Done it with a baywindow for 300 miles and you're right - pretty scary. I own a Dolly but don't want to haul another van with it. And yes I am a "bit" behind on my mail... Chris
At 10:44 AM 8/19/01 -0400, you wrote: >At 09:25 AM 8/19/01 -0500, Terry Kay wrote: >>What was the Dolly's name you had the bad experience with HK---Maybe I >>know her !! > >Well, <turning red> I was hauling a 1988 BMW M5. Nice car. TOO NICE a >car to be dragging around on a dadgum tow-dolly. >I was in a Dodge 2500 Ram 4x4 with Cummins turbodiesel. > >Some idiot pulls out in front of me. > >I slam on brakes. BMW crashes into back of my truck. My heart sank. The >driver who pulled out in front of me just went on down the highway. I >couldn't get a positive tag i.d. Why did the car come off? The front >straps were worn, and the dolly belonged to a buddy of mine. A VERY CHEAP >buddy, who didn't bother to spend money on things of little importance, >like say, safety equipment. But, I too, was cheap. I should have rented a >U-Haul car trailer. Never would have been a problem. > >Something told me before I started out on that goofy trip to secure the BMW >with a large chain attached to the frame. Having learned to listen to >those voices, I clambered up underneath and did this. When the panic stop >occurred, the crash I heard was the car going over the front of the dolly >and the frame hitting the dolly, although I didn't know it at the >moment. The safety chain prevented the BMW from hitting the rear bumper of >the Dodge with full force. In fact, it was just a few inches away, if that. > >What did I do? After the shock wore off, I was able to pull the entire rig >onto the side-street where the a$$hole pulled out, and called a >wrecker. The BMW was hung between the dolly and the truck, sitting on its >frame. The front wheels were on the ground in between truck and dolly. It >simply rolled off the front of the tow dolly. It wasn't going anywhere >now. The wrecker guy jacked the BMW up with my help, and we blocked it >with "cribbing." (wooden blocks used to put underneath something that is >unstable to make it stable) It took an hour, but we were able to get the >car back on the dolly. I gingerly drove the rig back home. > >It was the last time I used such a device, and never will >again. Period. With a top heavy vehicle like a vanagon, I think that >would only increase the risk associated with tow dolly. Of course, it >would make trailering riskier too, but far better than dollying I believe. > >Recently, I hauled a car with a U-Haul trailer. As said in earlier post >today, it was great. Being the eccentric that I am, I even have lots of >pictures of the event. (Yeah, that's crazy, I know) It shows how to do >it. Besides, the event did have some historical, sentimental significance >to me, so that was part of the reason for the pictures. If you want some, >just ask and tonight I will shoot them to you. > >hk |
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