🔧 Technical Real Towing Thread- no busters

[Yaj Yak]

Does your trailer have stake pockets within that rail? I can’t tell in the pic. If so, I use these on mine.
View attachment 183993

kinda related- i just saw these from mac's

pretty fucking cool

Monkey Face | Mac's Custom Tie-Downs

Monkey Face

www.macscustomtiedowns.com

 

[taws697]

Macs has so much cool shit. I’m looking to pick up an enclosed trailer in the next few weeks and I’d love to outfit it with all of their goodies.

 

[Shawn1112]

Macs has so much cool shit. I’m looking to pick up an enclosed trailer in the next few weeks and I’d love to outfit it with all of their goodies.

Whats their lead time usually? I'm looking at a few things and it says everything made to order

 

[taws697]

Whats their lead time usually? I'm looking at a few things and it says everything made to order

I’m not sure about ordering directly from them, but I’ve bought some of their stuff on Amazon.

 

[Typhoon]

I doubt you'll end up in this situation with an open trailer, but something to pay attention to if you're stacking on a bunch of extra tongue weight, is tire inflation. The maximum load for a given tire is usually different than what's listed in the manual or on the door sticker. For example, the max load for the tires on my F-250 is 3750lbs per tire, but that's at 80psi. Not the 65psi listed on the door sticker. Same goes for the trailer but most that I've had, listed the inflation pressure at the the maximum that was printed on the side of the tire.

 

[Shawn1112]

Question and hopefully one of you can answer sooner than later. My trailer tires are 205/75/15, me and my guy that owns the tire shop talked about doing a 225/75/15 for a bigger/heavier load range. So he was having his guys do it today and they said there is enough room as the 225 is about 1.2" taller, but they are afraid if the trailer squats when I load my car that they may rub. So doing some research online, I see people say yes it will be fine and others mentioning the rim need to be 5.5" or 6" for a 225 to work. If I want to stick with a 205 but upgrade to something better, what should I be looking for? He doesnt deal with trailers at all, so he doesnt want to take a guess and give me bad info. We can order tires today and have them tomorrow
Yaj Yak taws697

 

[GTPpower]

I would upgrade to a heavier tire (more ply) before changing size.

 

[sktchy]

205 is a tough size to get more than an 8 ply. If you really want 225s you'll probably have to beat the lips of the fenders up so when you turn and twist you won't get into them. I'd look at your weight rating per tire and if it's in the working range you need it to be leave it alone.

 

[Yaj Yak]

 

[Yaj Yak]

god id just get decent branded, same size tires, and if you're feeling frisky, bring two spare tires of the same flavor. and full fucking send.

 

[Yaj Yak]

d- range trailer tire looks like 2150lb load capacity each... 8600 total.

you're gonna be alright.

id spend the tire money toward WD hitch still i think. but again i dont know dick about them.

 

[No longer active]

The car show that Shawn1112 is going to called the Classic?

 

[Shawn1112]

The car show that Shawn1112 is going to called the Classic?

Classics

 

[No longer active]

I saw a video on FB where a Monte SS came off a transport I think on the way to that event.

 

[94 Caprice Wagon]

Yes.
On industrial drive in West Chicago, company call Mapei has a scale. Being a semi scale it will most likely do it in 20lb increments but should be close enough. I think the 3/4 Sub was 6,3xx without me in it.

The EMJ facility over by Speed Inc. used to have one too. Not sure anymore.

I was commenting on the trailer because I thought in the rental thread, someone (Shawn?) mentioned 2k. It could've also been a different trailer too, as I think he had another before that.

"Pro-tip" if you are trying to gauge tow rig weights and get everything dialed in, while not being at the mercy of a scrapyard or warehouse's private scale. Download the CAT Scale app, head to your nearest truck stop with a cat scale and get it dialed in there. Plenty of room to be out of the way Its $12 or $14 the first time, but then you can re-weigh, get your axle and tongue weights as much as you want for S2 each time. The app will email and/or download pdfs or jpgs to your phone for reference, and you don't have to keep going back inside to pay or get your tickets printed out. But they will automatically be printed out inside if you want hard copies. Its just nice because you can do it anywhere and have a relatively accurate point of reference. I have found these scales to be fairly accurate, as sometimes I would weigh my car while I was sitting in it and then immediately step out of the car and do a "re-weigh and it would get my weight just about right.

Sorry to quote you again CMNTMXR57, I just keep finding your posts in threads that peak my interest.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯​

 

[CMNTMXR57]

At least someone does.

 

[No longer active]

I like weighing my cars and trucks, we used to use that scale by Speed Inc.

My '67 is 3000 without driver.

 

[94 Caprice Wagon]

i have seen it done, where the "bad" axle gets ratchet strapped "up" but it is still super sketchy to me.

I have done this on semi trucks. But the trailer was empty. I had an overweight permit container load From Chicago to Kalamazoo. The container was on a quadaxle chassis(trailer that carries the container has 4 axles, but relatively skinny single tires on each wheel). I got a good ways past New Buffalo and a tire blew out, unbeknownst to me for most of the rest of the trip. It was late on a Friday and I had no desire to wait for roadside and hope they had the right sized tire for me. So I went to a Home Depot to buy a cheap 3 ton floor jack, some Grade 8 Bolts, and a length of heavy chain. I jacked the offending tire up, compressed the suspension as much as was feasible, wrapped the chain around it and the frame of the trailer, ran a bolt through the chain, cranked the nut/bolt down with an impact driver, released the jack, took the jack back inside to return it, and I cruised right back to the South Burbs of Chicago(with some judicious use of back roads). Still kind of sketchy imo, but I would feel much more inclined to do this with a recreational, car, boat, or travel trailer. I have had old tires on boat trailers blow out on me and I managed to limp them relatively short(<20 miles) distances home with no issue. This was off of the interstate of course, but on a tandem axle trailer, I think it is fine to limp off of the interstate at 55 or so and hazards on on 3 tires.

 

[94 Caprice Wagon]

One more thing on towing while I am at it. Rust belt folks: if you are towing heavy(even relatively heavy) be sure and verify the condition of your hitch receiver. A co-worker and I were shutting down this jet ski rental business for the winter. We moved a fleet of 16 or so skis about 20 miles to put in storage. Then we had to move this big 20+foot enclosed trailer just a quarter mile or so from one parking lot to another. The trailer was loaded with floating docks. We used his mid 2000s Durango to move it, as my rig was down that day. His truck managed for that short distance, but when I moved to unhook the trailer, I found that the drawbar was angled down quite a ways. The drawbar was a good forged 2 5/6 one of mine rated for 750lbs of tongue weight. I peeked underneath and his extremely rusted receiver was severely bent. The tongue weight of the trailer managed to lever the square tube of his receiver right into the sidewall of his mounted spare. Needless to say, that could have gone much worse.

 

[Shawn1112]

So now that I'm back home, I'll add to this.
1st off, my Wagoneer is the most comfortable car I have ever owned, and I realized this after my 2000+ mile roundtrip.
Never once was I uncomfortable in the least bit. It also towed like a fucking champ. Cruise set between 70-72mph both ways and I averaged 12.3mpg.
My Wife was leery about the trip home and even she said she was never uncomfortable and her sitting in the passenger seat could believe how smooth it was with the trailer.

If I make this trip again next year and trailer my car, I will 100% invest in a WD hitch as suggested by Yaj Yak and others. The way down had some swaying but not horrible. Coming home, I moved my hitch out 1" to see if it helped any with tongue weight. It didnt and I should have pushed it back in. I cant believe how much that 1" adjustment affected swaying. That MFer was swaying bad when I left Florida yesterday. 30-40 miles in, I pulled over at a rest stop, disconnected the trailer and moved my hitch back in. It helped a ton, but I still had some "oh shit" moments coming home with swaying. Not sure why it was worse coming home, wind maybe although it didnt feel windy.

Notice I said if I do it again next year. Car haulers take these cars there and back for $1250. For what I spent in gas, I'm assuming about $700-$800 RT, paying for shit fast food (ive eaten more fast food the last few days that I do in 6 months), and MY TIME, makes me want to put it on a hauler. I just feel my time is more valuable if that makes sense. Pretty much 40hrs spent driving there and back. Wasnt a bad drive at all, but again I just feel my time is more valuable. However I dont trust those car haulers as they are known to damage shit and 1 car from Atlanta fell off the back of a 9 car hauler on the way down. I'll find the vid and post it. I have a friend who just bought a 9 car hauler, if he does the hauling next year, I'll let him do it. He is a car dude and would take care of my shit.

IceCreamAssassin thanks for the suggestion on those chains. I bought the below kit which also has the axle straps integrated into the actual tie down.
Those and the chains made it sooooo much easier and the quality is top notch.

2" x 6' Super Pack Tie-Down Strap Kit with Integrated Axle Straps, Direct Hook Ends & Chain Extension Ends - Black | Mac's Custom Tie-Downs

2" x 6' Super Pack Tie-Down Strap Kit with Integrated Axle Straps, Direct Hook Ends & Chain Extension Ends - Black

www.macscustomtiedowns.com

 

[Shawn1112]

Video of car that fell off the back of a hauler. The damage wasnt all that bad, the dude was actually driving it around all weekend.
There are better vids, I just have to find them, this one was sent to me.

 

[No longer active]

Yeah I mentioned this car that came off, an Aerocoupe Monte SS. Based on pics of how the other cars were strapped, it was not strapped properly.

 

[Shawn1112]

Yeah I mentioned this car that came off, an Aerocoupe Monte SS. Based on pics of how the other cars were strapped, it was not strapped properly.

Had to be in neutral as well I would think

 

[No longer active]

yeah

 

[Broke EF]

I guess I can update my experience here as well. I ended up only towing one way (from FL to IL), and it was with a rental. If you didn't see, I bought a complete car, short block, and a 28' enclosed trailer. Originally I was only going to get the roller, and maybe the short block which is why I was getting my trailer all dialed in. He had a WD hitch for it, but for whatever reason didn't include it. Quick run to a sketchy Walmart and I got some over priced stuff for the rental. The rental in question was a brand new 2023 (or maybe a 24) Ram 2500 diesel. It was very nice having the power, and also the engine brake. Through the mountains we were able to set the cruise control and it would hold the speed even down hill because of the engine brake. That seemed to really be key since we dont think the trailer bakes were working. Overall though, it handed that trailer like it wasn't there. No idea what its rated for, or what we weighed, but it was drama free the whole way back and we got somewhere between 11-12 MPG. I will say, I still hate having to fill DEF!

The truck was nice for towing, and I was comfortable on the driver side even though I wish the seat moved back more. However the passenger side sucked for me. The trans tunnel really comes over a lot on that side so my legs had to go to the side the whole time. I was uncomfortable after around an hour or so. We also looked up the price on the truck as it was optioned, and it was 70K!! So I dont think I will be buying one of those anytime soon, but diesel sure is nice while towing.