Trailer sizing, used trailer "sources"

The SC300 project is finally home in the garage. While it is registered for the street and passed smog, I don't enjoy the idea of driving a turbo car that gets ~13mpg (guesstimated) more than 2 hours each way to the track. That means it's probably trailer time.

The tow rig is a 1998 Ford E350 with a 7.3 Powerstroke and a class 3 hitch. I've towed U-Haul trailers with it before and it's like they're not even there. That being said, a U-Haul trailer is designed to carry a wide range of not very low cars and do it really safely even if you are a moron.

Fortunately, I am a total moron, but I am looking to get a used fancy aluminium trailer (Trailex, Featherlite, etc).

According to Dr. Wikipedia, here are the '92 SC300 dimensional specs: Wheelbase 105.9 in Length 191.3 in Width 70.5 in Height 52.4 in Curb weight 3,485 lb

Now, since I can't do math, I borrowed a calculator and came to the realization that the car is almost 16 feet long (15.94)! Granted, the car has almost the same wheelbase as a C5 or C6 Corvette, but is ~12 inches longer. A few places have reported that the car has a near 50/50 weight distribution (somewhere in the 53/47 arena).

I've seen that people have used 16' trailers to tow the aforementioned 'Vettes, but I am wondering if my boat here is going to be too long for that. 18' trailers seem hard to find, used ones more so, and finding a quality used aluminium trailer has been quite difficult.

Any suggestions here on picking brands, picking sizes, finding used, etc etc? I've been poking around various forums (Rennlist, Corvetteforums, etc) but enclosed trailers seem to be way more common than fancy aluminium trailers, and steel trailers are abundant but... not so fancy.

The desire for aluminium is purely functional - it weighs less, which means I'm towing less, which means better fuel economy. At ~$4.00/gal for diesel, a 1MPG improvement would save only about $10 on a 600 mile tow. Even at $50 saved on a 600 mile tow, it would take a long time to recover the price difference between a heavy steel trailer and a light aluminium one in fuel costs alone. Sure you could say that the lighter trailer would also cause less wear and tear on the tow rig, but I'm not towing with an F150 or some other "small" vehicle.

As you can tell, I am over analyzing the heck out of what should probably be really simple... but this is the kind of place where that goes on quite often.

Cheers, Erik

I used to put my 67 El Camino on a 15' trailer and it had a 115" wheelbase and about 16.5ft long overall. The back of the car did hang off the trailer by about 2 or so feet, but didn't cause any problems. A 16' trailer should be enough.

The bed on the Aluma 8216 (16') is listed as 82" x 192". The car will fit inside those dimensions, but is there any concern over the weight distribution and getting the car "centered" over the trailer axles (to reduce tongue weight)? I guess I could leave the rear of the car hanging off the trailer if I need to back it up for weight reasons, but then doesn't ratcheting it down become somewhat difficult?

Sorry - new to trailering!

Are you worried about too much tongue weight or too little?

Too little (car hanging too far off the end of the trailer) will make it sway, which is supposed to be very dangerous (never had it happen myself, so no personal experience with it). Too much tongue weight just means more load on the truck -- but you've got a one-ton chassis van that's massive overkill, so you can probably afford it.

So, if it were me, I'd get a cheap 18' steel frame/wood deck trailer, stick the car on it, and ballast the front if necessary. Tongue box with a jack and other tools in it, tire rack over the front of the trailer, etc.

I don't see any reason to buy the fancy open aluminum trailer. It's a theft target that provides no real benefit to you. That 18' steel/wood trailer probably weighs 2200 pounds (my 16' one is 1900), so with the SC300 you're at 5500. That's way less than the limit on your van, so what's the point in spending another three or four grand to knock 600-800 pounds off the trailer weight?

codrus wrote: Are you worried about too much tongue weight or too little? Too little (car hanging too far off the end of the trailer) will make it sway, which is supposed to be very dangerous (never had it happen myself, so no personal experience with it). Too much tongue weight just means more load on the truck -- but you've got a one-ton chassis van that's massive overkill, so you can probably afford it. So, if it were me, I'd get a cheap 18' steel frame/wood deck trailer, stick the car on it, and ballast the front if necessary. Tongue box with a jack and other tools in it, tire rack over the front of the trailer, etc. I don't see any reason to buy the fancy open aluminum trailer. It's a theft target that provides no real benefit to you. That 18' steel/wood trailer probably weighs 2200 pounds (my 16' one is 1900), so with the SC300 you're at 5500. That's way less than the limit on your van, so what's the point in spending another three or four grand to knock 600-800 pounds off the trailer weight?

This

from a straight financial standpoint - it will take a very long time, if ever, to see any kind of savings/return as opposed to just driving a 13 mpg car a few hundred miles over perhaps getting 18-20 mpg (or less) in the van, buying a trailer and towing. OTOH, as a mechanism to facilitate your automotive addiction, I think having a diesel van, 16-18 ft trailer is awesome - add pole barn for the automotive ADD trifecta. Personally I'd opt for a 16' steel trailer/wood deck

You say you want an aluminum trailer to save on fuel costs. For the cost difference of a steel trailer vversus the cost of an aluminum trailer you can buy a lot of diesel! Say you did get 1 mpg better, how many miles will be have to tow it to first break even? Plus steel is easier to repair or modify and as mentioned, less of a thief risk!

Nearly 20 years ago I bought a new 16 ft long wood deck trailer. It came with 4 wheel electric brakes and 3500# axles. I paid $1200 and today with the improvements and modifications I've made to it I would ask $2000 for it and wouldn't take less the $1800. Not that I'm selling.

I know a couple of people that have aluminum trailers but they went that route due to the light cars they wanted to move and the less then ideal tow vehicle they had.

I tow w/ a F250 '02 PSD. At best, I get ~14 MPG towing an open UHaul trailer and my Spec Miata.

You won't realize a cost savings by towing. Especially when you factor in purchase price of the trailer, storage of the trailer and fuel for the tow rig.

Heck, on some of the closer tracks, I sometimes drive my Spec Miata to the track to avoid the hassle of towing and loading/unloading the trailer. Nothing I hate more than loading/unloading the frickin' trailer....

You can typically buy an open 16-18' steel trailer for somewhere between $1-2k used. I have yet to see an AL trailer for under $4k used.

amg_rx7 wrote: I tow w/ a F250 '02 PSD. At best, I get ~14 MPG towing an open UHaul trailer and my Spec Miata.

Something is wrong.

I get 22 mpg towing regularly with the same truck (extended cab). Mine is chipped, nothing more.

I don't know anyone who only gets 14 mpg with a 7.3L, even when towing. The guys who are not getting good mileage are usually complaining about 17 or 18 mpg.

I don't know anyone that can actually do math that can get 22 mpg. :) Sorry just never seen it including my friend w/ a 6 speed manual who's owned it since new.

Ok, sounds like everyone has convinced me to go with an all-steel unit. I'll let you know how the mileage goes but I seem to recall getting about 20 towing a U-Haul trailer with a '95 Subaru Outback on it.

don't fall for the 16' trailer trap. get the 18'

one day you will thank me, like when you decide that your buddy's grandma's 96 fleetwood that has 10k miles and has been sitting in the garage for 20 years needs towed to your place.

i have an 18' trailer and ive carried caprice wagons, suburbans, a dump truck, fullsize trucks, etc... with no issue. with a 16' i would not have been able to carry half the loads because the rear wheels would be off the trailer.

Just to let y'all know -- I still have not purchased a trailer. But I did borrow a ~26foot enclosed unit to tow the Lexus up to VIR for Chin's event recently. I averaged about 13mpg towing said trailer with the car and an air compressor and a few hundred pounds of tools and other miscellaneous gear.

I guess that's not too bad. The route from ATL to VIR is fairly hilly and I am still trying to figure out the optimal speed vs. power band vs fuel efficiency.

Unfortunately this old E350 7.3 Powerstroke doesn't have a lot in the way of aftermarket computer stuff so I'm not sure how to ideally determine the best speed for fuel efficient towing.

thoraxe wrote: I don't enjoy the idea of driving a turbo car that gets ~13mpg (guesstimated) more than 2 hours each way to the track. (...) The tow rig is a 1998 Ford E350 with a 7.3 Powerstroke and a class 3 hitch.

I understand your rationale, but I found this little bit of irony to be hilarious.

In reply to Knurled:

The sad thing is that the stupid van is probably almost as loud as the car itself!

Then again, if i drove the car to the track and it broke, I'd be without a way home. Plus, the van is much easier to store stuff in.

Ah, the fun of owning a not-very-streetable car.

Everybody's got a different opinion of course (that is why they invented the Internet, after all), but for my money, towing versus driving has little to do with fuel and everything to do with comfort, reliability, and convenience. I'm willing to drive the car a lot harder if I know I've got a pretty easy way home no matter what. And being able to do all the tire changing and other prep work in the comfort of my driveway the night before makes the day of the event much more relaxing.

I don't diesel right now, but I've found that I get the same mileage in my E-150 (2006 with the 5.4) no matter if my steel/wood trailer is empty or full. I pretty much do about 14-15mpg on the highway either way. Your mileage my (literally) vary, but as previously mentioned, even 1 or 2 mpg improvement isn't going to buy you much. Now, maybe if you had a fleet of a few dozen carriers that were each doing a quarter million miles a year it might add up and allow you to reduce your opex over time (or, more likely, reduce the increase in your opex), but for a once in a while thing, probably not worth it.

It might be completely different between gas and diesel, but I can keep a fairly consistent mileage on hilly terrain by just not thrashing the van up the hills. I'll turn off overdrive if there are a lot of hills to prevent the transmission from shifting too much, and then just let the speed bleed off naturally as I'm going up the hill. It might get me down to 50-55mph on the highway, but I avoid pushing the rig too hard up the hills. I've not seen too much difference between doing 60 and 70 for long stretches, either.

One other important thing about tongue weight, though, is that if you have too much on the tongue, it will reduce the amount of weight on the front wheels of the tow rig, reducing the effectiveness of the steering, so be careful with that. In order to keep my trailer pretty neutral, I let the bumper overhang the end of the trailer by a bit and just use the factory shipping tie-down points on the unibody for my rear attachment. It seems to work fairly well and since there isn't much weight on the rear wheels anyway, it allows the trailer-van combo to sit pretty much flat.

you have a one ton diesel van tow vehicle and you are worried about getting too much trailer? i'm looking for an 18 foot steel trailer to haul cars and trucks that might weigh upwards of 5500 pounds and i've "only" got an ancient 87 GMC 3/4 ton truck.. i've hauled 4500 pound cars on a borrowed 20 foot steel trailer with that truck before and hardly knew it was back there other than the little 307 straining to keep moving up hills- but the 8100 i will swap into it some day will hopefully take care of that problem..