Here at Chicago Towing, we provide professional, rapid arrival towing services for vehicles everywhere in the Chicagoland area. In this blog entry, our expert Chicagoland roadside assistance service technicians will provide detail on how to tow a car without car keys on hand.

Dolly Assisted Car Towing

Dollys are heavy, powerful frames that are meant to provide strong support for car wheels, locking them in palace and raising them off the ground. Self loading dollies come with wheels attached, and high speed self loading dollies have larger tires wheels that can drive in a wide range of road conditions. Dollys can have 4 or more wheels, and any dolly towing service on the road will require a larger wheeled self loading dolly. If you want to tow a car without keys, you might need two self loading sollys to raise the drive wheels off the ground. In some cases you might have to tow the car with all four wheels raised from the ground – which will require two self loading dollies with a seperate tow dolly which will hold two of the car’s wheels. The tow dolly will be connected with a trailer hitch to the towing vehicle. First read your vehicle manual to understand if your car is a front wheel drive car or a rear wheel drive car – this will determine the proper dolly setup. Front wheel drive cars have engine transmissions sent to the front wheels, and the rear wheels can freely spin as it’s towed. Towing requires you to lift up the two front wheels off the highway to prevent transmission damage – and with rear wheel drive vehicles, the rear wheels have to be lifted off the ground. Four wheel drive cars require all four wheels to be lifted off the ground and locked during towing.

Loading Cars WIthout Keys Onto Dollys

First, the self loading dolly will be placed under the front or rear wheels of the vehicle – or all 4 wheels with 4 wheel drive vehicles. If you’re utilizing a tow dolly that holds 2 wheels at once, attach it to the hitch of the tow vehicle, then put the hitch ball under the dolly tongue. You’ll see a handle that lowers the tongue of the tow dolly down – simply turn it to connect the tongue to the hitch. Ball mounts help to connect tow dollies to towing vehicles. Tow dollies can tow heavier vehicles than tow straps can.

If you want to tow a 4 wheel drive vehicle without keys with a dolly, you’ll require a self loading dolly and a tow dolly. Put the self loading dolly under the parking brake disabled wheels, then load the other wheels to the tow dolly. It’s essential that your vehicle is secured onto the dolly and carefully driven. Use wheel straps to strap the vehicle to the dolly, placing wheel straps from the tow dolly over both front wheels, over the top of the tire, and tightened using a ratchet. We reiterate, DRIVE VERY SLOWLY. Never tailgate other vehicles, and brake far earlier than you otherwise would in order to maintain a safe distance.