Car Hauler Trailer advice on setup

[Elbert]

No pics yet as I just bought the thing late this date.

So I saved up and found good deal on a 10K car hauler type trailer. dual 5200K axles, dual brakes, ...etc. There are some nice trailers out there...but I was trying to stay on a reasonable budget.

My question is on optimal setup. It has an adjustable tongue/hitch. I'll post up some pics as follow on. Trailer has two large d rings front and back, smal. dove tail, fixed ramps, stake pockets on the side, adjustable tongue. Trailer is 20Ft in length.

(1) assume you should setup trailer to sit level, the best you can when loaded?

(2) assume you postion the load (my land cruiser) to center the weight over the two axles maybe with a little bias towards the front (tongue weight)?

Pics will help illustrate..I'll post some up tomorrow. I loaded up the LC this afternoon to get some test driving in and to see how it tows...so far so good.

My tow vehicle for now is a K2500 suburban with HD reciver hitch, ball and mount, I have trailer brake controller. Engine is 8.1 liter with auto 4 speed trans, 3.73 gears, has the tow package with the various coolers..etc. No problems with performance or cooling...except maybe the need now exists for a little lower gearing. The only mods I forsee on the tow vehicle is to go with 4.10 gears. In my limited test driving I can tell the trailer is a little heavier than ones I've used in teh past..of course its rated for more weight.

Plan to get trailer sitting level (as best I can), and mark the trailer when the load is best balanced when loaded. Will post pics up tomorrw hopefully.

 

[greentruck]

Sounds like you got a handle on it as far as loading. Try how it tows with it tied down one place to start with and you can usually shift forwards or backwards as needed, although a 60 is still a pretty big load lengthwise for a 20' trailer.

Another thing to check are tires. Sometimes trailers sit more than travel and tires can be old. Don't know if that's an issue. In any case, check 'em over good and make sure you keep an eye on tire pressure regularly.

Taking at least a peek at the wheel bearings is also a good idea. If the wheels seem to run true and don't have any freeplay if you jack them up and yank at them, bearings are probably OK if the caps come off and the grease looks right. This is also the time to look for any indications of water submersion. That can happen, even if it's not a boat trailer, if you know what I mean.

Tires and bearings are the two big failure points on trailers. Most of the rest is usually cake if it looks OK on a visual inspection.

 

[Elbert]

trailer

pics showing trailer... I have the LC sitting towards the front of the trailer a little and I'm waiting on a new trailer hitch mount to show up before I start to try and get the trailer to sit level...but here is what I have for now. I drove the thing around a good bit today (loaded) to make sure it was good. Everything was good.., no weaving or anything..trailer tracked fine, LC is eaiser to load than previous trailers... only one issue and that's the trailer is fairly heavy...I'm guessing 2.5K total GVW rating is 10.4K. Maybe time for a gear change for the suburban...anyway here is how it sits for now.

 

[MARLIN375]

Something that was explained to me years ago in regards to securing a vehicle for transport is that if both the trailer and load have suspension you need to take one of them out of action (why some dedicated car haulers have no suspension) so when you are lashing down your truck on a trailer that has its own suspension you should hook your tie-downs to the frame of the truck (towed vehicle) and compress the suspension firmly, taking it out of play. The trailer has springs so you do not need (or want) the ones on the vehicle working....it can be kind of like 2 people on a trampoline, bouncing was ok until the timing was pefect and 1 guy gets launched because he gets the energy from both loads. I would think this would also give the suspension on the trailered vehicle a real workout.

Something about both the trailer and vehicle getting into somekind of harmonic death wobble.

Not sure if this is fact or fiction, but I have never had any issues since following this method.

Maybe an expert will chime in and validate this theory.

 

[Elbert]

I don't know about that (compressing the towed vehicle's suspension). I tie down from the axles to the trailer body....that way the suspension of the towed truck does not come into play? I've always "done it" that way. I would like to have and may buys some in the future....tire straps. Basically these are straps that caputure the tires and imobolize the towed vehicle that way.

I have d rings on both the front and rear bumpers...so if the idea was to compress the suspension of the towed vehicle I could do so rather easy.

I currently use axle straps around 2 points on the axles front and back, then I use 4 10K rated ratchet straps to coonect to the axle strap and then to the d rings on the trailer bed.. I pull strait down on the front and use a "x" pattern on the rear straps. I drove around yesterday afternoon to check it out and everything went fine, straps stayed tight, truck did not move around on the trailer, trailer tracked well. Drove about 150 miles of various conditions...hwy, backroads, curves, hills..etc

Don't know if I'm "technically" right in what I'm doing..its just the way I've always went about it. I know generally speaking when towing a similar truck on a roll back..you use two j hooks to grab the front axle and pull down with the winch on the roll back to get it tight, and you connect two chains at the rear axle to imobolize the rear axle. That's the primary way of chaining one down...then you would resort to frame hooks or other methods of not able to conect to the axle.

I just don't like compressing the suspension...maybe this is flawing thinking on my part? I do know the towed truck does not move around the way I approch this.

Is there an issue with compressing the suspension for long periods of time? I assume there is, but I don't factually know.

 

[LCOwner]

Check to make sure the tires are "trailer" tires. Some folks put car tires on and think they're going to last. The sidewalls are soft for ride quality and will blow prematurely. I use a short axle strap right at each knuckle ball. On the back I use one on the left side on the diff for the right side and on the left inboard of the spring. I don't cross the straps.

 

[greentruck]

I could see the need to take suspensions out of play on a car hauler. All the same model car, vibrating down the highway hitting the same bumps and corrugations, on the back of a car hauler -- which is something that is a little iffy in terms of resistance to twisting, etc because of its flexibility.

For something big and heavy, with relatively stiff springing, like a single LandCruiser, I think getting things tied down good and tight should suffice on what must be a trailer that's pretty resistant to twisting because of its high load capacity.

I kind of like the way the 60's hood sits at the height of the tow vehicle's roofline. Could be pretty aerodynamic for such big hulking vehicles -- if they weren't so far apart.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Looks like a nice trailer from here.

With regards to securing vehicles, I have towed a variety of vehicles and they all get tied down differently.

Sports cars, sedans, etc with minimal suspension travel and relatively low COG's get tied down by the wheels.

SUVs and rock crawlers(what I normally am hauling) have way too much suspension travel and high COG's to allow their suspension to come into play. I always strap down by BOTH the axles and the frame. It's probably overkill, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. It really only adds 5 minutes to the strapping process.

Once you've had a trailer swaying all over the road with the towed vehicles suspension exacerbating the situation, you'll start strapping down by the frame

 

[Elbert]

Yes I had a scary experience with a U-haul trailer...I ended not being able to go faster than 50mph or I would get the death "wabble"... One of the reasons I bought the trailer now rather than later. Yes it has trailer tires on the trailer...as opposed to to regular tires. I aslo got a spare tire with matching wheel. Got to get a small box to mount up on the tongue for my straps and other misc junk. I know summit has one...

Appreciate the comments.

Trialer is nice...there are ones that are more refined and have more options...I could not pass on this deal..so its mine for now.

 

[Elbert]

I talked to friend in the towing business today...I took the loaded trailer down to his shop to get his view. Said ok to "x" straps on the rear, ok to pull straight down on the front, the saftey catches of the hooks should point towards the trailer at the d rings of the trailer in place of pointing up like I had them (just the way it worked out, not a selective choice on my part) and he noted that I needed a saftey chain up at the front of the trailer to connect from the trailer to the truck (which I did not have) but will have in the future. So to be "legal" I need the saftey chain with "safety Clevis"...to connect trailer to loaded vehicle and I needed to orient the hooks on the straps to face towards the trailer, rather than facing to the top.

FYI>...... friend said some state DOT / Troopers would get you on the safety chain business....

** if anyone had a dodge 2500 or 3500 they use as their tow vehicle...see my note in the Dodge section...wanting to know your experience.

 

[MARLIN375]

Good practice when hooking up your safety chains is to cross them, then if your trailer ever jumps off the tow ball it will land on the crossed chains before it hits the road, giving you a chance to actually bring the rig to a stop without damage. Your break-away line (to activate the brakes) should be short enough to engauge before your safety chains are at their max length.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

What's this about a safety chain? Looks like you have them in the pics above?

 

[Elbert]

I have ratchet straps installed in the pictures (a little hard to see) two in the front and two in the back. The safety chain I'm referring to, is something that I need to install. Its basically a properly rated chain with a hook that has a "safety latch" on it. You run the chain from teh body of the trailer to the loaded vehicle. The idea of the chain is that if a strap breaks or something happens the chain will keep the truck from rolling off the trailer.

Roll back wreckers have this requirement too. What my friend said was needed to be "legal"...


I have the safety chains at the trailer tongue crossed.

The reference above to safety chains is a chain to connect the trailer body to the loaded vehicle as a safety device.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Interesting. Never seen that except on U-haul trailers. I always figured that was just an attempt by U-haul to protect themselves from idiots.

I wonder if that requirement is voided if you use chains to tie the vehicle down.

 

[Elbert]

its a saftey device...they don't don't waive that. The requirement is not based on what you use to tie the vehicle down (chains, cables, straps)...

Roll back wreckers generally use a winch with a cable and "j" hook chains to attach to the front of a vehicle and "j" hook or other type chains to attach to the rear of a vehicle.... The saftey chain in question is a independent safety device... as described in my post above. To restrain the loaded vehicle in case of other failures.

What I'm told is "legal" to meet DOT rules.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I wasn't challenging you, I've just never seen this chain used on any roll back, car hauler, or personal car trailer with the single exception of U-haul trailers. I guess I've just always missed them....or they're not there....

 

[Elbert]

Not a problem....


Like a lot of things....everyone does not follow the letter of the law or the rules. Some states are very strict on vehicle enforcement / DOT... ie California. Some are very lax. I doubt that a person towing their 4 wheel drive trail truck would be stopped for an inspection generally speaking unless you were doing some thing crazy.

I was aware of the safety chain rule for roll backs but I did not know that it applied to a car hauler trailer. I've never seen a safety chain used on the commerical fleet car haulers that deliver cars to the dealerships. they generrally have chains with little j hooks and t shaped hooks that connect to points in the frame then using a chain they have a ratchet setup that they winch down on and secure the vehicles that way.

I don't knwo if it has somethign to do with an open deck car hauler or not , or that was just his (my friends) interpretation...but that's what he told me.

Later on when I have time I wll add a safety chain to the deck of my trailer...because I htink its a good idea...but I'm not in a rush.

even with wheel lift wreckers you are suppose to run two safety chains from the rear of the wrecker to the towed vehicle..you don't see many guys do that. A lot of the people don't run tow lights on the towed vehicle (when towed by a wrecker) thats required too. Seems like the repo people are the worse..about not playing by the rules.

 

[Bret]

I will definately second the compressing towed vehicle suspension. I was towing a disabled 60 back home for a friend, it is lifted and has very soft suspension and was loaded heavily. Once it started to swing it was ugly. We redistributed as much weight forward as possible and locked the suspension down as much as possible, it worked but it was far from perfect. One sucky thing about U-haul trailers is you can't control the brakes from the cab, definately prefer electric over surge.

Sweet looking trailer.

 

[RAYJON]

Sounds like you have all your bases covered...

Just one more thing to check make sure you have reveiver and a solid ball mount with a ball good for 12k-15k lbs, most of the 2 5/16 ball and mounts are only rated for 6k lbs... I have a 12k tilt bumper pull and it was difficult to find but they make forged balls and solid steel mounts for up to 15k in a bumper pull application.. Smart on the 10k, its easy to overload the 7k trailers..

 

[Elbert]

the hitch adapter on the trailer is a 2 5/16th and rated for 14K, the trailer ball I have is comparable, along with the reciver and trailer ball mount. All are rated for 12K or more. Don't know if its the cheapest place to buy stuff but I buy the trailer stuff from Trailer hitch, hitches and bike rack (800)298-8924 they have the better "stuff". Most of the junk around town at various places is 6 or 7K. All my stuff is HD...as I want to be safe and hopefully not have any of that stuff fail due to stress or getting overloaded.