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Same here, no complaints about my 2019 Futura. Only thing that needed replacement was the battery of the remote.
At the Glen last year, by chance, I ended up parked in a row with 4 other guys with Futura trailers. My 2020 was the newest, there was one guy with something pretty close to a first gen, and the rest were in between. It was really interesting seeing both the improvements in build quality over time as well as how they kept iterating on the product. I love mine and I haven't had any issues so far with two years of towing.
Of course. the benefit to these ramp trailers are their simplicity compared to the lowering trailers. The ramps are 8 ft long and Futura is advertising a 10 degree approach angle.
I have actually pre-ordered the Futura RT500 ramp trailer and hope to receive it in the April-May 2024 timeframe.
What does that cost? I don’t have any issues with the quality of my futura trailer, but the whole point of it was avoiding ramps. The one time I needed to talk to someone at Futura about something, it was a nightmare trying to talk with a guy in NZ that works NZ hours. If something more serious came up, their dealer/service network isn’t all that robust. If it’s in the same ballpark as a Trailex, why wouldn’t you just go with something with better local support?
I have had three different enclosed, and as many open trailers starting in 2006, and ending in 2023 when I sold my "loaded" ATC 20' trailer. Made money on that sale. That trailer was luxury, beautiful, and had every conceivable option, but what wasn't optional, is for me to get on have to get on my back to tie my car down, front and rear. I NEVER ENJOYED THAT!
Some may say, Enclosed is better, on paper, security, weather protection, but loading them, and tying the car down, unloading them....is a pain in the butt. In addition, they are heavy compared to an open trailer. The heavier they are, the larger the tow vehicle required.
Or, you may conclude that the Futura is the way to go. I have had one of these too. I had a lowering.raising cable bust once...thank God it didn't happen with the car loaded on it, on the road. And if your battery should happen to die, you're dead. Don't need ramps? I always needed a mini-ramp as the Futura just wouldn't get low enough. I kicked myself in the *** for selling my Trailex...it had tire storage and a wind protection shield.
Knowing what I know now, if I were ever to be in the market for a car trailer, I'd get a Trailex, no hesitation and live without the weather protection, and enhanced security:
Relatively affordable, ***
Light weight,
Easy to tow,
Easy to load, unload,
Ramps are easy to fetch,
All aluminum construction,
Made in the USA
Etc., etc.
***My Trailex dealer of choice is a Porsche "Geek" located in San Luis Obispo, CA, a Porsche racer with a GT3 and other cars, has a good inventory, and can arrange delivery. As a Volvo Dealer, he transports cars all the time. Brent Smith, Smith Volvo. Brent cell is 805.459.4174. Tell him that Marty referred you. I get no $$$ for a referral, just pleased to be referring possible business to Brent. He is a RENNLISTER too, as well as POC and PCA racer.
I purchased an open trailex and sold it for an enclosed trailex for about 3x more. I like the trailer as it has been very reliable, but I really don't like having to drag that ramp out to load and unload. I am always scared backing the car up. With the right setup, you don't really need to get dirty strap the car down. The only hook that is a pain to get to is the RF as I have to squeeze my fat body into the trailex. I am seeing a lot of people with issues on the Futura, so that's a concern for sure.
I’m in the market for upgrading my open trailer and the thread was very helpful. I’m looking at a Futura 2022 as I really like the loading use case simplicity. That is as long as it works reliably.
There is another lowering trailer on the market that’s made in the United States. https://timpte.com/motorsports/ Has anyone had an experience with those products?
One thing to note about the Trailex trailers now, is that they now have a torsion axle instead of a leaf spring and from the specs on their website are considerably heavier, my leaf sprung trailex CT-7551 was 850lbs, the new one is listed as 1205 lbs, and a futura is as I recall around 1300lbs listed weight, so no longer is that weight difference what it was. I swapped my leaf-sprung trailex last spring for a futura clubsport for my GT4, a lot easier to load, and I don't miss pulling out the ramps. I really like being able to easily get onto the trailer and off. I'm careful about keeping the battery charged, I assume if need be you could jump it as well if that failed, and when it's attached to the RV or truck it seems to charge the battery from there anyway.
As a follow up to my questions above I ended up buying a new Featherlite 3182 18' model. Price out the door was less than $10K (not a lot less!) and has warranty, etc. Went with the KISS approach. Tried to buy a pre-owned AL trailer from any Rennlist member but couldn't make that work. Haven't put the car on it yet so can't report my final opinion, but weighs the same as the 15' steel open deck trailer I had from 1994 and is a lot nicer. Some interesting features are that the ramps can be placed anywhere on the trailer (side loading of smaller vehicles for example) and the tie down is down with airline track so connection location can be adjusted and wheel nets can be used (bought those). Adding tongue toolbox, spare tire mount and winch setup (inside toolbox) and should be ready to roll.
11-21-2022, 05:30 PM
I have had multiple visions of both...
