Carrera GT

These?
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ct_43572_43572

jp175

Yes. Cross your straps too! Both front and rear.

drl

You guys with Featherlites using the jack points - what length Mac tie downs are optimal?

6 ft? 8 ft?

Carrera GT

A lightweight open trailer is the easiest towing you'll ever do. Eventually most everyone goes to an enclosed and the trade-offs are many.

Definitely check the whole rig after moving just a few feet -- check for loose straps, anything touching the ground or hanging too low, wiring, connectors, the whole hitch assembly, do a checklist to be sure things are correct (break-away connector, battery voltage, hitch pin, safety pins, etc. ) when you're checking the lights are working. Then stop again after you've had some bumps and general stop/start/turns.

I've stopped a guy at a gas station when I noticed his hitch didn't have a hitch pin!

Don't overdo tension on the straps. In my opinion, each strap should flex and it should not be taut like a guitar string, but obviously with no slack. The car will walk around on the trailer and resolve the force on each strap to be equal give or take the tires sticking (and keep the handbrake on and the gearbox in neutral.) I leave the parking brake off until I get out onto the main road, giving the car a chance to locate itself.

The ratchets shown in the photos can apply a helluva lot of force. If holding by the wheels, don't overdo it. If holding by the chassis/frame/tub such as at the jacking points, it's important to cinch down enough so that the suspension will not easily compress further, which would allow the straps to work loose as well as putting considerable impact loads on the anchor points -- those jack points are meant to support the static weight of the car, not to withstand hundreds of miles and years of being pummeled by what amounts to a 3000lb slide hammer arrangement.

Some prefer to strap down a car by the frame because they don't want the suspension to be moving the whole time the car is in transit. Others prefer to cinch down by the wheels because they don't want the frame to be under stress and impact load, or they don't want the springs in a compressed state for days or weeks.

Note that Porsche ties down by the wheels and tires.

jrgordonsenior

Good point about the hitch pin Adam. I use a padlock as it offers some small degree of security albeit a false sense.....

You know in all my years of towing I've never heard directly from anyone who suffered any damage to a car strapped thru the wheels, or to the jacking points. I think it's all speculation unless someone steps up with first hand knowledge of actual damage. I'd love to hear from the old shops....

Carrera GT

It's amazing the number of things you end up with on a checklist. I've stopped a guy towing out of the paddock at Laguna with the rear door down! I've arrived home to find I didn't put the pins in the levers that hold the arms of the weight-distributing hitch (but they stayed up ... hate to think of the consequences of one of those heavy metal arms getting loose and bouncing down the freeway.)

Anyway, here's the video where Macs talks about not crossing the straps. Scroll forward to 3:40 time on the video where the guy starts talking about crossing straps for a variety of reasons, some of which obviously don't pertain to a 911.

Carrera GT

I had those mongrels come out of a 993 once (neatly hooked into the jack point, but the strap loosened enough and the car eventually moved backwards.) Fortunately I had the car in nose first and well forward in the trailer, so as it moved backwards (parking brake on, just sliding backwards under acceleration to get on the freeway) I could feel the whole rig wanting to jackknife (fish tailing) so I used the trailer brake and got onto the shoulder (very slow braking for about a mile from 30 mph to zero.) Fortunately just scuffed the rear bumper paint, but could have been really ugly. I took that lesson as my one time warning to always check the straps as soon as I get to the main road.

louwill

I would opt for the longer ones. You can always tie them off and you never know what the next trailer or car might require.

Carrera GT

I've arrived home with various loose straps and nothing ever happened except the flooring of the trailer moved with the tire an inch or two.

A neighbor who's in the CHP said that the most common trailer theft now is they just take the whole rig -- quicker and less conspicuous to take the tow vehicle than try to unhitch, etc. The guy at TPD Trailers in Sacramento had the same opinion -- they don't worry too much about hitch locks ... a $10K or $50K trailer is not secured by a hitch lock. : )

The only trouble with alignment that I've experienced with several other people's 996 GT3's was the rear toe going out because those ridiculous elliptical adjusters don't work. Cars that convert to threaded toe links don't have trouble.

I don't want to cross the straps on the front wheels because it puts strain, continuous load and impact load on the steering gear. This will cause wear and possibly harm to Heim joints, spherical joints of any type and ball joints, etc. as well as load and wear on the pinion gear in the steering rack itself.

ex10psi

i'm not here to debate chassis tie down vs through the wheels. sharing a interesting experience i had last year (scary!):

i had the featherlite 3110 trailer and my 996 GT3 was strapped on the trailer through the wheels, using mac custom tie downs. after about 6 hrs of driving on the hwy, just a couple exits from the track, i went to the left passing lane to pass a slow moving semi, truck driver was playing with his cell phone and drifted in to my left passing lane as i was going up a pretty decent incline. saw him drifting and i had no choice but to floor the truck as i couldnt drift over due to on coming traffic. my little F150 did the best it could but unfortunately the semi caught the tail end of my featherlite, hit it pretty hard and the whole trailer skipped violently to the left but i didnt lose control. i thought for sure my GT3 was toast! BUT... GT3 was fine, and didnt even move on the trailer. what i learned:
1) if you're a semi truck driver, get off the f*cking phone dammit
2) mac tie downs through the wheels work great in emergency situations
3) featherlite 3110 trailers are extremely strong, amazing trailers. the rear tail light got mangled but was easily repaired. the trailer stood up extremely well to a 18 wheeler!

Carrera GT

Uphill and full power probably saved your bacon. Did you not lean on the horn?

You did better than this guy ...

drl

Wow.

All tips on avoiding that are welcomed!

ex10psi

wow... that is one hell of a way to crash your load. too bad i cant help but think this incident couldve been easily avoided even with an inadequate tow vehicle as shown in the vid. slow down if the tail starts wagging!!

in my case, when the semi drifted over, my truck and at least half my load had cleared him so i knew he was going to clip the trailer. i hammered the gas down and man i was REALLY wishing for some diesel power. the V8 in the F150 is marginal (i had a 2009 F150 at the time). i didnt have time to really think about hitting the horn, wish i did!

definitely couldve been a much worse outcome, i consider myself lucky: . the F150 is a stable platform with a nice long wheel base and i give credit to that for not losing it (like the vid) after getting hit

Carrera GT

Who knows what that poor fuuker did wrong in a previous life, but he sure wasn't lucky in this one.

For starters, once the trailer starts to move sideways at all, use the trailer brake controller to smoothly apply the brakes and "drag" the rig back in line by slowing the trailer first, so that it pulls backwards on the car through the hitch.

Practice using the manual control on the trailer brake controller. Make sure the bias of the trailer brake controller is set to work smoothly with the tow vehicle brake pedal effort and set for the correct number of brakes (possible two axles with brakes on that FL.) Start with the trailer unladen, get used to the correct bias setting and the required pressure on the controller by hand. Then practice laden and notice the difference in required pressure at speed versus slow moving, notice the extreme difference when downhill versus uphill.

Don't try to "counter steer" out of a fishtail so much as hold your line with very minor steering inputs (you're trying to go straight, not turn, so the idea is to diminish the fish-tailing, but this guy got into a "tank slapper" ... even then, full lock up on the trailer brakes would have been better than trying to steer ... as he demonstrated ...)

Increase power to "pull" the rig (in this effort, forwards) into a straight line. Especially good uphill or flat or head-wind, not useful downhill or obviously when otherwise needing to slow down (which is usually when fish-tailing of the trailer begins.) Sometimes just passing opposite traffic or a bus passing you or wind will cause fish-tailing. A gentle squeeze of the trailer brake controller will counteract the sway, some gentle power input to keep up your pace and work against the trailer brakes and no drama.

If the center of load on the trailer is above or rear of the rearward axle, the trailer will tend un-weight the rear of the tow vehicle as well as create more of a pendulum action (as with the 911 itself) so I load the 911 tail-forward.

Others here with that particular trailer can comment on the sweet spot of balance, but all in all, FL has a good reputation for easy towing, great brakes, lightweight ... all important for safe and fuel efficient towing.

If your setup seems to want to fishtail or the trailer doesn't seem to want to just follow along and require no effort, first try to get the load center balanced. Check to have about 10-20% of the weight of the trailer laden as load on the hitch. Borrow a trailer scale to be sure of this balance.

http://www.sherlinedirect.com/index....Product_ID=169


Different hitches, trailers, vehicles and manufacturers all have slightly different ideas on hitch load percentages. Check the limit of the van and don't exceed 80% of maximum. Remember that gear in the cargo area of the van contributes to max rear load. Probably not an issue, but can contribute to very poor towing. Again, not usually an issue with the aptly named Featherlite. If anything, you'll be working to get enough hitch load. I'm guessing around 600 to 800 pounds on the hitch scale will be nice without sagging the rear springs of the van (unless it's a heavy duty model.)

Make sure you've also got tread on the tow vehicle tires with PSI as high as maximum or until ride comfort becomes uncomfortable. I run 60 psi all round in the tow vehicle. You don't want flex in the sidewall of a tire already operating under considerable load. At least get good psi into the rear tires of the tow vehicle. And make sure the tires are up to max psi on the trailer -- this will reduce wear, prevent an under-inflation/fatigue blow-out and contribute to fuel efficiency. If you do see poor wear (center or should) on the trailer tires, adjust psi accordingly, but in general, I run 60 psi in the trailer, too. I think the max is more like 85 on the particular tires, but I found 60 was ample and 85 seemed to over-inflate and prevent full tread load -- you want the full contact patch for braking. In the wet, you want the whole tread pumping, so a little higher psi will help keep the center from tunneling water (leading to hydroplaning) and the tires will operate a lot colder, so the pressure will be considerably lower than on a dry 80 degree day in summer.

See? Nothing to it.

jrgordonsenior

Adam I believe the brake controller has a much better chance of pulling you out of a fishtail than accelerating unless you have a 600 hp monster motor. I've used both and if it's really starting to move then I push that lever over and let the anchor effect from the trailer's brakes pull the rig straight.

For the OP and anyone else in So Cal I keep a Sherline scale in my trailer and anyone's welcome to borrow it anytime we're at a track together. Hell I'll even help you use it. It's pretty simple....

Tires are the most relevant part of tis whole towing safety equation. If they're 5 years old I replace them no matter what they look like. I just did that on my 3110 before I recently sold it, and on my 06' Pace. D loads for the 3110, 10 ply E loads for the Pace. I use Maxxis or Goodyear Marathons, but none of the others which are made in China. Tires are the cheapest trailering insurance you can buy....