New-to-me car trailer finally registered. Now questions!

So I finally got me 16' open deck car trailer registered. It was delivered back in January by fellow GRMer Stampie, who was on the way home from his snow adventure with Stampie Jr. The main reason for the delay from then til now was the fact that I owned no tow vehicle. We remedied that not long ago, with the purchase of a 2006 Toyota 4Runner V8 Limited. Towed for the first time today and it was nice!

First stop was the weigh station. Evidently, one needs a weight slip to register a trailer. Ask me how I know. 1680lbs, according to the local moving company scale!

Slip in hand, back to the tax office. Registration was a breeze at that point. I'm legal!

Now that I can actually use it, I have questions.

1. Insurance - Is it covered under my auto insurance? Do I need a separate policy? Do I need an umbrella policy to be extra safe?

2. Trailer brakes - The trailer has none. I would have to pay to have it done, but can trailer brakes be retrofitted to the trailer fairly easily? Are they highly recommended? If I have them added, isn't there some sort of controller that goes inside the truck? Does the trailer shop do that part as well?

3. Loading - How do I figure out where to position my NB Miata on the trailer (front to rear)? I know balance is an important thing, but I have no idea where to put it.

4. Straps - The PO included some killer straps when I bought the trailer and Miata. I've seen folks "cross" strap cars on trailers. Is that the recommended approach? He had the car tied down in the front by the baby teeth. Is that standard for a Miata on a trailer?

5. General advice - Brake early, accelerate slowly, etc. What other tips do you have? I'm new to this! Do I need to keep the transmission out of OD if I'm towing on flat land here in FL?

Thanks!

In my states of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, the towing vehicles coverage covered the trailer and contents.

Load the trailer until the tongue pushes down a little bit on the tow vehicle. Not too much, but too little can cause problems. I use a 4x4 wood block to keep the car from driving onto the tongue, and I move it forward a few inches until the car is placed properly. Your tongue should have about 10% of the weight on it. A 3000 lb car should have 300 lbs of that weight on the tongue.

You should get trailer brakes installed on the front axle, at least. Usually sufficient. No brakes are bad on a trailer that big. Maybe easy to install if you're a DIYer. The axle is probably equipped with a flange, you just need the brakes and the wiring. Some place like TSC or Rural King would have them. Ask a good auto parts store what you need for the truck. If they can't answer, find a good auto parts store.

No need to come out of overdrive. It'll downshift just fine on its own.

Transmission cooler isn't a bad idea, but isn't critical either. Especially if you don't tow frequently and heavily.

Understand trailer push in turns. It will push the tail of the tow vehicle out, which can get ugly very quickly. Especially if you have to brake in a turn, hard, and it's wet.

Trailer brakes are a darn good idea. Any trailer shop can hook it all up. Generally it's electric brakes.

Stiff sidewalls on the 4Runner help keep the trailer in control out back and greatly reduce sway. Not just the rear wheels, but the steering wheels as well. So consider genuine truck tires at the next tire change.

Insurance varies with states, check yours. Here the trailer is covered by the tow vehicle.

Load balance is centered at the axle for minimal sway, slight bias to the front. Yea, there are those who insist it absolutely must be precisely 10-15%. I've found that to never be the case. And don't over load the tongue. You can figure this out by measuring the deflection of the 4runner. Do it first empty then with your highly calibrated body weight on the bumper. Your weight divided by the height change gives you the spring rate. Now you can calculate how far the hitch should drop with a Miata loaded ~10-15% bias. Probably about 2 inches.

dyintorace wrote: 3. Loading - How do I figure out where to position my NB Miata on the trailer (front to rear)? I know balance is an important thing, but I have no idea where to put it.

Tongue weight should be 10% of the total weight. Put a bathroom scale on top of a cinder block or something to duplicate the tow vehicle hitch height, then move the car fore and aft until you get to the magic 10% number.

Trailer weight + 2100lb. Miata X .10 = bathroom scale number.

If in doubt, err toward tongue heavy! Almost lost the BatVan in Georgia because of weight was too light on the tongue.

Dan

I used the baby teeth to strap down my Miata. One strap in front, one in back. Didn't cross them. Probably not the best way, but it worked. If you strap from the front of the trailer to the front of the car and your back strap breaks, the car will roll into the tongue and tow vehicle. Best way is to strap under the center of the car so if a strap breaks, the other strap limits the vehicle movement. There are many different ways to skin this cat.

914Driver wrote:

dyintorace wrote: 3. Loading - How do I figure out where to position my NB Miata on the trailer (front to rear)? I know balance is an important thing, but I have no idea where to put it.

Tongue weight should be 10% of the total weight. Put a bathroom scale on top of a cinder block or something to duplicate the tow vehicle hitch height, then move the car fore and aft until you get to the magic 10% number. Trailer weight + 2100lb. Miata X .10 = bathroom scale number. If in doubt, err toward tongue heavy! Almost lost the BatVan in Georgia because of weight was too light on the tongue. Dan

Or- if you are near 210lb, stand on the hitch and have someone measure the drop. Most trailers are already tongue heavy empty- so that works out not too bad.

And + on the tongue heavy part- much safer that way.

As for the brakes- while I've gone without them more than once, I prefer to have them- and my total tow package is about 3000lb. You are north of that by 1000. Since you have a dedicated tow vehicle (as opposed to the leasser I kept getting), installing a e-brake system in one really easy- if not mostly done already (some vehicles are set up to have them installed from the factory). Get them.

Straps- I got wheels straps. I used to tie down the suspension, but prefer the tires by a mile.

people like to point out that your shocks get a workout when you don't tie the car down and just do the tires. Well, given that the trailer's shocks are there, but crap (relatively speaking)- I don't see the problem with using the car's suspension. The duty cycle it sees on the trailer is tiny compared to real driving, especially racing.

Towing with SWB vehicles is entertaining, to say the least. Get trailer brakes. While this may be hypocritical on my part, my rig is almost 20' long and is only 3' shorter than the trailer it tows as well as being a truck with larger than needed brakes because it was intended to be a tow rig. Most import SUV's were not designed with that as a main priority.

When driving, look FAR ahead, give yourself plenty of room when following and watch for dumb people.

I might add, that with the 4runner, you may want to purchase a load control hitch. Something like this http://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Pro-Series/PS49901.html

Lots of weight on the rear wheel of your tow rig, makes handling weird, and sometimes scary. These things make it far more manageable.

Thanks for the info so far everyone. Sounds like trailer brakes are a good idea.

Sachilles - The Toyota manual makes mention of a weight distributing hitch over a certain .lbs load (IIRC it is 5,000 lbs, which I'm pretty close to)> Looks like a nice set up.

Other than the hit to your wallet, you won't regret getting one. Wish I had got mine sooner, it would have made so many white knuckle trips more comfortable. I just picked the first one on etrailer I saw. Find the brand and unit that makes the most sense for your rig.

I believe that in some states, trailer brakes are required by law at a certain weight. I'm not sure what that weight is, but I'm pretty sure it's lower than what a car weighs. A break-away system is also a legal requirement in many jurisdictions. That's a battery-backup system which applies the trailer brakes should the trailer find itself suddenly disconnected from the tow vehicle.

When you're hooking up, make sure that you've crossed your safety chains. In the event that something comes loose, the tongue will be supported by the chains and the trailer will remain more controllable.

There are two basic types of brake controllers. The basic ones simply increased braking power on a pre-set curve once it detects that the brake lights are on. Controllers equipped with a pendulum or other accelerometer device have to be calibrated and mounted very specifically, but will do a pretty good job of applying brake pressure to the trailer commensurate with the amount of braking that you are actually doing. Either way, make sure the controller is easy to get to from your driving position because if things get a little wonky, giving the trailer (and only the trailer!) a little brake can help un-pucker things. And by things, I mean your butt.

Finding the right balance is kind of trial and error unless you've got some time with a scale. When I towed with a Ford Ranger, the whole setup was very sensitive to loading. I had an RX-7 on the trailer and got massive tail-wagging at any speed over about 58mph. I can't remember which direction I adjusted it but I rolled it about 3 inches and that fixed it. With the E-150 as a tow vehicle, it is much less sensitive, however, when we loaded a Fiero with a caddy 500ci motor in it on the trailer nose-in, things got interesting so we backed it on to the trailer instead. Usually, I'll roll the car on to the trailer, then step back and look to see if the trailer and van are relatively level to each other.

Recently, I upgraded the rear shocks in the van to some Gabriel units that can be pumped up with air and it has helped tremendously, so you might consider something like that. Helps to level things out and to keep the back end from squatting too much in a rough spot.

Call your insurance agent and ask. My policy (State Farm in California) covers any trailer I tow for liability purposes, but obviously it would need to be explicitly listed if I wanted comprehensive or collision on the trailer itself (since it's a $2000 open trailer I didn't bother).

Miatas are 50/50 weight distribution, which makes it fairly easy to position on the trailer. Just place the Miata so that the center of the car is slightly forward of the center point of the two trailer axles (I aim for a foot or so). Err on the side of too much forwards, it's better to put extra weight on the truck's rear suspension than it is to have the trailer wagging all over the place.

AFAIK, crossing over the straps is something people mainly do when there isn't enough distance between the attachment points to fit the ratchet mechanism in there. When my NB is on my 16' wood-deck trailer, I attach the rears using the factory rear tiedown points, with the straps crossed over for that reason. I removed the front "baby teeth" a long time ago, and only have a single aftermarket extraction hook up there, so I strap it down on the front by running axle straps through the wheels. Some people argue against tying it down by the suspension because of concerns about changing the alignment, but I think the loads from that are way less than the braking loads it sees on the track, and I've towed the car dozens of times that way and the alignment has never drifted, so I'm not concerned.

I second the idea of a weight distributing hitch when using a tow vehicle that light. I tow mine with a 3/4 ton Chevy diesel crew-cab, which barely even notices that it's there.

General advice: Be aware that the trailer is 6-12 inches wider on both sides than the tow vehicle. Delay turning compared to what you would do with a single vehicle, because it's otherwise easy to "school bus" the trailer over the curb. Go slowly, think twice about everything you do, and make sure you don't turn into a driveway, parking lot, etc without knowing how you're going to get out.

Other random things: tie the loose ends of the straps down to something so that they don't flap in the breeze. Always bring a spare tire for the trailer with you, along with a lug wrench that fits the trailer nuts (they probably aren't the same size as the ones on the tow vehicle). A short chunk of 4x4 is good as a "jack", you can pull the trailer onto it with the good tire and the flat one should be off the ground. A trailer box is a good idea, it gives you a place to store all this crap where it's not clogging up the tow vehicle. Put all the keys to the various locks that go on the trailer (draw bar lock, hitch lock, trailer box lock, etc) on the same keychain as the tow vehicle keys, otherwise it's very easy to take a lock off the trailer when unhitching, set it down on the rear bumper of the tow vehicle, and then forget about it and drive off. Ask me how I know :(

Well, most points have been covered. Most insurance will cover the trailer. Brakes, absolutely. Required in some states CG of car and center on trailer is how I located the car . FWD made it far back but left room for spares in front. Crossed my rear straps as shown. Towed app.3900 lbs. with my KJ all over the NE. Left it on OD except on so long down hills. Never a problem. I di add airbags after awhile just to keep the headlights level.

alfadriver wrote: people like to point out that your shocks get a workout when you don't tie the car down and just do the tires. Well, given that the trailer's shocks are there, but crap (relatively speaking)- I don't see the problem with using the car's suspension. The duty cycle it sees on the trailer is tiny compared to real driving, especially racing.

I have seen that in action.. where the trailer and car were 180 degrees out of sync on the bounce.. it was not pretty. Best to cinch the body of the car down and compress it's suspension some

I might add, that at work, where we have any option at our disposal, we strap cars down through the wheels. When send the cars cross country in big rigs, and small trailers. We even send them in sea containers. All the same way. Depending on the edges on your wheel, you may want a wheel protector on the strap....not to protect your wheel, but to protect strap from cutting.

mad_machine wrote:

alfadriver wrote: people like to point out that your shocks get a workout when you don't tie the car down and just do the tires. Well, given that the trailer's shocks are there, but crap (relatively speaking)- I don't see the problem with using the car's suspension. The duty cycle it sees on the trailer is tiny compared to real driving, especially racing.

I have seen that in action.. where the trailer and car were 180 degrees out of sync on the bounce.. it was not pretty. Best to cinch the body of the car down and compress it's suspension some

My tie down was primarily to keep the car in place on the trailer. Suspension was free to work.

I have a friend who does this as a part time job. He has hauled cars all over North America.

He uses crossed chains on one end (normally the front so that the car can't go off the rear of the trailer) and straps on the back. He ALWAYS secures the car so that the cars suspension can work while on the trailer. The chains are used because they can't stretch. Straps will stretch and loosen, so they need to be checked routinely.

He has hauled everything from Hemi Cuda's to a 1927 McLaughlin-Buick Hearse.

codrus wrote: Always bring a spare tire for the trailer with you

Im a big fan of carrying 2. The only times I have needed a spare I needed 2. If one tire hits something the one 6 inches behind it will too. Many trailers I see along the highways with a flat have both tires on the same side blown out.

We have an additional rider on our insurance to cover our horse trailer and my car trailer. It was pretty cheap and covers replacement.

I keep a box of trailer stiff handy for when I'm towing. Bearings, seals and a tire plug kit. And a tire iron that fits the trailer lug nuts and spare nuts (I've seen them different sizes.). Pack the spare bearing and keep it in a Ziploc. Channellock pliers, too. Bearings go out, but they're easy to change with a few tools. Unless you've got no tools.

Check tire pressure and bearing play (grab top of wheel push/pull, shouldn't move) every trip, stop after the first few miles and feel the tires and bearings for a hot (i.e. failing) one.