[cmartin]

I'm looking to add a trailer to the fold and would appreciate any advice on the purchase. I'm looking at a steel open trailer, ideally with brakes on both axles, extended ramps and a dovetail. What is the best length for a 911? Is the open floor or covered floor recommended? The full floor version is a little more $$, but seems to give more options. Does it make sense to buy it with the tirerack, or fabricate myself? I dont need it yet, but see it down the road. TK's setup is the bees knees....

Should I just skip the open trailer and go right to an enclosed? Sure, I know you want a place to sit when it's cold, but it's my $$.

I saw a guy advertising at SP this weekend, but all I got was a website which turns out to the a manufactures site and not his. Any chance anyone know's this guy? His truck had PA plates and he was selling open trailers for $1595.

Thanks for any advice

[Trak Ratt]

Hill Top in Gainsville. 15” dovetail with electric brakes new $1,495. Add spare tyre about $90 or get one from Tracker Supply about $60. John B. and I built a rack for 8 tyres patterned after the Khaos’s $175 in steel, most of one late winter day.
Goose necks take up a lot of bed space and are generally larger. Dovetail means back is lower than bed to ease loading the red car.
Closed make great storage mad neighbors.

[cmartin]

Thanks Dave, great info. Is 15' long enough for the car, and future tire rack and so on? I want to make sure I have room for the grill..

Good lead on Hll Top too, thanks.

[Trak Ratt]

A lot of people use the 15’ including me. I have plenty of room on the trailer and have even carried full size cars and trucks without drama. I built my tyre rack “lower” so I wouldn’t have to schlep the tyres so much so did loose some utility. 911s have to be moved forward a lot to keep the trailer tail from waging. My 931 sits farther back, still plenty of room for grill, ATV, moto. etc.

[ttrew]

Given that you live in Severna Park, you might want to try Peroni on Route 1 in Laurel. I used one of their trailers for a number of years before going to an enclosed trailer. They will also do custom fabrication of any options you might want, like a winch stand, tire rack, spare mount, etc.

You definitely want 4 wheel electric brakes, don't risk it with just two wheel brakes. My opinion is that a split deck trailer is the way to go. The full wooden deck trailers weigh about 500 pounds more (had one on a scale recently) and while you might think it is more flexible, it makes strapping the car down harder and you can't use it as a quick service lift at the track if needed.

Some of the trailers out there have the axles mounted pretty far forward, and are not 911 friendly. I can think of a couple of 911s that have to be backed onto the trailer just to get sufficient tongue weight. Where ever you get it make sure that the axles are pretty far back, as close to to the beavertail as possible.

Remember to consider the tow capacity of your truck. An split deck steel trailer will weigh 1600 pounds or so, add 3000 for the car, and 500-1000 for your spares and tools. You will be surprised how quickly you will get to the max your TV can pull.

[BillJ]

Another plug for the guys in Laurel - if you buy a new trailer for them they help balance your car for you. Bring your rig and car and they check the tongue weight, overall balance with your truck, etc. Its a good thing to have a pro help you set things right before your first trip. They also offer very reasonable storage last time i checked. And I think it is Perrones? (sp) - i have a t shirt at home from them that has two asses (biblical not social) on a trailer that says (of course) "Haul Ass with a Perrone Trailer". It is a workshirt

[Trak Ratt]

Originally Posted by 1973914

biblical not social

[rs911t]

Its a good thing to have a pro help you set things right before your first trip.

Bah! Setup is easy:

(1) load car onto trailer

(2) tow trailer at 60mph, but choose where carefully. you don't want to perform this test on parts of the PA turnpike.

(3) measure "trailer wag", using the Pucker Scale we're all famailiar with

(4) if pucker is less than or equal to 1, you're properly setup!

(5) pull over, loosen rear tie downs, tighten fronts a couple clicks

(6) go to #2 and repeat

[Trak Ratt]

Spoken as if you have some experience! Less pucker but possibly better for car, trailer and home life; use bathroom scale to measure tongue weight. I’d recommend having trailer hooked to car first and then carefully unhook just incase there is “negative” weight present. Measure weight at ~ roughly ~ ride height of tow vehicle. (might want to place jack stand under rear of trailer just in case)

I was thinking about a different method. With car and truck loaded, jack the trailer up just till the weight starts to come off the back of the truck (any movement). Then put the scale under and lower back down slowly.

In either case you should have the tow vehicle loaded with “typical” track day stuff, tyres, tools, gas etc. on trailer. Lower ride height of tow vehicle = more tongue weight for same car position.

I’ve tried Greg’s method (several times) didn't like the drama

[Vicegrip]

hitch weight should be aprox 10% of trailer load. I think a bathroom scale would max at 300lb. Compensated hitches and or sway dampers help quite a bit if you have a less than than best setup. Ie. pulling a 5500lb enclosed with a 3.3 L V6. I used both and the rig was dead stable all the time.

Single pad of a car scale works great as they will read to 1000 lb each. I set up by hooking trailer up to truck, driving car onto trailer, unhook and lower landing gear wheel on to scale, move car back and forth to hit 10% and marking spot. If you add a bunch of stuff to back of truck move car back a bit on trailer to conpensate.

You can also purchase trailer scales that are little oil filled piston based setups that look like a little jack stand with a guage on them. Dorki group purchase?