Anyone in the D.C. area do any heavy steel/welding work? Looking to add dovetail to trailer

As noted, I have a 16' flatbed trailer that we haul the race cars on. The trailer in general is pretty good and in good condition, but the design is definitely tongue-heavy and even with a light 4-cyl car on it we're running more tongue weight than I'd like, and we'd like to be able to carry our tool chest on the front end - but to do this we need to get the car's weight back farther. It's already loaded as far back as safely possible (wheels about a foot from the back of the trailer). Also with the track car we have some clearance issues so a short dovetail would be useful. Though I'm not a great fabricator, I am an engineer and my calculations indicate that a 2-3 foot addition on the rear will not have a detrimental effect on towing stability based on the "60-40" typical rule for trailer overhang from the axles.

In any case, looking for someone with the skills/equipment/materials who can do a job like this - just a simple 2-foot dovetail (doesn't need ramp pockets or anything). I can weld, but my welder and skillset is probably not up to doing this job correctly/safely.

So if you do this kind of work and are within 100 miles or so of D.C., shoot me a message and a general ballpark quote and we can talk more. irish44j(at)yahoo.com

Josh

I'm with ya. Trying to convince my tech to give it a go with mine.

I'm in Carlisle PA and could help you, but two things are preventing me from doing it. first, I'm swamped at work... like 14 hours a day, 7 days a week kinda swamped. second, my welder is on the fritz. The drive wheel isn't feeding wire properly.

Otherwise I'd love to help out a fellow GRMer. If you can wait until September I might have the time and the welder repaired.

Thanks, just exploring options now, it's not urgent. If I don't have a solution by then, will definitely touch base with you!

One suggestion is to load the car on backwards. It may not be a permenent solution but it works for me. I have a trailer that was longer when I first bought it. I shorten it so that I could fit it into my garage when I needed to, usually it sits in a storage lot. My trailer even when new was similar to what you describe yours as. I have always loaded the car on back wards. I even installed a winch to load it with as backing the car on under power is hard if your alone.

Yeah, we've considered that, but the issue is with the lexan rear glass (and/or no rear glass in the summer), the windshield could get blown out from the inside if reverse-loaded. I have room for a couple extra feet on the trailer so if I can get it done for a reasonable price, I think that's a better solution. May have someone already to do it, we'll see what the quote comes back as :)

Have you considered moving the axle/s forward?

I'm 12 miles west of Gettysburg, Pa and could help you on a Saturday. I would need pics and dimensions of the existing rails on your trailer to figure an approximate cost. You can email me @ don49 at aol dot com