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Old 05-25-2019, 09:32 PM   #1
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Flat tow or dolly

Trying to decide between flat towing or dolly for a 2015 jeep Jk behind 29ft greyhawk, concerned about tire wear, weight on hitch when rv fully loaded etc, what have you guys found to be pros and cons?
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Old 05-26-2019, 06:48 AM   #2
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There are a couple of recent threads that go into great detail on dolly versus flat tow, but since I have never had a dolly (other than the cute one that rides in the right seat), I have no experience there.

I will say that if your JK is 4WD (I guess there are some 2WD's out there but not sure why?), your only option is a trailer or flat towing. You cannot hoist one set of tires and not the others unless you intend to drop the driveshaft.

I have a 2016 Cherokee and I flat tow. Jeeps are made to flat tow for the most part and as long as you follow the instructions in the manual, do so nicely and without any drama.

We have something like 8-10K miles flat towing our Cherokee and other than a 1 or 2 mpg hit to mileage and the inability to back up more than a foot or so, don't know it is back there.

Again.....don't dolly tow your JK or you will be replacing the transmission.
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Old 05-26-2019, 09:45 AM   #3
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Read your Jeep manual. If it is a 4 wheel drive, which I am sure it is, it cannot be towed on a dolly ... it must be towed either on all four, or on a trailer. I have a 2017 4 door Rubicon that I tow, and have for thousands of miles. Tire wear is negledgable and is nothing when compared to the cost of a good tow dolly, and, if you think about it, when you use a dolly you are still wearing down 4 tires (two on the dolly and two on the dollied vehicle), as well. Jeeps tow beautifully and without any real knowledge of their even being behind you. I tow mine behind a 2017 29W GreyHawk.
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Old 05-28-2019, 02:57 PM   #4
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We flat tow our Jeep. Our son just purchased a motorhome and INSISTED! that he would only use a trailer (he knew that he couldn't use a dolly). We gave him all of our reasons for not using a trailer - too many to list. Eventually, he decided on the Blue Ox and will be flat towing his Jeep. He went online and read the same objections we had given him. His biggest objection was that he has very expensive tires on his Jeep for off-roading. After reading the comments, he decided that didn't matter at all compared to the headaches of trailering it.
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Old 05-28-2019, 03:11 PM   #5
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always flat tow if possible
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Old 05-28-2019, 03:22 PM   #6
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I'm in the "flat tow" camp too. As was already mentioned, Jeeps tow 4-down beautifully. AND you don't have to worry about what to do with a dolly when you're not using it; flat-tow tackle stores A LOT easier.

DW constantly pesters me about how much we just spent on tackle for the Grand Cherokee. She says "I can't see how a dolly wouldn't be cheaper?" Other than the fact that my GC is 4wd and can't be dolly-towed, she doesn't understand how much a good dolly would cost, or what it takes to strap it down correctly, or having to deal with the dolly when we're not using it (in camp or at home).

The ONLY argument against flat-tow that I gave any credence to when it came time for me to decide was that if I'm out wheeling on the trail and break an axle (or some other such thing), it's A LOT easier to get things home if you have a trailer. But then my "off-road" rig is a mostly stock Jeep YJ with the C-clip axles that are prone to breakage. Newer Jeeps have better axles, and I would only worry about it in the first place if you're "hard-core" like rock crawling or mud bogging or something. I don't do any of that. And if I did, one of the first mods I would do would be to ditch the inherently weak axles in that rig. Anyway, I digress...
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Old 05-28-2019, 04:33 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Camper_bob View Post
The ONLY argument against flat-tow that I gave any credence to when it came time for me to decide was that if I'm out wheeling on the trail and break an axle (or some other such thing), it's A LOT easier to get things home if you have a trailer. But then my "off-road" rig is a mostly stock Jeep YJ with the C-clip axles that are prone to breakage. Newer Jeeps have better axles, and I would only worry about it in the first place if you're "hard-core" like rock crawling or mud bogging or something. I don't do any of that. And if I did, one of the first mods I would do would be to ditch the inherently weak axles in that rig. Anyway, I digress...
Most of my friends that have a YJ, TJ or JK... Wheel them! They are on 35's or 37's and come back to camp aired down. They all tow them on a trailer.

You have to consider IF your motor-home can manage the extra weight of a flat-bed trailer and your Jeep. We like the benefits of not having to install supplemental brake equipment and mess with the tow bar, lights, airing up and most of all, wearing down a set of expensive M/T crawlers at $300+ per tire.

The other big benefit of a trailer - you can back up as far as you want, back into a driveway, back around corners and even parallel park backed into a corner of a casino parking lot.
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Old 05-29-2019, 09:46 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by SloPoke View Post
Most of my friends that have a YJ, TJ or JK... Wheel them! They are on 35's or 37's and come back to camp aired down. They all tow them on a trailer.

You have to consider IF your motor-home can manage the extra weight of a flat-bed trailer and your Jeep. We like the benefits of not having to install supplemental brake equipment and mess with the tow bar, lights, airing up and most of all, wearing down a set of expensive M/T crawlers at $300+ per tire.

The other big benefit of a trailer - you can back up as far as you want, back into a driveway, back around corners and even parallel park backed into a corner of a casino parking lot.
Those wheelers are exactly the ones I was thinking about when I mentioned the trailer. I know of a bunch of guys in the same boat; they will only trailer them, for all the reasons you mentioned.

FWIW, I'm running 35x12.5 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs on my YJ, but I don't dinghy it all that often, so I'm not worried about the tire wear. My YJ sees less than 2000 miles a year, so the tires will age out before they tread out, even if I towed it on every trip in the MH.

But for a regular "daily driver" type Jeep, even with some mods and such, I still think flat-tow is a better way to go for most people. With the extra weight of a trailer, most of us Class C guys wouldn't be able/willing to do it. Not such a big deal with a Super C ... especially if you already have the trailer. By the time you get all of the dinghy tackle, you're looking at a bit less than the cost of a trailer anyway. But hookup for a dinghy (at least MY dinghy) will be WAY easier than trailering. Not to mention that I have no other reason to own a trailer, so I would have to store it somewhere.

I will give you that it would be nice to be able to back up though. We ran into that on a trip from central TX to Florida last year. I got stuck in the back of a parking lot and we had to disconnect the YJ to get out. It was a PITA, but we learned a VALUABLE lesson that day about what we are and are not capable of doing with a dinghy in tow.
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Old 05-30-2019, 07:21 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by KILTEDGARY View Post
Trying to decide between flat towing or dolly
Having been tormented by this very thought process for a long time myself, we opted for dolly towing... not out of convenience or simplicity, but necessity. I can't speak for your make/model toad, but many cars are simply not able to be flat towed these days (CVT transmissions, electronic parking brakes, drive systems, etc.). While I applaud those who have gone through the gamut of outfitting a flat-tow set-up, buying a new vehicle for this purpose simply wasn't reasonable for us.

Our decision: ACME tow dolly.
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Old 05-30-2019, 09:59 AM   #10
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Having been tormented by this very thought process for a long time myself, we opted for dolly towing... not out of convenience or simplicity, but necessity. I can't speak for your make/model toad, but many cars are simply not able to be flat towed these days (CVT transmissions, electronic parking brakes, drive systems, etc.). While I applaud those who have gone through the gamut of outfitting a flat-tow set-up, buying a new vehicle for this purpose simply wasn't reasonable for us.

Our decision: ACME tow dolly.
That's a really good point IMO.

We were VERY lucky (well, it wasn't entirely luck) to have things land the way they did for us. Years ago when we purchased DW's vehicle, we were still towing a trailer with a truck. At the time, I kind of "nudged" DW in the direction of a vehicle that could be flat-towed if the time ever came. We chose a GMC Acadia for her at the time. It met all our needs, and can be flat-towed with some gentle modification.

Later, when we sold the trailer for the MH, and it was time for me to replace the truck I didn't technically NEED anymore (I loved that truck), we had an opportunity to choose a vehicle with flat-towable features in mind. We had 2 "fall back" options for a dinghy at the time (and technically still do I guess). One being the old YJ (SUPER easy to tow) or I could rig the Acadia. I searched high and low for a vehicle I would enjoy driving, AND could be flat-towed. I decided long ago I didn't want to use a trailer or a dolly. My 2015 Jeep Grand Cheorkee Limited 4wd with low range transfer case checked all the boxes, so that's what I ended up with. I'll be outfitting it with Blue-Ox tow equipment this weekend.

Just having those early options in the back of my head made it so we were covered on the back side either way. But if you aren't transitioning vehicles, and you're trying to dinghy whatever it is you have sitting in the driveway, your options can be quite limited.

Now DW wants to trade the Acadia for something else, and #1 on her list is NOT flat-towable. But I figure that's okay at this point...
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