BruceWard

Looks like a nice setup. Please tell us more about the trailer purchase. I am considering a truck and trailer to get back and forth to autox. First time I try to drive home 60 - 180 miles depending on the facility in the rain on victoracers I will be convinced that a trailer is the way to go!

eclou

I am intested in trailers now. How much did it cost you? What size? Do you clear the ramps with the car or do you still have to use 2x4's? What length ramps?

Thanks

Porsche-O-Phile

No way - that would be probably close to 2 mill out here.

Z-man

Looks real nice Dan. (Jealous I am, yes. ..) All that is missing is a nifty tire rack on the front of the trailer!

-Z.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

As far as open trailer shopping, there are about 8 big decisions involved, I'll talk about them a bit for those who may look at them someday.

Steel or Aluminum. Aluminum is way prefered because it weighs 1/2 of steel. You can get a rig to carry 5k that weighs less than 1k. Unfortunately, it costs 2x. A new aluminum trailer is over 4000 $. Trailex makes some great ones.. but I couldn't afford it.

Steel deck or wood deck. They weigh close to the same, wood is cheaper but will require replacement someday.

Capacity- It all depends on the axles. A common setup is 2 x 3500LB axles. If your trailer weighs 1800, that leaves room for 5200 lbs of cargo. This is the most common arrangement for car haulers. I saw a couple with 2 x 5000lb axles. Too much for my needs.

16 or 18 foot. I went with 18 to have some extra room to store tires on the trailer in front of the car. The price difference is around 100 bucks.

Open or a flat, closed deck. An open deck on a steel trailer can save 400 or 500 LBS. (16 or 18 foot) That is a lot when you are getting close to the limits of the yanker. My Toyota is rated to pull 5K. The car weighs 3200, the trailer weighs 1800. As you can see, I'm at my limits. If I had a flat steel rig it would weigh 2200 or 2300, and I'd be over grossed. The advantage of a flat deck would be able to haul motorcycles, snowmobiles, mulch or whatever you could put up there. The open bed gives the advantage of access to the underneath, to use it like a lift at the track or whatever. I hope to fabricate panels to slap in my gaps to make it a flat deck if I need it.

Brakes.. No real choice here other than two wheel or 4 wheel drums. Some older trailers have "Surge Brakes"..a master cyl on the hitch gets activated when the trailer is pushing the hitch, slowing the trailer. This is nice for rigs that get swapped between many tow vehicles. My rig has 4 wheel elec brakes, activated by a (80$) braking controller in the truck. You set how active you want the trailer brakes to be. It's a better choice because it is infinitely adjustable and even has a button to activate the trailer brakes all alone. 99% of new trailers have electric brakes. Many older used trailers will have surge brakes, I've used them with no problems.

Ramps.. Some trailers actually tilt. There is a big hydraulic jack up front that
raises the front of the trailer 16" putting the rear on the ground. It costs another $150-200 and is good for extremely low clearance machines. I passed on this because I knew my car would clear with 5' ramps and a 2' dove tail. Some ramps store in the sides, mine go right up under the dove tail. (easier than carrying them around the sides to stow)

"Dove tail" and "Beaver tail". This is the sloped off portion of the rear of the ramp. A dove tail is a 2' long angled ramp, a beaver tail is a 5' long slope. Mine has the 2', they didn't have any with 5' slope that I saw. I imagine a Beaver (5') tail would be better for low clearance machines, but my Turbo works fine with the dovetail and 5' ramps.

My trailer, an 18 ft. with dual axle elec brakes and an open diamond plate steel deck was $2095. I haggled and got a free brake controller and ball. All the trailer guys I spoke to warned me of a drastic increase in the cost of steel, claiming all the new units coming in cost them 10 to 20% more due to expensive raw materials.

Most 'bargain' new trailers come with crappy old rims and used tires, you are expected to put good rubber on them, and rims if you have any pride. I paid a premium for my rig because it came with brand new rims and new trailer tires. It is not a good idea to use car tires on trailers. Trailer tires hop a lot of curbs and take a lot of abuse car tires don't get. I could have got a cheap version of my rig for $1595, but I opted for new tires/rims, 4 wheel brakes, a break-away device (a battery on the trailer locks the brakes if it pops off the hitch) and some pinstriping from a brand name manufacturer.

Used trailers tend to hold their value really well. The few I looked at wanted within a few hundred of what a new one cost. Considering the few moving parts (bearings, tires and brakes) I'd have no problem buying used, I just couldn't find the one I wanted. Watch out for dry rotting tires and rust in critical areas.

I've got a few buddies who have trucks, I figure if they want to borrow it I'll let it go for $50 a weekend and recover some of my investment. Of course storage is a big issue.. I'd hate to have to pay to put it somewhere.

Happy towing!!

Dave

A note for some who might be thinking about it.
Some states require trailers to have 4 wheel brakes, find out ahead of time.

BruceWard

Dan, thanks for all the trailer buying info.

How does the Land Cruiser feel when towings its maximum tow weight?

944Fest (aka Dan P)

I'm yet to find out. I need to install the brake controller and lighting wiring before I actually go at it. (I brought it home unlit) As for the Toyota, I expect a good performance. The only negative in the reviews back then was the truck was very heavy compared to its peers (5600lbs or so) I'd say it's mass is going to be a benefit when anchoring the rig. It is a very stout truck compared to most soft utes. It was the best I could find without splurging for a Land Rover. The only domestic I've towed with was a 99 360 Durango and mine had major mechancial concerns before 50K (5 ball joints!) so I ruled Dodge out. The Ford/Chevy camp seemed years behind the Toyota camp in design and build quality. If I lived in hilly country I'd be concerned with the limits and look for something with a V8 (available in the LC after 97 or so) .. but Ohio is fairly flat, I expect to be just fine. Then again, TRD makes a Supercharger kit for my truck for about the price of the trailer!!!

eclou

Thanks Dan!

KLR

That would run about $6 million +/- here, if you could find one.

BruceWard

I am a big fan of the Land cruiser. I have never owned either but have frequently been in friends land crusisers, land rovers and range rovers. I do not think you either of the rovers would have been better for you.

I wish we could get the tough version of the land cruiser that toyota sells in Australia instead of the soccer mom version they send us. They sold both versions in Australia but I loved the no frills 4wd version.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

I know you didn't mean to insult my truck by saying it's a soccer-mom ute, but it sounded that way. My 94 LC is a TANK underneath. The frame, suspension and axles are huge beefy things. I think you mean Soccer-Mom in the Lexus plushed out newer versions. I see those unibody toy utes based on car platforms, those are the wimpy kid haulers. I do believe my truck would be ok chasing (or running from) rhinos is the African plain. The comparo I found for utes in Car and Driver 1994ish it came in second, only because it was too heavy (by product of rugged construction) for daily use. (The brand new Grand Chrokee won)

Scuba Steve

So how would you go about getting a car onto the trailer if it doesn't run? I've been wondering about that and may have this challenge coming up soon.

We've got a wooden deck on our flatbed trailer here. It's either 'homemade' or from a small company in East Texas. It's 21 years old now and the paint is kind of bad but overall it's rock solid. I could see the wood alone lasting another 10 years easily.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

You've got a few options for loading a dead car. Of course manpower, a few guys with space to get it rolling can do it. A winch or come-along can do it too. If you chock the heck out of the un-hitched trailer and lock the brakes, you can tow it up with a strap to the unhitched tow vehicle. The last and maybe best option (except for a winch) to "jack knife" the truck-trailer and use a third car as the vehicle to pull the dead one up. No matter how you do it, it's a fun process.

Scuba Steve

Good ideas. If I get the car, I'd have to find some way to get it onto a rented car trailer to get it over to where I live. Problem is, the car is parked at the bottom of the short driveway, facing towards the garage. The driveway might be a little on the steep side to push the car up. But with some tow chains and somewhere on the back of the car to mount them it might be possible to pull the car back up the driveway some, throw the e-brake and put it in gear, and move the rented trailer back where the car was with rocks blocking the wheels. Then slowly (with somebody in the car of course) back it down and hopefully onto the trailer. Either that or push and turn the car onto the flat part of the driveway and then try and shove it onto the trailer. My guess is that the height of the trailer will decide how we get it on there. It'll probably just be myself and a friend that I'd be buying it from taking care of things. Wish I had a picture, it'd be worth 1,000 words here.

I'm just hoping that if I get the car, we do it before summer comes around. It gets a little hot here around that time of year!