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Concur with all above. I towed my 997.1 GT3 on a 3110 with no issues.
A few things that I found made it easier:
I used a short 2x4 for a drive over chock for loading and unloading. Marked a position line with a sharpie on the trailer so I put it in the same location every time.
Once I positioned the car for best balance and tongue weight, I fixed my front tire down straps so they were the same length every time, and used the rear tie downs to ratchet down. Helped ensure the car was in the same position every time.
Concur with all above. I towed my 997.1 GT3 on a 3110 with no issues.
A few things that I found made it easier:
I used a short 2x4 for a drive over chock for loading and unloading. Marked a position line with a sharpie on the trailer so I put it in the same location every time.
Once I positioned the car for best balance and tongue weight, I fixed my front tire down straps so they were the same length every time, and used the rear tie downs to ratchet down. Helped ensure the car was in the same position every time.
Thanks!
Originally Posted by Frank 993 C4S
Use a tongue weight scale - don’t guess. Also, just to reinforce, don’t let anybody help you load the car.
Thank you. I actually do plan on buying a tongue weight scale. I was even contemplating the ball mount with the built in scale.
You can use a bathroom scale and a 2x4 to get your tongue weight. Search google or etrailer for how to. Look at it this way. How many times are you going to use once you get into the 10% - 15% range for towing?
One thing to add, maintenance is just as important on the trailer as is the car, same for doing a nut and bolt and checking tires. I know so many people who never check there air pressure on the trailer tires, drives me nuts.
One thing to add, maintenance is just as important on the trailer as is the car, same for doing a nut and bolt and checking tires. I know so many people who never check there air pressure on the trailer tires, drives me nuts.
Thanks. I always check the trailer over and air pressure before I do anything with it.
In 20 years of towing with my 3110 I’ve found it to be very sensitive to the height of the hitch. I use a 8” drop hitch to level mine pulling with my Armada. That puts the top of the ball 14” above ground level. With my 2800# M3 positioned well back on the trailer, the tongue load is 450-500#. Raise it up 6” (still lower than level for most trucks these days) and that load goes up to 800#. That also puts a lot more load on the rear trailer axle.
In 20 years of towing with my 3110 I’ve found it to be very sensitive to the height of the hitch. I use a 8” drop hitch to level mine pulling with my Armada. That puts the top of the ball 14” above ground level. With my 2800# M3 positioned well back on the trailer, the tongue load is 450-500#. Raise it up 6” (still lower than level for most trucks these days) and that load goes up to 800#. That also puts a lot more load on the rear trailer axle.
I'm learning this now with mine. I need more of a drop down. I didn't realize it when the car was loaded - but when unloaded and the front tires would lock up under braking - suggests to me that I have a leveling issue.
In 20 years of towing with my 3110 I’ve found it to be very sensitive to the height of the hitch. I use a 8” drop hitch to level mine pulling with my Armada. That puts the top of the ball 14” above ground level. With my 2800# M3 positioned well back on the trailer, the tongue load is 450-500#. Raise it up 6” (still lower than level for most trucks these days) and that load goes up to 800#. That also puts a lot more load on the rear trailer axle.
+1. Hitch height can change tongue weight a lot. I have a 3110 and painstakingly measured all wheel weights (and hitch) to find the cg of just the trailer. The cg was near the front axle but a little behind it. I back my gt4 onto the trailer which gets the car's cg pretty close to the trailer's which helps with stability. I'm not at my laptop but have some good diagrams of my set up I'll try to post.
I got a ball with built in scale and its crap. Does not give correct weight. Bathroom scale with load splitter works.
+1. Hitch height can change tongue weight a lot. I have a 3110 and painstakingly measured all wheel weights (and hitch) to find the cg of just the trailer. The cg was near the front axle but a little behind it. I back my gt4 onto the trailer which gets the car's cg pretty close to the trailer's which helps with stability. I'm not at my laptop but have some good diagrams of my set up I'll try to post.
I got a ball with built in scale and its crap. Does not give correct weight. Bathroom scale with load splitter works.
Thanks again. Waiting for a decent weather weekend to start playing around with it. I'd be interested in seeing the diagrams.
Thanks again. Waiting for a decent weather weekend to start playing around with it. I'd be interested in seeing the diagrams.
I don't know if all 3110s are equal, but mine is short. Pulling the car on with front toward front, I could not get enough tongue weight without putting the car very far up (splitter past the vertical trailer edge/lip), making the tie-down points very difficult to access. Thus backed it on since the CG of the car is slightly to the rear. In the case of a 911, it is even more toward the rear. Credit to someone on Rennlist who suggested backing it on. It is a bit gnarly at first, but you get used to it.
Here is some data I took using the bathroom scale method with the car in two different locations on the trailer and moving the hitch height. The colored dots are data points and the black lines are the linear fit. The red points had the car closer to the tongue, and blue points are with car more toward the rear. The hitch height may not be the actual hitch height...can't recall what I used as a reference. I ended up using a value of 36 inches which located the car in between my two measurement locations. I bolted down some aluminum tubing to serve as a solid stop point. So, the tongue weight is roughly 400 lb.
Here are a couple of nearly-to-scale drawings. The weight measurements were a PITA to take because all four tires had to be at the same level and I only had one scale. Actually, now that I think about it, buying 3 more scales to have one under each tire would have been worth it! Anyway, all that aside you can see the CG of the trailer ended up in front of the front tires, but slightly behind where the front axle is mounted on the trailer. The two sets of weights on the left-hand diagram represent the range of measurements.
These trailers have axles with "extenders" or whatever you call them such that the tires are aft of the attachment point on the trailer.
I Googled a bunch of technical papers on trailer towing before doing all this and came to the conclusion that trailer sway instability happens at high speeds, probably higher than I will be driving. The lower the tongue weight, the lower speed at which sway instability can onset (but it is still pretty high, > 70 mph). Also, having the CG of the vehicle near the CG of the trailer helps stability. I'm not exactly sure why, but that was in one or more of the papers.
I would not swear to these figures under oath, but I judged them "good enough." I got the short trailer because I can fit it inside my garage with the GT4 loaded! Featherlite 3110
Last edited by aryork; 02-12-2019 at 11:36 AM.
Reason: fixed trailer model no.
I painted a 1" line down the length of my trailer as a reference for the driver's side tire(s). So when I load/unload the tire should be just inside the line. It not only positions the car in the center, it mildly forces you to keep the car straight. It can get very squirrelly trying to unload if the car isn't on straight. To watch the line I use a little hand held mirror held outside the window both loading and unloading.
@tgsmith4845 mentioned using a 2x4 drive over chock. I made some taller chocks so they shouldn't be driven over and mounted them at the front of the trailer. Next to these chocks I have 2x4 sections facing parallel to the trailer positioned just outside of where the tires will sit. They are bolt down if I need the trailer for something besides the car. So between the line and the front chocks the car is positioned very close to the same way very time. The chocks and 2x4 act to hold the front. For the rear I cross the tiedowns.
I painted a 1" line down the length of my trailer as a reference for the driver's side tire(s). So when I load/unload the tire should be just inside the line. It not only positions the car in the center, it mildly forces you to keep the car straight. It can get very squirrelly trying to unload if the car isn't on straight. To watch the line I use a little hand held mirror held outside the window both loading and unloading.
That's a great idea! My trailer is pretty narrow so I only have about 3-4 inches on each side, but it still could help. My squirrelly part is getting on since I go rear first. Although at my house it is less of an issue because my driveway slope makes it so I can back straight onto the trailer (ramps are parallel to ground) so it is less of an issue to get it lined up. Of course, at the track that's not the case.
While towing my 997.1 GT3 on my Featherlite, I had a 7 tire tire rack, diamond plate air dam, and large tool box mounted up front. That added some nice weight up front so I could load the GT3 facing forward and still have plenty of tongue weight.
01-08-2019, 03:03 PM
