sprbxr

I am in the market for an enclosed trailer. What advice can you guys give me regarding manufacturer, size, load capacity, etc.

Thanks

Justin

Glen

Justin, what will You be pulling with and what car are you hauling?

sprbxr

I am pulling D class C2T (plus wheels, spares and tools) with a 3/4 ton Turbo Diesel Suburban.

Justin

Stuttgart

We use a 20ft pace shadow which works very well for what we do. With the 20 ft. we carry 3 sets of wheels/tires, two nitrogen tanks, and several large bins full of parts, tools, etc. When loaded up and ready for the road there is only about a foot or so to walk around the front of the car. Therefore i would consider 20ft the minimum IF: 1)you are going to be racing(lots of crap) 2)you carry most of your gear in the trailer. If you want more room to walk around, room for a work bench, etc. the 24ft is probably better.

Haulmark and Pace both make near identical trailers. The one major differance that comes to mind is the fender well height. This was an issue on the 993 cup, the pace's fenderwells were too high, thereby keeping you from opening your doors. The haulmark's are shorter, allowing you to open the door of your car. Since we got an incredible deal on the pace, we fixed the door/fender issue by screwing 2x12's to the floor(these also make it easier to tie down the car).

Get the strongest tiedowns you can and tie EVERYTHING down, you don't want to find out how well you pack a trailer after it flips.

pig4bill

Yup, this car raced the next day because it was tied down well.

Glen

Well I would stay with the 20 with the Suburban(where did You get a Duramax Suburban???? Cool!) I have towed a 24 ft with the 3/4 t Suburban(new style and old) and it can get waggly quick if You dont have your tongue weight just right. The dually makes a huge difference on trailer stability so with your Suburban I think the 20 is best. you will have enough room to haul whatever You need. The best tip I can give is to make sure to buy the heaviest axles available on the trailer You choose. Usually You can get 7200 lb if You ask and they are more expensive but are the best $ You can spend when trailer shopping. Dual vents are nice, wired for 110 front and rear with a shorepower plug is nice, flourescents and 12v lights plus some spots side and rear is a great call. E track down the sides and floor is nice. Awning is great. AC is great. Most of these things are best done when You buy it as the incremental cost is much lower than if You add individual items later. A power jack for the front tongue is great to have also.

ngoldrich

I tow with a Yukonx XL 3/4 with an 8.1Litre big block (496ci).

It has autoride suspension.

I pull a 28 foot fully equipped enclosed trailer.

With the car, all tools, supplies, spares, nitrogen, generator/compressor, I am around 9,500-10,000 pounds.

My truck pulls it flawlessly at 70+MPH on cruise.

Make sure you have a good weight distribution hitch & anti sway control.

Also it is critical that you get the load position correctly or the trailer will sway.

The tongue weight is very important...

Also make sure your axle capacity matches you load.

BTW - I have 12,000 pound load bars on the hitch and two 7500 pound axles on the trailer. Everything rides smoothly.

Norm
Cincinnati, OH

Greg Fishman

Norm,
Just curious what kind of gas mileage your Yukon gets while towing? And how is the ride when it is not under any load?

Thanks

Glen

What Norm says is absolute. Tongue weight is VERY important and with the Sub, the anti sway and load bars are also very important. We just sold our XL a few months back and now I just tow with the dually Duramax 6wd Crew Cab and it doesnt need anything as far as equalizers etc...in fact I dont think it even cares where the tongue weight or trailer balance is! Once You have a blow out at speed in a single track tow vehicle with trailer attached You will buy the first dually You see on the very same road trip at 2x retail! lol Of course You can tell I am biased but it is only from experience I assure You.

ngoldrich

Gregg,

The ride unloaded is incredible. The best truck I have ever owned. I drive it daily. Believe it or not it handles as well as my wifes 2001 Audi A6 quattro.
It must be the autoride. On an exit ramp at 85+ MPH I get virtually no roll.

Of course, not that I have ever driven it that fast :-)

I have owned virtually all of the big brand trucks and it ride is by far the best. Smooth, not too bumpy, good control.

Mine is a 2000. So next year I will be getting a new one.

It has around 460-lbs torque (I think). I get 12.5 in the city, and 15 on the highway.

Towing 7.5. Which is also what I got in the smaller engined vehicles pulling smaller trailers. This one just works a lot less.

I get virtually no sway and can pull just about as fast as I always want.

I now have about 55K miles on it and it still looks, rides, drives, and feels like it did when it was new.

I will definitely get another one. I just wish the hummer H2 came in 3/4 ton with the 8.1, I would then try it :-)


I had all options put in it. The only one I wish they offerred was navigation. So I ended up just getting a touchscreen color Garmin...

I keep my shifter kart in the back so when I leave the office I can run it twice a week to stay in shape for the big cars...

Norm

Glen

Norm, how do You like the Garmin and where did you get it? I see Cadillac finally has NAV in addition to ONSTAR maybe your new Suburban will have it available next year.

ngoldrich

Glen,

I purchased the higest end portable model I could find - The new Garmin Streetpilot 2610.

Full color touchscreen. I also put ina 1GB Compact flash card so I have maps for 90% of the entire country loaded in it.

They now make 2GB & 4GB cards so you can load the entire country.

It works pretty well. I just wish the display was a little bigger.

The unit was about $1000, add $300 for the bigger ocmpact flash.

So you could actually buy a good Pioneer or kenwood in dash motorized DVD/nav system for close to that amount. But my reasoning was portability since I knew I would be getting a new vehicle in a year.

Denali also has nav, but does not yet come in 3/4 ton...

I used the nav system once - on a recent trip to VIR - about an 8.5 hour trip and it worked well...

Norm

dwe8922

Norm, will your shifter kart sit flat in the back of your XL? Can you leave the tires and side pods on? What do you do about the fumes from the tank?

ngoldrich

David,
The shifter kart sits flat. I do have to remove the rear wheels. Then it slides right in. A close fit.

I always drain the fuel tank so it stays looking brand new. Otherwise the tank gets discolored. So there are very few fumes. I do carry a small sealed race fuel container.

Norm