Enclosed trailering

[Tom Vogel]

Dont really know where else to post this, so here goes.

I have a high powered street car and a new aluminum enclosed trailer. Ive never used a trailer before, so help me out. Would I be better off to use a trailer winch to load cars in this trailer (safety wise), or should I try to drive cars in? What do you guys do?

[Blue Oval Man]

I'be always driven my cars in the trailer, fast and easy. If you don't have the escape door on the side of the trailer so you can open your car door to get out it can be a real pain though. Also make sure your car door clears the bottom of the escape door so you don't take the paint off getting out or when you get in the car make sure the door doesn't settle down on the escape door frame.
A good friend of mine usually winches his in. Slow, slow, slow. And he still has to guide the steering wheel so has to be up beside the car anyway so I don't see much advantage to it.
There is a company, cant' remember the name of it right now, that makes a neat dolley setup for winching the car into the trailer. You drive onto pads on the trailer deck, strap the front tires to the pad, and the winch pulls the pads that are on rails thus pulling the car into the trailer without have to steer. The company also designed a trailer that is narrow and low so that the car just fits in and that makes it easy to tow also. I will have to try and find my info on it and post it up.
David.

[David Pozzi]

The Aerovault is a neat trailer.
We drive them in. I have a 3 disc clutch in my vintage car so try & winch it in to save wear & tear, but drove it in quickly for years & years with no issues. The more experienced you get, the less clutch slipping & monkeying around you do, the better it is for your clutch.

Some of the advice below won't apply, it's just stuff I've learned & would like to pass along.
Have someone in there to guide you, & stay slightly to the right, it helps you get out of the car.
Extra wide trailers help (102").
Buy a 3000 lb rated winch minimum. Many have wireless remotes. Get a "free spooling" winch. You can release the spool & pull the cable out to the ramp.
I wired my winch control wires to plugs inside the rear door. I plug it my long lead controller & can reach the steering wheel to guide it in.
Beaver-tail trailers make loading a low car easier. Also the longer the ramp door, the better the loading angle is.
A 24' trailer box length is ideal, 22' is not bad if you don't bring too much extra stuff along.
The bigger the trailer, the heavier the empty weight, which means you can't load as much weight inside. Most trailers over 10,000. Lbs GVW require a higher grade drivers license so most trailers are 9800. Lbs GVW rated to allow anyone to tow them. It's easy to overload a 28' - 30' trailer with 9800 GVW rating.

[SparkyRnD]

if you can winch, do it. While you still need to walk beside to steer it, in most cases it is easier to walk beside than it is to get out of the door due to the width and angle of the door, and the thickness including the door panels and such.

[parsonsj]

Winch, winch, winch. Reduces wear and tear on the clutch, stress on driver, and number of people needed to load the car. Automatics are different... but I always use a winch when I can.

[NOT A TA]

I drive in, climb out window. I would not recommend that method for big guys. Be sure to grease the hinges on the big rear door or they'll rust up and flex the support till metal fatigue causes a failure. I found out the hard way. No fun trying to get the car in when the doors broken and it's no fun to repair either. Yes, it broke while driving up.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/02/milemarker1002-1.jpg

[dontlifttoshift]

I like the winch it in method. Some of the cars we deal with are so low that no combination of magic escape doors on the trailer will get you out of the car. Picture a chopped, 34 Ford.....good luck climbing out the window, so I got used to the winch and find it much easier. Winch it in, throw a block under a front tire, strap down the back, strap down the front and I'm gone. It works in the snow, rain, and dry and I can do it all by myself. If you pull up straight you shouldn't have to steer it as you winch in.

[71RS/SS396]

I winch mine in, imo it's far easier than performing yoga execises trying to get out of the door. One word of advice though is make sure your trailer is tongue high when you load with the winch or the car will want to roll forward on it's own once you get in the trailer.

[TheJDMan]

I also winch my car in. There is much less chance of damage to the car. Tie the car down and put slack in the winch line.

[David Pozzi]

Guys, it would be helpful to post up your winch brand & rated capacity if you are happy with it.
Mine is a Superwinch 3500 lb from Northern Hydraulics.

[tflyboy77]

Why do you put slack in the winch line after tie down? I don't use a winch. Im just curios. Seems like it would make a nice safety unless there's a fear of damaging the winch.

[TheJDMan]

I have a 4500lb Ramsey works like a charm. I back off the winch just so the cable is not putting the load on the winch gears. Kinda like shifting a car into neutral when hauling it so you don't damage the transmission.

[Blue Oval Man]

Looks like I am in the minority driving my car in the trailer.
Next question. How do you guys take them out of the trailer? Do you just jack the front of the trailer/back of truck way up and let the winch cable out slowly?
David.

[snappytravis]

I have always driven my cars in the trailer leave the drivers window down and climb out. Dodge viper is a little bit of a pia, The best thing I ever bought was a nice set of ratchet straps with the axle loops, I cross them on the front and rear. I think it's a personal preference of what ever works for you.

[parsonsj]

Do you just jack the front of the trailer/back of truck way up and let the winch cable out slowly?That's my method, but the collection of ramps needed to get my car in/on the trailer without losing my beloved CF splitter means a lot of pushing. Then once I get the doors clear, I usually drive it the rest of the way off.

[Tom Vogel]

Wow...
Alot of good advice. My railer is 24' long, 7'8" high and 99" wide inside. The access door is in the front on the passenger side. The car weighs 400lb. has right at 1100hp at the flywheel, TKO 600 with McCleod street twin clutch. Just getting ready to start her up as I am finishing the wiring now. I am 6'2" 190lbs. I turned 61 on Sat. so Im not climbing out the window, at least not before the resurection.
I guess winch will be the way to go for me.
Looking at the S series Superwinch with the nylon rope instead of the steel cable?

[Blue Oval Man]

I notice most of you do not have side access doors. Why is that? It makes it so much easier getting in/out of the car, no climbing out the window, gymnastics etc. I had to build a lifted platform in the trailer to get the car high enough for the door to clear the fender but that has caused no problems at all. I left the middle section between the platform open, I can store things under there and provides clearance for spoiler on car,and it makes it easier to get under car to attatch straps to chassis.
David.

[Randy67]

Quite a few of us have used trailers that didn't come with left side door. Probably not that hard to add one, but it doesn't bother me climbing out the window. Of course my Camaro is pretty stripped down with no side windows and gutted doors.

Winch wise I have a 6000 lb ATW winch that Northern had on clearance, plenty of power to pull the car. But I do have to get the front of the car up on the ramp first so the cable doesn't catch on the door gap. I now drive it in unless there is a problem, much faster than getting the winch ready. But no way would I do without a winch, it's a lifesaver when the car breaks. I kinda wish I did have the nylon rope now, but the steel cable works, just wear gloves around it.

[Kenova]

...... I turned 61 on Sat. so Im not climbing out the window, at least not before the resurection.

:bananna2:
Yeah baby! Let's here it for us old guys.:thankyou:

Ken

[FlyDoc]

I drive in, and it's very nerve racking I have a 28' feather light but there is only about 2" of clearance on each side of the '64 Impala.
we have put guides down the center. the guides consist of 3" PVC pipe screwed to the floor, I need to put it on the Ramp/door also.
the guides are a nice add-on!

[SparkyRnD]

Something else to consider is winch sizing. If your car weighs 3,000lbs, and you have a 3,500lb winch, you are already below what you really need. Most manufacturers suggestion taking the fully loaded, wet weight of your vehicle and multiply that by a factor of 1.5 times. So, if your car is around 3,500 pounds wet, you need to be looking at a 6,000lb capacity winch (and this is assuming winching on level ground, etc). But that is just the beginning...

The listed capacity rating of a winch is for the first roll of the drum when all of the cable is unspooled (ie: you can see the entire metal drum, and all of the cable has been unwrapped and is stretched tight out to your car). After that, each subsequent roll reduces the winching ability by approximately 10%. That means a 6,000lb winch will have the following:

roll 1: 6,000
roll 2: 5,400
roll 3: 4,860
roll 4: 4,374
roll 5: 3,937
roll 6: 3,543

As you can see, by roll #6 you are already at the weight of the car used in the example, and again, this is assuming you are pulling the car on flat ground. And 6 rolls of a winch is about 3-5' of distance depending on size of the drum.

Why is this important? Well, imagine you normally winch up your driving car into the trailer. Now, factor in the angle / slope of your ramps. Now, imagine that you just had a bad autocross run where you blew a tire; or worse, imagine that you had a suspension, engine or transmission failure or a serious wreck, where your vehicle no longer rolls freely in neutral, you will wish that you had a larger winch. That 1,000lb cheapo winch from Harbor Freight now presents one hell of a safety problem for you, those around you and your car & trailer. Have you ever seen a steel winch cable break and fly back towards the two anchor points? If not, here is a video that shows what can happen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1NnL83UpuQ

Trust me, this is something you do not want to ever be around. All of this is to say that much like picking a suspension or brake system for your car, you really need to do some research and calculations before buying a winch. There are very important safety issues that have to be considered so that you can get the right size winch for your application.

Also, when winching you should consider the following:

1. putting a blanket or winch safety marker on the middle of the cable during winching (http://www.amazon.com/Tuff-Stuff-Winch-Dampener-Blanket/dp/B003OA26QE); this is for if / when the cable breaks, it will dissipate the energy in the cable and allow it to fall to the ground, rather than come flying back in either direction and hurting someone (note that if you use synthetic cable, you won't have the 'fly back' condition, it will fall to the ground instantly in the case of breakage, as it doesn't store the energy like metal cable does)

2. using a pulley block / snatch block (http://www.amazon.com/Smittybilt-2744-Universal-Snatch-Block/dp/B003CG9PIC/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1361455909&sr=1-1&keywords=snatch+block). These are pulleys that attach to your car / strap, and the winch cable goes through the pulley, then hooks back to the winch or adjacent d-ring. What this does is effectively double your winching capacity. This does make the winching take longer, but it seriously reduces the amp draw on the winch and helps the winch last much much longer. Plus, your winch battery won't lose as much charge during this period.

3. make sure to let your winch cool down. Most winches are designed for 1-2 minutes of pulling, with approximately 20 minutes of cool down between runs. Now, I realize that almost no one follows that, but it is a good thing to have in mind when winching so that you understand how these systems were designed. Also consider how many amps you are pulling through the battery connected to the winch. These can also present a major fire hazard if the battery cables heat up too much.

4. make darn sure that your winch is attached to a winching plate (3/8" steel plate on average, at least the shape of the winch's largest dimensions), that is then installed on the floor, with another winch plate installed under the floor so that they are sandwiched together, using proper hardware too. This also needs to be done at a structural point of the trailer, and not just bolted to an empty wooden portion of the floor. Remember, just as a cable can break and fly off, a winch that isn't properly secured to the floor with proper hardware and mounting can rip out of the floor and come flying back at the car with more force than you can imagine.

5. as mentioned in #1 above, consider using synthetic winch cable. Not only is it considerably lighter, it also doesn't store the energy in the cable like metal does. This means if the cable should break, it will drop to the ground without having to have a blanket over it. This is a major safety issue that potentially save a life.

Here is a generic guide that has some good information:
http://www.grainger.com/tps/material_handling_winch_selection_guide.pdf

There are also a lot of other great guides online that you can search for, as well as videos of winching gone wrong.