if you ever see an unladen boat trailer doing down the road, they bend a lot!
if you ever see an unladen boat trailer doing down the road, they bend a lot!
Might be a question of supply and demand. Most of the local to me trailer places carry trailers that can be used for multiple purposes - construction, landscaping, hauling vehicles. They sell quickly and often.
There are a few places that cater to racers and car enthusiasts. My local SCCA site has a link to this place which has a trailer similar to what you are describing:
http://www.performancespecialty.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=27
I've also seen smaller trailers used more by Formula car racers. No idea where to source those...
Don't know if this is adaptable to your needs or not. Piviot point could be an issue for a lighter or heavier car
http://stalkercars.com/trailers/
This question is slightly off-topic, but...
How much can you really tow with a vehicle vs its actual tow rating? I've heard that you shouldn't exceed 50-60% of a vehicle's trailer weight rating for long distances due to wear and tear on the tow vehicle and the fact that it would struggle to make it up hills. (Example: if it's rated for 10,000 lbs, don't tow much more than 6,000 lbs for long distances.)
Is that true? Or if a vehicle is rated for 10,000 lbs you can tow 10,000 lbs all day?
Sky_Render wrote: This question is slightly off-topic, but... How much can you *really* tow with a vehicle vs its actual tow rating? I've heard that you shouldn't exceed 50-60% of a vehicle's trailer weight rating for long distances due to wear and tear on the tow vehicle and the fact that it would struggle to make it up hills. (Example: if it's rated for 10,000 lbs, don't tow much more than 6,000 lbs for long distances.) Is that true? Or if a vehicle is rated for 10,000 lbs you can tow 10,000 lbs all day?
I think it all depends on your comfort level, the car, the load, the distance. For instance my 97 F150 has a 2,000lb rating, but I'll pull my 3300lb car/trailer all day long with it, but I sure wouldn't take that same chassis and pull the rated 8800lbs that it was rated for in 03.
In reply to Sky_Render:
That's just silly.
DaveEstey wrote: In reply to Sky_Render: That's just silly.
What's silly? Only towing 60% of the rated load or towing 100%?
In reply to tpwalsh:
Only a ton on a F150? My Volvo sedan is 1,100 lbs without trailer brakes & 3,300 lbs with trailer brakes. Though I don't want to be pulling any mountain passes in it with that much weight even with trailer brakes.
All I know is that I've towed things precisely twice in my life. Both times I had a '01 Dodge Ram 1500 with the 5.2L V8, and I felt it was maxed out towing a U-HAUL auto transport (not a dolly) with a '93 Plymouth Sundance on it. But I was also going up and down big mountains in Western PA.
In reply to Sky_Render: Only towing 60%. My truck is rated at 15k lbs. I haven't had anything quite that heavy yet, but it pulls 12k lbs all day long without struggle and this isn't a flat area.
Sky_Render wrote: This question is slightly off-topic, but... How much can you *really* tow with a vehicle vs its actual tow rating? I've heard that you shouldn't exceed 50-60% of a vehicle's trailer weight rating for long distances due to wear and tear on the tow vehicle and the fact that it would struggle to make it up hills. (Example: if it's rated for 10,000 lbs, don't tow much more than 6,000 lbs for long distances.) Is that true? Or if a vehicle is rated for 10,000 lbs you can tow 10,000 lbs all day?
MOST of the rating is based on if the coolant can keep up when a test vehicle is pulled up Davis Dam (outside of Laughlin Nevada) on a hot day in the summer. The trailers are generally loaded high and with high drag stuff.
That's the toughest part of towing.
I know people who pull more than the rated amount based on the car and the above information. For instance, we had an Edge that was rated to 3500lb, but it made 70hp more and had far far better brakes than our Ranger which was rated at 5500lb. The Ranger was easier to cool with (which is typical of an engine mounted fan set up).
How close you get and how far you go over is very dependant on the vehicle and how you are towing. I would not hesitate for a second to drive our ~3000lb package to Florida with a 2.0l Turbo Escape.
Sky_Render wrote: All I know is that I've towed things precisely twice in my life. Both times I had a '01 Dodge Ram 1500 with the 5.2L V8, and I felt it was maxed out towing a U-HAUL auto transport (not a dolly) with a '93 Plymouth Sundance on it. But I was also going up and down big mountains in Western PA.
Odd, we pulled a U-haul auto hauler trailer (which are like 2300lbs empty) with an e21 on it (about 2400lbs) with my V6 4Runner through W.Virginia and didn't feel like it was maxed out (factory rating is 5000lbs for the V6). Then towed our race e30 (2500lbs or so) on a slightly lighter trailer up to Pittsburgh through the mountains and still was fine, hardly knew it was there.
Surprised to hear that a 5.7L v8 would struggle with a similar load.
MOST of the rating is based on if the coolant can keep up when a test vehicle is pulled up Davis Dam (outside of Laughlin Nevada) on a hot day in the summer. The trailers are generally loaded high and with high drag stuff.
That is the SAE standard. Pity that only Toyota follows it. More info: http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2009/12/new-sae-towing-standards-explained.html
Edit: Yep, only a ton. I think it's actually 2250, but either way, it's only 2/3 of what I'm actually pulling with it. If it was an automatic it'd be a 5500lb rating.
fidelity101 wrote: Steel trailers are bendy and flexy, which is fine. Aluminum ones are snappy, which is not fine.
Reminds me of when I was at the 2011 RXNC, after everyone else left, waiting for my co-driver to come back with the tow rig, and the SCCA trailer came back slooooowly after the front of the trailer broke off and the nose was grinding hard into the ground. I don't know what was holding the A-frame to the rest of the trailer but it wasn't much.
The bend vs break is why I plan to stick with steel trailers, not to mention if something dumb does happen it can be repaired pretty much anywhere. Not every podunk town will have someone equipped to MIG aluminum.
Aluminum takes up more space per pound than steel, that's the secret to its use in very rigid castings etc. The typical aluminum trailers I have seen don't take full advantage of that, they use channel etc that to me looks to be too thin.
BTW, it was a steel trailer.
I had a trailer much like that in the first picture. With my ZX2SR on it I had to remove a fender in order to open the door. Total weight was app. 3900 lbs. Towed all over the NE with my KJ with trailer package rated at 5000lbs. Never a problem.
Sky_Render wrote: This question is slightly off-topic, but... How much can you *really* tow with a vehicle vs its actual tow rating? I've heard that you shouldn't exceed 50-60% of a vehicle's trailer weight rating for long distances due to wear and tear on the tow vehicle and the fact that it would struggle to make it up hills. (Example: if it's rated for 10,000 lbs, don't tow much more than 6,000 lbs for long distances.) Is that true? Or if a vehicle is rated for 10,000 lbs you can tow 10,000 lbs all day?
I used to exceed the tow rating on my 98 Ford Explorer routinely. It was rated for 4500lbs and I towed a 5000lb boat and trailer. Keep it under 65 mph and take your time and it was fine.
This is not what you are asking about, but it IS what should be available. Good old Peter Brock:
https://www.bre2.net/pdfs/bre2_aerovault_brochure_2011_11_27.pdf
true, but I'm thinking that those are considerably more $$ than most car haulers people drag their cheap racecars around with, lol...
Looked at one and although very nice but a bit outside my range at 25K plus options
I plan on getting some pictures of Eric's (alfadriver) trailer hopefully this week. It is buried in snow and I have been getting home after dark lately.
My MDX is rated at 3500 towing capacity, 4500 lbs if it's a boat. I guess because boats and trailer tend to be more evenly weighted?
Either way, I towed my 2700lb race car on a dolly for 900 miles each way a few years ago. No issues and I still got 20 mpg keeping it under 60 mph. Only upgrade I did was put an external trans cooler on ($50 from NAPA).
Streetwiseguy wrote: This is not what you are asking about, but it IS what should be available. Good old Peter Brock: https://www.bre2.net/pdfs/bre2_aerovault_brochure_2011_11_27.pdf
Holy cow! 24k!! No, thanks.
The limiting factor when towing is usually brakes and experience, not horsepower and cooling. But a surprising number of people think they have too much of the former and need more of the latter.
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