My ZX2SR had four nice tie down rings. On the front I ran the strap from the car forward and outward to the trailer post holes. Since the car sat so far towards the rear, I crossed the rear straps.
My ZX2SR had four nice tie down rings. On the front I ran the strap from the car forward and outward to the trailer post holes. Since the car sat so far towards the rear, I crossed the rear straps.
I wind up with them straight in the front, crossed in the back. The main reason for this is it's hard to get the D-rings all the way at the back of my trailer because of the needed ramp attachment points, so the rear points are 6-8 inches forward from the back.
As for winches, you're probably not going to want to permanently bolt an electric winch onto an open trailer. It's insecure, exposed to weather and thieves, and unless you add a battery box there's no power for it either. The 12v line in the trailer connector isn't enough close to enough current.
What I did was to mount the winch on a steel plate, mount another one on the bottom of the trailer deck, and drill holes so I can just set the winch on the trailer, drop 4 bolts through, and tighten it down. Takes about 5 minutes to set it up, which is fine for the emergency uses for which it's needed. When it's not in use, it sits in a box in the truck, or at home in my garage. To power it, I ran welding cable for power and ground from the truck battery (through a 150 amp fuse) to a quick disconnect that I zip-tied under the bumper. The winch has a similar quick disconnect on it, so powering it is easy.
for a winch, I use a manual low geared winch. Instead of the handle, I grab the shaft with my 20v dewalt cordless drill. It works well, but I'm not hauling heavy cars.
As far as tying cars down, if you cars have fancy shocks, you're going to want to tie down the chassis and not the wheels. It will save your suspension from lots of extra miles.
For occasional use, I like the Master Lock non-permanent winch:
It's not real fast, and the electrical connection is with alligator clips directly to the battery, but I can keep it in the back of the van in a small rubbermaid tub along with a tow strap. I've needed it a couple times and it's been a ton better than using a come-along or (shudder) ratchet straps.
It's also only about 70-80 bucks, which is nice.
mazdeuce wrote: This is the trailer. It does have electric brakes on one axle.
FYI- Some state require brakes on both axles if it's a car trailer. You only need them on one if it's a "utility" trailer. YMMV
I mounted a bumper reciever hitch to the front of my trailer and mounted the winch on a plate that slides in and fastens with the 5/8 pin. The winch stays in the truck or garage when not needed. I use a solar panel to keep a battery topped off.
Gasoline wrote:
I have used this method a few times and found that after some miles or when I arrived at my destination the straps were loose. The tires can and do rotate when strapped this way. If the tire is not strapped in the correct location and angle to prevent this you end up with the car moving around. I stopped doing this.
A friend of mine mounted a winch in the tongue box of his trailer. There was also a battery in with it. The power from the tow vehicle could charge the battery through the trailer wiring.
A friend of mine who does car movement across Canada told me a couple of pointers:
He always uses a set of chains on one end. Straps stretch and loosen. Preferably the chains should be crossed.
He always tries to strap the vehicle down so that the suspension of the vehicle can still work. ie. He wants to tie to a unsprung area, control arms, wheels, etc. Let the vehicle suspension do its job.
Always stop a few miles into the tow and check everything. Check again on every stop.
This guy has moved everything from 1928 coachwork-built Hearses, to Hemi Cudas, to modern rally cars. He also uses rail shipping as much as possible to reduce costs.
NGTD wrote: 2. He always tries to strap the vehicle down so that the suspension of the vehicle can still work. ie. He wants to tie to a unsprung area, control arms, wheels, etc. Let the vehicle suspension do its job.
^This, I would only be tying down to the chassis if I was using chains well over-rated for the load and was comfortable with loading the suspension almost to the bump stops (which is how we loaded HMMWVs IIRC).
I think those little D-rings and brackets some of us use to tie down to a car trailer are actually only meant for use on ships and trains where the cars don't see as much jostling (well, unless things go really bad car carrier salvage, notice that the cars didn't stay where they were tied-down when the ship sank). Last couple times I was hanging out as a stealership and watched them unload a commercial new car carrier I think they had the tie-downs that go over the tires that people posted above.
I hate it when the car can bounce on it's suspension on the trailer. There's plenty of random bouncing and movement with any trailer anyway, why add more to the mix? And the only way I would consider wheel straps is if there's a strip of e-track running right down the center of the wheel on each side of the trailer, otherwise it's such a hassle to hook up.
Give me a set of RTJ hook combos and almost any car is a breeze. Find the slot in the frame, insert appropriate hook, tighten and done.
In reply to irish44j:
Hey, you're towing w/ a 4th generation 4Runner! After 6 weeks of intensive research and driving a bunch of things I bought an '05 4Runner Sport V8. It's go enough room for all the track gear in the back, and I'm going to build a big box on the trailer for jacks/stands/gas cans/canopies.
I've picked up a Tekonsha P3 brake controller, and the rotors are a little thin so I'm going for a towing quality brake pad. In the DC area your tow rig needs to stop like a car thanks to the "drivers" we have.
How's it to and how do you like it?
NGTD wrote: 1. He always uses a set of chains on one end. Straps stretch and loosen. Preferably the chains should be crossed.
I'd rather the strap stretch than the car or trailer break when a deer decides to play chicken with the trailer at 70mph.
The tire bar is bent like a shepherd's crook and the car was pushed back by about a foot. Unstrapping it was interesting.
Always walk around your trailer and check the tight on your straps etc after you make any stops. On two separate circumstances, we stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way back from Road Atlanta and had someone tamper with the trailer. Once the straps were loosened(and not that many ppl can intuitively work the locks on the straps) so that the car moved when we started to leave the parking lot. The other time the hasp on the tongue was lifted(I started using a lock after that).
Towing is the most dangerous thing you do in racing so be careful in all aspects.
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