Landracing Forum
Misc Forums => How To Section => Topic started by: RidgeRunner on May 27, 2008, 09:19:57 PM
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Re: Technical Discussion, suspension travel, reply #18
Thread was working it's way off topic so felt it more appropriate to post our findings here.
We towed the trailer over the road with a more or less straight hitch to keep the trailer somewhat level. On arrival we changed to a spare dropped hitch/ball mounted inverted and the ball on top, backed the tow truck onto an 18" 2x10 under each rear tire and were able to jack the front of the trailer much higher. Reduced the need to carry at least 4 extra 6' planks and some short blocking to go with them.
With an extra 2 by under each wheel and a higher inverted hitch to be made from some scrap steel we think we can get by with just the regular trailer ramps. Now it's time to try and get the winch working again..........
Have seen others back the tow rig up onto some ramps to get the height. Also have seen some jack blocks made up from several pieces of wood screwed together, attached handle, and steel plate with retainer circle on top to gain height and reduce the need to hand crank the jack so much.
Hope these ideas we have borrowed from others can help someone else.
Take care,
Ed
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After being in the RV industry for many years, I couldn't imagine owning a trailer without an electric tongue jack. The larger ones have quite a bit of travel to raise the front of the trailer up and they are not priced to bad. They also make it easier to install weight distributing bars.
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I know this subject has been discussed in various places before, but I've never seen enough opinions one way or the other to make a decision.
After the race car is loaded on (in) the trailer, is it best to tie it down from the tires or wheels and axle, leaving the car suspension free to work; or is it better to winch it down from the frame? I've even heard of putting jack stands or big blocks of wood under the frame rails to keep the car suspension from working while the car is on the trailer. DickJ
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We wrap around the back axle first and then winch forward, then we put a chain around the front attachment on the lower A arm hooked to a come a long. Our rear nylon straps stretch a bit so we tighten the come a long and the winch to secure the car. Check the straps at every gas stop. :cheers:
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Haul the car on street tires and save the race tires.
There's a chance u can flat spot the race tires.
Which are cheaper; street tires or race tires?
FREUD
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I tie the axles down. You would have to collapse the suspension to keep it from working while driving along. And working will loosen the straps. I let the springs do there thing.
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Some people I know tied their roadster compressing the suspension. two or three times they had major damage from transport.
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There is a local short track driver who shall remain nameless ( Jack Drolema) Who has lost a race car off the trailer....TWICE.....Guess you need to tie them down. :-P
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Some time ago Chrysler was delivering cars to their dealers with 1/2" more toe-out than they had leaving the factory. They found the haulers were cinching down on the chassis so hard that they actually caused the front tires to be splayed outward.
For transporting a race car, I'd tie the tires down.
Regards, Neil
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Remember, if you do not tighten the frame down against something solid, the suspension will work everytime the trailer hits a bump.
This is okay for the most part but it can rapidly wear out a very expensive pair of shock. Serious teams use "chassis savers" that are basically an airbag that go under the car and inflate after the car is tied down. I intend to do something like this for next year to save our dampers.
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This is an old thread; however I thought I would throw in my two cents... We tow a 3700lbs car 1,300 miles one way over those beautiful mountains. The car is strapped with a single three point strap in the rear (floor, parachute mount, floor) and two chassis ratcheting straps in the front. These straps form a "W" under the car. Another way to explain it is that each one goes from the floor in the front to the side chassis mount back to the other mount in the front. This is similar to spring lines on a boat. We take the shocks off and replace them with solid bars.
With this approach I can testify that; 1) the car will remain on the floor when the trailer is on its side - ask me how I know this... and 2) the tire rub patch on the floor is all but eliminated. Prior to this set up, we would see black rubber in a pattern around the tire on the floor showing that the car was moving side to side and fore and aft. This is how flat spots on tires happen. Further the shocks had more than 10K miles on them which seamed kind of high for a car that only ran 9 miles at a time. Although not quantifiable, I would swear it trailers better now that the car is rock solid.
John
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