Noob leaners his lesson towing tires...

Jerry wrote: Just returned from Home Depot with 2" heavier duty ratcheting straps, hoping they work better. And they will be put through the wheels, not over them. I also bought 5' of 1/4" chain to make longer safety chains. The hitch butts up against a plate so the place for the safety chain is blocked. I am going to try to make a new one to go to the tow hooks on either side of the car instead.

Lets see a picture of that hitch if possible. Did you go with a bolt on version or did you have something special fab'ed up?

In reply to JohnRW1621:

I went with the one you recommended in the thread where the other trailer was for sale in MI. http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Toyota/Corolla/1988/C11227.html?vehicleid=19886051

Here it is installed:

I also replaced the safety chain today since the holes on the hitch were covered up, I made a longer version to reach the tow hooks:

And here's the tire found in the median:

OUCH! Good call on the chains.

Related...sort of. I learned from the Canexican: When towing a car (a fwd car anyway) on a trailer, toss a chain over the rear axle before pulling the car up that last couple inches, or before tightening the front straps if you're by yourself.

Wow, that is a heck of a bend on the rim!

I guess I missed that chain part on the hitch. In my defense, I was doing this from memory, nearly 13 years ago. Seem the hitch fit but required a little "alteration". The specific band that I had was different.

In reply to JohnRW1621:

Meh, not a big deal. I feel safer with the safety chains going to the car instead of the hitch anyway.

There was an article in our local paper not long ago about a person who got killed when someone else's wheel/tire came through their windshield.

On my open trailer, I simply had a flat plate on each side of the tires. I'd put the tires on the trailer (standing up) then slide a piece of conduit through the center and through holes on the flat plates. A padlock on the end and voila. Tires that can never get loose or stolen. Super-easy and inexpensive.

As others have said use a pipe in the center. Use biggest diamenter PVC that will fit through the wheels and run a chain or strap through the PVC this will keep the rims from damage and the strap too. If you use PVC take a few minutes and radius the ends to keep the strap from cutting.

Check out http://www.adventurerv.net/index.php

for cheap sizzor jacks or other suports like quick flip tounge stand. you likley allready have a impact gun with you so sizzor jacks are quick zip with the gun and a 3/4 socket (all RV jacks use 3/4)

That rim is fixable buy the place in or around Keene NH but there name is drawing a blank...

44Dwarf wrote: That rim is fixable buy the place in or around Keene NH but there name is drawing a blank...

There's a guy down in Cincy calls himself the Wheel Doctor, that could probably fix it, except last time I checked he charges as much/more than the rim is usually worth. Hoping to just find two 14" 4x100 rims on craigslist, I have till the beginning of November for the next event.

I used to run my MR2 with a set of 14x6 Mazda MX3 rims. They are the perfect size having a center bore of 54.1, just like the MR2, so no hub rings needed.
Similar rims are Mazda Protoge, Ford Escort and ZX2. Miata 14x6 can be used too but the offset is a little wrong keeping the tires more "under the car" than wanted. Miata 14x5.5 will not work and will not clear the front brake calipers. Early Scion and Corolla derived rims are perfect too.
Wheel Bolt Refence Guide
Soon would seem to be the perfect time to find a set of rims with snow tires on them (if snow tires are good at rally-x?)

In reply to JohnRW1621:

I'm using donated VW rims at the moment (well, two of them now). I started with snow tires & had fun, did not miss having to change tires at the beginning and end of the event. I think I might look for another set of 4 to keep around if feeling lazy, I could throw them on and go, then switch back at my leisure.

The VW rims seem to fit fine without bore issues, the first set I bought on CL I did not know about center bore & pretty much squeezed them on with alternating tightening of the lug nuts. Getting them back off? Holy E36 M3 that sucked. Also discovered the snow tires were too tall and didn't clear the bottom of the struts in front. Seriously, this has been a crash course in car-stuff the last two years for me.

Keith Tanner wrote: On my open trailer, I simply had a flat plate on each side of the tires. I'd put the tires on the trailer (standing up) then slide a piece of conduit through the center and through holes on the flat plates. A padlock on the end and voila. Tires that can never get loose or stolen. Super-easy and inexpensive.

On my open trailer I had the same except instead of a hole in the plate I had it slotted to accommodate different size tires.

Once, I forgot to put the padlock in and when I went around a corner the pipe came out about 4'. I'm lucky it was on the driver's side - if I hadn't seen it - I can only imagine the hilarity that would have ensued he first time I tried to pass a tractor trailer.

I'll bet the guy that hit that wheel and bent it is pretty upset.

That damage didn't come from falling off the trailer.

This is a pic of my neighbors trailer. He has some 3x1/4 steel uprights welded to the trailer. They have holes in them that he runs a pipe thru. One end of the pipe has a plate welded on the end and the other end has a hole for a padlock.

The above pict is just like my old open car haulers tire holder.

you need to set it up like mine. it is so much better than when I ran a strap through the wheels.

I've thought about the metal uprights as well and may go that route eventually. In the meantime, after reading this thread it got me motivated to do something I've been meaning to do with a setup like yours:

When the strap loosens, the main issue is that it will just slide down the tires and fall off. Since I have a center bar (for a brake light) on my trailer, I welded a couple metal pieces onto it as a strap retainer - so in the off chance the strap gets loose, it will still stay over the tire which should buy some time for me (I can see the ratchet from my rearview, and check it constantly to make sure it's still "down".

(I also run a second smaller strap through the wheels as a backup, but it's not terribly tight).

Yesterday I had 3 straps on the thing when I took it to a church parking lot to try backing up. (Someone should have brought popcorn). They stayed tight the whole drive around town, hoping for the best. (Still might change over the winter, who knows?)

Several years ago I was towing my popup camper south on I-75 headed for a mountain bike week in north Florida. We left at 0:dark thirty. When the sun finally comes up I happen to look in the passenger side mirror and i can see the flip down side door of the camper open and sicking out in the horizontal step position. berkeley! I stop as quickly as I can and gratefully find that all the pillows, provisions, and duffelbags I had packed just inside the door are still there, and then spend 1/2 hour fishing the lock retention rods out where they fell inside the door so I can close it and lock it. I' m pretty sure that I forgot to lock it on departure, and 75mph over concrete seams was a little too much.

Not really related, but nothing causes an adrenaline rush like sudden trailer problems!

Jerry wrote: Yesterday I had 3 straps on the thing when I took it to a church parking lot to try backing up. (Someone should have brought popcorn). They stayed tight the whole drive around town, hoping for the best. (Still might change over the winter, who knows?)

Get a longer tongue if you want to make it easier. That is on my to do list for mine--although very low on the list, since I have about a 50% success rate backing the thing, and it is very easy to take it off and move it by hand.

yeah, being so short coupled it really is a PITA to back ...it can be done, albeit with a lot of practice ....

I think I made it 10-15' before it started turning of it's own accord. Easier to just jump out, unhitch, move it, reattach.