Brakes on a trailer - or how is weight figured?

[kenmac]

I agree DP. they are bad without a load.. no springs . They will bounce all over the place not loaded

 

[Soundguy]

reminds me of driving i10/12 thru lousiana right after katrina.. unloaded going thru it was bad enough.. coming back.. worse.. had a large rowcrop tractor on the back and it was making the trailer buck... mind you they had parts of 10 and 12 lined off with concrete dividers limiting road width to about 4" wider than my trailer... I white knuckled it.. think I bumped a reflector or two off

The tires would come off the pavement 3' at times as I went over expansion joints at bridges and such. At the first truck stop we came to we rounded up 3 or 4 truckers to help us load it in the bed of the truck and strap it down. It was that bad empty and there was no way I was going to drive another 800 miles with it bouncing around.

Chris

 

[Soundguy]

while brakes are always nice to have.. I do agree that a 350 in good repair is likely gonna be fine. As when in any towing situation.. watch your escape routes, blind spots and plan stops..

 

[tazman43]

a tow dolly most times does not fall under trailer

 

[newbury]

Some more facts and responses
I'm not at all concerned about my 350 stopping it, I was concerned about the law.
A trailer rental costs $427, a dolly $214.

I could be wrong but I was pretty sure that the u-haul tow dollies that I have seen have had hydraulic surge brakes.

Are you sure you want a tow dolly? I have never used one but have always considered them a PITA. I sure wouldn't want to back one up, and if you have a 350 I would say try to find a trailer. I tow dolly is good if have a small vehicle that won't handle a car on a trailer, hence the reason that I think they should all have brakes.

That's why I called, and was told no brakes.

IIRC, a dolly is exempt as the weight actually on the dolly is under 3k#. The end of the car not on the dolly doesn't count.
<snip>

That's what I was wondering. After looking at a mfg site they rate a dolly at 3K with a 4K vehicle capacity.

 

[Soundguy]

looks like it slips right thru legal.

it's axle likely is difficult to overlaod with a 3k rating.. it's legal for no brakes.

and it leaves it all up tot he tow vehicle and driver for stops..

 

[mikehaugen]

I once towed a car and moved a old blind man to Florida when in college helping out a friend. We borrowed a two trucks. One pulled the car on a dolly plus had a bed full of his junk and the other pulled a tandem axle box trailer. I drove the one pulling the car.
Chris

So why would a blind man have a car?

 

[Diamondpilot]

So why would a blind man have a car?

I could not understand that either. He was not totally blind but could only see a couple of feet and was legally blind as far as the government was concerned. I did not ask a lot of questions. As a poor college kid I think we got paid $500 each to move him. It was a 3 day job for me and my buddy. 3 long long days but it was more money then we could make in 3 weeks of working part time jobs. That bought a lot of beer that summer.

Really though, I think he had the car and went blind and was now moving in with family and I suspect one of them was getting the car down in Florida. Like I said, I didn't ask a lot of questions.



Chris