Show Me Your Race Car Trailers

[wrxkilla]

Hey, you guys with the simple $3k trailer, can someone tell me the witdth of the trailer at it's widest point? (I guess wheel arches).

I am sorting a gate out this afternoon at my place, and need to make sure as a general a trailer will fit in...

Cheers

Michael

[boxheadmr]

2.5 mtrs

[wrxkilla]

2.5 mtrs

thankyou

& oh dear. I had 2.4 meters to play with! lol

[benm]

I had my width shortened to allow it to fit into my garage with an inch to spare eitherside

[mitch_SR32]

By Australian road law you are classed as OVERSIZE at anything over 2.5m and have to have all the appropriate signage to suit

Edited January 25, 2009 by mitch_SR32

[DCIEVE]

Whats peoples experience with Torsion axles?

Im looking into building my own car trailer as part of a final year uni project. So far the requirements are a 3.8x2m bed and a maximum load capacity of 1400 kg to carry my own track car (1200 kg supra) and possibly my mates track cars. I've previously been hiring trailers which have weighed around 1 tonne which although the tow car (saab 9000) has towed it without dramas, the aim is to try make this purpose built trailer as light as possible, hopefully around the 4-500 kg range. As such i was looking into single axle trailers but since reading this thread, would seem like a mistake.

[warps]

Whats peoples experience with Torsion axles?

Im looking into building my own car trailer as part of a final year uni project. So far the requirements are a 3.8x2m bed and a maximum load capacity of 1400 kg to carry my own track car (1200 kg supra) and possibly my mates track cars. I've previously been hiring trailers which have weighed around 1 tonne which although the tow car (saab 9000) has towed it without dramas, the aim is to try make this purpose built trailer as light as possible, hopefully around the 4-500 kg range. As such i was looking into single axle trailers but since reading this thread, would seem like a mistake.

You'll struggle to get wheels / tyres with sufficient load rating to carry 2 tonne on a single axle (trailer plus load)

You should easily get your trailer below 500kg with dual axle capability. I bought my trailer off the shelf and it has a 2.1 x 4.3 bed with fold up ramps. It weighs 560kg.

with a bit of smarts and design, you will manage to get your trailer down below 500kg, even with dual axles.

There's a fundamental flaw with the design of a lot of load sharing axle assemblies, that cause springs to break (they get loaded in compression when hitting big pot holes). HAve a good look at the spring mounts, and load on the springs before deciding on how to mount them.

[Marlin]

How about aluminium ramps and floor rivetted to a steel chassis using Alko axles that are very simple and proven, with the benefit of independent suspension?

http://www.alko.com.au/vehicle/axles/irs.html

[DCIEVE]

How about aluminium ramps and floor rivetted to a steel chassis using Alko axles that are very simple and proven, with the benefit of independent suspension?

http://www.alko.com.au/vehicle/axles/irs.html

yep they are the axles i was referring to.

cheers

[Sir Lord Van Von Vader'ham]

Hey all, has anyone had any tow experience with stageas? just wondering if there up to it, fuel usage etc..

or if anybody could recommend something better, my budget is 10-15k and it will be my daily driver aswell.

i couldn't find a tow car thread, sorry.

[hrd-hr30]

I know there are some people doing it, but realistically, you need a towing capacity of 2000kg. A decent trailer will weigh around 550-600kg, most hire trailers will weigh more like 800kg. Then if you're going racing, you're going to have spares and fuel and stuff in the car as well, so there's the GVM to worry about also, which is always reduced when towing.

You can bet the Stagea isn't rated to tow that much - alot of light duty 4WDs only just make it to that kind of towing capacity. I'm sure Nissan didn't envisage towing large caravans, boats or race cars around when designing the Stagea. Its a bit of a moot point anyway, you won't find a towbar off-the-shelf rated to that kind of capacity for it.

If you must do it with a passenger car, the local offerings were built with towing caravans and boats in mind. Falcons always seemed to have the higher towing capacity than Commodores, but even then to get to the kind of rating they normally need the towing options pack of load levelers, trans coolers/HD clutches, HD radiators and the like. Some of the towing packs on these cars had up to 15 items! So just buying a secondhand Falcodore and whacking a big towbar on it isn't the best idea either. Do your research, but the best bet is a 4WD.

My Aussie R31 sedan felt absolutely terrible just towing the empty 540kg car trailer around. You could feel the rear of the car get pulled around all over the place every time the trailer hit a bump, the auto didn't like it - had to keep it locked out of overdrive on the highway... And that's just empty! In the Patrol you never even know its there even with a full weight R32 GTR on it, except that its slower...

turbo diesel 4WD FTW

Edited May 15, 2009 by hrd-hr30

[femno]

Me and 4 of my mates all chipped in and bought a cheap S/H old dual axle trailer, similar to rental ones; had full floor, hydro brakes, LT tyres, ramps underneath etc etc.

Well mostly be towing our Sil80 drift car, as well as GTRs, GTSts and 180 etc.

Were fixing it up and have since cut the centre of the floor out to save weight, and added space for 2 more ramps (4 in total) so we can get our low cars up without having to take front bars off.

Ill see if I can get a hold of some pics, its like a 'trailer build-up' Were doing it oursleves in my garage, bit of a budget job but it should turn out well while at the same time having fun with 9" grinders, arc welders and spray guns. We actually managed to flip it over in my driveway so we could clean up and paint the underneath, as well as make our changes. Tonight we will be flipping it back onto its wheels to work on the top.

Not sure what mounting points to include though. Most of the cars well be towing have tow hooks up higher than the bottom of the front bars...personally not keen on tying down from wheels.

Were planning to paint it in hammertone, fit LED tail lights etc, toolbox, and have a tyre rack. Were even going to fit some 12V LED spotlights because we do alot of moving at night. Also service brakes and bearings before we use it to tow long distances.

Will keep you guys updated if youre interested.

[N1GTR]

Yep Mat, keep us updated - sounds like what a lot of people are planning on doing soon

BTW good luck at deca you lucky bugger, im spewing i cant make this one. Ill see you at the next one

[Beer Baron]

turbo diesel 4WD FTW

yep, agree with that. I've tried lots of different combos and most of them suck. particularly with hire trailers. i've had one hire trailer that was near on 1,000kgs and with a 1400kg car on it, being towed by a pissy little ute was one of the worst experiences of my life. the ute would have been all of 1000kgs towing 2400kgs with an asthmatic 2.4l engine and 5 speed box it could not go up even the smallest incline in anything over 4th, and even on the downhill it would be lucky to hit 110km/h. At that speed you needed a spare lane on each side of you as the trailer was doing the driving.

towing with a nice late model landcruiser or similar is a whole different experience. but if I could afford it I'd probably have an F150 or F250 behemoth. all the cool kids at the track have them...

[Russman]

Tonight we will be flipping it back onto its wheels to work on the top.

Flipping went well. It's now on it's wheels again and preparing it for guards and paint. Should have some pics of it soon.

Mat won't be driving at DECA coz he has a 2ltr Sport sedan race at sandown.

When we went to superlap we towed my car on a hire trailer behind my VS SS auto and it sucked balls compared to the KIA Sorento auto that we used from Wodonga to sydney. So much for V8 grunt.

[Targa Tom]

Sorry for lack of picture

Link to Pics

We ordered and bought one of these in Dec 08. As far as the design goes and price it was what I expected. However on collection I noted the rear axle had pos camber on one side... the management offered to send me a new axle and because up to that point the experience had been ok - i had no reason to disbelieve.

How ever after 4 months no axle was forth coming and I was instructed to repair myself (We had offered this in the beginning)... Now the invoice for the repair goes un-paid which makes the trailer rather expensive for what it is...

Lesson - if theris anything wrong with custom built trailer - do not accept until corrected. Do not pay until work is complete to your satisfaction...

If you decide on a Motorsport Hauler - be sure to do your own QC. I would buy another one, but wouldnt believe a word they said.

TT984

[Duncan]

Mat/Russell/etc, shared trailer can be a good project and good way to keep the costs down. We had trouble with our shared "deathworx" trailer at first but its all good now (well it was until the other owner moved to Melb lol)

Some suggestions:

Put on all new lights - second hand ones are always cracked/faded/not working etc, and overall cost is under $100.

While you are there....rewire everything, and run an earth to each point instead of relying on chasis - do this once properly and you won't have to worry for years. Just make sure the wires are protected because everything gets smacked on a trailer sooner or later. Better to do this before you turn it back over lol

Make sure you always carry a spare. We lashed out on brand new hubs, wheels and ply tryes with the right load rating and we haven't lost a tyre since....before this we killed at least 3 of them and its a pain to change a trailer tyre

Add onboard storage for ratchets etc and jerry cans. Heavy stuff front of axle, light rear of axle.

I think tie downs have been covered elsewhere in this thread - but our trailer has 2 chains at the front down low with d shackels, you get the front bumper of the car past them, then tie the chains to the tow hooks. Our chains are the perfect length for a 32 gtr to be balanced properly on the trailer but you can use the same concept with longer chain to tie down anything you ever need to. Then we just use 2 ratchet straps at the rear to pull the car back (tie through wheel spokes).

We've tied down everything from commodore wagons to model ts to 2 tonne falcons to skylines with these and they have always been flexible enough to cover everything.

Oh and don't forget a good strong winch for those days when no amount of pushing is going to get a car on, eg missing wheel or badly rolled. The cheap winches from supercheap are sufficient if you don't need/plan to use it often, they have enough power but are slow. 99% of the time you just drive the car on.

one final trick, make sure the car's door opens over whatever the side rails /whee guards of the trailer are. Ours had a light mounted in the middle of the guard we had to move for this reason, and I've seen plenty of people stuggling with trying to get in or out without being able to open the door.

[fatz]

crashworkx trailer

i still have nightmares about that hunk of shit

tows better now i much say

[Duncan]

ahahaha you did more drifting that weekend with the trailer than with the drift car. yeah the axles were bent - since we replaced them it has been fine.

actually I just spent the day re-wiring it all. we are still having trouble with bad earths so I have run an earth wire to each corner instead of relying on rusty chasis connections.

[Russman]

Thanks for your advise Duncan.

We've got nearly all of that stuff covered. LED's are a must these days. Stupid not to.

All wiring is in screened wiring that I got from work so it has good protection and running through the chassis rails.

Here's a few pics of the work we have done so far including the flipping process...

Notice the extra storage for 2 extra ramps so 4 total. No front bar srapage...