Bought A Tow Dolly

I’ve been wanting one of these for quite some time. The appeal of backing the Jeep onto the dolly, unlocking the hubs, locking the steering wheel, strapping down and heading out is hard to ignore. Any major axle issues could strand a flat-tower, when you can load the broken end onto the dolly and go. I’d prefer a car trailer of course, but life…

I found a supposed good deal on marketplace in Superior, Montana, so my lady and I headed out after work and grabbed it. Pic from the ad:



Any of these in this area that have brakes are $1k+ regardless of condition. This one supposedly had brakes at some point, so at $650, I jumped on it. It looked good enough in person for me to decide to drag it home. It was going to need tires and rims, the fenders were sections of plastic barrels, the brake lines were missing, and it had no ramps. All things I could address easily enough.

The trip that should’ve taken 2 hours… took 4.

This dolly started life as a tilt-bed style. Pull a pin and the ramps that were at some point present and hard-mounted would drop down to the ground for loading. As you drive up on, the carriage tilts forward and locks in place. Well this whole tilting mechanism was shot. Extremely excessive play in the locking section caused the dolly to essentially have a side-to-side hinge in the middle.

The trip home began fine enough. As we were crossing Lookout Pass, the rain began, and the dolly began to wag back and forth. No matter what I did, I couldn’t correct it without slowing down. 80 turned to 65. It returned. 65 turned to 54. Then 45. When we got to Coeur d’Alene, I had to swing by work and grab my car, so I decided to hook it up to that to see if maybe it was the tow vehicle that was having issues. Nope! My car was getting ripped all over at any speed over 35.

I pulled over at a rest area to try to see what was going on. I kicked it sideways and noticed some major flex in the center. I grabbed a ratchet strap and pulled diagonally from the fender mount to the tongue. Back on the road, I was back up to 80 without a hint of wobble. So my first order of business was to weld that thing solid.

I tried to pull the drums off to see what the brakes looked like, and I found that somebody welded the nut(s) to the spindle(s). Nice.

Also, the PO stated that he re-packed the wheel bearings for my trip. All he did was squirt some grease in there and mash the cap back on.



After those were ground off, I pulled the drums to find this prize.



Since nearly everything was missing, and buying the parts individually would cost a small fortune, I found complete backing plate assemblies on Amazon for $135 and went that route.



I raided the scrap bins at work and scrounged enough material to make some new ramps. These are pinned and drop into the old mounts. I’ll make a spot on the carriage to mount these at some point.



I grabbed 1/2 sheet of 14g and formed some fenders.



I backed them with flat bar and made a mount to use U-bolts to mount to the axle.



I’m pleased with how they turned out.
New wheels and tires from the local tractor place.



Inaugural run is this weekend! I’ll report back with a review.

 

Test run went pretty well. I had a major leak at the fitting at the left wheel cyl, but the brakes felt good. It tows really well.

 

I'ld be curious to know what the caster on the front axle measures with the rear in the air.

 

Is this more ideal than flat towing? Just unlock the front hubs and go?

 

Do you have to strap the steering wheel in place so it won't rotate while towing?

 

Would it matter with the steering locked? The way I see it, toe is the only thing that would cause an issue, but even if the caster was 7° the wrong way, tire scrub would theoretically be the same, since the contact patch would be the same degree off center. Unless I’m totally wrong?

That’s how I see it. With the hubs unlocked, nothing is spinning but the front wheel bearings.

Funny you should mention that….
I whipped this out this evening out of some 1/2” plate.



It bolts to these nuts welded under the winch…



…and locks the pitman arm in place, ensuring zero movement or stress on the steering components past the drag link.



I guess it’ll double as an anti-theft device too.

 

Unless the thief lives straight down the road

 

Now that is a solution to lock the steering. Nice!

 

Just wondering because I recall a quadrasteer rear axle has caster in the forward direction, and when my DD was towed with a wrecker he lifted the rear until he got caster in the new direction of travel.

The u-haul manual recommends forward facing.
https://www.uhaul.com/Tips/Towing/Tow-Dolly-User-Instructions-120/

 

With the caster backwards, I was concerned about the wandering aspect. A ratchet strap to the steering wheel allows way too much play between the tires and strap to feel confident. That’s why I felt the need to positively lock the drag link in place. I guess I’ll find out if it works this afternoon! Headed out over a few mountain passes behind HaaRVee. I’ll keep an eye on tire temps to see if they get hot or have that gritty look like they’re scrubbing.

 

With this solution, it's a lot harder to drop a bearing cap and lose all the needles in the dirt. There's also nothing to tie up and have fall onto the highway while at speed.

 

I don't think we can really say what is best universally. There are soo many variables with registration, tow vehicle, towed vehicle, home storage, storage at the destination and what just feels right to the operator.

I will plan renting an aluminum car hauler for out of state trips. (Then if my truck breaks down I can haul it home with the jeep)

 

I've never dropped a cap in the dirt, but one of the nuts for my rear driveshaft is still at the Hole in the Rock trailhead!
I always remove the driveshaft entirely, only 4 more nuts, and no worries about anything bouncing down the road.

 

I used to toss the t-case in 2wd and N, transmission in 3rd, unlock the hubs and roll out.

Then one night a shoe on the e-brake got tight to the drum and broke the pin between the shoes.

While passing on a two lane, around 1am, at 88mph

 

Let me get this straight...

You are flat-towing at almost 90 mph.
At night.
On a two lane.
Passing.

But you think a tow dolly would have worked better?

 

That's just when the e-brake on the jeep failed.

It would have been the same light show on a tow dolly if you don't disconnect the driveshaft.
It's also a lot easier to tow once you pull under the gas station lights and pull the driveshaft free from the dragging parking brake.
Not saying I have or have not but I don't see any reason a jeep can't be towed faster than 88 or even 99.

 

Unless you tow it backwards like ITLKSEZ

 

I'm pretty convinced flat towing at 80+ without removing the driveshaft wiped out my rear output bearing.

 

I flat tow at 65 mph.