mglobe

I had a Trailex. The good news was that the bed sat high enough that I never had to worry about the doors hitting the fenders. Good thing, because the fenders on a Trailex are not removable. The bad news on the Trailex was that because the bed sits so high, they use exceptionally long ramps. The ramps are long enough that you can load most any car without rubbing. Unfortunately, these 11' long ramps are heavy. My back just couldn't take dealing with them. I bought and installed a Trailex tire rack on the trailer, but because all of the Trailex beds are rather short, the tires have to sit up high, and you have to pull your car underneath the tire rack. Once there you can't open the front lid. Also, if you have your car on the trailer, unloading or loading tires is a risky thing, as you could drop a rim on your front lid. Another issue I had with the tire rack was that because it sat so high, it made a significant impact on wind resistance. So..

I sold the Trailex and got a Featherlight. The good news is that the bed sits low, and the ramps are nice and light. The bad news is that the ramps are too short, and I had to get race ramps to be able to load my Porsche. With the low bed, you have to remove a fender on the Featherlight to be able to open a car door. Fender removal is easy, but I load and unload with a winch, so I don't often remove the fender. I took the tire rack off of the Trailex, and fit it to the Featherlight. Because the Featherlight's bed is a lot longer than the Trailex, I can have the tires much lower, which greatly reduces wind resistance. I tow with a 2500HD, and even with that much truck, I can tell the difference between the Featherlight and the Trailex. The Featherlight pulls much easier.

Over the years I have streamlined and organized what I take to the track. My truck has a locking Roll N Lock tonneau cover, and a crew cab, so I can get everything I need to take to the track in the truck, and have it under lock and key. I've got things down to where it takes me at most 30mins to load up the truck and go. Most times its more like 15mins. I have to say the locking tonneau really makes life a lot easier most of the time, since you don't have to worry about leaving stuff in the back of the truck. Its a nice solution if you don't want to go with an enclosed trailer.

I guess my point is that just like with everything else, there are trade-offs on trailering. You have to figure out what works best for you and your budget.

DCP

I'm pretty new to trailering, so take this with a grain of salt; I barely know what I am talking about. I bought a steel deck open trailer with a 4 foot dovetail plus 6 foot ramps which are 22 inches wide and simply slide out from the back. No need to lift them. Loading and unloading are very simple. I watched someone load the same type car on a Trailex (I think). Took a long time and he felt compelled to use a winch. I can drive on without needing to get out to check ramp alignment. I'm sure that an aluminum trailer tows more nicely, but they all seem more involved to load / unload than what I have.

Edit: It occurred to me after I made this post that my car, a Spec Miata, is not terribly low and what I do might not work for a ground clearance challenged car.

multi21

I'm in love with my Featherlite aluminum trailer with removable fenders. It takes exactly 9 seconds to remove the driver's side fender and 12 seconds to put it back on. It's so light that I move it around by hand in tight spaces. Easy.

The best part is that it sits so low I can load my race car or GT3, (that both sit low) without a problem. The lower center of gravity when towing is a plus for less sway on the highway and better fuel economy when the tow vehicle air goes over right over the tire rack and car.

No rust and aluminum open trailers hold their value.

mglobe

Yeah, the SM's go on just about any trailer without the need for race ramps or wood boards etc. WRT the winch, it has nothing to do with the Trailex. Some folks prefer to use a winch for safety among other things (I know cause that guy may well have been me). You can drive right up on a Trailex without problems.

gums

I guess I got lucky with my trailer, because I didn't give it much thought. I have an open aluminum full deck trailer, by Motiv. I had a tire rack installed, just high enough to clear the pit bikes that I put on the front. I also had a storage box installed on the tongue. The floor dovetails, but I have to use race ramps in addition to the light ramps that go with the trailer. I can get in and out of the door my very low race car without removing the trailer fenders. It's all good.

LostSouth

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions. I'm still thinking open trailer is what is right for me. Might go for the locking cover on the back of the truck. During the week my kid drives it back and forth to school and my ex-wife has to pay for the fuel, so I like the idea of leaving all my tools and gear in the back. The lower deck height of the featherlite also sounds good for loading and better pulling. The featherlite's seem a little more prevalent in the used market as well.

gums

As the saying goes, "you can never have too much trailer".
Best of luck.

longhorn911

I have a Trailex 7541 with the older, shorter (but lighter) 7-foot ramps and my Spec Boxster goes on/off with just a slight rub under the plastic bumper (I use a couple of small 2x4s to offset that). The 845 pound weight of the trailer also makes it towable with many more vehicles as well. It pulls super easy behind my Acadia.

One of other things I really like about the Trailex is that it is only 19.5 feet long and easily fits in my garage (with the car still on it). This means I never have to load or unload the car at home. When I get home from the track, I just back the trailer into the garage, pop the trailer wheels up onto some tire skates (pictured below and available at http://www.tireskate.com/) and I can literally roll the car and trailer all around the garage by hand. The fact that the Trailex has an open bottom (combined with the extra 3” of lift from the tire skates), allows it to act like a poor-man’s lift and lets me work under the car without jacks or stands (you can see the creeper in the photo). If I need to change tires while the car is on the trailer, I use an electric scissor jack.

Of course I eventually want to get a fancy enclosed trailer like all the cool kids have, but for now this works quite well for me.

jittsl

Five years on and I'm still in the same open aluminium trailer that i aquired 2nd hand. Mine carries 8 wheels, 3 x 5gal fuel cans, tools, spares and my low noise mufflers along with the Specbox and a bicycle if needed. I love the ease and convenience and have never considered an enclosed trailer. Particularly true now that I have an RV to toe with and therefore have a pleasant to escape the weather.

To the question at hand. What is the issue with removing your fenders? Mine are held on with two spring loaded catches and take all of 10 seconds to remove. The resulting low deck allows me to use 5' ramps and no scraping with Specbox. To be fair, if I load the GT3 I need race ramps to get some lift.

race911

As I could with the Aluma I bought from Ed Hughes when I picked up his Targa last year. Used it quite a bit for through 2012. Then, despite my best efforts to keep it disabled/locked it disappeared, likely for the scrap value of the aluminum.

drl

That must be 9 seconds for an unsecured fender, meaning only the latches. That fender is at great risk of flying off in the event of a tire blowout. FL recognizes this problem and strongly recommends locking the fender in place. I did this to my old trailer and can post pics if anyone cares. Takes longer to get on/off but much safer.

scott40

Open Trailex is very very easy. If I can do it, anyone can. I have an 8045 with the tire rack. Tow with my Cayenne and it is simple. But I would really like to convert to a Trailex enclosed next year so I can just leave everything in it. So if budget isn't an issue, consider a Trailex enclosed. Super easy to tow. Very low profile for an enclosed.

multi21

Of course it's secure. Three spring loaded latches. Super easy.

drl

That's what I'm sayin' - it is NOT secure. Call FL and they will tell you to LOCK it on, that those latches will not hold it in place.

This is what I did - two locks each fender Pic taken from underside of fender. Takes an extra few seconds getting it off/on, but worth it. I've heard quite a few stories of lost fenders. The fender itself is a few hundred dollars, not counting what it might do to your car or other cars on the highway.

KBS911

Yep, I have an open steel with wood deck. All I had to do was screw down some 3/4" marine plywood runners to clear the fenders in my RS. I keep the trailer inside so the wood stays nice and the trailer/car combo pulls great with my Toyota Tundra, 4.6 V8. Getting 15.5 mpg+ as well. I still think about getting an enclosed at some point though.