ervtx

First, has anyone had experience with this outfit in Dallas...

http://www.exploreus.com/trailershop/index.htm

Second, I'm considering a trailer that would have some custom dimensions due to the constraints of my driveway and garage. It's a 16 ft. dovetail. Tongue shorted to 4 ft. (vs. std 5 ft.), for a total of 20 ft. from coupler to tail. The dovetail would be 5 ft long and house 4 ft. ramps.

If I positioned my current car on the deck such that the front bumper is flush with the front of the deck, my rear wheels would be 1 ft. down onto the dovetail, or 4 ft from the end of the deck. Rear bumper would be a foot shy of the rear of the deck. Theoretically, I could move the car forward another 3 ft.+ before the front wheels rest at the front of the deck, but remember that I would also be working with 1 foot less of std. tongue length. So instead, let's be conservative and say that I could pull the car up another foot. That 1 ft of overhang over the tongue leaves 3 feet of space between front bumper and the coupler. (Tow vehicle is 6 ft wide, so at a 90-degree turn, the front bumper of the car would still clear the tow vehicle bumper). It also gets the rear wheels just off the dovetail, and the rear bumper 2 ft inside of the rear of the deck. Plenty of room to lower the tailgate, when everything is in a straight line.

So I'm sure I can safely secure the car on the deck. My concern is over the shortened tongue (less stable on the highway? and easier to jack knife in reverse). However, backing the trailer into my garage will require an almost 90 degree turn up a short driveway from a narrow alley. So the shorter tongue would also serve to make that an easier maneuver assuming I can avoid a jack-knife. I'm also concerned about the limited range I would have in being able to distribute the load by moving the car forwards or backwards compared to an 18 ft deck. (18 ft. won't fit in my garage). Also, are there issues with having the rear wheels secured on the dovetail section? Because if there are none, then I have a lot more wiggle room for adjusting the load.

I can't imagine this setup being less safe or harder to pull than a u-haul, which my tow vehicle handles just fine. Any thoughts, issues, recommendations??? TIA.

bsr_257

Russ,

Lewis Irvine is my trailer guy, bought the open trailer (which is now owned by Chris Irby) and my enclosed Classic from him. Steve Hill recently purchased his new open trailer from Lewis. Nice guy, a very small outfit (one man operation).

One minor drawback is the 5' ramps. I used to carry 2x10 boards.

I ordered it with e-brakes on both axles and a breakaway switch. Beware of the cheap Korean/Chinese ST tires (had 2 blowouts in OK coming back from Topeka). Bad case of premature dry rot.

Give me a shout if you have any specific questions. I'll be hanging out with Gladwill all week at Boardwalk.


-Noby

BTW, thank you very much for taking down the steering wheel to Richard. I'll make sure it gets you more brownie points with John.

jacksonrw

Yep Thank you both very much for the steering wheel
I love noby's trailer the most. I will have that rig someday...
Noby see ya at the races. Can I help you in anyway (pit for ya)

ervtx

Noby, thanks for the info. I spoke to Lewis on the phone yesterday, and he seemed knowledgeable about what would work and what wouldn't. Yep, very nice guy. Hearing that you and Steve have worked with him is the kind of confirmation I was looking for.

Understood on the ramps... Lewis said that the combination of the 5' dovetail and the 4' ramps equates to a rise of 20" over 9'. It's a close call (my car is lowered), but any extra ramps I might need will be minimal compared to what I needed with the u-haul. (John saved my a$$ by warning me about that ahead of time, so at this point, brownie point are for paying debts! All the same, you and Richard are welcome... the timing was perfect and took no extra effort on my part).

PedroNole

On my former open wheel, I cut the dove tail off. I had the ramps welded to be 4-5 feet longer than what came with the trailer and had them slide on the middle of the deck. I had my tire rack lowered so it would clear my garage door opening (with tires on it....).

Fit great and never had a problem with the car hitting the ramps. I also didn't have to carry around 2x8 pieces of wood.

bsr_257

Richard,

Thanks for the offer. Gladwill was supposed to co-drive with me, but he won't be able to get his license renewed in time. I'm trying to talk him in to doing the DE and pit for me. Not a very sophisticated fancy operation...

Thanks,
Noby

tfro

Is the cost of a custom trailer, the hassle of backing up into a tight garage and the loss of garage space worth the 50 bucks a month to store it at a self-storage place?

Larry Herman

If you are going to go through the cost of having a custom built open trailer then do it right. Weigh your car on a 4 scale system to get the weight of the front & rear axles. With those numbers and the wheelbase, your trailer builder should be able to locate the trailer axles so that you get the proper tongue weight with the car loaded in the middle of it. My first trailer was built that way, and it came out perfectly.

deep_uv

+1 The most important thing is to have your car properly positioned on the trailer so that weight is properly distributed over the axles. Don't compromise on this aspect. Towing an unbalanced trailer is a nightmare not to mention dangerous.

ervtx

Yeah, I went thru the same logic... It's a close call. storage around here is more like 100 bucks a month, and the closest place is the same u-haul location where I would rent a trailer to begin with. $1200 per year on top of the trailer purchase for an option that shares some of the same trailer rental hassles just doesn't feel right.

Good advice; was thinking along these lines. Just didn't want to customize to this specific track car in case I get an upgrade. Perhaps I should walk thru the same calculations for that fictional GT3 in my head and go with the average!

ervtx

Noby, I hope you can convince him... then maybe I could talk him into riding AI with me during a DE run or two. I know he prefers sitting on the left hand side of the car, but it sounds like that's not happening this time. What a deal that would be to have the person who sets up my car showing me how to push it! Now THAT's what I would call cashing in brownie points.

Larry Herman

If you are going to stay with the 996/997 platform, the difference would be inches between any variant, so don't sweat that. There is a big difference between an aircooled 911 and a water-cooled one though. It was over a foot on my trailer.

ervtx

Steve, you sound like my mother!

deep_uv

Ha! I've seen you drive.

ervtx

But isn't that foot only an issue going from aircooled to water-cooled, and not vice versa? i.e. anything I might get today for the 996 would certainly work for a 993 or earlier, right?

(I've wanted a turbo slantnose since they were first introduced, but stop it, now you're just confusing me!!).