Have to be carefull loading/unloading as front clearance is not spectacular. May have to lay a 2"x6" board under the ramps and out front a foot or so to give the smart a head start up the ramp.
Owner's Manual tells you that it can not be towed using that kind of lift that holds the front wheels, it states that it may cause the front suspension to bottom out which could damage it.
lschmitt
Interesting concept from Smart, that you can't tow with tires on a dolly.
I can understand the concern with damage when loading/unloading on/off the dolly but once you are on the dolly the loading on the suspension through the tires onthe dolly is lower than when driving.
Taken to the warnings logial conclusion if you ever put a Smart on a trailer the damage would be rea bad! ?
Other considerations when towing with a dolly are the increased combined vehicle weight and additional charges for storage of the dolly at RV Resorts that prohibit them being stored at your site. Also the steering on the smart doesn't lock, leaving the front wheels to attempt to track in turns. Having never towed with a dolly, I don't know that this would be an issue.
If you have the steering wheel held with a bungee, you can indeed back up a toad whether flat towed or on a dolly. I've done it plenty of times with a couple of different 4x4 vehicles I have owned and towed. It's not as easy as with a trailer and takes some practice but it can be done. How do you think an experienced (and proficient) truck driver with double trailers backs up to a dock to unload?
Towed a 2005 smart cdi all the way from Ontario, Canada to Colorado Springs, CO with a U-Haul car dolly with no issues. The smart car backed up on the car dolly with no problem. Because of the smart car's short wheelbase the built-in ramps on the dolly do not have to be extended all the way out otherwise the front wheels will be resting on the ramps once the rear wheels are in the wheel stops. I pulled the ramps out to the required length and marked the position with a permanent marker.
I am not a fan of tow dollys and I would consider following your manuals instructions. The draw back to towing four down is not being able to back up. Other than that is has a lot of pluses.
If you can get past the storage issues in RV parks (not a big problem 90 percent of the time) then a smart car trailer is the way to go. There are a couple of American companies and one Canadian company out there, all with good names and all with good products. One of them self stores on its tail which may or may not be important to you. (It was to us). The other company has some neat features including electric brakes and some other useful options and the Canadian company has two axles which although didn't work for us (self store thing) is very cool from the safety standpoint. This is the model we use (but is not our smart car) .
Hi Dave, I'm interested in hearing more about the set-up in the foto. Is that a custom dolly? I've asked the forum about Smart on a dolly in the "new member" forum, got some good info I have to pursue, but it looks like you've found the right answer. Thanks for anything you can add either here on in new member's forum, I'm watching both
I've towed mine on an Eze-Tow Dolly, which is manufactured in North Carolina, and includes a surge brake system with disc brakes. $1800 including shipping. I installed a $15 battery shut-off switch to the negative side of the battery. The nice part about this dolly is the ramps aren't attached. It's the Rhino ramps like you'd pull your car onto for working underneath. That way, you don't have to worry about the ramps that spring back up and whack the underside of your car. I tow it behind a 31' Winnebago Vista, and if it weren't for the rear monitor, I wouldn't even know it's back there. Hook it to the motorhome, load the car, strap it, flip the battery shut-off switch, grab the shut-off key and away you go. Tracks right behind the motorhome, and whenever you stop, it stops, so you don't have worry about any additional braking systems inside the car. :>) Here's the link to their website. Car Tow Dolly -The Lightest and Toughest Tow Dolly For All Car Towing Needs - Acme Car Tow Dolly Company
Curious...we're considering an eze-tow dolly for our Smart Car and wanted to see if you were using yours. Have you had any issues or problems? Would you advise it over flat towing?
Why use a dolly when you can tow your Smart 4 wheels down ? What a crazy expense to make, unless you do have an old diesel Smart! The Smart 451 and newer can be towed 4 wheels down without any problem; you just have to buy a "cut-off" switch to disconnect your battery while towing it.
With all due respect, I'm not exactly sure about it being a 'crazy expense'. It's not like configuring your Smart for flat-towing is free or without challenge...especially if you want some form of auxiliary braking system (as required in several states). The challenge of powering some of the braking systems without having access to the 12v system in your Smart car (due to the required manual battery disconnect) isn't necessarily 'simple' or inexpensive. Plus, I'm not getting a high level of confidence in the experience level of companies around me who claim to know what they're doing and then having all sorts of questions or concerns about how to properly configure my Smart (things like assuring me that an automatic cut-off will work fine or not having a firm grip on the unique nature of the car's transmission and computer system that require NO 12v power during towing. At least some of this could be minimized if a functional tow dolly equipped with disk brakes and turn/brake lights could work, that's all.
Just an observation, but wouldn't lashing the steering wheel only wear the front tires a little quicker? We've never tied ours down (although I've heard that with many other vehicles as well) and it tracks fine behind our Tiffin.
I found this trailer made by Aluma, their model # 6810-H. It's 10 ft long and 5'6" wide. The tongue adds another 4 ft for a total of 14 ft.
It comes with the bi-fold ramp that makes a solid ramp to drive the car up. The empty tongue weight it only 45 lbs. and the trailer itself is 500 lbs...
Hello, the former owner of my 451 decided to paint the black plugs for the front and rear tow hooks. He also painted two more smaller plugs below and to the outside of the rear tow hook holes. I'd like to buy new ones but I don't know what they're called. Anybody know what's up with those two...
2013 smart cabriolet can be towed four-down, but requires that the battery be disconnected. Anyone suggest (1) type and make of a switch, and (2) where is the best place to locate the switch?
Many thanks,
Mike
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