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Trailering a 997: "not recommended" on Penske and U-haul?
I want to trailer a 997 across the country for a friend; we are headed that way anyways with a lot of trade shoe gear, and I can do it for a lot less than cross country shipping.
Here is the rub: both Penske and U-haul said "not recommended" when I put the car's info into their system. Why? Steep ramp angle? Any ideas for that? Or, do they just not want responsibility for such an expensive car? People trailer their 911s all the time, right?
Any advice or direction would be greatly welcomed!
I don't have any experience with trailer-ing a vehicle (I pull a 28' TT. That's not a Twin Turbo in this forum, but a Travel Trailer). I did come across this thread yesterday.
Are you sure the website is showing "not recommended" because of the towed vehicle and not because of the tow vehicle? What are you putting in there for your tow vehicle? I've seen the website be picky if you enter a tow vehicle that isn't a full-sized pickup or Suburban.
If it's really the car, I would suspect it's about either the ramp angle, breakover angle at the top of the ramps or the width of the tires. You should swing by a U-Haul store and measure the width of the rails, the distance between the rails and the distance between the fenders to make sure the car fits without scraping.
Ramp and breakover angle can always be fixed with some scrap lumber.
There are threads on this. https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...-with-cup.html
When I have trailered my car with open trailers, I mainly learned 2 things, which may not be immediately intuitive for trailers without brakes:
1. Stay at or under 55. I tried to push this up to 65 when going downhill and got very scary tail wag. After that one experience, I kept it at or under 55 religiously. Bring some good music and audio books or podcasts or whatever kids are doing these days because 55 feels sooooooo slow to me.
2. Have some planks of wood and various 2x4s to make it so your car does not scrape. I was lucky that the owner of the trailer I borrowed had a bin at the head of the trailer with all kinds of wood wedges and planks and 2x4s of various lengths. Otherwise, I would have had to take off my lip at minimum. I see dudes at the track taking off bumpers a lot as well.
Are you sure the website is showing "not recommended" because of the towed vehicle and not because of the tow vehicle? What are you putting in there for your tow vehicle? I've seen the website be picky if you enter a tow vehicle that isn't a full-sized pickup or Suburban.
If it's really the car, I would suspect it's about either the ramp angle, breakover angle at the top of the ramps or the width of the tires. You should swing by a U-Haul store and measure the width of the rails, the distance between the rails and the distance between the fenders to make sure the car fits without scraping.
Ramp and breakover angle can always be fixed with some scrap lumber.
The tow vehicle will be a 16-foot moving truck; maybe it didn't like the choice, but I am sure the tow rating is more than adequate. I have the scrap lumber, as I have lived with a GT4 and no FAL! What a pain; each time going in or out was an experience.
I towed my '09 C2S on a U-Haul Trailer. Had to back it onto the trailer due to lack of front clearance. Had to be extra careful securing the 'nets' around the tires as they are built for tall, skinny tires, not short fat ones like the rear tires on a 911. Snugged them down, drove around a bit and snugged them down some more. Otherwise, no issue towing.
I don't remember what I put in the Uhaul 'towing configurator' to make the reservation - might have put in a different vehicle...
There are threads on this. https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...-with-cup.html
When I have trailered my car with open trailers, I mainly learned 2 things, which may not be immediately intuitive for trailers without brakes:
1. Stay at or under 55. I tried to push this up to 65 when going downhill and got very scary tail wag. After that one experience, I kept it at or under 55 religiously. Bring some good music and audio books or podcasts or whatever kids are doing these days because 55 feels sooooooo slow to me.
2. Have some planks of wood and various 2x4s to make it so your car does not scrape. I was lucky that the owner of the trailer I borrowed had a bin at the head of the trailer with all kinds of wood wedges and planks and 2x4s of various lengths. Otherwise, I would have had to take off my lip at minimum. I see dudes at the track taking off bumpers a lot as well.
Good tips and some I learned in a cross country adventure helping a friend move from KC to Seattle - she had a VW golf and a small but overloaded trailer.
When the trailer is under a pulling force it is easy to control. Once it is coasting, tail wag is a problem. The first time it happened to us and being completely oblivious to its nature, it felt as if the rear of the car came off the road. We were lucky.
What I learned was to slow down before any long downhill and then try to plan out the hill by gently keeping tension on the trailer all the way to the bottom. This is challenging out west because sometimes these hills are miles long. Thankfully the bad aerodynamics of the overloaded trailer helped us. We made it safely but it was a PITA.
Good luck and be careful should you go this route.
I towed my 997 to a shop on a U-Haul once. Even with the noselift kit I had to back it on (like vanwinkl). The other thing is that even with the trailer fender released and folded down, the door won't clear it. I have the courtesy windows (up on long hold of keyfob button when locking and down on long hold of keyfob button on unlocking), so I put the car on the trailer with the windows down, climbed out the window, then used the key fob to roll them back up and lock the doors. Without this feature, I'm not sure how I would have been able to get the windows closed.
I didn't have any issues with towing the car backwards. I used the wheel nets, but also have tie down hooks under my car that I also used.
Good tips and some I learned in a cross country adventure helping a friend move from KC to Seattle - she had a VW golf and a small but overloaded trailer.
When the trailer is under a pulling force it is easy to control. Once it is coasting, tail wag is a problem. The first time it happened to us and being completely oblivious to its nature, it felt as if the rear of the car came off the road. We were lucky.
What I learned was to slow down before any long downhill and then try to plan out the hill by gently keeping tension on the trailer all the way to the bottom. This is challenging out west because sometimes these hills are miles long. Thankfully the bad aerodynamics of the overloaded trailer helped us. We made it safely but it was a PITA.
Good luck and be careful should you go this route.
I didn't think about it this way but it reminds me of Tom at TPC's joke about how his cup wing made the trailer more stable, haha. If you read his detailed GT3 thread, it is in there.
I just tried to get my car on a uhaul trailer last week. It was a no go. I probably could have done ot, but it would require wood on the trailer rails, and wood to decrease ramp angle. It was getting too sketchy to have my wife helping. I am on lowered sport springs
I’m sure you could get one of us to drive it there for you! Course it depends on options so please post build sheet, when it can be picked up, and latest date of arrival at destination.
Then take offers.
I’m sure you could get one of us to drive it there for you! Course it depends on options so please post build sheet, when it can be picked up, and latest date of arrival at destination.
Then take offers.
lol.
I actually had someone offer to let me drive an E46 from NY to LA but when we did a cost analysis, it ended up being cheaper to ship.
I will reiterate that in my experience with lowered cars, a lot of wood was needed for various lips and ride heights. With U-Haul type trailers and my friend's various trailers, I have noticed a collection of wood on the trailer I most used was kept in the garage that seemed to border on ridiculous but it makes sense now, people borrowing his trailer added to the wood pile and with 3 different cars, I used 3 different combos of wood. There was also always a guy who seemed to be the "wood philosopher" getting down on the ground and theorizing on how to optimize the various blocks and planks who I would later reward with fast foods and beers for his efforts. I have seen tow truck drivers who specialize in this with their flat beds do things which bordered on magic with static race and show cars lacking FAL or other such devices.
I think Iceeater's comments warrant the most logical concerns still. DesmoSd's pics are helpful because I only have mental pics. of the trailer jams at BRP and WSIR on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings...
06-04-2019, 03:05 PM
Trailering a 997: "not recommended" on Penske and U-haul?
