About 10 years ago, I built a tow dolly to haul my little cars around. It was lighter, and simpler than using the trailer, and I really liked it. While selling a stock car, the buyer offered a package deal that was just too good to turn down, and I lost my dolly. I'd like to build a new one, so I'm looking for ideas.
Uhh, i have a tow dolley, but i sure didnt build it. I dont have any good pictures of it without a car on it either..
I think its a tow master. Once i got mine i started looking at other peoples and only then did i start to notice the many variations of dolleys. In my opinion i blindly stumbled into a very good one. Its very heavy duty, has fairly long ramps, the deck turns (not the wheels), the deck is wide enough to fit a full size truck (as long as the tires arent wider than stock), and i havent had a single problem with it other than keeping tires on it. It has 13" tires with metal fenders over them, and ive gone through about 4 tires in the time that ive owned it. I personally dont think they are durable enough. If i could cherry pick a modification to magically happen to it without any effort on my part, it would be to have 15" wheels so i could use common/cheap truck / trailer tires, and have the hub located higher to keep the deck at the same height while accomodating the larger diameter of the heavier duty tires.
For the record, you can get a new 13" trailer tire unmounted for ~$60 and on a new wheel for ~75, but to me thats expensive. Id much rather reuse the rims and pay $5 to mount and balance one of the many 15" tires i usually have laying around.
Here's mine:
1989 Mastertow. 73" I think (they made a 75" or 76" as well).
Found it searching on ebay and after it didn't meet the reserve price I called the guy directly and bought it for $500. It was more than I was looking to spend but I've had it for almost 4 years and haven't touched it besides hitting the grease fitings every spring. It was completely sandblasted/repainted, new wheel bearings, new wiring and new tires. It has swivel spindles for steering and fixed ramps which I'm not a big fan of but it gets the job done.
It's paid for itself in terms of the non-running car's I've been able to pick up and sell.
I bought plans to build one, if you email me, I'll figure out a way to send you a copy if you want..
That would be awesome. Thank you!
The one I built worked, but it was small, and it's use was limited, so I think I'd like to build something a little more pro this time.
My Towmaster has a central threaded handle to lock the ramps when towing empty. It's almost absolutely silent this way...
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