Hot Rods Single-axle race car trailers... pros, cons?

I have access to a boat trailer... it's a stout trailer with full-size wheels/tires, and what I'm guessing is at least a 2,000 pound axle.
The boat is a 18-foot tri-haul fiberglass boat--it weighs 1250 pounds, without the engine. The engine on it is a big 115hp Merc, so it tips the scales about the same as my Altered race car. (and unfortunately the boat is junk).

With a couple of 16-inch wide tread plate decks for the wheels, a pair of ramps, and a tool box for gear, it'd be a decent, nostalgic-style, fairly light-weight trailer.

What are the cons to towing a race car (about 1650 pounds... maybe) with a single-axle trailer?

Lots of guys did it, but at some point tandem-axle trailers came into vogue. Tandem axle trailers are very stable, and perfect for hauling heavier cars and trucks. But do those dynamics come into play with a light-weight race car?

 

I'd opt for 4 tires vs 2, when that flat tire eventually comes along. Gary

 

I plan on building a single axle trailer for my Bantam altered if and when I ever get it finished. I had one years ago for my first Bantam drag car , the car loaded backwards and it towed just fine.

Don

 

I have been using this one for at least 25 years. It has thousands of miles on it. If the balance is right you should be fine. It has very heavy duty hubs and tires. It doesn't have brakes but would be better if it did.

 

Having built a shitload of car haulers
The biggest issue with single axles with leaf springs is Roll oversteer caused by suspension compression moving the axle rearward in an arc. This can be corrected by using flatter springs and taller hangers.
[Torsion axles don't have this problem]

Roll oversteer is what starts oscillations from side to side because weight is always being transferred to the opposite side.
Roll understeer is more stable and only requires more driver effort instead of correction

Sometimes the extra cost of decent tyres on single axle trailers can pay for an idler axle.

When selling a single axle the public want to pay 1/2 price ,which is why I now only build tandems

 

1650 lbs is not a lot of weight. The biggest thing is correct weight on tow bar, ie balance of trailer as Kiwi Kev says.

 

I towed a stock car (3300 lb) on a single-axle trailer (borrowed) for a season. I wasn't going too far and it towed well. I guess for a lighter car you'd be okay with one.

 

A single axle turns easier when parking in the pits.. Balance is another factor. As a dedicated trailer to the race car it should be easy to get that figured out. If you use it for other things it may become a problem.

 

I did the tongue-weight thing when I first got the use of the trailer, 200 lbs max. So I knew where to park the car on it.

 

I would opt for two axles with brakes, electric winch and spare tire.. It may be overkill but you never know when you will have to load a dead racer by yourself or when you need it for another car.

 

Good explanation that also affects older trucks with parallel rear leaf springs ..Rear hanger higher than the front hanger by about 4 inches can lessen this effect.

 

Not a bunch of weight there, But would help to get the big weight over the axle. The bigger question is what you plan to pull it with, Little truck or mini van hauling a heavy trailer gets pushed around and the brakeing system a little short. I towed my cackle dragster to the CHRR with my Chevy Colorado and a Carson utility trailer with the ramp down (supported) It was a little short from hitch to axle centerline so I had to put the dragster on backwards to get the weight correct, the balence was great and towed perfect. The other thing is boat trailers tend to be a little high and a ramp system must be figured out. My utility trailer was so well balenced that one person standing on the tailgate/ramp tipped the trailer and the dragster just rolls off without ramps and same with loading it.

 

Well our camper is single axle and it no doubt outweighs your car.

From my seat of the pants unscientific experience a single axle trailer does not feel as stable are a tandem axle trailer and they are less forgiving when it comes to weight bias then a tandem. They also seem to react better to an equalizer hitch then a tandem axle trailer. Maybe better isn't the proper word, the difference seems more noticeable.

 

Here is one we built 50 years ago. It had an axle from a house trailer with H.D. hubs, electric brakes, etc.
It looks amazingly similar to the one Kevin just posted this morning. We went everywhere with it for many years.
And "balance" is very important!

 

One good thing about a single axle trailer is they are very easy to move around a yard, just push it where you want to go. I don't think they are better than tandem axles, just not as bad as a lot of people who have no experience with them think.

 

Brad, I know you're here in GA as am I. I did some asking around 3-4 years ago when I was trying to decide on either refurbishing an old car hauler that that was built by a friend in the 50-'s and which I wound up with in the mid 60s. I pulled it all over 3 states hauling dirt trackers till the mid 70s. Still had it stashed away on a friends back lot. It was/is a tandem axle, with no brakes. The other choice was to get a more modern trailer with brakes, proper lighting, etc.
Discussions with other trailer owners, and also an off the record talk with a guy I know who is an instructor for new inspectors for the GA DOT revealed things had changed in recent years.
GA was having way to many accidents caused by poorly equipped/maintained tralers, and there had been a radical increase in the number of inspectors patrolling our highways, especially the interstates. If they see you pulling a ratty looking trailer, count on a pullover and if it doesn't meet requirements they can and will detain you on the roadside till you get a wrecker or rollback to haul it away and off public highways. It happened to a friend of mine with what I had though was a pretty nice covered trailer full of various machine tools he had bought at an auction. Had to call in a rollback to haul it home!
So I bought a nice used trailer with 4whl brakes, etc. But then I got to checking into the age of the radial trailer tires, and the condition oif the wiring, and by the time I replaced the tires and rewired with new LED lights, I had the price of a new trailer in it! So keep that in mind also! Believe me, Brad, there ain't no cheap way out on a trailer nowadays.
Sorry for the novel, but it's an important issue.

 

Hands down, the craziest trailer I ever saw was an old drive-on lube rack fitted with trailer axles. No brakes, no springs. It was maybe 18" wider than any standard trailer. The guy drove it behind an old Ford wrecker and had a stock car on it.

 

Also got two less tires to wear out. LOL

 

How much money do you have in the Altered? Is it worth risking damage to it when a tire blows out?
Can your tow vehicle stop it when some moron cuts you off trying to merge on the highway? Your life,
the lives of others and the property damage risk is too high a price to pay to use less than the best brakes
you can on any vehicle including trailers. Of course I drive in Connecticut so my experiences are biased
by all the idiots on the road here.

 

That's because you are being a lazy prick showing off that high-tech fancy fold-away jockey wheel on your trailer tongue.
Most poor Americans have to settle for a tongue jack mounted in a 50 degree "A" frame coupler strategically placed to wipe out the tailgate on a pickup!

 

Excellent perspectives, guys, I appreciate it!
I've got a tandem-axle, steel-deck car hauler with a dove-tail. It needs to be gone through from start-to-finish. Up to now, I haven't had a truck that'll haul it well. I do plan on going through it (already have new 10-ply tires and a Northern Tools winch for it). The brakes never worked on it, but I hauled a lot of heavy vehicles with it over the years. It's been laid up for about 8 years or so.
In "Brad's Perfect World," I'll have the Altered running and racing next season, and the following year (2017), I'll have my Widow Wagon gasser also running. Ideally, I'll bring two vehicles to different races to run with my son, and promote The Gear Jam Drags. Hence, the questions about the boat trailer... since it's here and I have it already.
There are a hell of a lot of boats hauled on single-axle trailers, and I don't see them being unsafe or dangerous. They weigh around the same as my altered, so it shouldn't be an issue.
I'll be pulling them behind one of three vehicles: '76 Dodge 4x4 Powerwagon, '61 Suburban (updated brakes, etc), and I'm also about to start a '61 Chevy long-step 4x4.

 

I towed all over the country with a converted single axle boat trailer. Never any problems. One nice thing about boat trailers is the long tongues seem to stabilize the trailer.

 

A boat trailer is not a car trailer.

How much to you value the car you would put on a modified boat trailer ?

Buy a tandem axle car hauler trailer.

Just passed a motorcycle accident in Montana where the driver had a blowout
on a small tow behind trailer & rolled - killed the driver.

Life is risky enough just driving down the road - why take another chance ?


Jim

 

towed many miles and years with single axle sprint car trailers,never any problems.also blew many tires and the trailers were no harder to control that the tandem axle trailers I later owned.the single axle trailers were usually overloaded with spare tires,tool boxes etc. After I had to start using radial tires due to the difficulty finding bias plys tire pressure became more critical[usually had to run 50+lbs of air to keep the trailer from feeling "snakey"]the higher pressure also kept the tire cooler,less flex.

 

I just love how as soon as somebody uses a single axle trailer it is instantly dangerous.

1: a blowout on a small tow behind trailer is usually overloaded for the tyres
2: a small tow behind trailer rolls [the tow vehicle] killing the driver is overloaded

I've seen a small tow behind trailer roll and get dragged down the road upside down without tipping the tow vehicle

A single axle trailer is no more dangerous than a single rear axle "dump truck" if it is thought out correctly.

 

My first trailer was a homemade single axle made out of Army surplus steel, and airfield matting( I lived next to fort ord when I bought it.) It was a heavy mother, handled some pretty heavy loads with it. My only concern was weight ratings on the tires. It had no brakes, and I towed it behind a 66 C 10. I wouldn't do it again, but I lived. I towed all over northern and Central California with it, early 90's

 

I'll have to chime in with support for single axle trailers. I've got thirty years in the boat biz, and boat racing, have 100's of thousand miles with a trailer in the mirrors.

From a trailer perspective, that little altered is a flyweight. Spend a little time working out the proper balance and tongue weight, and you are good to go.

The wailing about flat tires is a none issue. Trailer tires fail from overloading, and dry rot because people think they don't deteriorate sitting in the driveway. They do.

A properly maintained and set up single axle rig will tow fine. I've towed Formula-1 raceboats coast to coast forever without issue.

 

I built my tandem axle out of a single axle boat trailer. Not a lightweight trailer to start with, it's built out of 4" channel steel. I axed the original axle and used two mobile home axles on springs. I used the original axle location for the front axle and placed the other one behind that. I added crossmembers, used two pieces of I beam for the outside of the bed, and floored it with 2.5" thick LVL laminated beams. It's only got a 16' floor, but so far that has been long enough. I've only got about $500 in it, lots of the stuff I used was gave to me or was stuff I had laying around. Only thing I wish it had is brakes. I've hauled lots of cars and trucks on it, scrap metal, gravel, dirt, lumber, farm tractor, whatever. It pulls straight loaded and empty. I've drug it from here to Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA, and all over AL with my F150 with no problems other than a few blown tires, mostly due to their age.

 

First thing is determine what weight the trailer is rated for ? Spindle & bearing ratings. Then look at calculating the total loading with the addition of tread plate, more steel support framing, empty tool box, load in the tool box, run the car over a set of scales to determine the final total load. Steel weights for plate & angle etc are easy to acquire and may escalate the weight quickly. It may be surprising as to what the total weight rolls up to. Any risk of bolts becoming undersized for the weight so they might need to be upsized if they are borderline. Second what are the laws for trailer brakes with the actual weight vs the trailer rated or registered weight. Once there is a total weight one may determine if the trailer is adequate or grossly over capacity.

Consider getting a second axle with brakes and that could do a lot for without a huge investment. Wreckers usually have wrecked camping trailers so you could pick up an axle. A pair of axles would distribute & support the trailer weight better. Brakes would make it safer.

I have pulled tandem & single trailers. Tandems ride flat with less pitching. I had a single axle get squirrely once and that was an eye opener and the axle brake controller helped tame it on that occasion. Never had a problem with a boat trailer with a boat.

Car hauler trailers are usually not that expensive and would give more peace of mind and you could comfortably load it with all the gear without pushing its limits, have adequate tires and trailer braking. Boat trailers sell easy and could help offset the purchase.
Glenn

 

Having towed many years/miles w/both, I would choose the tandem axle trailer w/ electric brakes from my experience's. Getting the balance correct is critical w/ any trailer also tires that matched weight load you are carrying. Todays, pro built trailers are so reasonable, IMO, I think its foolish to risk injury to yourself/family and wreck your racer to save a few $$$.