I was thinking about building one using a couple of sections of Mobile home (double wide) frame for the runners with a framework to set them on. My buddy didn't think it would be strong enough. I was going to build a regular square tube/channel iron frame and set the runners on it. I used to see them at the dirt track in Central Texas in the 70's a lot. Those guys didn't spend a lot of money on a trailer to get the cars to the track. I saw some that I thought the runners were made out of surplus PSP =Metal runway material .
I built this one 35 years ago, with the hitch locked on the ball, you can pull a pin, and crank it to the tilt position, for easy off and on with short ramps.
Built this one in 96 in 5 days to haul an ot vehicle to its first event. Freshened it up 3 years ago so the Whatever project should fit with skinny fronts.
I wanted a traditional-style tilt-trailer for my FED. Local registration laws made it a lot more complex than I had hoped. The horrible white wheels have since been replaced with Torque Thrusts to match the FED rear wheels. Cheers, Harv
I did exactly that, but I started with a heavy boat trailer with 4” channel frame for the foundation. I used two pieces of mobile home frame for runners, attached directly to the 4” channel. I did away with the flimsy boat trailer axle and used two mobile home axles. If I were to build one like it today, I’d get a pair of axles that take standard wheels and tires, the mobile home tires are strong but ride rough, plus are about impossible to find if on a trip. I pulled mine all around the southeast, hauled several cars and a couple of farm tractors on it. Only thing was it didn’t have brakes, which I understand in a lot of places that is a requirement. I prefer a tandem axle over a single because when you do blow a tire, and you will if you use it enough, you can usually get it safely off the road where with a single axle you just hope it doesn’t dig in and flip you.
One more thought on using mobile home axles. 14.5 mobile home tires are labeled "for mobile home use only" or something to that effect. Don't exactly know why but for sure if you get in an accident with a mobile home tire related issue some TV advertising lawyer will make things complicated for you. And yes you can find DOT 14.5 approved tires, usually used on lowboy trailers but they are expensive. JMO
I bought a Ford panel truck some years back along with another parts panel. The main truck had a hammered out roof with about an inch of the old Black Magic filler. One the side of this truck was lettered "Des Plaines Racing Team" There was a cobbled up hitch on the back of the truck. At the time I read a few stories about vehicles flipping over when they hauled race cars on single axle trailers. I assumed this is what happened to this truck. Pulled this Model A out of some woods this week. It had be sitting for over 30 years on a homemade single axle trailer. The car didn't have wheel and the frame was sitting directly on the framework of the trailer. We had to install wheels on the Model A and pull the wheels off of the trailer so we could pull the trailer out from under the car.
I build my own,like nearly every one did for racing in the 50 n 60s,even into the 70s. Used WW2 runway ramping< a lot of that around after WW2 n low cost at the time. I still have it,an it has gold plate hole centers now,LOL
I have a trailer that my father built in 1973 that's about as traditional as they get. He built it out of steel that was put out for scrap at the job site where he was working as a brick layer. When it was all said and done, he had $35 in it. We've dragged a lot of old cars home with it over the years. We've even used it to haul a car to a show only to have guys ask me if it's ok if they take pictures of it once my roadster was off and out of the way......uh.. yeah.. ok...
A lot of them aren’t labeled for any use. I had several that weren’t labeled, a couple that were marked for lowboy use, only remember one or two that said for mobile home use, but I ground it off them, lol. The ones I had were old, too old really, they were hard as a rock and rode like square blocks. I bought some used ones from a trailer mover, practically new, only used once or twice. They rode pretty decent. They did the job for a long time, but I wouldn’t recommend using them when you can buy trailer axles and trailer tires for not much more than used mobile home axles and tires anymore.
I have this one very well built FOR SALE in Fresno Ca. Registered with good tires electrical works but needs attention. Used for a Drag car model A Ford. $1800
By far the most insane one I saw was made out of an old drive-on lube rack. It was W-I-D-E as heck, no suspension, axles welded to the bottom. It was low as well. My buddy that owned it said it was classified as a dolly and got around having to have it plated, etc. It was impossible to move around by hand, IIRC it even had a pintle type hitch.
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