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Towing a Tacoma with a U-Haul Dolly?

21K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  jbs1976  
#1 ·
Okay...so I'm getting ready to move and have rented a U-Haul truck with a tow dolly so i can tow my Taco behind the truck.

I have a 2WD SR5. Consulting the Owner's Manual I see that I am supposed to have the ignition in the "ACC" position. Should I put the trans. in "Neutral" or is this not necessary since the rear wheels will be on the tow dolly and only the front wheels will be on the pavement? :confused:

If anybody has any other suggestions/warnings for this type of towing I would greatly appreciate them. :thumbsup:
 
#3 · (Edited)
My experience has been that the dolly is less stable feeling, but also you feel a lot less load since it's just a dolly. An E350 I don't think is meant to go on a car dolly. Tacoma might be ok, look at the wheels and you'll see how much it is designed to tow. To me a trailer is safer, the vehicle tends to wander back and forth a little more with the dolly, especially with the heavy end out like that, but you'll have a big truck towing it. I've rented some U-haul trailers that weren't that great either.
 
#5 ·
The problem with car dollies for rear wheel drives is that when you tow the truck the rear wheels are turning, which turns the drive shaft, which then turns the gears int he rear half of the transmission.
The problem with this is that the transmission pump mounted in the front part of the transmission which turns and pumps only when the engine is running. So some transmission will burn up the gears and bushings while your towing it simply cuz the rear half of the transmission being forced to spin while there is no lubrication being pumped threw it, like if it the engine and transmission was actually running and driving down the road. This doesnt happen on all rear wheel drive transmission but alot of them.
On a front wheel drive car the rear wheels dont turn anything but the wheel bearings which are self lubed so they are a good one for the car dolly but not rear wheel drives.
As stated before you can remove the driveshaft from the truck so it can not turn the transmission. This would only turn the rear diff that and nothing else which would be ok.
 
#6 ·
Thanks to all for the advice. I understand now that you shouldn't pull a vehicle backwards on the tow dolly because of too much weight towards the rear of the combination leading to sway. So I thought my only other option was to pull it with the front wheels on the dolly and un-bolt the drive shaft.

I then called U-Haul and it turns out it is only $10 more to rent a trailer. So I went with that.

Thanks agian for the help everyone!