[Shop-talk] trailer advice needed

[David Hillman]

On Mon, 8 Oct 2007, John T. Blair wrote:
> I'd suggest that you get a tandom wheel trailer and electric brakes.

    If it comes down to one or t'other, for price or whatever reason, I'd 
go with the un-braked dual axle.  Brakes are great, but really unnecessary 
for the rig you're talking about.  I've towed my 2200 pound racecar on an 
18' steel open trailer ( ~2 tons total ) with a variety of vehicles; a 
Ford Ranger, an '02 F150, an '03 half-ton Silverado, a fullsize GMC van, 
and a huge '07 3/4 ton Diesel Silverado.  Even the Ranger had no problems, 
despite the fact that the trailer's brakes are broke, and always have 
been ( not my trailer ).  The rest barely knew it was back there.

    And we're ice-racers, so by definition we do stupid things like tow it 
over to (hilly) Western Michigan in the dead of winter, at the butt-crack 
of dawn before the plows are out.  We once had to pull-over in the middle 
of a lake-effect blizzard because we couldn't see much past the hood... 
but keeping the trailer behind has never been an issue, even on snowy 
off-ramps, and even boat-ramps for that matter.

    That Tacoma is rated to 5,000 pounds*, so I wouldn't hesitate to tow a 
Sprite on an open trailer, brakes or not.  But I'd get brakes if I could, 
obviously.

--
  David Hillman

* TrailerLife's tow rating guides are infinitely useful if you tow ->
http://www.trailerlife.com/output.cfm?id=42175