Need Towing Advice And U Haul

[1995E]

How far is the dealership?

The dealership shouldn't be too far. I think it was around 10 to 5 miles away? It's in Downtown Silver Spring, MD so I probably should be concerned about braking... Especially because there is a stop light/ stop sign every 500 ft or so.

I'm going to be doing this today. I'll probably do what dco said and get the full out trailer with the surge brakes. I'll head to U-Haul and see what they have to say as well. Thanks for all the advice.

Lol, now that I realized it, it's going to be difficult pushing a dead VW up a ramp of any sort. Good thing it's really light.

 

[scotted73]

So there are a few answers flying around and they seem to be addressing different things.

-The Explorer with tow package has both a 4 and 7 pin plug so an adapter is unnecessary.
-The Explorer has a Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR) which differs from the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). The GCWR includes a trailer while the GVWR does not. The GCWR ranges from 6820-10125 pounds depending upon your Explorer's setup in respect to engine, driven wheels and tow package. I have attached a pic from the Ford website.
-The U-Haul tow dolly weighs 750 pounds when empty and has a "Max Load: 3,450 lbs. when towing a front-wheel drive vehicle, 3,900 lbs. when towing a rear-wheel drive vehicle."
-The U-Haul Auto Transport Trailer weighs 2210 pounds and can carry 5290 pounds.
-One thing to keep in mind is that when empty, both the dolly and transport will be incredibly loud when unloaded and driving over any road imperfections. Think of an aluminum ladder falling down.

 

[1995E]

So there are a few answers flying around and they seem to be addressing different things.

-The Explorer with tow package has both a 4 and 7 pin plug so an adapter is unnecessary.
-The Explorer has a Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR) which differs from the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR). The GCWR includes a trailer while the GVWR does not. The GCWR ranges from 6820-10125 pounds depending upon your Explorer's setup in respect to engine, driven wheels and tow package. I have attached a pic from the Ford website.
-The U-Haul tow dolly weighs 750 pounds when empty and has a "Max Load: 3,450 lbs. when towing a front-wheel drive vehicle, 3,900 lbs. when towing a rear-wheel drive vehicle."
-The U-Haul Auto Transport Trailer weighs 2210 pounds and can carry 5290 pounds.
-One thing to keep in mind is that when empty, both the dolly and transport will be incredibly loud when unloaded and driving over any road imperfections. Think of an aluminum ladder falling down.

Haha yes! It was so loud! When I was initially pulling the dolly, we heard a loud banging/ clanging noise equivalent to a ladder falling down. I slammed by brakes cause I thought the dolly came off. The U-Haul guy looked at me and said that was normal. I almost crapped my pants. I was driving down and up roads and the dolly was hopping up and down like crazy. I was getting scared that it might shake off the tow hitch!

I guess I didn't need surge brakes at all for the dolly. They just hooked on the lights (4 pin connector thing??) and they said I was set. I towed my friend's Golf and it was pulling up a hill at 2,000 RPM. There were many, many steep hills. I think the Hill seemed like it definitely had 45 angle degree to it and it pulled flawlessly. When I went over speed bumps, I think I felt the trailer slamming a bit but I'm not sure if that's normal or not.

Loading the car was a pain. We had 4 people try to push it up and it was nearly impossible. I parked my Explorer with the dolly at the bottom of the hill and we decided to try to wing it up the trailer. Then to get the wheels fully on the dolly, we put the Golf in neutral and put the parking brake on to lock the rear wheels, then I reversed the trailer and got it on. Getting off was the same.

The problem we encountered when we put the car on the dolly was that the car was on the strap... We were so pissed. Then I came up with the best solution a engineering student could ever do and I said we should jack the car up on the dolly to get the wheel off. Totally saved us time and our backs. You can actually see the VW jack in the last two pictures. Thank you all for your help and tips. Now I know how to tow!