When my RV co-owner and I decided we needed a tow dolly a few years ago for our respective tow’ds, we considered the Acme but wound up buying one of the major brands (Stehl) because of price and easy local availability. I then personally logged about 40,000 miles of towing with the Stehl Tow dolly. When my wife and I bought our own motorhome a year ago, I knew I wanted to try something different. While the earlier Stehl Tow dolly’s service had been satisfactory overall, the number of component failures of every kind and several designed-in annoying features led me to take the plunge, especially since the Acme had surge disc brakes and a simpler, more thoughtful overall design.

Delivery & set-up: uneventful, but getting the bolts onto the tail lights made the whole process a bit more time-consuming than advertised. I also had to figure out how to secure the extra tail light wiring (which I didn’t want to shorten lest someday I need some of it) and there were no suggestions in the instructions on that. Overall, as a fairly experienced shade-tree wrench twister I’d agree the set-up isn’t complicated but with one thing and another it took me over an hour. Your mileage may vary.

General impressions: the Acme is sturdy and its surge disc brakes are an especially elegant and effective feature. Having towed a 4200lb minivan for many miles with largely-ineffective electric brakes, I was very interested to see if I would feel a difference with this new brake system and boy, did I ever. You often hear RVers saying about their tow’ds I can’t even tell its back there’ but in this case (stopping), it’s true. Five stars.

The removable ramps work well and stowing them or lashing them down isn’t much of a bother. Not having to straighten out a pivoting dolly pan is a big relief too.
The primary feature that concerns me on the Acme is the fact that the backside of the platform on which the towd’s front tires rest is basically flat, with no depression or restraining bar of any kind to keep the tires from rolling back off the dolly. (The Stehl not only had a depressed pan for the tires, but the raised ramps were there as a last-ditch “save” if the tire wiggled its way out of the straps and off the pan – ask me how I know.) I know the four-point straps and safety chains are supposed to serve this purpose and so far for me they have. I’d sure feel a lot better if there were SOMEthing like some channel iron or something to provide some minimal restraint to the rear. My tow’ds are all front-wheel drive and obviously that’s a help; I’d be even more concerned if I couldn’t lock up the front wheels. { ACME: While this would provide some degree of comfort to the user it would actually only be a false sense of security. If the straps fail and safety chains have not been used, then the car will escape regardless of any barrier that may be present at the aft of the dolly. In addition, a drop design hinders the easy on and off loading of many smaller cars. Our 4 Point harness and safety chains properly installed are quite secure.)

The four-point straps took me some getting used to, initially taking me 10-15 minutes a side to attach. I do better now but they’re more complicated than the system with fixed ratchets on my previous dolly. On the other hand, I had two of those Stehl Tow fixed ratchets fall apart on me while under way. I do now have a bent ratchet on the Acme because the tire squirmed around so that it bent the ratchet handle about ten degrees to one side and I’ll have to replace it. (I know, it’s a consumable on any dolly.) (ACME; A replacement ratchet is underway to you no charge. )

Acme is justifiably proud of the lighter weight of its dolly. Oddly, though, I find it harder to maneuver by hand than my old one because 1) the lift handle is too far back on the tongue, and 2) there are no counterweight ramps behind the axle, both of which make the tongue/handle a good bit heavier to lift. My work-around is to lift it by grabbing the very front of the hitch ball socket, but that means heavy gloves for hand comfort.

I wonder about the integrity of the safety chain and hooks because both are a lighter grade than my previous dolly; when my partner had the Stehl pop off the ball coming thru a deep driveway cut at a Cracker Barrel, the S-hooks (which were a heavier grade than the Acme’s) straightened out and so the car and dolly wound up in the bushes. I put the hooks on the chains now and intend to upgrade the chains and add screw-down links. I do find the breakaway brake system on the Acme to be a very valuable safety feature. (ACME: We have since upgraded our safety chains to much more heavy duty chains. A free set is in the box with your replacement ratchet.)

Experience to date: I’ve put about 15k miles towing with the Acme so far. Other than some surface rust and a couple of bulb replacements (both of which were addressed by subsequent company updates), the dolly has performed well. I very much enjoy the freedom provided by the sealed-hub system; no more fussing around with grease guns and having grease slung over the wheels and fenders. The low-profile tires mean a lower carrying height and I no longer have the lower valances of my towd’s snagging on the dolly structure because of this less-severe approach/departure angle. (The spare is also easier to store.) The lower tire profile also allows me to back my Phaeton over the dolly right up to (and over, if I line things up right) the fenders, which helps in the storage lot and at campsites.( ACME: We have since dramatically improved our paint process. A new set of LED lights will be included in the box with the other things. If you are ever near us and have an hour to spare we will gladly strip and repaint your dolly with our new paint process no charge while you go have lunch. )

Summary: it’s a quality product and I’m a satisfied customer who recommends it to anyone who wants to dolly-tow.
Gary Allen Williamsburg VA gwa1225@aol.com
ACME: Thank you.