Trailer type/height for car?

While I’m getting a little ahead of myself as I haven’t placed an order yet I’m trying to sort out if I can locate a trailer I can beg/borrow/steal or if I need to plan to include the delivery in the total price. What sort of trailer can you get this car onto? I’ve only got u-haul nearby and their selection for towing is awful, but if I can locate a fixer-upper trailer for a reasonable price I’ll probably go that way as I’ll need it quite a bit for the various inspections, weigh-in, tune, etc. before registration.

side note: Paid a visit to RCR today and they’re steadily at work. (Thanks for your time, Fran) The shop is full of bodies and frames “already bought” and it was worth a visit to actually see a car and also check out seat widths to know what would work best before purchase. Really neat to see the cars in the collection, especially the concept GTA(?), I’d daily drive that thing in a heartbeat, beautiful car.
 
I guess I should add this…they’re not open for regular business this week, I’d scheduled the visit quite some time ago and RCR helped out by making accommodations for me as I was in the area visiting family.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
An open flat trailer will serve it's purposes for hauling, but for not much more. An enclosed trailer provides protection and security when you have to leave the trailer unattended overnight, etc. Great for storing stuff of those track days so you don't have to load/unload it all. Depends on what you plan to do with the car I guess.
I ended up with an 8.5 wide and 20 long. Long enough to hold just about everything, but short enough to navigate around tight clearances...which seems to happen more often than I would have thought when traveling out of town, and unfamiliar with the cities.
 

Steven Lobel

Supporter
 

Bill Kearley

Supporter
Have a look at one of these, ATC all aluminum.
 

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If you get an open trailer, make sure that the bottom of the doors will clear the top of the fenders.
If you're looking at a closed trailer, make sure there's enough room to open the doors (some trailers have a hatch that will open to make room for the doors (like in the second photo Bill just posted as I wrote this))

For either kind of trailer, you'll need to make sure that the approach angle works for the underside of the car's nose. Some people will add a plywood flap to the ramp/door or use something like Race Ramps extensions for trailer ramps.
(I currently put a pair of 2x10s under the trailer ramp, but I might upgrade to a pair of trailer ramps)
 

Steven Lobel

Supporter
If you get an open trailer, make sure that the bottom of the doors will clear the top of the fenders.
If you're looking at a closed trailer, make sure there's enough room to open the doors (some trailers have a hatch that will open to make room for the doors (like in the second photo Bill just posted as I wrote this))

For either kind of trailer, you'll need to make sure that the approach angle works for the underside of the car's nose. Some people will add a plywood flap to the ramp/door or use something like Race Ramps extensions for trailer ramps.
(I currently put a pair of 2x10s under the trailer ramp, but I might upgrade to a pair of trailer ramps)

I am 18 months in on the Kwik-load Texas rollback 18' dual axle. Do not use it as much as I would like, but that is more of a car building/tweaking thing. It is rock solid. It had some mild shifting in the tilt mechanism and I initially solved this by welding on tabs and adding pins to lock the bed to the chassis. When that became too cumbersome (hammering pins in) I just used straps to pull the bed full front on the chassis and cinched it up against the rail. Much easier and no rattling. Plenty wide and doors open over fenders.
 
I trailer mine regularly so I'll chime in.

With an enclosed trailer, any normal person will not be able to drive it in unless you have the big opening door like in Bill's post above.

A trailer with a winch makes it much easier to load and if it's got a wireless or long corded remote it makes is a pretty easy one man job.

With any trailer you will need long ramps. Higher the deck, longer the ramps. I have the front lift - I'd never get it on a trailer without at what I run as a "normal" ride height.

The doors will clear most car hauler fenders - much better chance than the average sports car.

I'll attach some pictures with a few trailers. The utility trailer is HIGHLY DISCOURAGED. It fit with about 3/4" to spare on each side - no winch so drove it up. The white trailer is my Stacker/Sprint Car hauler (hence tight at the front and lots of room at the back). The back of that trailer gives you an idea of how much room you could have with a max width enclosed trailer.

I am actually looking to buy a car hauler similar to the one I rented - it would supplement my stacker for those times I don't need to take the kitchen sink with me. The rented car hauler is from a small local company (advertises on FB). $100/day, $350/week. I rented it for a week to haul the SLC to West Texas - saved more on fuel than the rental cost.

Sprint Car/Stacker:
936.JPG 937.JPG
Utility Trailer:
IMG_0011.jpg IMG_0013.jpg
Rented car hauler:
IMG_7035.JPG
 

Steven Lobel

Supporter
I trailer mine regularly so I'll chime in.

With an enclosed trailer, any normal person will not be able to drive it in unless you have the big opening door like in Bill's post above.

A trailer with a winch makes it much easier to load and if it's got a wireless or long corded remote it makes is a pretty easy one man job.

With any trailer you will need long ramps. Higher the deck, longer the ramps. I have the front lift - I'd never get it on a trailer without at what I run as a "normal" ride height.

The doors will clear most car hauler fenders - much better chance than the average sports car.

I'll attach some pictures with a few trailers. The utility trailer is HIGHLY DISCOURAGED. It fit with about 3/4" to spare on each side - no winch so drove it up. The white trailer is my Stacker/Sprint Car hauler (hence tight at the front and lots of room at the back). The back of that trailer gives you an idea of how much room you could have with a max width enclosed trailer.

I am actually looking to buy a car hauler similar to the one I rented - it would supplement my stacker for those times I don't need to take the kitchen sink with me. The rented car hauler is from a small local company (advertises on FB). $100/day, $350/week. I rented it for a week to haul the SLC to West Texas - saved more on fuel than the rental cost.

Sprint Car/Stacker:
View attachment 119962 View attachment 119963
Utility Trailer:
View attachment 119964 View attachment 119965
Rented car hauler:
View attachment 119966
I got the kwik-load and do not need ramps, but I do have the front air ram lift kit. If front end is down, my GT-R is not going to make any trailer without 8 foot ramps minimum.
 

Ron McCall

Supporter
Bill Kearley,
Keep a close eye on the bottom corners of the rear door opening on your ATC. I have a 24" ATC and ,while it is a great trailer ,
it broke in this area and the
rear door nearly fell off. I reinforced it with 1/4 plate gussets in the corners and some other additional tubing under the rear and it seems to be completely fine now. I've spoken with two other owners who have had similar experiences .
You would think for what they charge for the trailer, it should not be an issue but.....


Ron
 
For the limited use I'd need it for that car hauler is the right price and size. I don't need a tricked out enclosed trailer, just one to get the job done.
 

Mark B.

Supporter
I'm in the same situation, Jeff. I don't do any multi-day trips (except when I hauled the car across country when I moved). I went with an Eagle aluminum 16 foot bed trailer with a wood deck. The deck is relatively high at about 2 feet or so, so I had to buy a set of the longest race ramps to get the car on (trailer came with 4 foot ramps). I also later welded up a winch bracket since I'm usually loading it on my own. It was only about $5K new, but you can find similar sized trailers in steel new or used for a lot less. Non-removable fenders, but for the SLC, door to fender clearance is great, but a corvette, Porsche, or something with normal, low doors may have a challenge.

The other thing to keep in mind is tongue weight with a mid-engine car. I have to pull the car forward as far as possible to get enough weight on the tongue since the car is so rear-weight biased. On mine, I have to get the rear intake ducts basically centered over the trailer wheels which on a shorter trailer would be impossible.

20200525_211447.jpg
 
In the SLC's case, would backing the car onto the trailer not work or is the car too long to correctly pace the engine/trans for the right tongue weight?
 

Neil

Supporter
I usually load my mid-engined car on my trailer backwards but I can also get it far enough forward that it has enough tongue weight on the hitch for a stable tow if I load it nose-first. I always winch my car on and off; the visibility is not good enough to drive it on.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
1641421648997.png

Yeah, CG over the axles with about 400 lbs of shelving, tools, wench, battery, fuel, and what-nots up front. BTW, for anybody that cares, I finally got a set of "Race Ramps", and they have made loading the car up so much easier than the wood I used earlier.
 
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