Mpalmer Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Hey guys, quick question. Does anyone within our 944 community use a tow dolly to transport the 944's? If so, do you recomend using a certain companies brand, and since i have never used one, how do you use it? Do you have to disconnect the drive shaft / drive line at all? Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sterling Doc Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Hey guys, quick question. Does anyone within our 944 community use a tow dolly to transport the 944's? If so, do you recomend using a certain companies brand, and since i have never used one, how do you use it? Do you have to disconnect the drive shaft / drive line at all? Thanks, Mike Lots of guys in the RM region flat tow their cars w/o driveline issues. They seem to tolerate it well. No suggestions on a tow dolly, though, sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
944-Spec#94 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Yes flat towing is a good budget option in Arizona too. I have have to believe there is more wear than trailering, but you make the best of what you can. I don't think the dolly is big help over flat towing since the only stuff I would worry about is in the rear any way. Nobody disconnects anything, but most either use a spare bumper or fab a bar and then attach through the bumper shocks. They are strong enough to lift a complete car if needed. The 2009 Az region champion flat tows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loftygoals Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I've used tow dollies in the past with my spec car. I've used trailers too. By far the easiest thing I've ever done is flat towing. It is easy, quick too hookup, and doesn't require a beast to pull the car. It's also the cheapest. All the tow dollies I've ever used required that I remove the front air damn. The last one I tried to use didn't work because the oil cooler wouldn't clear. I've had the same issues with trailers. Even though my trailer had a 2' dove tail, I still had to have 8' custom ramps made to be able to load the car without removing anything. With flat towing, you just undo 2 19mm bolts, swap on the spare bumper, bolt it back up, drive the car to the back of the vehicle and drop the hitch, and stick the magnetic lights on it. It take less than 15 minutes to do the whole thing. My trailer took much longer to load. -bj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck T. Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 searching for pictures. tow dolly Works great no problems . tow dolly is more stable than flat tow and can have brakes ! ask phil Ob if brakes are a good thing . flat tow costs <$100 works great and has less weight so a 944 can tow a 944 to the track .... ? IF you crash your car then you need to swap places with a fellow racer who will put your car on a trailer and you tow his car home with your setup. we have about 12 racers with flat tow and about 5 with tow dollies. now where are my pictures of "setups" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loftygoals Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Here's my flat tow setup: I do miss my trailer. I had just had a customer tire rack built when it got stolen. Flat towing is super easy, though. -bj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topley Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 One thing to note with the flat tow... in Cali you are supposed to have brakes on any "trailer" and a car is considered a trailer in this case http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl648/dl648pt12.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; "In California, brakes are required on any trailer coach or camp trailer having a gross weight of 1500 lbs. or more." Now, I'm not as concerened about the actual law, or the chance of getting a ticket, for me it was a concern in the unlikely event of a break away. I looked into braking systems that you can add into a vehicle to flat tow (like the RV guys use) and they look to be a pain and were expensive. I opted for a tow dolly. I'll admit I could have gotten a nice used trailer for what I paid, but my bigger consideration was space. I got a unit that will fold up and fit in front of either my Xterra or my 944 in a normal sized garage. http://www.demco-products.com/Pages/RV/kkss.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Surge brakes and break away protection. Just something else to think about. -jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmmotorsports Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 For $3,295 I would buy a nice car trailer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topley Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I think I paid something like 23 or 24 hundred. If only I could have a trailer... My only option for a full (open or closed) trailer would also have to include 250 or so a month for trailer storage. And since I maybe get out 2-3 times a year that's way more than my racing budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loftygoals Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 For $3,295 I would buy a nice car trailer. Double !!! Hell, I only paid $1400 for my tow vehicle. -bj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 I've towed through plenty of states and thousands of miles with this setup... Cheap, simple, and doesn't really require storage space... That bumper is a spare that I only use for towing (only two 19mm bolts to swap bumpers), and I have since it down a bit to make it smaller and easier. You'll want to have good bumper shocks, otherwise they'll collapse when you turn or get on the brakes. Having a towing set that's welded solid would be useful, but isn't essential. tow dolly is more stable than flat tow To be fair, we did discover that a number of bolts weren't tight in your flat-tow setup, and you were double-towing too... That might have something to do with that sway you were experiencing. The rest of us haven't had problems, except for guys who towed with cars that didn't weigh much (if any) more than the race car they were towing. One thing to note with the flat tow... in Cali you are supposed to have brakes on any "trailer" and a car is considered a trailer in this case http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl648/dl648pt12.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; "In California, brakes are required on any trailer coach or camp trailer having a gross weight of 1500 lbs. or more." Now, I'm not as concerened about the actual law, or the chance of getting a ticket, for me it was a concern in the unlikely event of a break away. I looked into braking systems that you can add into a vehicle to flat tow (like the RV guys use) and they look to be a pain and were expensive. I opted for a tow dolly. I'll admit I could have gotten a nice used trailer for what I paid, but my bigger consideration was space. I got a unit that will fold up and fit in front of either my Xterra or my 944 in a normal sized garage. http://www.demco-products.com/Pages/RV/kkss.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Surge brakes and break away protection. Just something else to think about. -jay Interesting... It's my understanding a number of other states don't actually consider a car-in-tow as a trailer, and as such it doesn't even have to be licensed. They also have much higher weight requirements for trailer brakes, but it's not clear that this even applies anyway. As for break-away, I run safety chains from the 944's factory tow hooks to the tow bar, and then a set from the tow bar to the back of my truck. This exceeds the requirements in some states, but it's cheap insurance and it should take a pretty huge failure before the car could break away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmmotorsports Posted January 1, 2010 Share Posted January 1, 2010 Stupid question, but with the flat-tow setup, the steering wheel stays unlocked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_venturini Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 Yes, if you havent already deleted the steering lock then you have to keep your key in the ignition and turned to prevent the wheels from locking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loftygoals Posted January 2, 2010 Share Posted January 2, 2010 I thought it was interesting that the instructions that came with my tow bar from harbor freight said to keep the steering wheel locked. It went on to say that because the wheel is locked, the car won't turn well while in tow. I couldn't think of one good reason to tow with the wheel locked--besides, I haven't had a wheel lock on the 944 for years. -bj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weston Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 Yeah, you definitely want the steering wheel unlocked for flat-towing... the car being towed will turn to follow where you're going, and that makes turns a lot easier. Just don't back up when flat-towing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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