Repair And Fix it

There are many reasons to tow a Honda Civic on a tow dolly. A tow dolly is designed to pull a vehicle behind another vehicle with the idle wheels -- non-driving wheels -- on the the ground and the driving wheels off the ground. Some vehicles require a long process to prepare the vehicle for towing on a dolly. The Civic, however, has a very straightforward towing process when using a dolly and requires no special preparation.

Instructions

1

Park the tow dolly and the Civic on a flat surface. Position the Civic about 8 to 10 feet behind the rear of the dolly.

2

Grab the dollys ramps and pull them outward until they are fully extended and lay them on the ground.

3

Enter the Civic and start the ignition.

4

Place the vehicle in "Drive" for automatic or "First Gear" if operating a standard transmission and slowly drive towards the ramps, using your assistant to guide you.

5

Continue driving up the ramps, with the guidance of your assistant.

6

Stop the Civic when your guide tells you that you have reached the dollys platform, the area where the cars front wheels set in.

7

Place the Civic in "Neutral," set the parking brake, turn the ignition off and exit the Civic.

8

Place the dollys ratcheting straps over the Civics wheels, as instructed in the dollys instructions. Tighten the straps using the ratchets until the vehicles front wheels are secure.

9

Remove the key from the Civics ignition, place the Civics gear selector in "Park" if equipped with an automatic or "First" if equipped with a manual transmission and release the parking brake.

10

Accelerate and stop slowly and evenly, as hard acceleration or braking can cause damage to the towing vehicle.

11

Negotiate tight turns caully, as the tow dolly will take turns slightly tighter than the towing vehicle. Pay close attention to your side view mirrors when in tight turns.

Whether you need to tow your car to the local car repair shop or behind your RV while driving across the county, you will need to buy or rent a tow dolly. A tow dolly is the safe and legal way to tow your car. It has a single axle with a tongue, similar to the letter T. The tongue will hook to the towing package on the back of the vehicle which will tow the car. The towing package consists of a hitch and wiring harness installed on the back of your vehicle, and the wiring to control the lights on the tow dolly hooks into the wiring harness of the vehicle itself.

Instructions

1

Loosen the coupler latch on the tongue of the tow dolly and place the coupler over the 2-inch ball of the hitch on the vehicle which will be towing the dolly. Push the towing dolly back and forth a bit to ensure the coupler is seated properly on the 2-inch ball.

2

Push down on the latch to close the coupler latch over the 2-inch ball and place the pin through the latch to securely lock the tow dolly onto the hitch. Pull up on the towing dolly to test if it is secured. If the coupler seems loose on the ball, adjust the coupler, using a wrench.

3

Connect the wiring plug of the tow dolly to the plug beside the hitch. If the wires do not have a plug, then connect the color coded wires of the dolly to the corresponding wires of the towing package. The yellow wire controls the left blinker, the green wire controls the right blinker, the brown wire controls the tail lights, the white wire is the ground and the red wire is for optional brakes on the dolly.

4

Attach the safety chains to hitch. Crisscross the chains, allowing slack in the chains for moving around corners.

A car dolly, or tow dolly, is used to move a vehicle from one place to another when driving it is not an option. The immobile car is driven or pushed up ramps onto the carriage and strapped down with safety straps. A fixed cradle dolly takes corners differently than a swivel cradle dolly since there is no pivot point on the dolly. Care should be used while towing the dolly around corners.

Instructions

Axle Preparation

1

Measure the length of the axle between the leaf spring mounts. Cut the axle at the center of this distance with a metal cutter.

2

Measure the inside diameter of the axle tube to determine the required outside diameter of the sprinkler pipe. Slide the sprinkler pipe into the axle tube so that 6 inches of sprinkler pipe is inside the axle on each side.

3

Weld both joints of the axle and sprinkler pipe using the welder.

The Cradle

4

Cut two 80-inch and two 23-inch pieces of angle steel. Weld the angle steel into a rectangle.

5

Weld a piece of angle steel 18 inches from each of the shorter sides to create two boxes on either end of the cradle.

6

Into each of the boxes you just created, weld two pieces of angle steel that run parallel to the longer side of the rectangle. The new pieces of steel should be 6 inches from the outside edges.

7

Tack weld the cradle onto the axle between the tires to make sure it is square. The center of the cradle should be at the center of the tire. Fully weld the cradle in place. The axle will be offset from center. The front of the dolly is the side with the offset.

The Tongue

8

Cut a 4-foot piece of box tubing. Under the center of the cradle, tack weld this piece of box tubing to the cradle and to the bottom of the axle. Make sure that the tongue is centered and completely welded at the cradle and axle.

9

Cut two more pieces of box steel, each 12 inches long. Place one piece on top of the other piece and slide it forward 6 inches. Weld together.

10

Weld this piece onto the 4-foot piece of tubing already on the dolly, overlapping the pieces by at least 6 inches.

11

Cut another piece of box tubing two feet long. Weld this piece onto the top 12-inch piece of box steel, leaving six inches overlapping. Weld the trailer coupler onto the end of the tongue.

12

Cut two 27-inch pieces of box tubing. Angle them between the tongue and the cradle and weld into place.

Finishing the Dolly

13

Cut the 8-foot plank in half to form two 4-foot pieces. Cut two 12-inch pieces of angle steel.

14

Attach one piece of angle steel to one end of each plank to form the ramps for the dolly.

15

Attach one fender to each side of the cradle of the dolly using the hardware and instructions provided with the fenders.

16

Mount and wire the trailer lights according to the instructions provided with the lights.