The new-and-improved plan is to tow the Malibu behind the truck...maybe on a dolly.
That puts Handsome Hombre and me in the truck swapping off driving duty.
The problem with cell phones is that I have to look away from traffic to activate it or to call a number. That might be a bad idea. Same for answering the phone. I have to push buttons to accept the call.
Comments appreciated.
If you can get one, spend the extra for a real car trailer.
ReplyDeleteDollies work but can be problematic. and they often are hard on the car being towed.
Bmakes a good point. Uhaul is pricey, maybe buy a trailer, temporary tag, sell it in michigan. Cost difference vs renting?
ReplyDeleteConcur on the trailer, IF you've towed a trailer before.
ReplyDeleteThe dolly is awkward, especially if you find yourself "cornered" and have to try to back it up.
ReplyDeleteAt any store such as Meijer or Best Buy they sell a little doohickey (technical term) that plugs into the cigarette lighter and pairs your phone, throught bluetooth, into the FM radio of the car. Then you can use voice activation to call a number, or just push a button to anwser the phone and talk handsfree. They are usually less than $30
ReplyDeleteYou can even download free audio books from the library to play over the radio with the doohickey from your phone.
DeleteAmen on the trailer! It's a great piece of infrastructure to add to the family stable of tools.
ReplyDeleteI flat towed a pickup truck OKC- PA way back in the day. Wish I had used a trailer.
Hey Joe,
ReplyDeleteI've towed a metric crap ton of cars, trucks and vans. Used to run a towing fleet for AAA in upstate NY.
Rent a u haul car hauler trailer. Get all four wheels off the ground.
Dolly's are alright for local or RV duty. For a cross country trip the stability of a tandem axle car hauler will be huge. And it's safer. I had a scrap car come off a tow dolly once. The strap on the steering wheel came loose, it started loosening up because the steering wheel was moving and a strap popped off in a curve. God kept it from killing anybody or wrecking any other cars. Trailer it, you'll be happier.
And check your tie downs frequently. They will loosen up. They will...
ReplyDeleteThe have Bluetooth headsets that allow voice activation to call and answer your phone completely hands free. My dad’s a trucker and swears by his. Super easy. It only sits in one ear so you and HH can still easily carry on conversations to solve the world’s problems.
ReplyDeleteI concur with the car hauler. The extra money will be worth it. Many modern cars don't do well with a dolly in real life, regardless of the official line.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked at options besides Uhaul? Some areas have options for Ryder or Penske that are competitive, especially when you include paying for miles.
And as mentioned, some areas are competitive enough it is worth buying there and selling at home, either the truck or the trailer.
Jonathan
Navigator/passenger seat guy can take over phone duties.
ReplyDeleteCB radio? Maybe a good reason to start studying for a Ham Radio license - no Morse Code needed. About 2-3 weeks of rote memorization for 1-2 hours/night 3 nights/week.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.qrz.com/hamtest/
Amazon has cheap Baofeng ham radios for $40 each. Fun hobby and useful in a pinch...
Ladies and Gentlemen:
ReplyDeleteThank-you for the comments. I forwarded them to Southern Belle who is modifying the plan.
8-)
Mr ERJ is this a Rick and Kate call? Its time for you to come home! Woody
ReplyDeleteGreat question.
DeleteIn the story the call went to the single women and the son who was the head-of-a-household. The single women listened. The men did not.
Southern Belle is a married woman and I would not presume to emasculate Handsome Hombre nor to deprive him of his duty to be steward of his family.
A major factor that tipped them to the move is the birth of their daughter. It revealed a different focal plane: There is nobody they trusted to watch their daughter.
As a person of northern-European heritage, I was not very sensitive to the tensions between people from various Latin American countries nor the tensions between them and other minorities (American-born blacks, Caribbean-born blacks, African-born blacks, Asians).
Family transcends that. Southern Belle has a LOT of family up here and none down there. Handsome Hombre has his brother who immigrated with him...and that is it in Florida. Not a very deep bench.
There is also the Urban/Rural divide. HH likes rural.
Towing is not hard -- if you have the right equipment.
ReplyDeleteI have 7 different trailers ranging from a small single motorcycle trailer, to a 32' gooseneck covered car hauler
I've used a tow dolly to tow an early 70's Mustang back from southern Florida to east Tennessee. Towed a 60's Mustang from Albuquerque to Michigan on a flatbed car hauler trailer and a dozen plus more long distance tows using a dolly or trailer,
So I have a lot of experience with both
It's true you can't really back-up with a tow dolly, and you are limited as to where/how you stop (eat, restroom, etc) with either a trailer or dolly. But it's not a trip wrecker
With a tow dolly -- using it properly depends on the type of vehicle being towed and the capabilities of towing vehicle-- perhaps more so than using a trailer
Most RWD vehicles with an auto trans cannot be towed on a dolly (nose first) without disconnecting the drive shaft. Some RWD vehicles were engineered to be towed, but not all. It pays to check first -- been there, done that (ruined a trans) but that was decades ago.
And towing nose first, you do not tie the steering wheel down as someone mentioned earlier (you do if you are towing with rhe rear wheels on the dolly -- which is the alternate way to tow a RWD vehicle that has a trans that prohibits flat towing)
The other problem with a dolly is, most don't have brakes-- some rentals have surge brakes, but not all, and without brakes, the tow vehicle has to be able to brake the weight of both vehicles.
So that brings up the tow vehicle -- it has to be robust enough to be able to both accelerate and brake safely the whole load.
Another thing to consider in the decision, is the towed weight. Deciding to use a trailer vs a dolly will add 800-1000 or so pounds to the towed weight. The tow vehicle has to be able to handle that increase.
Another is lighting -- a trailer has rear lighting built in that satisfies the law. The tow dolly's lights only satisfy the law when there is no vehicle on it, but with a vehicle loaded, a tow dolly will require an aux set of lights placed on the rear of the vehicle towed, (or special wiring that allows the tow vehicle lights to activate the vehicle being towed lights--you see this type of wiring often on motorhomes towing a vehicle).
Another issue is cost, and there appears to be no rhyme or reason on how the rentals set their rates. For instance, when renting for the dolly tow from Florida to Tennessee, it was actually quite a bit cheaper to rent the dolly in Tennessee and do a round trip with it, than it was to go one way. (an empty dolly is only 400# or so, and it hardly affected the fuel economy going down).
That said, it also may be cheaper to just drive both vehicles than renting.
(FYI --I drive Michigan (Mt Pleasant) - Tennessee-- Florida) several times each year, so I can suggest the best spots to get gas on the route if you're interested -- just private e-mail me)
Hope some of this helps
Commenters who suggested some sort of hands-free for your cell phone are correct, but not necessarily giving the best opinion. Even hands-free (or bluetooth earbud) is a distraction, and you will already be distracted by that extra vehicle attached to your rear end. Best to just ignore the phone, or have your passenger/navigator handle it for you. Even on an interstate, there's usually somewhere to pull over safely a few minutes further on.
ReplyDeleteIf there are two of you making the trip, why not drive both vehicles instead of using a trailer?
ReplyDeleteConcur with the preference for car-carrier trailer rental, unless you want to pop for a utility trailer that can take the load - they're about $3G down here for a decent one. Suggest a good mechanic performs a good purpose-driven check of the truck's drivetrain and maybe a focus on transmission - change fluid, tighten bands - before leaving. Good luck on the drive!
ReplyDeleteU haul
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