I am going to but a car trailer to haul Lucille. I know alot about horse trailers & farm trailers, just not alot about car trailers. To make it more difficult, I have some special needs that complicates it a bit. I am not going to buy an enclosed trailer. It will be an open trailer. It's tricky because I need to be able to load/unload myself, and I have to be able to open the door nearly completely to get in/out of the car because of my leg. So I can't have wheel wells interfering with the doors opening, probably should have easy-to-use ramps (integral/attached), and anything else that you could recommend for ease of use. I have a 1-ton dually, 454, setup with Reese hitch, electric brake controller and a gooseneck hitch, and vacuum hookups. (My big triple axle horse trailer has a vacumm over hydraulic braking system). You bring it, I can haul it (except I don't have a 5th wheel plate, but can get one). My biggest concern is getting a trailer where the car won't bottom out when loading/unloading. What's the difference between a 'beavertail' and a 'dovetail' trailer? Any recommendations on brand - or any build specs I should be looking for? Thanks!
I have a trailer made by a company called "Big Tex". I bought the 18 footer because i dont like the rear of my car overhanging the trailer. The longer length makes it easier to back up too as you probably know with the horse trailers. Beaver tail and dove tail refer to the rear of the trailer being sloped. It gives the car less of an angle when driving up (some cars are quite low). I have no problem opening the car door on mine. The door clears the fender with no problem. There are two types of decks you can get. I chose an open deck (open in the center). Comes in handy if you need to work underneath the car. Its like having a portable lift. Make sure you get 4 wheel brakes. Some trailers only have brakes on two wheels. Your going to need a set of axle straps and some good quality tie downs as well. Thats the only PITA. Climbing under the car and lashing it down. As i get older, Im starting to moan and groan climbing out from under the car. To give you an idea of price, I paid 1950.00 for mine brand new. The only thing I would do differently would be to get an aluminum one next time. The paint they use is crappy and my runways are starting to rust.
Annie, we picked up a tilt bed trailer and love the thing. no ramps, just unlock the bed and pump the thing till the dovetail is touching the ground in the back. Something to consider good luck, D.
This is a pic of the trailer I bought. It is a "Challenger" style. 18' long with a 2.5' dovetail at the back. I like it because is has side steps and the ramps slide right in underneath. Also, my trailer has a floor compartment for storing a spare tire, tow straps, hooks, etc. Very nice thing to have. Also has swivel D-rings, two in the front and two in the rear for attaching your tow straps to. Open floor or full floor is just personal preference. I would try and find one that has it's stringers 16" on center instead of 24". Also, if you're thinking about a winch, try to find the one you want and have an attachment pad welded on the front so it can be taken on and off easily. Brakes on both axles would be nice too. The "Big Tex" is also a very popular and well-made trailer. Expect to pay between $2K-$3K for something new. I would try http://www.racingjunk.com/. There are a lot of new and used trailers there. There are also manufacturer's on ebay. Just watch out because delivery/shipping of a trailer can be $500!
Annie, I would recommend a plate steel deck trailer. Ours is 23' long with a 7' dovetail. The Century goes up without hangin up and the doors open completely. Also, get the brakes on BOTH axles. Do NOT skimp on this issue. You will be glad to have both sets back there. We hauled my suburban on it just last weekend and the trailer brakes on both axles were great. I don't know if only one axle would have been enough. We paid over $4k for this trailer, but got a brake contoller installed and a set of axle straps thrown in on the deal. Cash talks!!! Good luck in the search and let us know what you got!! Oh yeah. Try to find one with tires chocks that are removeable. We have them and they are great. Just roll the car on until you hit the chocks and you are done. Just strapping it down after that. Ours has the storage in the deck for the chocks, tools, come-along and whatever else we may need to put in there. HTH
Greg - What brand is your trailer? Does it have attached ramps? Dana - once you get your car loaded, can you open the doors fully? Looks like the trailer wells would be too high? Does the trailer lock back in the horizontal position after you've driven up on it, or do you have to lower it yourself after loading? Open floor vs. full floor - I can see where the open floor would be advantageous for working on the car. I don't do that much, and I have too many other things to do with this trailer, need a full floor. (Haul tractor, Kawasaki mule, hay, random stuff!) Heck, this will be the 4th trailer sitting here - 2 horse trailers, 1 odd utility type trailer with small axles. I'm sure it'll get various uses. Great ideas - in floor storage compartment, integral D rings, wheel chocks and side steps. Brakes - I'm all about brakes!! p My big horse trailer is triple axle, and has 6 full-sized drums on it, with a vacuum over hyd control. It'll pull the whole rig backwards if you're not careful!! Thanks all!!
Question about plate steel decks - don't they get slippery?? I can just see it now - many Miss Congeniality type trips and falls off the trailer! ou:
Annie, the doors (all four on the wagon) have plenty of clearence which makes it real nice to egress. Also, the bed is tilted with a hydrolic pump/jack so in your instance, you would jack up the tilt bed, drive the car up, put on the e brake and place it in park, get out of the car, lower and secure the tilt bed then just strap the car down and off you go...easy. D.
Annie, My trailer (the one Greg talks about) is made by Imperial Mfg out of Olney Il. One correction on what Greg stated, it only has 5' dovetail. some specs on it are as follows: -6' self storing ramps. just slide them in the rear. These are optional, standard are 5' -8 tie down rings welded to the deck, optional. 4 are standard. -storage box in front, recessed into deck. Approx 12 x 18, optional -dual 3500# Dexter axles with brakes on both. Make sure that the trailer you buy has quality axles under it, some are just simply utility trailer axles. When I was shopping for mine one of the criteria that I was looking for was that it had Dexter axles. -wheel chocks,optional this trailer has 8 positions for them and are removable. Greg will post some pics later.
Annie, I'd like to suggest that you look into a winch set-up. I'm not sure of all you special needs in regard to you leg, but with a winch you could just drive up to the ramps, get out and use the winch remote to pull the car onto the trailer. Have some sort of permenant wheel stops installed to pull the car up agianst. Then just strap her down and your off. Plus if you have car trouble you could still get her up on the trailer. Hopefully you'll get it all sorted out and we'll see you at some Buick events in 05. Good luck.
Alot of car trailers these days have removable fenders that work well with cars that sit low. Aluminum is competitively priced compared to steel trailers these days because of steel cost, you might want to look into that. Also, you might want to consider an electric tongue jack. As far as axles go, rubber torsion axles would give you the best ride quality, of course they're more money though. What ever you do, please get a trailer that is longer than your car. I have had two different car trailers that were hit by people who were not paying attention. About two weeks ago we picked my dad's car up from the body shop in my brand new enclosed trailer, got about a mile down the road and a Wal-Mart truck ran a stop sign and T-boned my trailer. Luckily the car was'nt hurt, but I had to take the trailer all the way to Elkhart, IN to have it rebuilt. Moral of the story is to get a trailer that will extend beyond the bumpers of the car so that incase you are rear-ended they will hit the trailer and hopefully not your car. The trailer will always be much easier to repair. Other than that everyone else gave real good advise. Good Luck!!
You can also look at the Texas Rollback trailers. They are pricey, but you have no ramps and they only have a 5 degree inline to go up. I do not have the web site, but get on Google and you can find them. I am looking at H&H trailers and their Speedloader trailer. All of the things I have seen here mesh up with what I have heard in the past.
H&H TRAILERS I looked at them once and thought they had bias ply tires? Has any one bought a PJ trailer? I think they are made in TExas? Thanks
I agree on the winch idea, I would also look for a trailer that has the fender that's hinged at the front so there's no possibility of door interference. The winch is great just incase you break something and have to load the car by yourself, it ain't easy pushing a car onto a trailer alone. The hinged fender is nice, just flip it up before you put the car on and back down when you're done loading. The Buick may clear a stationary fender, but if you ever have a lower car like a Vette or F-body it won't be pretty. Always think ahead, you may want to sell the trailer down the road and if it has more features you'll have a broader target audience.
Lucille, the trailer queen Annie looks like you're getting some great advice. Out in St John's on M127 is a trailer place, I forget the name, but they have some great trailers. Bob Hannen from Owosso, who you haven't met yet, bought one there a couple of years ago, and he is very happy with it. Steel plate, dove tail, hauls his GSX to BG, when it wasn't in the Sloan Museum jail on display. Around $1800 I think. I have an 18' open trailer for the last 11 years, has wood deck, would not do that again, would go with a lower trailer with steel deck, like what Bob has, but I have box #2, the enclosed, is my second one, Pace America, '87 version, is nice, but, you've seen it, works for what I do! If you want to talk to Bob, email me for his phone number, he did alot of research before he bought his.
