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Help -- noob to towing, need to tow a car on a dolly!

Let me preface this: I've never towed anything before. I've got no clue what I'm doing, so I'm trying to learn.

I need to tow my non-running car from VA to GA (580 mi or so) in a couple weekends on a tow dolly. I'll be driving a 99 Exp. Sport 4x4 with the 4.0 OHC. The car being towed is a 1990 BMW 325i.

I've got the tow dolly, it's an old rusty pile of junk, but seems structurally sound. It's got bad tires on it, so I'm trying to find a used set of tires to put on it now. No idea what the dolly itself weighs.

The car weighs roughly 2800 lbs. I can transfer some of that weight into the back of the Explorer (front seats, spare tire, engine cooling system which is currently in the trunk, etc.) and drain the fluids if need be. It's RWD, and I'll be putting the back on the dolly if the front air-dam will clear the ground (front is lowered), and if not, I'll be disconnecting the driveshaft and suspending it under the car.

The Explorer will be carrying one or two people and very light luggage, as well as maybe 200 lbs. of spares for the BMW.

What am I not thinking of here? The plan is to get a bumper ball and tow it that way. IIRC, the bumper is rated at 3500 lbs/350 lbs tongue weight. Is this going to be a problem? I definitely don't have any extra cash to drop on an actual hitch. $20 at Harbor Freight is pretty much my spending cap here. :D

Will I need to do anything in the way of rigging brake lights on the car/dolly, or will the lights on the Explorer be sufficient? If so, what's the best way of doing that?

As far as driveability, I plan on keeping it fairly slow (70 or so, less for curves). I'm also aware that towing the dolly up to VA unloaded, the dolly will be bouncing around on the road. Any way of minimizing/preventing/dealing with that? Anything else about driving a loaded trailer I should be aware of? Any estimates of what my gas mileage might be (usually get 16 or so on the interstate at 80+)?

Any preventative maintenance I need to do on the Explorer specific to towing before taking this on? I'm imagining there's a fair amount of stress on the driveline. I'll of course change the oil, but would a transmission filter/gasket/new fluid be wise? New oil in the rear end?

Thanks in advance.

edit: One more thing. I hear that trailer tires should always be bias-ply? Any truth to this? Any reasoning behind it?
 



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what is, my evil little plans to beat uhaul's bullshit? >: )
 



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Nope uhaul won't rent the explorers either, the trick is to pick it up with 1 car then switch it to the ex after.

Is there something on the rental agreement where you fill in the vehicle that you'll be towing with? And if so, wouldn't you have some explaining to do if something were to happen?

Just a thought.

-Melon
 






Is there something on the rental agreement where you fill in the vehicle that you'll be towing with? And if so, wouldn't you have some explaining to do if something were to happen?

Just a thought.

-Melon

Oh hell yeah you'd probably get ####ed over
 






I'm with gatorblazer.

I towed a volvo S40 behind the Cherokee I use to have. 15 mile trip and there were many white knuckle moments. I do have quite a bit of experience towing too. The dolly didn't have brakes and I had to stop halfway through to let the heep brakes cool.

I had to trailer the heep later (unrelated). With the right equipment it was infinitely less sketchy. I did get good at keeping an eye on the side view mirror though when pulling a load as wide as the road I was on:

IMG_1307-1.jpg
 






Look at the keeping the trans alive

I just got to spend 2500 getting the trans rebuilt after towing a pop up camper 3000 miles. Trans may have had some problems when I got it, but I know I did not help. Some good info in the forum on this.
 






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