Is legal to rent a tow dolly to move a vehicle across Canada?

bruceco

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 9, 2017
Messages
150
Location
Woodstock, ON, Canada
I know flat towing is the best but in Canadian provinces it looks like you need to have a brake package to tow another vehicle behind.I was wondering if it is legal to rent a tow dolly to move a vehicle across canada. I am in ontario and will be going to British Columbia this summer.There are lots of rust free tjs out there. If I find one I thought I would just bring it back behind my motorhome. I have a 2000 tj now which I did a lot of rust repairs on.What are your thoughts.
 
You can get dinghy braking systems that don’t require much setup. Brake Buddy is one of them. Some of the kits are inertial and don’t require a trailer brake controller in the tow vehicle.

You can also get one of the cheap flat tow light kits so you don’t have to splice into the vehicle wiring.

Personally, if I couldn’t flat tow, I would just rent a flatbed trailer. But in that case, you still need a trailer brake controller and electric brakes on the trailer or surge brakes on the trailer.
 
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I haven't towed a vehicle in the past 5 or so years so I'm not up on the current laws. I know they change from time to time and probably from Province to Province. If you're going to rent I'd just stop by a local U-Haul. I'm sure they'd fill you in.
 
You can get dinghy braking systems that don’t require much setup. Brake Buddy is one of them. Some of the kits are inertial and don’t require a trailer brake controller in the tow vehicle.

You can also get one of the cheap flat tow light kits so you don’t have to splice into the vehicle wiring.

Personally, if I couldn’t flat tow, I would just rent a flatbed trailer. But in that case, you still need a trailer brake controller and electric brakes on the trailer or surge brakes on the trailer.


I haven't seen a rental car trailer that didn't have surge brakes. In my book anything over 2K# should have brakes.
 
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I recently rented a tow dolly in Colorado. None of the vendors available rented a tow dolly with brakes of any kind.

Are you sure the tow dollys in Canada have brakes?

Here in the states, I think trailers over 3,0000 lbs GVW are required to have brakes. Rental trailers that can carry a vehicle in my experience have surge brakes. That might be your best option.
 
So just to throw this out there, I had a guy on facebook the other day swearing up and down that his buddy's 98 TJ didn't have a true neutral in the transfer case (it disconnected from the input but still had front and rear locked together) so he could not tow on a dolly. I was pretty sure they fixed that around the end of the CAD axles on the YJ, but I've been wrong before.
 
I have to think it's easily legal, but am not current on Canadian laws. The question I'd have is why in the hell wouldn't brakes be required if your adding 500-1000 lbs to the load?!
 
Canadian laws as I checked said using a tow bar in all provinces require a brake system.I have seen tow dollies for sale and they don't have brake systems.I will enquire as I said with u haul to get the real answers.maybe some dollies have brake systems so it won't be an issue.
 
The website states they are used for in-town and long distance towing. Max weight for FWD is 3450lbs, RWD is 3900lbs. No mention of brakes.

We used a car dolly to tow home an old full size bronco about 300kms. The tow rig was a 3500# Diesel though.
 
You're going to want brakes anyways. I've had too many close calls with moose to even think about pulling trailers without brakes anymore
 
Pretty sure the TJ Manual states, tow with 4 down, flat tow, or 4 up, on a deck.
They specifically say do not tow on a dolly, 2 up, 2 down.

If you need to tow, I'd recommend a U-Haul car hauler with brakes and be done. They rent one way all the time. OR..... if there are 2 drivers....... ??
 
I have been trolling kijiji for a good rust free framed tj. Saw a nice 2004 in vernon. We will be coming out camping after visiting a cousin in vancouver unless plans change.Thought if I come across one in my travels I could inspect it in person and make a decision.My 2000 had a lot of rust and I know my next one won't now that I know what to look for.I was hoping instead of going to the US maybe I will have some luck in the west.
 
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I have been trolling kijiji for a good rust free framed tj. Saw a nice 2004 in vernon. We will be coming out camping after visiting a cousin in vancouver unless plans change.Thought if I come across one in my travels I could inspect it in person and make a decision.My 2000 had a lot of rust and I know my next one won't now that I know what to look for.I was hoping instead of going to the US maybe I will have some luck in the west.
Did you ever pick that TJ up? What did you tow/ haul with?
All provinces require brakes on towed trailers over 2000 kg total weight, and breakaway kits over 3000 kg, no? With the COVID closures and less traffic on the road, the highway patrol had more time to hunt. I can just imagine the cost of the tow truck call out, fines and impound fees... yikes.
I know people that own dollies for interprovincial / international travel and they ALL have brakes with breakaway kits. Most haul smaller 4 door SUVS but they can't be much, if at all, lighter than a TJ.
There are shipping apps/ contractors that are reasonably priced. I brought in a jetski from Kelowna and a Boston Whaler in from Nippissing (sp?), Ont. and both were cheaper than my time and fuel would have been.