I am a mechanical engineer, certified RV Technician, and avid RV owner, so I know a thing or two about the RV industry; from a user, “fixer”, and engineering perspective. Therefore, I am pleased to have stumbled upon Acme Tank & Trailer while web surfing for a towing solution.
I have always owned motorized recreational vehicles, because my family and I enjoy using the amenities provided by our RV while travelling down the road. However, this means that we have always had to drive the coach around without the benefit of a tow vehicle. I had been wanting a tow solution for many years, but found that the solutions were generally cost prohibitive or undesirable in some other way.
I live in British Columbia, and therefore am generally required to have toad brakes by law, which is a good thing. But it also adds cost and complexity to a towing solution. This either meant adding a supplemental braking system to my towing solution, or purchasing a tow dolly with brakes. As an RV technician, I am well aware of the lack of logical thought that goes into drop axle and spindle drum brake systems. They are mostly non-adjustable due to lack of access. Also, the traditional tow dollies on the market are heavy and quite expensive.
Enter Acme Tank and Trailer. Richard, Melanie, and the team came to my rescue by developing and marketing a product that is “the bee’s knees”. The Acme tow dolly is well constructed, uses top quality components, and is up to half the weight of other dollies. Also, they are much more inexpensive. Not only that, but they made bringing my dolly into Canada a painless process, with all required paperwork included at no extra charge. Acme has re-designed the car tow dolly from the ground up, which is something that is long overdue, given that the design is almost 50 years old.
From the first time I used the dolly to tow my Toyota Prius, I knew I had a winner. The hydraulic surge disc brakes work like a champ, and best of all, are self-adjusting. The dolly tows straight and true, is easy to manoeuvre by hand, and tows my Prius like it’s not even there. I was apprehensive before about using a tow-dolly due to its size and weight, but the Acme dolly has alleviated all of those concerns, and it’s great to have people ask me about my dolly, instead of complain about it, in the RV parks. Thanks Richard and your staff!
Acme Trailer EZE-TOW Car Tow Dolly Reviews
August 23rd, 2010
Car Tow Dolly, paint quality….
August 20th, 2010Finally ! After years of planning and wishing, researching and testing, we have finally perfected our painting process. As of today we have now spent nearly $85,000.00 in equipment, supplies and training all just to improve our paint quality. All our products are now Steam Pressure Washed and Acid Etched in prepartion for painting. We then apply a very heavy coat of premium High Build Primer. We then apply TWO COATS of High Quality Black Enamel Paint. All these coats are applied by a state of the art Airless Air Assist Paint System. Our premium paint is now mixed and constantly agitated in 55 gallon barrels for consistent well blended paint chemicals. We have hired professional painters that are commited to our Quality Control Process. I was concerned about making such a considerable financial commitment to “paint quality”, but I now see that is was well worth it. I think you will agree.
Tow Dolly Lighting, LED lights… Used Tow Dolly
August 18th, 2010Ok, another Landmark day here at Acme Trailer LLc. Many of you have asked about LED lighting and we have decided to make the leap. While LED lighting is very expensive, it is also very reliable and trouble free. We have just finalized an agreement with the largest LED light manufacturer in the world and we are ready to start offering High Quality State of the ArtLED lighting. For now it will be available as an optional upgrade for $30.00. The good news is that the LED upgrade is available for “FREE” when purchased online at our website thru Paypal. We are very pleased to be able to offer this premium lighting. It wil be a nice addition to an already outstanding product.
Used Car Dolly…What you should know.
June 11th, 2010I receive about 300 calls a week. Of those about 20 are from people wanting advice about buying a USED car tow dolly.( It is interesting to me how high the resale value is on used tow dollies. ) So my advice to them is really very simple. There are only a few things to be concerned about. The typical tow dolly on the market has bearings that require regular lubrication and service. These bearings should be serviced about every three thousand to five thousand miles. Very few dollies are this well maintained. So you want to verify that there are no bearing issues to deal with. Any trailer repair center can verify this for you and repack the bearings at the same time for about the same money. Also, have them check and verify that the brakes are functional and the brake pads are not worn out. Interestingly you also should check and make sure the brakes are working and properly engaging. Some dollies have the brake adjusting port blocked by the spindle plate and one cannot adjust these brakes. It may be that the brakes are not working at all if the pads are under adjusted. Also verify that there is no damage to the hub or the drum. Next, and most important of all, is the question about the spindles. The spindles are normally around 1 inch in diameter. The spindle is what interfaces the bearings and the wheels to the dolly. Understand that dollies do not have suspensions out of necessity. ( That is another blog coming soon ) As a result the spindles can be easily damaged. If a user hits a curb with the tow dolly wheel while the dolly is loaded with a car, it is quite possible that the spindle will be damaged, or moved. As an example, our axle and spindles are jig built in a very precise controlled manner. The spindles are attached and welded at exactly one degree of camber. There are actualy 6 axis that have to be precisely measured and verified. These meaurements, or positions, are not even perceptable by the eye. If the spindle is “hit” and moves even an eigth of an inch you will start experincing very fast and uneven tire wear. Unfortunatly this damage is considered permanent and fatal. There is no way to repair this damage. Someone might tell you that they can heat up the spindle and move it, but they would be guessing about where the spindle should be and it is very unlikely they would ever return it to neutral. Now the “tell tell” for this is ” NEW TIRES ” If you show up to look at a used dolly and it has brand new tires on it you should ask yourself, is this just a selling feature, or a concealment of the tire wear issue. It is always best to see the “old” tires on the dolly. That way you can see the tire wear as it really is. Also remember dolly warranties are only valid to the original buyer. So, I guess if you could save 50 percent buying a used dolly it may be worth it. Given the unrealistic high resale expectations of sellers it is unlikely one would see that much of a savings. If the savings is a mere few hundred dollars I suspect you would easily pay that in needed maintenace in a short time and still have a dolly with no warranty. So there ya go, now you know what to consider while shopping around. Remember, Safe Trailers Save Lives. Happy and safe motoring.
Eze-TowTow Dolly stored upright.
May 20th, 2010Over the years many many customers have asked me for ideas about how to store the Eze-Tow Tow Dolly in a vertical position. Well here we have a contribution from one customer Mr. Stephen Denkin that seems to have the perfect solution. He tows a Toyota Prius with his Eze-Tow Tow Dolly and figured out this clever way to store his dolly upright in the garage using only 2 feet of floor space. Note the small rollabout dollies under the Eze-Tow Tow Dolly, these give the lights clearance so they do not have to be removed. This is an ideal solution to short or long term safe storage of the eze-Tow Tow Dolly. Thank You Mr Denkin for that outstanding solution and contribution.
( see 6 pictures attached )
- Overall image, note the dollies underneath, the small footprint.
Floor dollies up close.
A side image of the Eze-Tow Tow Dolly stored vertical
A perfect storage soluution. Thanks Mr Denkin.
The Eze-Tow Dolly stored vertical, fenders & lights still attached
Over head winch does the lifting and secures the dolly in place
Tow Dolly Brakes, are they required?
May 18th, 2010I am frequently asked for my opinion about tow dolly brakes. Put simply, brakes are always a good idea. Legally brakes are required. I know, I know, many tow dolly dealers will tell you that if you are driving a big class A diesel pusher you don’t need brakes. However the truth is that to be 50 state legal and Canadian Compliant you must have brakes. If you will never tow anything on your towdolly then you will not need brakes, but if you load your tow dolly and meet or exceed the 3000 GVWR mark then brakes are required in all 50 states. 9 out of 10 dollies sold have brakes. If you ever want to sell your dolly the first question the caller will ask you is if it has brakes. Idler ( no brakes ) tow dollies are obsolete. We no longer offer them. One must wonder why do the big dolly manufacturers continue to offer idler dollies for sale. Many people do not know what they do not know. Selling idler dollies to the public is a disservice to the public at large. Here at Acme Trailer LLc we are proud to be the only manufacturer in the world that offers a Hydraulic Surge Disc Brake Tow Dolly. So, do you your homework, choose carefully. Have a great and safe day.
Car Tow Dolly Brakes Explained….
May 8th, 2010Car Tow Dolly Brake Explained…
The most common question I am asked is, “ how do Car Tow Dolly hydraulic brakes work?” . So today we will explain Car Tow Dolly brakes. First, understand that to be 50 state legal you must have brakes of some kind on your Car Tow Dolly. In addition to that if you ever want to sell your tow dolly the first question a potential buyer will ask is if it has brakes or not. 8 out of 10 tow dollies sold have brakes.
An Idler tow dolly simply means it has no brakes at all. Idler dollies are most commonly used around town for short shuttling trips of lighter weight cars.
Electric brakes require a brake control device inside your RV or truck. These units have internal sensors that are dependent on the settings from 2 exterior adjusting knobs. If you do not precisely adjust these knobs then you will probably not even have brakes at all. Also, if a malfunction occurs one must trouble shoot the brake controller, the wiring from the controller to the dolly and then the dolly. A quality digital controller will cost between $450.00 and $600.00 installed into a typical RV.
The most superior and trouble free braking system is a Hydraulic Surge Disc Brake System. Not to be confused with a surge Drum brake system. Surge Disc brakes never need adjusting, cool off much faster and resists brake fade. A disc brake design is 4 times more efficient than a drum design. The pads are in clear sight and can be easily changed by a novice.
So, how does a Surge Disc Brake system work? A surge disc brake system is self contained and self actuating. If you imagine that the coupler housing that goes over your hitch ball is actually a piston that extends back into the actuator on the dolly tongue. When you apply your brakes the weight of what you are towing surges forward slightly and pressurizes the brake line. The harder you brake the harder the tow dolly will brake. The Surge Disc Brake design is very sensitive and precise from slight to hard braking. It never chucks or hits hard. It is very smooth and precise braking. Because tow dollies are so light weight the brake system will not activate on an unloaded dolly, thus saving the tires from locking and dragging while unloaded. A surge brake system should be towed as close to level as possible. The more level the more precise and efficient the brakes will be. The Disc Brake design incorporates a clever but simple emergency brake away system. Should the dolly separate from the ball for any reason the brakes on the dolly instantly go to full lock up helping to bring everything to quick and certain stop.
So, in closing, understand that electric brake and surge drum brake systems are functional but old technology. The most current generation braking system is the Hydraulic Surge Disc Brake design.
Quality Control?
May 7th, 2010Ok, this is a big big day for us here at Acme Trailer. We had a professional consulting team come thru to advise us on several areas we wanted to improve in. One was quality control. We have always had a good process that did a pretty good job of catching oversights, but still some minor nuisance issues would arise from time to time. So now, effective today, we have a very comprehensive quality control process, a flow process. We now have accountability at every stage of production. Every small assembly is signed by the builder, every large assembly is signed by the builder, the painter signs, and a final inspection of all the welds, wiring, brakes, etc. These labels are then shipped with the product to the customer. A very exciting time at Acme Trailer LLc.
Consider this….
May 6th, 2010To date we have sold nearly 13000 tow dollies all over North America. About 40% of our tow dollies are sold to our northern neighbors in Canada. Of course no one builds a perfect product, although we do strive to do so. That being said… we had a customer back on April 22nd 2010 that bought a tow dolly on Amazon. He became very agitated about the fact that he had to pay for residential delivery. This is of course usual for most shipping services. He was angry and accused me of being dishonest, a liar, a thief, and etc. I refunded his money, but he was not satisfied. Since then he has gone online and started a campaign of reputation assasination on our company. He has left several negative reviews all under different names, but all essentially the same. He has published several lies and is in general making disparaging remarks about me and our company. He is also pushing a competitors product in these reviews. If you look very closely you will see that all these reviews first appear on or after April 22nd 2010, most within a few days of that date. If any of this was true you would see genuine reviews and complaints from others spread out over an extended period of time. I have since spoken with him on 05-04-10 and he was actually agreeable and we were both able to close this unfortunate chapter and move on. He went online the same day and removed every negative review he could but unfortunately he could not remove them all. So, if you see this please do not let them scare you. If you have questions please call and talk to me. I assure you we build a premium high quality product at a true wholesale price and we do offer very good customer service and warranty service. Thanks, Have a great day. Richard Brown, President Acme Tank & Trailer LLc. 336-996-4396
EZE-TOW Tow Dolly review…
May 6th, 2010Hi Richard April 23 2010
Any concerns that we may have had in the past (Dealing over the internet, not knowing any individuals personally who have dealt with your firm or used your product) have now more than proven to be groundless. Your customer service is a model that other companies, regardless of their product, can definitely learn from. You have taken customer service from the corporate boardroom model and instead listen to what customers not just expect but added to that what they can only dream of if we lived in a perfect world.
Your product is without question the best option available. After an extremely easy delivery and assembly of our new car dolly, we loaded our 2009 Uplander, (with more weight inside than should be!) and left Northern Ontario, have travelled to Branson MO and onto the Grand Canyon on our way to Kelowna BC. In all honesty we cannot even tell if the trailer is behind our coach! Thanks for rear view camera’s!
On Tuesday evening we arrived in Amarillo TX just in time for a tornado to hit. To make a long evening a short story, while we were still on the road, the road itself was washed out and we ended up being buried up to our axles in good ole red Texas mud, that we found out is called ‘cliché.’ Believe me this stuff is sticky, slippery, heavy and the best glue I’ve ever seen. The heavy duty tow tow operator determined that the only way to drag us the 400-500 feet back to the asphalt was to leave the car dolly connected to our 24,000 pound coach and extricate us by hooking the tow cable to the dolly! After two hours and a $1500 tow charge we made it back to the undamaged road.
Amazingly the tow dolly was not affected in any way. The welds were intact and no one piece of mettle was even bent! Yesterday and today we continued our trip and are currently visiting the Grand Canyon.
Even after this torture test that we put your car dolly through, absolutely nothing was effected and the subsequent tow was no different than prior to the ‘incident’. I can’t imagine any other product even attempting to compare to yours. As with your customer service, your product is in a class above all of the rest. If fact the tow operator made the comment that your product is not only the best in design and functionality that he has seen, but is also priced ‘ridiculously’ low.
Thanks for your dedication and commitment to perfection
Laurice and Jennifer Hermiston
