On Tuesday Ernest wrote:
>1. Can an MG be towed on a car dolly? Would the rear end be on the dolly?
>Would the clearance on the road wheels be too low?
I currently use a "Good Quality" car dolly to haul my TR6 and MGB around when
necessary. It also comes in handy for all those parts cars required to haul home
to keep our cars running. Notice that I stressed good quality. I picked up a
used Demco Kar Kaddy (out of Iowa) which is a fairly big name in car dolly's.
You see lots of these things behind Motor Homes. This particular brand has a
solid axe with kingpins and steering knuckles and a long tie rod and it self
steers instead of a pivoting table like some of the cheaper units.
The price (around 600 used) and convenience (I can haul a lbc with a minivan if
need be) was the prime consideration.
Towing a with a car hauler is nice especially a "Featherlite" (all aluminum) or
comparable make but the price runs up to and above 4k for an open 16' trailer.
The cheaper open channel iron models come as cheap as $1200-1300 (price at
Carlisle) but you get what you pay for. An enclosed unit again demands an
investment of at least 5k for a bare bones unit but are nice to haul in.
Electric Trailer brakes are nice when you get used to them and are fairly simple
compared to the surge brake setups. They don't usually leak either. Someone
mentioned using the trailer brakes to pull down the tow vehicle which is a nice
way to keep everything straight during a panic stop behind a lbc.
I've towed alot privately and for the company I work for. I routinely run the
grades in Southern California, Nevada (Death Valley), Arizona and the Rockies
running severe trailer tow testing. Towed enclosed car haulers (nice), open car
haulers (ok) and lots of ballasted travel trailers. All but one had electric
brakes. These bigger trailers require a dedicated tow vehicle usually class"C"
with a load equalizing hitch adapter and a sway control. This starts to add up
to big bucks.
Towing your LBC all boils down to how much do you want to spend and how good do
you want to look with your rig runnin down the road. One nice thing about a
trailer is you can back the thing up which is almost impossible on a self
steering tow dolly.
Just my $.02 worth
Glenn Franco
email at 76644.2655@compuserve.com
1971 TR6 (done, but still working on it)
1974 TR6 (hunting for performance parts like a limited slip)
1976 MGB (done, but still working on it)
1985 Jeep Scrambler (frame off fiberglass body restoration/almost done)
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