30,000 lb coach and that extra weight translates directly into increased stopping distance. So do you want to risk an extra 15% is topping time & distance? Cause that's what happens...

Get the dolly brakes!
 
Oh my God... I'm a criminal and didn't even know it. My tow dolly has no brakes, and I took it to Ca. once. Not only that, but, using this logic, my tow vehicle wasn't Ca. emission certified either, so I guess that makes me a two time criminal. Give me a break.
 
The OP was asking a reasonable question and the answers that were given are for him to use or ignore. If you don't like the answers, that is fine or don't believe that safety should always be a consideration, that is fine too. Just ignore the question and answers.
 
Yes the OP was asking a reasonable question.

There are two answers.. LEGALLY. it depends on where you live. and I can't give a better answer than that. Some states trailers 2,000 pounds or even lighter need brakes. Some 4,000 or more  And yes a car in tow IS A TRAILER.

Laws of physics.
Now I've had folks argue with me on this. I ALWAYS WIN.. The laws of physics are such that when you "Lock 'em up" (meaning an ALL wheel skid) your stopping distance is set by a mathmatical formula that is the same for ALL vehicles.. Be it a "Smart Car" or "Mini Cooper" or a fully loaded Semi (Though there is one other factor in the semi) This applies ONLY to an all wheel skid however

If you have wheels NOT braking.. the distance an go up. as much (Per US-Gear) as 30%

So you rear end me.. I will be checking your trailer brakes.. Or my attorney will.. That simple.. This applies to at least 59 states (one state I am not sure but believe it will).
 
There are two answers.. LEGALLY. it depends on where you live. and I can't give a better answer than that. Some states trailers 2,000 pounds or even lighter need brakes. Some 4,000 or more  And yes a car in tow IS A TRAILER. [/quote]

I'll use Ca dmv law as an example.

section 29003 Every hitch, drawbar, coupler or other connection between motor vehicles towing must be securely attached to the vehicle and be strong enough to handle the weight of whatever you are towing.

section 26302 Every trailer over 1500 lbs must be equipped with brakes on at least 2 wheels.
now comes the interesting part...

section 29003-c. The raised end of any motor vehicle being transported by another motor vehicle using a tow dolly shall be secured to the tow dolly by two separate chains, cables, or equivalent devices adequate to prevent shifting or separation of the towed vehicle and the tow dolly.

Please note that Ca. separates TRAILERS from tow dollys, so in Ca. at least, a car in tow IS NOT A TRAILER
 
Are they all surge brakes or is electric an option too?

Both types are available, but new ones seem to be predominantly electric brake types. Surge brakes have the advantage of not needing a brake controller, but a good electric brake controller is more sophisticated in managing braking, e.g. on long down grades.  Dolly braking is a pretty simple application, though, and I think surge brakes would do fine.
 
John From Detroit said:
Laws of physics.
Now I've had folks argue with me on this. I ALWAYS WIN..
So you rear end me.. I will be checking your trailer brakes.. Or my attorney will.. That simple.. This applies to at least 59 states (one state I am not sure but believe it will).

If you think so highly of yourself and your ability to win an argument, please explain how your theory applies to 59 states when there are only 50.
 
Just a comment and a bitch. Simplistically, braking distance for a tow w/o brakes will be increased in direct proportion to the ratio of weights of the two vehicles! That is is tower weights 20, 000 and towed weights 5, 000 then distance will be 25% longer.  Big difference!

Bitch is that tire compound is a major factor in stopping distance and is not a factor you can know except by inference. A soft sticky compound will have a larger coeficient of friction on asphalt than harder compound and the difference can be hugh; perhaps as high as 40%. Of course it will wear much faster but you can't know this because the tire manufacturer wants to brag about mileage (which of course is rarely a factor for rv's).

Ernie
 
Pretty hard to " lock 'em all up" in the days of anti-lock. Anyway, we pull a tracker four down or a Honda occasionally on a dolly. No brakes on dolly. Use Brake Buddy in both vehicles. Works great. It seems that the braking is about the same for normal braking. One or two lights on indicator. With harder braking, I feel the tracker pulling more of course because of twice the brakes.
 
Back
Top Bottom