Towing a 92 on a rented dolly, will it work?

[JBG3]

New owner here, I did a search and did not find an answer to this specific question if its already been covered. If so, sorry about that, please link me to that thread

I have to get my new 92 SHO from about 50 miles away. I was intending to rent a uhaul dolly and pull it with my van. Has anyone done this? anyone know if the stock slicer rims are too wide, and if I need to put a pair of donuts on there?

thanks!

 

[JBG3]

whoops, nevermind. Should have typed in uhaul instead of towing.

http://www.shoforum.com/showthread.php?t=94138&highlight=uhaul

 

[jc2001s]

I was going to say I know from experience it works but good job at searching

 

[SHOVNST]

I had a 91 SHO on a Uhaul tow dolly and it fit without issue. Be careful when loading. Uhaul tow dollies do not have the clearance of many other brands of tow dollies. I had no issue with the SHO (w/ stock size tires!) but other vehicle's ground effects got bruised. This is why I eventually bought one.....

 

[jc2001s]

I had a 91 SHO on a Uhaul tow dolly and it fit without issue. Be careful when loading. Uhaul tow dollies do not have the clearance of many other brands of tow dollies. I had no issue with the SHO (w/ stock size tires!) but other vehicle's ground effects got bruised. This is why I eventually bought one.....

So you're saying I can call you when I am at my dads in cedar grove over the 4th?

 

[pejohnson]

When I towed mine home using U-haul, they told me I needed to use a car trailer. U-haul did not recommend the car dolly.

 

[SHOVNST]

So you're saying I can call you when I am at my dads in cedar grove over the 4th?

I sold my tow dolly years ago......

 

[JBG3]

When I towed mine home using U-haul, they told me I needed to use a car trailer. U-haul did not recommend the car dolly.

I probably shouldn't be proud of this, but the last time I actually towed what I told uhaul I intended to tow was many many years ago. Its amazing what can fit on a dolly, saw a guy towing a 60s caddilac on a dolly recently. Was scraping the rear fender, he couldn't have had more than 3 inches of clearance

 

[jayro]

I probably shouldn't be proud of this, but the last time I actually towed what I told uhaul I intended to tow was many many years ago. Its amazing what can fit on a dolly, saw a guy towing a 60s caddilac on a dolly recently. Was scraping the rear fender, he couldn't have had more than 3 inches of clearance

I towed a Fiero from Kansas to Indiana on one. The guy at the uhaul place put down I was towing a Civic. The computer didnt say why it didnt like the Fiero. I'm guessing either ground clearance or because it's mid-engine. Towed it with the drive wheels on the dolly. Used straps to insure the steering wheel stayed straight.

 

[JBG3]

fits just right, though I did do some damage to a custom air dam the PO made out of fiberglass getting it off.

And heres me towing my "1991 ford ******". This might have been a little heavy for this 89 astro van. The SHO is a way bigger vehicle than the van

 

[Shovert]

Rented a tow dolley to pull the SHO Mustang project. They would not rent for use with my 94 Jeep Cherokee. I had to borrow company F-250 truck. Contract say specifically no Ford Explorer for any reason. Maurice

 

[firebat45]

Contract say specifically no Ford Explorer for any reason. Maurice

This is because they got their ******* in a bunch over the whole Explorer/Firestone bursting tires issue back in the 90s.

It's completely ridiculous that they stick by that, given that it's damn near guaranteed that there's not a single 90's Explorer on the road with the factory tires anymore.

Now that the Explorer is Taurus based, and has nothing at all in common with the old one, it's even more stupid.

OP, just tell them you're towing a Festiva or a Metro. Tell them you're pulling it with an F-350. Then do whatever the **** you want.

 

[JBG3]

This is because they got their ******* in a bunch over the whole Explorer/Firestone bursting tires issue back in the 90s.

It's completely ridiculous that they stick by that, given that it's damn near guaranteed that there's not a single 90's Explorer on the road with the factory tires anymore.

Now that the Explorer is Taurus based, and has nothing at all in common with the old one, it's even more stupid.

OP, just tell them you're towing a Festiva or a Metro. Tell them you're pulling it with an F-350. Then do whatever the **** you want.

I almost always tell them Im towing something from the same family of vehicles, that way it can be described as a mistake and you can play the fool. For example, I rented a dolly to tow a ford ******, but used it for the ford taurus. OR, I rented the dolly to tow a nissan sentra, but towed a nissan maxima. Pretty much can't lose with that strategy, as long as you don't go tooo far with the size, and really exceed the tow vehicles braking ability.

I did this towing another astro van at 5500lbs without the trailer. I could not stop in a safe distance, had to pull the van in the early morning.

Problem is you can't fib about the tow vehicle, you can't say you are towing with a F-350 and show up with something else since you are attaching the trailer. The tow vehicle must be accurate. Not a problem if you actually own an F-350, but if you own a small work van like me, which can legitimately rent every trailer U-haul has, but is right on the line on what kind of vehicles it can tow according to their database, you become pretty accomplished at misdirection

 

[hawkeye18]

This is because they got their ******* in a bunch over the whole Explorer/Firestone bursting tires issue back in the 90s.

It's completely ridiculous that they stick by that, given that it's damn near guaranteed that there's not a single 90's Explorer on the road with the factory tires anymore.

Now that the Explorer is Taurus based, and has nothing at all in common with the old one, it's even more stupid.

OP, just tell them you're towing a Festiva or a Metro. Tell them you're pulling it with an F-350. Then do whatever the **** you want.

Actually, Jalopnik did an article on this a while ago. It has nothing to do with the Firestone debacle - it was the simple fact that damage claims from Explorer drivers were orders of magnitude higher than with other vehicles. People who drive explorers simply can't tow anything without messing some shit up. And if you think about the average demographic of an Explorer driver, you'll see why.

It only gets worse with the new Explorer. Not only can it not tow nearly as much, it's even more of a soccer-mom-mobile than the old one was.

For what it's worth, they will cover a Mercury Mountaineer, which is a 99.6% identical vehicle (badging is different). So if you have an explorer, and you have to tow something using U-Haul, just tell them you have a mountaineer.

 

[JBG3]

according to some consumer reports articles, they have the same policy for jeep wranglers with soft tops. You can rent a trailer, but only with a hard top. Consumer reports says the tires are involved though, probably the whole package of bad tires, and additional accidents for a variety of reasons.

http://news.consumerreports.org/car...r-our-2012-ford-explorer-or-yours-either.html

The Jeep soft top thing must be related to visibility accidents. I guess U-hual did a cost analysis and discovered that on a money made, money spent basis, renting to explorers and soft top jeeps lost them more in legal battles than profit.

Pretty funny actually, especially with them denying brand new cars on the same nameplate. The jeep thing I can understand, those soft tops are hard to see out of, Im sure there are dozens of examples of people trashing shit that they couldn't see.

The explorer thing is stupid though, they need to re-evaluate their position based on progress.

 

[firebat45]

I almost always tell them Im towing something from the same family of vehicles, that way it can be described as a mistake and you can play the fool. For example, I rented a dolly to tow a ford ******, but used it for the ford taurus. OR, I rented the dolly to tow a nissan sentra, but towed a nissan maxima.

That's a good strategy, plausible denialbility is a good idea in case something goes wrong.

Problem is you can't fib about the tow vehicle, you can't say you are towing with a F-350 and show up with something else since you are attaching the trailer. The tow vehicle must be accurate. Not a problem if you actually own an F-350, but if you own a small work van like me, which can legitimately rent every trailer U-haul has, but is right on the line on what kind of vehicles it can tow according to their database, you become pretty accomplished at misdirection

I've just done an after-hours pickup the time I needed to fib about tow vehicle, no problem. Otherwise you are correct.