On Tue, 6 May 2003, Steve Cotsford wrote:

> I rented a U-Haul dolly but in order to do so I had to provide a heavy
> enough tow vehicle with a "class 1" hitch.

If your tow vehicle can take the extra weight, I've had good luck towing
VW vans on U-Haul Auto Transporter trailers.  This gets all four wheels
off the ground and gives you a little wider stance.  I'm sure Vanagons tow
fine on dollies but they look so tippy to begin with that I've never been
comfortable with it. ;)  The Auto Transporter also is equipped with surge
brakes, a definate plus.  (Of course, U-Haul can rent you a truck to tow
with, but that gets expensive.  They won't let you rent a pickup for this,
they insist you need a 19' van to tow with.)  I towed a '75 bus with a
Ford E-150 this way, and an '82 Vanagon with a 19' U-Haul box truck.  The
trailer was stable even at high speeds.

I prefer to load the van on the Transporter back end first.  It probably
doesn't matter, but I always worried that loading it the other way would
tip too much weight off the tongue and cause fishtailing.

(Off-topic tip:  Don't try to put a 2-door Honda Civic on an Auto
Transporter unless you plan on crawling out the window.)

David Brodbeck, N8SRE
'82 Diesel Westfalia
'94 Honda Civic Si