Car Trailer Advise

[schultzie]

im using a mix of light and dark hammer tone blue, i love the grey, my work trailer is painted that colour, i sort of thought the blue would match the lux a bit better.

im going to start to paint the trailer this week, but it cant be finished because there is still welding to be done on it.

I took some measurements last night before i took the ute off the trailer i am not sure what im going to use to clad the steel, i was thinking canvas but metal would last longer.... im going to use 20x20 gal that i have already purchased, it is going to tilt forward from the front to give room to tie the front down, planning to keep the cone as high as possible across the nose so that any future cars get get on it as well. i will use fabric on the underside of the cone where it extends over the draw bar.

[Whoosha]

3 wheel straps are minimum requirement on cars , call past next meet n greet and I will show you how we set the new straps up Shultzy, all so got a mate that sells them if you need some more
Cheers Whoosha

[schultzie]

i have plenty of 1.5t ratchet tie downs and 2t ones i use 4 at a minimum, whoosh that could well be helpful.

[tickford2001]

schultzie have you thought of using fibreglass to clad the steel? a mate did that with his race trailer and it came up a treat

[schultzie]

dont have the time nor the skills to do that.... well i could fumble my way through it ....

[tickford2001]

Sorry i should have been clearer...you dont actually have to make it.

You can buy sheet fibreglass for this purpose, then its just a matter of attaching it as you would with sheet steel.

[poppa smurf]

I'd use sheet steel that way when it gets damaged you just replace it at minimum cost

can also be shaped to fit anything

[MOTIV8]

I would suggest in taking your trailer if possible to Load Restraint Systems in Dandenong or Footscray as I buy all of my equipment/straps from them. I mainly deal with the guys at Dandenong and have sent quite a few friends there with their racecar trailers and are much happier now as their cars are tied down by four points (wheels/tyres) without and damage to rims and best thing it only takes less than 5 mins to secure the vehicle to the trailer.

Cheers
Sean

[schultzie]

Motivate, have you got any ideas on the cost of getting them to set something like that up?

Tickford, have you used it before? Is it cost effective?

[MOTIV8]

Originally Posted by schultzie

Motivate, have you got any ideas on the cost of getting them to set something like that up?

PM Sent

[schultzie]

thanks for the pm's will talk to the guys in dandenong, However i may still continue to strap it down through the wheels so that i will still have a clean deck when i need to transport other goods. and i don't think i have the width on the deck to get the straps far enough away from the body. can only go look and see.

It is no longer a rusty old trailer now, Not sure on the blue paint... thinking black or hammertone grey would of been better, most areas still need another coat of paint.

colour does look better in the day light and now it gone hard....
What color should i paint the rims? im thinking silver...

Today i also made the tail light holders and put clearance lights back on.

Hopefully i should have the new axels, breaks and suspension in 10-14 days it wont be ready for the show i wanted it ready for but that is ok as long as it is ready for all ford day that is all that matters.

[svo supporter]

If you want them "hidden" by the trailer. Trailer colour.

If you want them "hidden" by the tyre, Black.

If you want them to stand out like dogs #*@!, Silver.

Sorry not much help, but might give you a bit of an idea.

[1TUFFUTE]

looks like a good solid trailer but i am gunna bag you on the colour haha...sorry. Just a thought..i did a custom dirtbike trailer..big one and we designed sides that stood up and bolted solid and then could fold down onto lugs so you had flat platform to stand on if you needed....even decks for you to lay stuf out..like ropes and rags so they stay clean. could be an idea to go with a moulded front to extend your protection for the car.

[Tonz]

Another thing to think of ( havent read all of thread) is clear ID the trailer is yours. This means you have to be 100% certain that (if) the trailer gets stolen the police can identify it as yours.
The safest way is to weld a code (best is your drivers licence no.) onto an obscure part so that only you know its there.

Ive seen too many trailers stolen, even where they now reside and the legal owner cannot prove 100% its theirs.

All a thief needs to do is paint it, go to motor rego and register a new home built trailer. You as the owner dont have a leg to stand on.
I have lost 2 work trailers and a friend lost a car trailer that he saw 6 months later, when the police went to investigate the 'new' owner got agro but the trailer was taken away for investigation. The code had been grinded off but showed up under xray or whatever the cops did.

And before some dumb axx tries to shoot me down go talk with your local police.

[schultzie]

I'm not quite sure where I'm going I head with the sides at the moment. They won't fold down that is for sure, they will un bolt how ever.

Great idea about the licence number, as you say rebirthing trailers is so easy to do it is a joke! Call Vic roads ask for an r number and your away! I will say I'm not Handling a stolen trailer but as it is so old it has no vin number at all!

[brendo83]

Originally Posted by schultzie

3. Do people put their cars on trailers for a reason? Yes Yes they do.... you want to know something... towing the ute on a trailer is cheaper than towing a horse float... the only difference being the weight... my hilux only have a towing capacity of 2250kg and im expecting a combined weight of xr8 and trailer being around 2.8t worst case... YES i'm willing to risk towing overloaded but plenty of people do it every day and i know what the implications are...

Do you know if insurance will cover you if you have an accident while towing overloaded? If they won't you're risking losing well over 100g worth of vehicles not to mention any other damage you may cause in the process.

Originally Posted by schultzie

but the best thing i can do i make sure the trailer is up to speed because in this setup the car will stop 100-0kmh faster with the trailer on then not on because of the sheer breaking force the trailer will have.

Not sure if this is true, regardless of how much braking force you can apply, the contact patch of the tyres is still the limiting factor, which will be less on a trailer, then take away decent suspension and ABS, then add another half ton of weight. Happy to be proven wrong, but it doesn't make sense to me.

[schultzie]

Yeah like I said I know the risks of towing over loaded, I do want a better tow car... Well the missus is getting a territory soon and that can do it legit so I will likely use that. the xr8 is not insured on the trailer regardless it is not in the policy.

It may not be 100% correct but any one who ha towed with electric breaks on a loaded trailer will all agree that the trailer pulls the car up. It is hard to explain to be honest. The suspension is good as well as discussed getting the load right will fix most of general towing issues

[ebxr8240]

Could be easier to build a big wide front on trailer with 45* angle or so over front of car ?? This way it's all flat sheet steel with one bend...
You 're only after protecting the car from stone chips etc...
Be careful of room for turning though...
So it doesn't jack knife on you...

Btw I fitted E series Fairmont mags on trailer..

[09SR5]

http://www.woodworkforums.com/f184/m...arrier-113661/

It might be of interst in this thread, but hees a build thread of my own for my car carrier I made at home from scratch through to rego

[schultzie]

cant get a 45* angle over the nose so will go vertical up then lay back to the top of the roof line i can then make a frame and tarp the rest of the car up to keep it clean.

09sr5... some one that can share the love of electric breaks!!! i wish i had your trailer... however it is a bit heavy for my liking What i want to know is where you got a tow bar that has given you a 2.5t towing capacity?? id kill for that.... there is a 3t kit that can be bought from over sea's but cant find info on that

[GTpilot]

Check out trailer insurance as a separate item. Matt got insurance on his which covers the trailer, its load, any 3rd party damage caused by wheels coming off or runaway trailer...etcetera. If you want I can ask him who he got it through. Did not cost much at all.

[09SR5]

Originally Posted by schultzie

cant get a 45* angle over the nose so will go vertical up then lay back to the top of the roof line i can then make a frame and tarp the rest of the car up to keep it clean.

09sr5... some one that can share the love of electric breaks!!! i wish i had your trailer... however it is a bit heavy for my liking What i want to know is where you got a tow bar that has given you a 2.5t towing capacity?? id kill for that.... there is a 3t kit that can be bought from over sea's but cant find info on that

Sorry at the time I thought it was 2.5t.

Turns out when i bought the hilux, it is rated for 2.25t and they sell a heavy duty hitch receiver style that replaces the normal tounge type they come with thats rated for 2.25t also lol. thats logic...

I'm a fan of over engineering!

I've recently made ramps up from 100x50x3 RHS and used 25mm angle bar spaces at 130mm. ramps are 300mm + the width of the RHS so 400mm wide and are 4m long. I cut the end so the ramps start at ground level. haven't had a car yet thats gotten caught up on anything. I built the ramps in mind to make a stand on the ends so cars can be worked on from underneath.

[schultzie]

Those ramps must weigh a tonne! Mine are heavy enough at 50x50x6 angle at 2.9m long with added bracing as they weren't strong enough for the Xr8.
I like the idea of being able to work under them nothing better then multi purpose and over engineering


I've read a gvm upgrade can be done but nOt sure how that will change towing capicity.

Im in the processes of getting my suspension ordered, hope I don need drop axels are not needed to maintain my deck height. Axel spacing seems to of changed too in 30 years. Probably need new guards too now... Bugger

[09SR5]

my ramps are 50kg each. my trailer sitting on 4x4 wheels is quite high for a car carrier, but the ramps make it a non issue.

[Elks]

Originally Posted by schultzie

What color should i paint the rims? im thinking silver...

.

Ford stud pattern? If so I have some 14x7 jelly beans I could trade for your expertise in fixing the sound system in the FG. Just a thought.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by Tonz

Another thing to think of ( havent read all of thread) is clear ID the trailer is yours. This means you have to be 100% certain that (if) the trailer gets stolen the police can identify it as yours.
The safest way is to weld a code (best is your drivers licence no.) onto an obscure part so that only you know its there.

Ive seen too many trailers stolen, even where they now reside and the legal owner cannot prove 100% its theirs.

All a thief needs to do is paint it, go to motor rego and register a new home built trailer. You as the owner dont have a leg to stand on.
I have lost 2 work trailers and a friend lost a car trailer that he saw 6 months later, when the police went to investigate the 'new' owner got agro but the trailer was taken away for investigation. The code had been grinded off but showed up under xray or whatever the cops did.

And before some dumb axx tries to shoot me down go talk with your local police.

A bloke I know had his car trailer stolen at one of the Winton Fun Days, he reported it to the Police, but no luck, so every Fun Day for about 3 or 4 years he would show up looking for his trailer, then one day in 2010 I think was, there it was sitting in amongst other trailers so he rang the Police, it was still hooked onto to the thiefs car, so the Police booked the bloke who pinched it - what a loser!!!

[schultzie]

Elks, would I get a light truck tire on to it? What is the rims width offset and load rating? I can not use car tires due to the weight I will be carrying,

I will help you regardless of acquiring the rims or not.

Big trev: what a lucky find! Did the cops charge him?

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by schultzie

Elks, would I get a light truck tire on to it? What is the rims width offset and load rating? I can not use car tires due to the weight I will be carrying,

I will help you regardless of acquiring the rims or not.

Widest LT tyre I can think of for a 14" rim is a 195X14. Personally I would fit it, but according to the tyre sidewall they do go on.

[schultzie]

found a tire that will do the job can you go look on the back of the rim and tell me the offset? axels are being ordered tomorrow im pretty sure they will be a 0 off set but could also be -17

Widetread found a tire that is 225 with a load rating per axel of 1750... perfect will get me the 3t easially that i need

[schultzie]

09sr5... what is your axel spacing? and what is the height from the top of your axel to the bottom of your chassis?