So as to not hijack Ryan's thread, Thinking about building car trailer to haul my 3 w behind my 59 elky. I want period correct. Which in my eyes is a two wheel trailer. I have hauld many 4 wheeled trailer with race car by truck. So what are opinions on 2 wheeled trailer, with some kind of good braking system on it. Will not use it interstate. I got video some where of nascar great Bobby Allison hauling a 56 chevy stock car with 59 elky, I think it was a 2 wheeled trailer. Anyway Opinion's Pro/cons.
they stopped using 2 wheel trailers because if a trailer wheel goes flat, it can cause serious damage
Boat trailers have surge brakes if they have brakes at all. IMO you're better off with electric trailer brakes and a quality brake controller.
A two wheel trailer can be built to haul your 3 window relatively safely. You will need a heavy enough axle, springs, tires and coupler to it right. I had a car trailer with vacuum controlled hydraulic brakes. (VelVac) It stopped like a Can AM car. I don't think they are available anymore. That being said, a two wheel trailer will NEVER be the equivalent of a 4 wheel unit. This is MHO!
Well not to be in a panic about 2 wheel trailers, just use 16" wheels and get 3/4 ton truck tires with a high load rating. What's the odds of a blowout then? Less than using plain ol car tires. Just a thought. Is it the old way? Fk'n eh it is. If you're creative you can get it nice and low nowadays because 102" is a standard. Never used to be. Lotsa room on the sides then and won't be too top heavy for a "car" to haul it. Just watch your tongue wt. As an aside, we used to call a big mouth in our street race gang tongue weight. "Hey tongue weight, shut up!"
I'll be building a car-specific trailer, hopefully soon, for the FED I'm building. Since I envision a late 60's - early 70's style car I think it would look appropriate on a 2 wheel "lollypop" trailer. I would like the "crutch" of another pair of wheels but there are a lot of 2 wheel box trailers sold commercially that probably have a higher gross weight rating than my trailer/FED will be. To get it balanced right, and assure a sensible amount of tongue weight I plan to build the basic frame of the trailer, put the car on it and use a 2" or 3" piece of tubing under the whole thing and then roll it forward and backward on the tube "roller" to find the balance point, adjust it to put in some tongue weight and then place the axle. Lynn
I would suggest using a modern Torflex axle. Weigh your car and set up the axle for 80% capacity and it will pull without beating you up. They can be purchased with elect. brakes and 8 lug wheels so the weight capacity of wheels and tires won't be a problem. You get Torflex axles in different angles on the stub to simulate a dropped axle. It was common for people to have a metal shop bend diamond plate steel for runners. One of my friends used 4" channel for his frame. The electric brakes are hardly noticeable to the outside world so you could make it look like 1959.
In the line of safety, yes 4 wheels is better than two always . If one day I had the inclination that it just had to be two wheels only, I would run a 10,000 lb axle with the 10 lug wheels and spend the money on the best tires you can put on it. But I don’t think I would get to that point , simply because safety trumps tradition and the value that is riding on that trailer doesn’t seem like a good idea to take a chance IMO .
Nothing wrong with single axle trailers and nothing wrong with hydraulic surge brakes. I found cable surge brakes too hard to get just right. I had a single axle to haul my avatar around to other states in Australia and as others have said use 8 ply light truck tyres (tires) and check hub and tyres for excess heat every time you pull up somewhere. The beauty of single axle is when set up correctly you won't know it's there.
You must not value your three window to want to put it on a two wheel trailer…. They quit using them because there’s a better way.
Its just a old car. I posted to get opinions. I'm not real sure. There are some very smart folks on here, i value their opinion.
I get why you would want to do it, you could even build it with plumbing pipe, a stick welder and a mobile home axle for the look but really.
I get trying to get the good old day vibe back , the reason we like our drivers , projects and parts , the first vision in my head is a blown tire , a roll over in a ditch and it’s “Katy bar the door “.
Maybe, but nowadays, in a whole lot of states, if it has a wheel on the ground it has to be registered and insured. That's just the way it is.
If you are buying parts to build a trailer, and you are already buying one axle with brakes, getting a matched-width un-braked axle to go with it, and an articulated spring setup won't set you back that much more. As others have mentioned, when a single axle trailer gets a flat tire (and it will happen sooner or later), things can get really ugly, really quickly. Considering that the value and rarity of both vehicles in this road-train, I would want the extra insurance.
Absolutely! It can be made to handle correctly . But If starting a new build from scratch , I would choose Torsion for single axle or go with tandem. And Electric brakes. Electric brakes are safer because they don't try to Jack-knife the tow vehicle if you need to brake mid-corner. [and they don't transfer braking force into the tow vehicle] If you make the trailer plug cable longer than the safety chain you don't need a breakaway [If the trailer comes off the towball it still stays plugged in and the brakes still work] We have built a few race car trailers so we have a bit of experience here. If you must build a single axle trailer Choose a Torsion axle that is correct for the load. The reason is........Single axle leaf spring suspension will Roll Oversteer and is prone to swaying. Torsion axles do not roll steer at all. If you decide on a Tandem axle setup , a rocker equalizer leaf spring will balance the load better. Rocker equalizer suspension with "Shackles on the rocker" will Roll understeer which is inherently more stable than roll oversteer. Don't use the slipper type that lengthens the wheelbase when compressed. So for a single axle trailer, the shopping list should include a "Dexter" torsion axle with electric brakes And a 50 deg "A-frame" coupler. AND a boat trailer foldaway "Jockey wheel" instead of a tongue jack. There is no reason why you can't make a new single axle trailer "look" period correct. The secret here is the choice of fenders and wheels [for example] Try and keep the moving parts to a minimum [eg: tie-down loops] so they dont break. Here is our latest race car hauler [This is homemade] It is tilt-deck , Dovetail rear, and Long ramps with built-in tilt limiters. Plus onboard battery, remote control winch and battery charging The ramps and tilt-deck automatically self latch. The idea was to load a low race-car without needing to dismantle it at the track We can normally knock-up a trailer in 2 weeks , but this took 3 month [because lack of motivation after building over 100 trailers]
In the world of the 1950 n 60s I started racing in;,short track oval and some road race sports cars were moved on open 2 wheel homemade trailers with no springs ,for the most part! Most made from left over steel WW2 temp aircraft landing "Marston mat" ,as runners. They were lite and full of holes. I built a few my self ,in early 1960s,still have one of them,, I still use. This was how we did them in early 60s ;,Home made,all stick-welded, axle is[ 6in steel "C"beam with 57 Ford car spindles n hubs=matchs to car or P-up truck as spair tire to save space{ I towed with a stationwagon,most used pickup trucks}. I towed 1000's of miles with 2800 lbs+ race cars on it,,often @ 70mph +,and tracks were between one to 6 hours tow one way. Had a few flats ,highest speed one,was a blow out on trailer @ 60 mph+ on two lane,even so did not go into other lane or off the road. Point is,I read a lot about,"OMG that's crazy to use one axle"< that's BS by those that never did it,or they did with a badly built or poorly balanced set up. This pick is off Bobby Allison's trailer n car, after this car,he started reg. driving for Lou White { I was crew for Lou},tell Bobby moved to Alabama,from Miami/Hialeah Speedway. After that Lou ,tryed a few other drivers,tell he ask me to drive #312> I did for the next 3+ years,we still used a one axle trailer. My son's racer,on my old trailer ,I built in the 1960s ,but pic of his #32 is about 1986.
Thats why i asked I never miss the hot rod reunion In KY there are some guys who come up from Miss. towing a 2 wheeled trailer with passenger car. One had a front engine dragster ,the other i think had Topalino. It does look cool as hell rolling in. Now folks, I aint married to the 2 wheeled idea. Again that why i asked.
And i do wander if some states might have laws againt using a 2 wheeled trailer to haul car?? How much would 32 coupe weigh. No fenders??
Not seeing anything right off. In any case, laws are not the only mitigating factor here. I just don't want you chuckin' your 3W and stuffing the '59 in a ditch, from a bad tire.
I've got a hankering for a similar single-axle trailer for the FED I have in construction. Similar construction to Dana's holey trailer. Does yours tilt (drive on), or use ramps? I'm hoping for the tilt version, but am unsure of the mechanics. Need some schooling. Agree on truck tyres and hydraulic overrun (surge) brakes). Cheers, Harv
Sure are a lot of guys paranoid about bad tires these days. Maybe more guys should be buying the right load range of new tires more often. The last time I had a tire failure, the old tire was about shot and I was trying to make it last a couple more months then I should have been. Seems to me buying a couple of new tires of the correct load range every 2-4 years would be pretty reasonable insurance against tire problems these days., especially if you avoid hitting things on the road as much as you can.
It's not paranoia. I have watched road debris take out otherwise perfectly good tires, and flip trailers. It is not possible to swerve to avoid everything, especially when you cannot leave your lane, because of traffic, or there being no other lane. I live in an area of high population density, coupled with high vehicle dependency. I see a lot of bad stuff happen.
Mine wasn't a tilt, just decent length ramps. The problem with a FED is similar to mine. Because most of the weight is toward the rear end of the FED you need to have the trailer axle far enough rearward to get 10% of gross on the the coupling. I bought a coupling scale from a caravan parts supplier so after weighing the trailer and race car and all the crap I loaded on it (gazebo shelter, water container and toolbox) I shifted the axle back till I had 10% on the scales. My wife was towing one day returning from Gunnedah drags and was doing 140kph (about 90 mph) overtaking two B-doubles and the trailer didn't give an ounce of grief.
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