New to & Looking to Buy a Used Tow Dolly Could use Some Help on Price and Model

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Gizmo

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Apr 22, 2012
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Bellingham,WA
Looking to buy used as this may not be a long term need.  I just saw an ad for a Stehl with surge brakes that is 3 years old w less than 5000 miles on it, they are asking $1,200.00.  I looked at a local dealer selling new and new they have them priced at $1,700 or 1,800 with surge brakes, so $1,200 for a 3 year old unit seemed high to me, but again I am new to tow dolly's and I have no idea of how much they depreciate.  Also, any thoughts on Stehl as a brand would be appreciated.  Thanks.
 
I think it?s a lot of money for a used one.  If you are looking for one with surge brakes, you can get a new one for that price new from a different brand.
 
There's not too much demand for used tow dolly's, they might accept it.

Not sure that is the case in some regions, but definitely make an offer. I see a lot of them for sale here in Florida, but they also seem to sell regularly.  Agree that $1200 is a bit steep, but nice clean ones with brakes, reliable wheel tie-downs & a spare tire go for around $950-$1000 here. If one comes up for sale at $800-$900, it gets snapped up quickly.

Stehl is one of the good brands; others include Master Tow, Demco (Kar Kaddy), and Roadmaster.  American Tow Dolly's EZE Tow is the low price leader.  I'm not impressed with EZE Tow myself, but the price is attractive.

Surge brake units are somewhat hard to find for some reason; most dollies with brakes are electric. Probably better overall, but requires a brake controller on the tow vehicle. When I needed a dolly for just one season use, I hunted for a surge brake unit and couldn't find a used one in any reasonable condition. Ended up buying a Master Tow with electric brakes.
 
Thank you for the replies & Gary for your detailed and helpful reply.  We have until the end of March before we need to get one, so I may make an offer, with the idea we have a bit of time.
 
To follow up on this, since we have plenty of time before needing a tow dolly I took a wait and see position on the Craigslist ad for the Stehl tow dolly.  Interesting they lowered the price to $1,100 from $1,200, then pulled the ad and re-listed at $1,200.  I contacted the owner and offered $900.00 which he accepted and we made the purchase.  Thanks again for the helpful replies.
 
Hi all, first post ;D

Last month bought an '07 National RV Dolphin 5342 class A (brochure http://cmrvs.com/07dolphin/brochure.pdf), with only 9 K miles on its 6.8L Triton V10 gas.  8)

Now looking for a tow dolly for my '16 Honda Fit, weighing in at 2,600#, not flat towable.

So my dilemma/Q is... from my research, I'd opt for dolly w surge braking system instead of electronic. IF they were both magically ~same end price, I'd go with electronic, soley for that EZ backing up function, IE just disengage (trailer/dolly) brakes. My understanding is, surge braking trailers/dollies protest backing up, as the tongue bar senses it's pushing into the rig & thus it applies its brakes. BUT from the pricing I've done, namely Camping World's one/only tow dolly offering, a Roadmaster jobee with electric braking: https://www.campingworld.com/roadmaster-universal-tow-dolly-with-electric-brakes-42252.html?cgid=tow-dollies-accessories#start=2&cgid=hitch-tow%2Fvehicle-towing%2Ftow-dollies-accessories%2Ftow-dollies
+ controller ($90, it's cheaper model w manual control trailer brake intensity) + pro installation of said controller ($400), that's ~$500 just to make the rig electric-brake-trailer ready! :)(

I'm still holding the "cost of tow dolly" component separate, coz I'm still actively trawling the local sacramento used market for something... so that dolly co$t question is still in play -- try to get an email/callback from these flakes!?!  :-X  So I've been forced to price around brand new dollies @ local dealers, just so I can finally gidderdone & move forward with some certainty!

Here's the thing: my Honda Fit is only 2,600#, & we'll estimate (future) tow dolly = 600#, for 3,200# tow load. Rig is 22K# dry weight, 26K# max, with 5K# tow capacity. So it's truly a case of a cruise liner pulling, or rarely but inevitably pushing backwards, a dinghy. This aint a 3 ton pickup towing an 8 ton trailer load, where obv trailer's own separate braking power becomes critically more important!!

So let's say I find my surge-braked tow dolly, whether new or used. Do yawl think I can back up with it, in spite of dolly's brakes' protests? Just push through it? I can even imagine having a humanoid helper or two, who push backwards on the car, or dolly's axle assembly somewhere (anywhere but the tongue bar which senses pushing vs pulling), greatly weakening if not cancelling dolly's applying its brakes, as I back up very slowly this way. Viable?
 
Might just be my bad luck, but the surge brakes we had on our old Jayco pop-up camper were a major PITA.  They were of questionable effectiveness (IMO) even at the beginning, and as the years piled on I found myself having them re-conditioned literally every spring to get them into operating form.  $$$$$$$
 
sorry to hear DufferDave... was there something identifiable going wrong w them? IE were they not braking, or braking too hard, or...? And, "re-conditioned" meaning what, new shoes? drum turning? What component were they finding out of sorts?

I suppose that's one feel-good sleep-tighter aspect of buying new (tow dolly)... & taking the big insta-depreciation hit: at least I know the tires, bearings, brake shoes/drums etc are all NEW & get a feel for how it should all operate, & then live with it observing how it all deteriorates with mileage, & what's begging for maintenance.

Buying used, while saving +/- half vs new; I'm really at seller's mercy as to its history/mileage (except tires which we can see w/o disassembly) & I'd have no idea whether dolly was doing its braking job 'properly' or not?  :p
 
Pretty sure you aren't supposed to back up with a dolly, brakes or not.  I'm sure that you over-the-road truckers out there could probably do it, but just too many pivot points for a normal guy like me.
That said, I'd go for the surge brakes.  One less thing to worry about when hooking up.
 
Backing up any tow dolly is problematic at best. You can probably manage 4-6 feet straight back, though. Not sure how a surge brake model would react - they do tend to lock the dolly brakes if you push backwards. On pavement where it rolls easily the backing is probably do-able, but on a softer surface (more drag) or a slight uphill, the surge brake will engage to some degree. I don't think you can manually overcome it, plus you don't want people between the coach and the towed car anyway.  Too much risk if somebody slips.

Surge systems used to get unreliable after a year or two, largely due to road dirt & corrosion of the moving parts (it's strictly a mechanical device). That no longer seems to be much problem, perhaps due to better materials. It's still smart to clean and lube the mechanism from time to time.

You can get a electric controller adequate for a dolly for as little as $45, but installation cost is a killer if you have to hire it out.  Probably $250 at least and more like $500 at an RV place. Check around at a U-Haul or other hitch shop, or any independent auto shop. It's not rocket science or RV-specific.
 
Thx Crow & Gary.  :)

part of my confusion is re how electric brakes moderate the intensity with which the trailer brakes apply, IE driver tapping brakes for light/gradual speed reduction, vs slamming brakes in emergency, all the while the brake controller is set at say, '5'. So I gather (all?) electric brakes also have a mechanical pendulum jobee, which... what? Does it 'override' the 1 - 10 brake controller setting when nec? Or is it always the main mechanism deciding trailer braking intensity, like how surge brakes work? In which case, what's the 1 - 10 setting on the controller left to do?!  :-\

in this 15 min vid from 2014, whiteboard dude explains electric brakes & towards the end, tells how his old setup w pendulum was a PITA, as pendulum didn't swing back right, or not quick enough or some such, so trailer was still braking as he was trying to take off again

"What's a Trailer Brake Controller???"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKZGP4gVGvI

...and he goes on to boast of his new truck & fancy/spendy new trailer braking system which is somehow computerized in how it moderates trailer braking intensity. Jump to around 12/13 min mark to skip all the electric brakes 101 stuff.  8)
 
RE the "backing up w tow dolly = problematic even w/o surge-braking" issue, I tend to dismiss this. In a modern rig w rear view cam looking down at full tow-car picture++, driver would need to be retarded to still allow a jackknifing to happen. Plus I anticipate, any (categorically 'unforeseen') needs to back up would near-always mean a matter of a few feet, likely at a gas station, or maybe u find urself too close behind a stopped vehicle, which u only then learn is stalled/broken down, & u need a few extra feet in front to clear a turn past them...
 
Mechanical pendulums are old tech - most every electric brake controller uses a solid state device (an accelerometer) to measure the rate of change of speed. There are various degrees of sophistication of the proportion control and of course the pricey ones do the better job.

The simplest controllers are time delayed and increase braking (amps to the brakes) as time passes. The longer you push on the brake pedal, the greater the amps to the trailer brakes.  If you ride the brake pedal, braking of the trailer increases whether you are pushing hard of easy. More expensive ones use an accelerometer to apply braking amps in proportion to the rate of deceleration. Proportional braking is of significant value on heavy trailers, but not a big deal when you have a large vehicle towing a modest load (like a light car on a dolly). Proportional is still better than time delay, but [in my opinion] the difference in performance is not as important.
The gain and aggressiveness settings on any controllers gives you some manual control on the amount of braking. Think of it as a volume knob on a sound system. The pre-recorded music still defines the basic volume, but you can scale it up or down using the volume knob.  A control for aggressiveness or sensitivity provides some additional control on how quickly the braking increases. Reducing aggressiveness slows down the braking "attack".  Again, valuable controls for big rigs, but not hugely important for 3000-4000 lb trailers behind a 15k-20k tow vehicle.
By all means install the best brake controller you can afford, but budget seemed to be a concern here.
 
Chad:  Sorry you think I'm a retard.  Backing up a 20 or 30 ft wheelbase vehicle with a "trailer" of ANY type with only 4 or 5 ft from the hitch ball to the axle is difficult.  Yes, the cameras help prevent jackknife, but trying to back one up straight requires precision steering.  If you only need a few feet, it can be done, stopping just short of jackknife.  If you need to back up 20 or 30 ft, take the car off the dolly, disconnect the dolly, back up as needed, reconnect the dolly and reload the car. If you do not believe me, try it sometime!  I have.  Unsuccessful.
 
grashley (& any others), apologies for that careless/unintentional 'insult' above re backup/jackknife/retarded. Yes esp if rig & towed dolly/car aren't in straight alignment to begin with, IE rig/dolly were in middle of a turn when the unforeseen need to backup arose... it's easy to imagine how quick the dolly's angle to the rig can get out of hand, where rig has obstacles limiting it's own fancy maneuvering to keep things workable. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to get out & unhitch everything as U described if the nec backup were just untenable! :p

Defense step #1: don't get urself into any position which u may find u need to back up from... but alas, poop happens!

 
Here's another good noob/tow-dolly question:

IF ur state DOESN'T REQUIRE tow dollies be registered & license plated, complete with up front reg fees & annual tab renewal stickers, meaning ur good to go in all other states coz you're compliant with your own (as I've been led to believe is the case...?), would/should your register it anyways?

The pitch the Camping World gal gave me was, yes she reco's I register it... coz, drumroll... if it gets stolen, & found again by the coppers, I can PROVE that I'm the owner, coz of the plate + I gather tow dollies even have a VIN#. I'd expect any thief with a brain would lose the state plate 1st thing!

So of course I'm thinking, even IF my dolly got swiped while I was away in the car, and IF I made a PD report, it's not as though the coppers would be out trawling the streets & RV parks looking for it! Phat chance CW gal's scenario played out!

BUT maybe to get paid insurance $ for the loss/replacement of dolly would necessitate that it was reg'd? Dunno, anyone? I'd certainly expect so, putting myself in the insurance co's shoes & looking at a "stolen unregistered tow dolly" claim!

Which segways into another question: dolly security when owner's away.

When I find a spot I anticipate being for any while, I'd imagined unhitching dolly & rolling the length of the tongue bar under (usu) the rear of the rig, until dolly's fenders are bumping up against bottom of rig's body -- usu meaning the rear bumper, but could also be slid under front or even side of rig, all depending on the space. Then just chain/cable lock from a dolly bar onto a rig chassis bar wherever. Can then, optionally, remove the ramp plates from dolly, depending on the space situation again, & that would just leave about ~2' of the dolly still sticking out, namely the wheels/axle assembly.

Anyone see any issues with this? Being able to "mostly make the 8.5' x ~11' dolly go away" might mean the diff between being allowed in a given sized space or not, right? Rig is 35' 5" bumper to bumper, btw.

I failed to mention in my 1st/intro post above, I'm complete RV noob... this aint my 2nd, 3rd++ RV, and totally new to RV park scene, so my questions are noobish!  :p

The RV vlogger world on YouTube has been my main source of education thus far; so many amazing helpful vids there! Must stop binge watching! Must eat! Must sleep! LOLZ  ;D
 
I suspect you are over-thinking this, Chad.  Just obtain title or registration as your home state requires.  It's probably a good idea to record the dolly VIN in case you ever need to identify it as yours, though I suspect that issue rarely comes up.  And try to get a bill-of-sale from the seller that includes a description and VIN, just for proof of ownership.

Your insurer may not even consider it an insured vehicle - just an accessory to the motorhome.  They'd probably laugh if you tried to get an collision & comprehensive insurance policy on a dolly alone.

Different campgrounds will have different requirements for storage of dollies, utility trailers, etc. Some require them to be placed in a separate storage lot, some may allow or even require they be kept on your site, and some just let you put them wherever vehicles can be parked.  If on your site, owners often push them under the RV as much as possible to save space, but they seldom go as far under as you describe. It depends, of course, on how much clearance there is under the coach and that often varies with the coach model and the terrain.
 
Old_Crow said:
Pretty sure you aren't supposed to back up with a dolly, brakes or not.  I'm sure that you over-the-road truckers out there could probably do it, but just too many pivot points for a normal guy like me.
That said, I'd go for the surge brakes.  One less thing to worry about when hooking up.
I drove OTR, and I drove tow trucks for years.
Because of the short wheelbase you are dealing with, backing a tow dolly is a very tough job.
Trying to do it with a vehicle attached to the dolly is nearly impossible. Trust me, you do NOT want to get into a situation where you have to try. I say this from experience.
 
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