Lets see your car hauler/ flat bed trailer

What ya got ?

Im looking at flat bed vehicle trailers. Gonna get a 9,900 lb , 18' or 20' with ramps
Im also looking a 9900 lb 20" tilt, has drop axles has 4"s lower bed
Decisions, decisions....

 

If it's on a trailer it's broke. Gotta drive them.

 

So how do project vehicles get transported ?
By levitation ?
Gotta get them running before they break.

Jim

 

Tilt, All the Way...
Love mine..

 

I had a new one built for my drag car in the mid 70's, didn't have any money left for a camera.

 

Just for interest how much are they and is one dearer than the other.
My trailer is a regular tandem which I could claim against the farm but it did come with a hand winch and ramps. Seen some terrific car trailers which I think were American which I'd love to have but couldn't afford.

 

My computer had a mental breakdown and I can't share a photo but my "car hauling trailer" is a high school ag shop production that looks like hell but tows great even though it doesn't have brakes and 3000 lbs is about all it wants to handle. I just put 8 ply tires on it so it might handle the weight better than it did though.
Price not withstanding I would go with the tilt bed that handles a bit more weight. As long as the tow rig will handle it and what you haul life is good and having pushed cars on both it is a lot easier to push one on the tilt bed.

 

Will the trailer be used to mostly haul a specific vehicle, or will it mostly be used to haul most anything?
If its a specif vehicle, how low to the ground is it?
Both options have some design issues.
On the flatbed, the angle change from the ramps to the deck can cause a clearance challenge under the vehicle, when one set of tires are on the bed, and the other set of tires are on the ramps. That can be improved with longer ramps, or a dove tail at the rear end of the trailer, but if the most used purpose is for hauling a low vehicle, that should be considered. Another thing to be concerned with is an open a car door clearing the top of the fender height.

With the tilt bed, that has dropped axles, the car door to fender clearance becomes a big deal. generally, the dropped axles and the tilt tends to have the fenders a lot higher off the deck surface then a flatbed and door clearance becomes a big deal. Having removable fenders (at least the left side) helps that a lot. The next issue with the tilt bed is how is it raised and lowered? Normally the raised part is a jack, so mostly the position and availability to change the jack. The lowering part uses gravity, for that to work with a vehicle on it requires you have enough weight on front of the deck so gravity can do its thing. Sometimes the vehicle needs to come forward a lot more then one expects, that can get a bit unnerving.

 

At least consider a beavertail. If money is no object I think the tilt would be great, it must be more than the flatbed. This is mine, granted not much of a load, but it is new. Back in covid it made more sense to buy new than used.

 

My Home built trailer
I built it with Looooooong slide out ramps, dovetail, and tilt deck so I can load low cars. And open center to crawl under to work on my race car at the track.
And detachable tongue so it rolls underneath and can be stored inside a residential garage away from thieving eyes






Excluding time to tie down ,I can load it in less than 60 seconds [because the slide-in ramps and tilt deck are self latching]
It has many other hidden features like the A-frame coupler automatically compensates for 1-7/8", 2" or 50mm tow balls.
It has a free standing motion sensor alarm, and a GPS tracker that can be "geo-fenced" [I can set the tracker to lock the 4 wheel brakes if it ever goes outside the geo-fence radius]

There are plenty of other features

This is what happens when you get bored during retirement

 

WRONG!!!!! If you can legally drive it to the track , it is not a real race car

Here is 2 bothers [the rich Ford guy with his enclosed trailer , and the poor broken assed Chevy guy with an open trailer]

Unfortunately this trailer eventually got stolen and wrecked within 2 hours [the GPS found caught the thief red-handed chopping it up]


Here is my high dollar tow rig [an Aussie Ford Falcon] I prefer SW's because I can leave my equipment locked inside when I am driving around "in-circles"


The trailer only weighs 1430 lbs [650 kg] I can built full deck trailers that weigh less

 

23” PJ younger tow with drive over fenders, a 12000 lb winch, 4 wheels brake and It hauls evicting from the mower, to cars, pulling truck, and even round bales. Not having to worry about the fenders is a game changer.

Sorry forgot the picture.

 

@Kerrynzl Talk to the guys who do drag and drive events.

 

What a well thought out trailer. I would love to see more details.

 

I prefer to haul using this equipment trailer, eventually I'll make some longer ramps for it.

 

This was an old company trailer I was tasked to sell after I bought a replacement for our fleet.... I ended up buying it from the boss for super cheap. It's not the nicest one I've ever had, but does it's job. 18' long with 3500lb axles. I'll be adding a 9000lb winch I've got laying around one of these days.

 

I have a 20', 14k equipment trailer. I like that I don't ever overload it, but it is a bit taller than I would like. When my 50 was slammed, I needed this setup to load/unload.

I went back up a few inches up front and no longer need the extensions. When it is slammed again, I plan to not trailer it places.

I bought the trailer for my business in the midst of COVID, so my options were limited. If I were doing it again today, I would have a tilting unit.

I have a receiver pocket on the trailer, with a receiver mounted winch for rescue missions like this.


Big power cable from the battery on the truck to a forklift charging connector tucked behind the bumper. I have a manual-resetting circuit breaker at the battery so that cable is not powered unless I need it. Works well, and I would do the winch on any trailer I had.

 

It's like any tool, make sure it's going to work for what you are doing.
Drag projects home? Sturdy floor and winch, with a low angle of approach when the wheels are locked up and the tires flat.
Bringing your finished car to where ever, removable fenders or low enough not to hit the car door.
Never haul scrap or 3 wheelers/mowers and want to work under what's on it? Open deck. Haul stuff that is not car width track, swap meet load? Closed deck.
This is 18' (kind of short) dovetail (great until you go off road = off road project pickup) fixed so both fenders are removable (clears low car doors or projects with flats) and has a receiver welded to the front so a winch slots in. Too old for that come along crap! This doesn't have great tie downs, but it works. I've got strong but short bumpy ramps. That would be the next change if I were making more fixes. As shown it handles small to big. Last year.

This shows stabilizer bars. Useful on big heavy loads, not needed for smaller stuff. over 10 years ago, paint not as beat.

Don't forget to check bearings, wiring, brakes and tires when buying used. Remember tie-downs, a spare, getting the right hitch height and brake controller, a jack that works on the trailer and some basic roadside tools for the setup, too. Depending on what and where, extra ramp boards, a couple 2x4 wheel chocks and locks with other anti-theft items are very useful, too. Just a trailer isn't everything needed.

 

I'll also mention that I see a LOT of people trying to drag projects with flats/stuck wheels across and up. I always think, why not have something that can be strapped on each corner that slides easier than a crumpled rubber tire? Smooth pavement can use wheel dollies, but most are on rough dirt or gravel.
How about a shovel head, cafeteria tray or something hard, smooth and hopefully slippery? Even a 2x6 would be better.
EDIT
Just saw these. They would be a time and back saver for dragging that project up as mentioned.
You could cut them in half and only use 2 for all four wheels. Already have rope holes, too.

 

Another reason for removable fenders! Same trailer.

 

At a minimum a 5000 lbs winch is mandatory 8000 is better. Driver’s side removable fender is nice and I would go for the tilt trailer. I don’t know how old you are but I have had mine since I built it in 89 so it’s something that you might live with for years so do it right.
I will add that in the thirty five years I’ve hauled so many different things with my trailer other than my race car that I never would have imagined in 89. A couple of tractors, dirt, sand, busted up sidewalks, trees even a new dyno plus motor cycles etc etc. and no never lone it out, never.

 

I don't want too nice of a trailer, because then I'd be tempted to put a working car on it to haul somewhere that it really should be driven to.

but sometimes I break my rule and haul one.

Here's what mine looks like recently hauling junk home, to fix up.

16' wood deck flatbed, sits pretty low, the fenders are pretty tall, though. Angle iron construction throughout. has brakes, and a manual winch, and ramps I made. I think I've spent a lot more replacing tires over the past 30+ years than I did for the trailer or any other part of it.

 

jeez, get over yourself.

 

Since we’re talking car trailers, I want to share a tip. Make a couple of blocks to go under the back edge of the trailer. You can put them in when you park and use the jacking leg to make sure the trailer is in full intact with them. When you go to load the front of the trailer won’t lift or come uncoupled. Once you are fully on the trailer let the nose down and adjust the load to balance the trailer. If the nose won’t come down to remove the weight from the block you have too much weight aft of center to safely pull the trailer.

 

What you described is a very simple solution to an issue .it is not that difficult to carry some blocks of wood around [I did that for years]

Many years ago ,I was at a race meeting and a friend let his wife take his tow vehicle into town.
When she returned they never hitched the trailer on properly [not even safety chains]

When Peter drove his racecar onto the trailer [aggressively due to slippery ramps] his son was standing beside the hitch giving instructions.
The coupler came flying up and smacked him in the jaw [breaking his jaw]

If he had blocks of wood under the rear of his trailer this would have never happened

I try to learn from other people's mistakes [and not make my own] so I have built slide out ramps with built in height limiters that do the same job as your wooden blocks.
These slide in with the ramps and stop just shy of the axle beam [which protects them from road damage]

The blue line is a "striker" to latch the ramps. they needed to be that long because the ramp slides behind the rear wheels


You can see the height limiters below [red] and the striker is retained by a lateral springbolt [blue]
The striker and the ramp straddle each side of a bar [yellow] this bar only supports the weight of the ramps when hanging. Any load bearing weight on the trailer is directly down on the top side of the ramp [to the ground]


The ramps cannot be pulled out and lost. To remove them I have to slide them forward and out. [by unbolting the slide drawers]

99% of loading issues or tiedown issue are always caused by "helpers" and "hanger-ons" so I made my trailers so I can load it in less than 1 minute by myself [I now only go to the track with my wife and she can relax, instead of being screamed at when things go wrong]
All my tie-downs are pre cut for each specific vehicle [they are dirt cheap and I sew them myself]

@rod1
Here is another trick [you cant do in the USA because of your tow vehicle turn signals]
I was buying brake controllers from our local U-pull for $5 NZD [USD $3] so I pre-wired my trailer for an extra controller [if I swap tow vehicles]
This is powered by the winch battery but requires the lights to be switched on so a relay activates the controller.
Normally I never use this [I prefer the in-cab controller] so I unplug it and leave it in my toolbox.
The yellow is a voltmeter beside the winch master on/off switch

This winch was turned around 180° to pull off the top. [I wanted the low height, so the tongue can roll under the trailer in storage]

 

This is the best pictures I have of my old trailer, still working, taken in 2011. At this point that old trailer had 200,000 road miles on it was was showing its age. I used it to haul cars across the upper mid west for a couple of years, plus years of hauling my dirt track cars and projects around. I did replace all the springs and spring bushings a time or two over the years, the trailer still towed great when I sold it.
I had a buddy build it for me in 1980 (he had built several trailers and I knew they pulled very well). It was a 16' bed open center with 2 x4 tube frame and 1/8" diamond plate tire runners. the updated mobile home axles had electric brakes on the front axle. I had to install the lights and build the 6'6" long ramps for it. I believe I paid him $1100 for it back then. I sold the trailer a couple years after I brought the pictured coupe (my avatar) home. I didn't have a good storage place for it, and one of my friends needed it.

 

some US vehicles have the separate brake light bulbs to make that work. The same thing can be done using 2 relays on the rest. Use one turn signal to trigger relay #1 and the power source comes from the trailer battery and the lead goes to the number 2 relay source. The other side turn signal can then trigger that relay sending power on to the brakes. Great in a pinch but just not the same as a real brake controller. I’ve done a lot of poor man work around a growing up. I just hope I’m done rigging brakes and strapping up flats.

Edit: the brakes will pulse if one of the turn signals is on, but it still helps stop the trailer

 

I've driven my rod more than most of you.
I can't tell you how many times, when I'm hundreds of miles from home, someone asks,"did you trailer your rod to this event?".

My response is always, "I drove it here. I don't own a trailer, or a truck to pull it".

Why have a rod that you are going to haul it around on a trailer?

 

We have separate Amber turn signals to the stoplights on trailers AND tow vehicles
So it is easier to wire in
Our wiring is [This is universal outside North America ]
Red = Stoplights
Brown = Taillights
Yellow = Left Turn
Green = Right Turn
White = Ground
Blue = Electric Brakes
Black = 12v Accessory

All I do is splice a signal wire into the red stoplight wire [the turn signals don't pulse the brakes] And the relay signal to power the controller is spliced into the taillight wire.
And Tee the controller brakes to the existing electric brake wire

I don't volunteer the extra trailer mount controller to my friends/family [I use NO electric brakes as an excuse to not lend it out]

Trailer theft is really BAD in New Zealand because you can walk into our transport agent [LTSA] and register a homebuilt trailer sight unseen.
I know a trailer thief that was registering trailers up to a year prior to stealing them. This make proof of theft difficult.

I have gone to considerable efforts to theft proof my trailer. But the best technique is them not knowing you have one.

Here is my last trailer getting repaired after being stolen. [we recovered it in 2 hours] but the thief cut off all the fenders, 1 x Nerf bar, all the lashing loops, the winch, spare wheel hanger, the coupler ,the jockey wheel, and the battery box got cut off, and then he ripped out all the internal wiring [that ran down inside the frame rails]



It took me a long slow month to piece it back together [it was heartbreaking and really made me angry]

The cops didn't even bother to prosecute him for theft, because when he removed all the parts it gave them an excuse to search the whole property ,and guess what?........... He was running a Meth House.

 

Yea, I got news for you in North America those are the colors used for our tail lights too on some vehicles. But some manufacturers like GM have figured out the red is not needed and do it through the green and yellow wires.