Advice for buying a Trailer

[Tim Stevens]

I am in the market for an open car trailer (car hauler). I would like a tire rack and a toolbox. I do not have a ton of money to spend but I do not want something that will break down in transit. Weight is not a huge issue but would like the least weight possible. I will be pulling an 85 911 and tools/tires (about 3000 pounds). The average trip will be 500 miles or under. Any suggestions would be appreciated and if anyone knows of one for sale please let me know.
Thanks - Tim

[onewhippedpuppy]

Make sure you get one with a low angle of entry as well, you don't want to hassle with building up the ramps with 2x4s to keep your front valence from dragging. I've seen some nice ones that have the entire loading surface tilt downward to load the car, saves you from dealing with ramps, and looks to be a very slight angle. Watch your local papers, around here theres always lots for sale.

[Tim Stevens]

Thank you onewhippedpuppy

Some of the questions that I was looking for are

1) Do I need breaks on both axles?
2) What size tires?
3) What size axles?
4) What material should I look for or stay away from?
5) What size 16 / 18 or larger?

If I am missing anything please add - thanks again - Tim

[onewhippedpuppy]

In all honesty Tim, I use trailers for work, often towing 5-10000 lbs. with a 1ton diesel Ford, and I've never used trailer brakes. Often times they seem to be more trouble than they're worth. Towing a backhoe, which is more like 20000 lbs the trailers all have those centrifical brakes that automatically kick in upon deceleracion. Of course this is Kansas, where there's no hills, if I lived in the mountains things would be different. Typically tires and axles are dictated by the weight you want to haul, and as far as length goes, don't get any bigger than you need for your car and any stuff, the bigger they are the worse they are in traffic.

[vash]

my coworker just bought one used for $800. really nice. for his race beemer. so the deals are out there.

[Zeke]

Tim, if you search *trailer* here and on the Porsche Autox and racing BBS, you will find a bunch of info. Last summer, I think, there was a big discussion or 3 about trailers. I would try something like "trailer+track" or "trailer+axles" Check it out.

[campbellcj]

In my experience a tandem-axle 16-footer works quite well...I found a "barely used" Carson locally last year and am very happy w/ it. It's built like a tank although they did not seem to use a high-grade paint so I may need to do some POR-15 or marine epoxy repainting.

I would avoid a tilt-bed (single axle) design as I have heard they can be pretty sketchy in the event of a flat tire.

Honestly my initial experience driving w/o the electric brakes hooked up echoes what Matt says above. As long as you don't do anything "dumb", a ~5000lb total rig is plenty easy to control and stop with a sufficiently beefy tow vehicle.

That said, I have a Tekonsha brake controller going into the Land Crusher as soon as I get around to it.

[vash]

no kidding, what are you planning to tow this with?

[OldTee]

I tow a 4800 lb boat on dual axels with single drum surge brakes behind a 2003 Silverado V8. A Porsche weighs about 2400 lbs. Should be easy. Wheel/bearing/tire maintenance is important. Buy a spare. Wait for a good one.

[Tim Stevens]

I have a 2002 Z71 Suburban to pull the trailer and car. I have rented trailers from u-haul before (and they are very heavy) with no problems at all. Thanks for everyone’s advice and if there is more please feel free to send it - Thanks again – Tim

[JoeF]

Tim,
If you are buying a used trailer and you have no idea how many miles are on it, (and you wont unless you know the owner and trailer) figure on servicing or replacing the bearings and servicing or replacing the brakes before your first long trip.
Also if the trailer is older, tires may need to be replaced regardless of how good they look.
-Figure the cost of the trailer, brake service, bearing service and tires, and you may be close to the purchase price of a new trailer.
-Try to find a trailer that has larger diameter tires, they run cooler and everything will last longer.
-A trailer with a full deck will be heavier, but the car on the trailer will be more protected and stay alot cleaner in wet weather.

After you have the trailer:
-Be sure to carry a spare trailer tire and tools to change it.
-Make a check list that goes over every aspect of connecting trailer to the tow vehicle, and putting car on trailer and securing car to trailer.
The check list should include stowing and locking ramps and checking all signal lights on trailer. No detail is small enough to leave off the list.
-Make copies of the list and go over it EVERY time you leave your house for the track and when you leave the track to go home.
-When the trailer is not in use, it is best to store it on a paved surface,
it will prevent some rust (not alot). I am told that storing the trailer on a paved or solid surface will also help the tires last longer. The worst thing to do is to store the trailer where the tires are sitting on grass, not sure why, has something to do with tires geting wet and drying over and over.
Good Luck. JoeF

[chrisp]

I have a 2001 Big Tex CH70 (open wooden deck) that I am towing with a 2002 Dodge 1500 Quad cab.

I shopped around with a price in mind ($1500) and ended up with much more trailer than I needed but since my truck could pull it I went for it. It has dual #3500 axles and is their heavier duty model. You certainly don't need that much for a 911. My car is 2550 lbs. The one piece of advice is get one with long ramps like the Trailex have. Mine are the short angle iron style and although I have modified them to work for my car I wish they were abount 2-3 feet longer. I need to put wood under the ramps so the car can get up on the wood and then up on the ramps. My trailer has dual electric brakes and my cab control unit goes from 0-10 and without the car I use it at 2 and with the car I use it at 4-5. Although it's heavy duty it still only weighs around 1700 lbs. I would not use a trailer w/o brakes. In fact I think anything over 3000 lbs requires brakes. It has huge tires. I cannot recall exactly but I think they are 225/75-15 or something like that. Much bigger than the average car trailer I see at the track. Overall I like having margin for error built into my truck/trailer. Who knows where I'll be at 2:00AM driving back from the track when a tire blows. I am pretty comfortable that I could drive my set up for a few miles down one tire.

I am going to put a tire rack made from the same materials the boat rack pictured below uses. They make racks that can hold 6 250lb boats. It should do well for 8 50 lb wheels. It will u-bolt to my wooden deck (and around the structural supports underneath) so it's easily removed and transferred to another trailer. The rack will weigh somewhere around 25 lbs. I think.

I was okay with getting more trailer than I needed because I can sell it off to a landscaper or construction guy when I am done.

The worst part for me is that I am paying $60/month to store the trailer as I do not have the space where I live. After owning it for a year I have paid equal to 1/2 of the value of the trailer in storage fees alone.

[cstreit]

What will you be towing with?

[Slider79SC]

Check your local laws regarding brakes; some states require that you have brakes on both axles. In the event of an accident if you aren’t in compliance with the law it leaves a big opening for a lawyer to swoop in and make your life miserable....

Brakes are very important, not necessarily for those of us towing because we all drive perfect…. They are important when the person in front of you does something stupid and you are put in a panic situation.

We were once going down a mountain pass pulling our boat when a semi pulled off the side of the road at a whopping 1-mile per hour. The moron next to me started slowing down matching my pace so that I had nowhere to go but around the right side of the semi. The reason you ask that I had to go around???? The brakes on the trailer were inadequate and I couldn't get slowed down enough to pull behind the moron…

[John Rogers]

Some things I learned when I was shopping and buying my trailer: First, check with local authorities about what is mandatory. Then, get the heaviest axles available, get brakes on all four wheels, get real trailer tires (no car tires), get a break-away switch and good brake controller, make sure the bottom of the door can clear the tops of the fenders and that the ramps are long enough to allow loading with no scraping. The brakes are nice as you can manually use them to do emergency stops or straighten the truck out. Trailer tires are required by law in CA but lots of people just put on heavy duty car tires. A tire rack is easy to build and can be custom made for your size tires. Good luck.

[Plavan]

If you end up buying new, 8 foot ramps are a must. You want 8 foot ramps so you do not worry about scratching up the front spoiler.

[Kevin Stewart]

This is all interesteing, first you must have trailer brakes in all states pulling an actual car trailer, I was going through a problem simular several years ago, I went and bougth one of those 18 foot bed trailers, that was the biggest mistake I have ever made, first when you leave tires on a tire rack they cycle in the heat so you have to cover them, I have a friend that makes custom trailers, he built me exactly what I wanted, the trailer is 16 feet from the tongue to the very back of the trailer, we used drop axels with new wheels and trailer tires (not car tires) when i pull it with out the car on it is so light you dont know its there, here is the big issue, the Porsche is rear heavy, you will have to put the car on backwards or have a trailer built with the axles in the right location, the last option is buy a long azz trailer and put the car all the way to the front, i have a box in the gully of my trailer, he will build you one for around 1800-2000 steel or more for aluminim, this was the best move i have made a trailer custom built for my needs, for the few extra bucks this is the only way to go, e-mail if you want more info, Kevin stew09@aol.com

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

I will go the opposite direction of Matt. Trailer brakes are a necessity and a legal requirement!!!! We tow horse trailers, hay, cars, stuff... I will not use a trailer that does not have brakes, it just is not safe nor is it legal in the vast majority of states for a total trailer weight of 3,000 pounds or more. Your stated weight starts at 3,000. Brakes on one axel are sufficient, but definately you will want brakes! Electric brakes are really nice but the friction style will work. They make backing a chore.

Oh, and Aluminum is the preferred material. Followed by round pipe with treated wood and lastly square tube and treated wood.

[cstreit]

I used an Aluma dual axle trailer with mine. THe trailer weighs like 900# making it easy to tow. The axles are set back more and this works well for the rear engine setup. My car was almost all the way back. I added a truck-bed box and home-built tire rack to it and got the tonguw weight perfect. Our V6 toyota 4-runner could tow it with no problems...

Here you can sorta see it.

[Kevin Stewart]

heres a picture