i am planning on driving from s.c. to washington to get on a ferry to alaska this feburary. i'm going to need to tow my wife's saturn ion, my question to all the gurus is, would it be safer and more effecient to rent the car trailer from uhaul or the car dolly they offer? my truck details are in my sig. Thanks for the help and opinions.

 

Definitely go for the trailer. It's almost impossible to back up with a dolly without jacknifing the car. Those are really only suitable for short distance tows.

 

Car trailer as glc said they are just a lot more user friendly.

 

thanks guys. that's what i figured about the trailer being the way to go. just wanted to get some opinions before dropping a grand on the rental trailer.

 

Red neck,

If it is going to cost a grand for a rental, buy a used trailer and then sell it at the end of the move. I see nice car trailers on CL for about $1500 and even if you only sell it for $1000 at the other end, then it cost you $500 for the move.....better than a grand! No matter which way you go, have a safe trip.

 

I vote for the trailer. I hate dolly's.

 

Sounds like a good idea, but most of those $1500 car haulers are NOT ready for a cross country travel. Most need tires, brakes, a deck or electrical work and plan on spending a couple hundred to get them into shape. I would be very cautious on any $1000'ish trailer. I get 8-10 a week on consignment that are JUNK!

If this is a plan buy a NEW one for about $1800-2300, have the peace of mind that it is new and hasn't been abused. Sell it at your destination for a $3-400 loss which would still be less than half of renting and it will fly off your hands having only one trip on it. When I say a loss of $3-400, I mean 3-400 under the price, not the price plus tax, title and tags.

Now if you try and sell it for what you paid for it you will never sell it. I see this daily as people try and re-coup their cost. If people wanted to pay new prices they would just buy a new trailer.

Since you will be driving over the Continental Divide make sure you have brakes on BOTH axles. It is the law and enforced out here in the west. Many cheap trailers will have brakes on one axle only.

 

that is a very good piece of information. i had no idea about that, thank you for bringing that up.

 

If it were not for the mountains, I would use a dolly. I did about 800 miles towing, and then 800 empty return trip with about a 2500 pound car. But I'd want brakes for the trip over Rockies.

 

I don't have any more advice to offer but that sounds like an awesome trip!

 

Go with the trailer for sure. However I hope you have better than stock gears. That 4.6 won't be happy turning 35's AND towing 4500 pounds through the mountains

 

Yeah I would invest in a good Tranny cooler and you prolly won't see OD much.

 

If your truck has the factory towing package, the tranny cooler is adequate for that load.

 

yes i have the factory towing package. the gears i have are 3.73, i don't have the funds to get what i want....either 4.11 or 4.56's leaning more toward 4.11 when i get around to it.

 

my family and i are looking forward to it. going to stop and see some sights along the way, but won't take up too much time doing that. i only have 13 days to get to fairbanks, ak.