Anyhow, im trying to pick up another fiero, itll be 3rd one now...and its 300 miles away...so i figured id get a hitch on my moms ford escape and pick it up....so i orderd the hitch and go to uhauls site to check prices and such..and it turns out they dont acept escapes for their crappy equipment, so i said ok...maybe an explorer then...they are bigger...nope...turns out some retards who dont know how to drive had some accedents and are filed lawsuites against Uhaul..so now uhaul has banned explorer types from renting their equipment...(but not similar trucks with same chassis!) ANYWAY...are there any other places with websites i could rent a tow dolly from??? Im in the NY / CT area...if anyone knows of local places that would accept my "unsafe to tow" truck so i could pick this damn car up?

Also, a second question is...when using the dolly do the front wheels go up or can it go on backwards?? or should i just get the drive up on type? (if i can find a place willing to that is)

Im running outa time and dont wanna miss a little goldmine of a parts car
big fat plus to anyone who can help me with this dillema...

Thanks for reading, if you did...and thanks in advance to any willing to help...
Peace,
Jon

Pretty sure Budget rents them. Beware of pulling in to ANY place you have to back out of once the dolly's loaded. The Escape is a bad idea; you always want your tow vehicle to weigh substantially more than the towed unit. Don't ask... (Don't tell them what you're towing, either.) Ok, that's my .02...

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88 Formula, "Asphalt Aviator"

Celebrate Artesian New Year!!!

yeah we were told that they will tell u that using a car dolly wont work because some cars are too heavy which is bs we have towed trucks with them and it worked but yeah we ended up renting a trailor for like 40 a day

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88 2m4 brought back from the dead

Didnt even think of budget...guess ill try them...
and danger is not a concern! this is a fiero that needs to be saved

And budget told me they can only rent out the tow equip with their trucks...which is 269.00 for a 15 footer..+ another 299.00 for the dolly!!! thats crazy...ah well the search goes on....

[This message has been edited by InDeX420 (edited 08-07-2004).]

Have a friend with a pickup go with you and get a tow dolly. Tell them it is for a caviler and then drive it to your house and hook it up to the escape.

OH Yeah, besure to check the lug nuts.

I rented a car transport from Uhaul. I had to borrow my fathers F150. I picked up 2 Fieros in one day. One 120 miles from my house and the other 60 miles from my house. I would not recommend the two wheel off the ground type. One more word of caution..... It could have just been me (I'm not to experienced with the 4 wheel off the ground carrier) but once I got the fiero up on the carrier I couldn't open the door because it hit the Wheel cover of the carrier!! Even with the fender of the carrier flipped down the door still hit it!! I had to climb out the window and prey for no rain on the ride home!!!

Uhaul here wouldn't let me rent a tow dolly for a fiero, gave me grief about towing it ass end up. So I went to a local equipment rental place.

Last week, a few friends and I towed a 87 MR2 parts car 200 miles from NH to RI on a U Haul unit.

We used an E350 based RV with a 460 V8 and GVW of about 13000 lbs. I wouldnt try it with a little Ford Escape - transmissions are expensive.

And Explorers have proven themselves unsafe even with nothing in tow.

Well I dont have any choice but to use the escape now...and im not paying a tow truck for 300 miles....Going to handy rent-all they said they would rent to me...i havent told them what car im using or towing...and if they dont let me i might have to just hijack one...

If you're just bound and determined to do this...make sure all four tires are fully inflated on both cars; it also helps the stability of the tow vehicle to have about five extra pounds of pressure in the rear tires on the tow vehicle. I used to work for a repo company and frequently had to haul cars across a couple of states on a tow dolly; it's amazing how much difference that extra pressure makes. Of course, in my case I was using an International Scout as the tow vehicle; that sucker weighed as much as a Chevy Suburban and was built like a battleship. A shame the rustproofing on those vehicles was so bad (as in nonexistent).

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88 Formula, "Asphalt Aviator"

Celebrate Artesian New Year!!!

Those U haul trailers weight a ton, actually more than a ton. You would max out your tow capacity on the escape before you put the car on.

If you are determined to use the Escape then have the hitch permanently installed, so at least you don't have to worry about that. Then rent the dolly and tell them you are hauling a cavelier. Some places won't rent to you if they know you are hauling a fiero. Then put the rear end on the dolly, I don't care if it's auto or manual, you want the heavy end on the dolly. Then strap down the steering wheel. If the steering wheel lock breaks you don't want to lose control.

Finally in some states it's illegal to tow dolly an un-licensed vehicle. So if this is a junker you might want to do it at night or whenever you think the police might not be looking.

Good luck and let us know how it worked out.

- Jonathan

Ps - for all of the above mentioned reasons, I decided to buy my own trailer, and I got one that I don't have to climb out the window to get out.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 08-07-2004).]

Yep, amazing how handy those trailers can be --- especially if you set it up to do dual duty by having some stake brackets and tiedown pintles welded on the sides. Throw a couple of sheets of 3/4 or 1" plywood across the bed, and you're ready to move Aunt Millie's refrigerator and furniture during her next divorce. Another good idea is a small winch on the front of it; makes picking up non-running parts cars a whole lot easier...

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88 Formula, "Asphalt Aviator"

Celebrate Artesian New Year!!!

[This message has been edited by Vonov (edited 08-08-2004).]

quote Originally posted by linenoise: Uhaul here wouldn't let me rent a tow dolly for a fiero, gave me grief about towing it ass end up. So I went to a local equipment rental place.

Yeah that's what I was going to say. No one will rent you a tow dolly if you tell them you're towing a Fiero.

I was in Detroit Friday (I didn't take my trailer with me) & I ended up needing to haul a stick shift Fiero back to Chicago.

Rented the dolly from U-Haul and (knowing that they won't rent for a Fiero) I told them it was for an 88 Pontiac, they asked what model I told them "Frienza" or something acting like I couldn't pronounce it.

They don't like renting for use in hauling a Fiero because it's rear wheel drive & you're not supposed to tow a car backwards down the road.

I did tow this Fiero with the rear wheels on the ground because I was going to be on the road all night & didn't have my towing lights with me.

Stick shift in Neutral, towed just fine.

Archie

I recently towed my 85se to Orlando
used Dad's f250 diesel and told u hual I was towing a cavalier. I loaded it backwards on the dolly and just extra care to secure the steering wheel by 1)locking it 2)tying the seatbelt around it 3)tying a tow rope around it.
If you are towing a vehicle backwards with the steering axles on the ground------guess what happens if those steering axles turn in either direction? You and the entire rig get flipped upside down. There is a risk to towing this way! Be careful.
I was hoping to not tow it home but-----looks like I might have to. I will use the same procedure.

Be careful!!! Jeff

Ford Escape? Well, your mom is a lot more understanding than I would be.

Aside from some dinky around town stuff, you are much better off with a suitable tow vehicle and a tandem trailer that gets both ends of the Fiero off the ground.

Post here if you and the cars live through the trip.

I have been reading what everyone is saying, and I would definatly not want to tow the car backwards and have it flip me over...also if the full drive on type really weighs so much then its well beyond the escapes 3500lbs capacity.....What I think I will do is rent a Truck + Car carrier from Penske and use it for the pickup and also for the move, since we have been thinking of using somewhere for temporary storage, This also takes care of the Extra engine+ tranny the car is coming with..I dont know what I was thinking...Tow a car + an engine and tranny inside the rear hatch..I may never have posted again, and y'all would be hearin about a freak accendt on the news where a ford escape got ripped in half by overloading
Thank you all for convincing me against what coulda been a really big mistake...
I still wont use Uhaul just from the way they spoke to me on the phone and responded in email..BLA

[This message has been edited by InDeX420 (edited 08-08-2004).]

Well, I can't speak about automatic transmissions. (EVERY, and I mean EVERY fiero I have ever owned has been a standard). Anyway... as noted here, U-Haul type places will not rent you a dolly to tow a fiero. I have a 1993 Ford Ranger that I use for Fiero collecting... I used to go to UHaul and tell them I was dragging a 1985 Pontiac Sunbird (small, light, front wheel drive). Never had any issues with that story. I eventually made friends with a local garage, and they let me borrow their dolly for free over a weekend. =] All that said, I put them on the dolly nose first (you have to go real slow, the GT nose *just barely* clear most Uhaul type dollies), throw the tranny i neutral and off ya go. Never had any problems.

Good Luck!
-Ken

quote Originally posted by InDeX420: I have been reading what everyone is saying, and I would definatly not want to tow the car backwards and have it flip me over...also if the full drive on type really weighs so much then its well beyond the escapes 3500lbs capacity.....What I think I will do is rent a Truck + Car carrier from Penske and use it for the pickup and also for the move, since we have been thinking of using somewhere for temporary storage, This also takes care of the Extra engine+ tranny the car is coming with..I dont know what I was thinking...Tow a car + an engine and tranny inside the rear hatch..I may never have posted again, and y'all would be hearin about a freak accendt on the news where a ford escape got ripped in half by overloading Thank you all for convincing me against what coulda been a really big mistake... I still wont use Uhaul just from the way they spoke to me on the phone and responded in email..BLA

Good! I was hoping you'd reconsider. You and your mom will both be happier, I think. She'd probably have beat you half to death verbally when the tranny and engine bled coolant/oil/grease all over her interior...and the life you saved may be your own.

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88 Formula, "Asphalt Aviator"

Celebrate Artesian New Year!!!

quote Originally posted by Vonov: Good! I was hoping you'd reconsider. You and your mom will both be happier, I think. She'd probably have beat you half to death verbally when the tranny and engine bled coolant/oil/grease all over her interior...and the life you saved may be your own.

Only thing is now, its gonna cost a lot more then I had originally planned... Guess no stage 2s for me
I probably would not have even bid, but now its too late...Now to see how well I can drive around a big ass truck! I dont think ive driven anything bigger then an exlporer...think im gonna be in the slow lane with grannies beepin at me

Well, I just got a Fiero parts car that was 160 miles from my place - I rented a dolly (2 wheels up) from U-Haul for $92 for three days and good for 400 miles travel... the car is for parts and doesn't run, so a friend and I picked it up in his '94 Chevy 1500 and physically pushed the rear wheels up onto the dolly (towed it backwards). The dolly is rated at 45mph I think but we hit 80 on the freeway and had no trouble with the thing.

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'86 5-Spd 2M4 Sport Coupe
Aiwa CDC-X437 Head Unit
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Borla 2" Exhaust (Straight Pipe)

Upcoming:
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Also:

'84 Auto 2M4 SE Parts Car

One of this years OFA show attendees can be seen at:-

http://www.pcpages.com/ofa/untitled17.html

If you tow this thing, be careful. Geez, I ran into the same thing with UHaul, wound up borrowing a full trailer from a friend and towed it with my S10 pickup. Talk about scary - that pickup is WAY too light to haul the trailer with more than a box of apples on it. I made it the whole 200 miles home, but I'd borrow a big truck from someone before I'd ever use a light vehicle to haul with again. I felt like a strong wind would flip the trailer - followed by ME - off into the canyon! Took about half the life off my clutch too!

Vic

I hope this is somewhat on-topic. I was towing my wifes honda civic with a U-haul tow dolly and it snapped in two where some bolt holes where drilled through the tounge (for chains or something like that). any way, it was during a slow turn and the car rolled off the road and one wheel was hanging over an 8 foot ditch when it stopped. thank god it did not go down... when we looked at the tow dolly, there was rust about 3/4 the way around the 3" square tubing where it snapped in two. moral, inspect the equipment for hairline cracks and or any other damage that might cause a problem... i won't use a dolley anymore. trailers only for me...

Tugboat may be ugly:

But I had no problem moving a '70 Skylark on my trailer for a friend the other day. I do have the door/fender problem with Fieros though.

GL

[This message has been edited by Tugboat (edited 08-09-2004).]

tow capacity isn't just weight difference - its braking capacity -- a trailor or dolly with its own brakes is far far safer than one without..
hell the v6 dodge magnum weighs 4000 pounds and has a tow rating of 1000pounds...

i've dolly'd many a fiero with a fiero and they were very stable.. I'll be dollying a fiero 6 hours with my subaru legacy this comming weekend.. should go just fine

on a side note - I'm renting mine from TrueValue hardware - 40$ a day and no questions asked

[This message has been edited by Kohburn (edited 08-09-2004).]

Ive towed all my Fieros at one time or another with 2 wheel dolly behind my 3800 Minivan with no problems at all for hundreds of miles. Picked up my GT40 in St louis and came all the way back to columbus on cruise control at 65 mph. I prefer them to a trailer simply because they weigh 1/4 of that. I tow sticks with rear wheels on ground, autos backwards with front on ground.

quote Originally posted by InDeX420: Well I dont have any choice but to use the escape now...and im not paying a tow truck for 300 miles....Going to handy rent-all they said they would rent to me...i havent told them what car im using or towing...and if they dont let me i might have to just hijack one...

IF your Escape has a tow package, its rated to tow 3500 lbs... The Fiero and the tow dolly are probably close to that. BUT, you might have fun stopping!!!!!!

It turns out my friend told the U-Haul people that we were towing a standard tranny base Fiero, for what it's worth. I guess they were ok with that.

Well, all reservations made...will be using a penske truck 15 footer + a car carrier...4 wheels off ground type...Also going to use this to move since we are in the process of that too...SO Wish me luck!!! this will be the biggest thing ive ever4 driven,...hopefully i wont flip over or somerthing...

I have a 2.8 4x4 Jimmy 700r4 with tranny cooler all i have to say its not about the HP ,etc its all in the gearing.

Well, for every event, I always seem to have to take a U-Haul trailer to tow a Fiero with.. I will give you this bit of advice...

1) When renting a trailer from U-Haul, rent as a "One Way with a Local Return". This got us 4 days for $125 in L.A..
2) There is not any problem with renting a "Car Transport (not a dolly) - all 4 wheels off the ground" for the Fiero. I have rented from 4 U-Hauls, and everyone of them has said there is no problems with the Fiero on a Car Transport. They will **NOT** rent you a "Tow Dolly - Only 2 wheels off the ground", as the Fiero **IS** in fact too low.

I have included some pics below of me towing a Fiero to the West Fest event, and if I had pictures of having to save pokey's Fiero, I would have more...

The way U-Haul works, is anything that has a towing capacity of MINIMUM 1.5x less than the TOTAL towed weight the loaded weight of the trailer, they will rent... IE: F-250 with Tow Dolly and Fiero (approx. 2900 for the Fiero, and 2817 GVW for the trailer) has a loaded capacity of 8,800# - that is fine. A 1992 Nissan Pathfinder stock, won't cut it because the total combined weight payload and all is less than 1.5x the combined weight of the trailer and vehicle.

That is the "rule of thumb" that the computers use at U-Haul for most towing applications. I found that out when I tried to rent a U-Haul trailer for my 1979 F-150 Supercab 4x4, and the truck alone is 6,000 pounds empty! Not only will the trailer not support it, but the vehicle I was towing it with at the time wouldn't work (1997 Chevy Tahoe).

I hope that helps a bit in the towing schpeal. There shouldn't be ANY reason why U-Haul won't rent to you for a Fiero. U-Haul are the ONLY people that will rent a Complete Trailer WITHOUT renting a moving vehicle from them as well.. If you rent it as normal, it is $49.99 a day for a "local rental", or $49.99 the first day, and $30 every day after that for a "One Way - Local Return" Rental. You just can't return the trailer to the same place you rented it from, otherwise the computer will automatically change you to a "local rental"

Later all!

--- Goobz!

http://fieroswest.westcoastfiero.com/events/past/westfest/imagepages/westfest-004.htm
http://fieroswest.westcoastfiero.com/events/past/westfest/imagepages/westfest-102.htm
http://fieroswest.westcoastfiero.com/events/past/westfest/imagepages/westfest-106.htm
http://fieroswest.westcoastfiero.com/events/past/westfest/imagepages/westfest-111.htm
http://fieroswest.westcoastfiero.com/events/past/westfest/imagepages/westfest-109.htm

[This message has been edited by FordsNeverDie (edited 08-10-2004).]

What kind of Fiero are you getting, InDex?

Depending on the body style, it's not too low to haul two-wheels-up. Just an observation.

I'm trying to figure out why you people would have any trouble hauling a Fiero that way - like I said, mine hauled two wheels up did fine on a bumpy freeway at 80-90mph for 160 miles. Just make sure you lock the front wheels.... Lol.