Car Tow Dolly Inc. NC 27105

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MoonSail

I bought my first Acme dolly in 2013, and was very happy with it. Over ten years and about 100K miles, I got about 20K miles out of each set of tires, and about 50K miles from the brake pads. Over the years, as the company made changes to the design, I retrofitted those things to my unit (metal ramps, notched safety chain attaching points). In 2022, a wheel seal started to leak, so I obtained kits from Acme and replaced the wheel bearings and seals. This was the first maintenance the bearing/hub assemblies had needed in 10 years, as advertised, and I was very happy with that. About a year after replacing the seals and bearings, a seal failed while on a trip. I think this failure was due to a seized brake caliper, which I hadn’t replaced, that overheated and damaged the seal. Due to time constraints, I elected to leave the dolly behind. My logic was that the cost of disrupting our trip would be more than the cost of replacing the dolly. So, in the summer of 2024 I purchased a new dolly from Acme. I was looking forward to the improvements that have been made over the years like being galvanized. Unfortunately, my experience with this new dolly has been a stark contrast to the original. First, at about 5K miles, I had to replace one tire, because it had worn unevenly, from the middle to the outer edge, down to the cord. Next, at about 8K miles, during my pre-departure walkaround, I found one of the brake calipers hanging off the dolly, held on only by the brake line, and the one on the other side was gone entirely. The mounting bolts had not come undone, but the two halves of the calipers had separated. Next, the bolt that holds the ramps mounted on the tongue snapped off. Remarkably, the ramps didn’t fall off damaging our car or hitting someone behind us. In my opinion, the bolt is too far forward, allowing the back end of the ramps to bounce, putting leverage on the bolt. My solution to this has been to weld two larger bolts (the same size as the old version of the dolly) to the tongue. Having two will eliminate the potential to bounce, and if one should break, there will be another to still keep the ramps attached. Next, and perhaps most concerning, was that when we arrived at our winter park, I found several cracks in the dolly. Two started at the notches where the safety chains attach, one was where the fender frame attaches to the rear corner of the dolly (with square bolt holes where the crack started), and one was the bracket between the rear and center beams of the dolly which was broken entirely. I have resolved these by welding the cracks and adding small gussets on both sides and the front piece. We’ll see how this holds up. For reference, the only car that has ever been on either of my dollies is a PT Cruiser weighing about 3200 pounds. As for Acme’s customer service, I have always found them slow to respond to voice mails or e-mails, although eventually they did. When I inquired if my brake caliper experience was something they had heard of before, I got a terse answer of “no” and reminded that I had not purchased an extended warrantee, so no break would be given on the cost of replacement calipers. (I didn’t purchase the extended warrantee because of my excellent experience with my first dolly.) I haven’t bothered even contacting them about the cracks because I expect I would get a similar response. I highly recommended the Acme dolly to many people, and I know of two who purchased one based on my input. However, I would no longer recommend them. I suspect that’s a moot point because they seem to be going out of business. They haven’t had dollies available for about a year now, and there is no indication on their website of any future plans.

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Bill Humphreys

I have had nothing but problems, taken it on three trips in three years. There was nothing in the manual stating you should lock out the brakes on long downhills or mountain driving. If you engine break or use an exhaust brake the hydraulic brakes are constantly engage. I nearly destroyed the discs and over heated the axel bearing. Customer Service provided a replacement rotor and bearings. They said they would add a recommendation to lock the breaks out if engine breaking. Second trip I lost both tire's as the wear out quickly if you make a lot of sharpe turns, also make sure the ball high is correct. Third trip I suffered a catastrophic axel failure. I tow a Nissan Frontier Crew cab, 2wd. Curb weight is 4500 lbs, the stated capacity of the dolly is 5000 lbs. As you can see the pictures the welds failed, where the spindle welded to the dolly. Only about 7000 miles of use. In my opinion this dolly is not worth it.

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Mark Hunnicutt

I bought my tow dolly over eight years ogo. It's lite weight, easy to maneuver, and easy to store. I have towed two different vehicles over 20,000 miles with this dolly and would recommend it to anyone needing to tow a vehicle. I would easily purchase it again, but it has held up so well that I don't need to. This dolly is very well made and deceptively tough for its design. Love it!!!