Everything You Need To Know About Car Trailers

Hooking The Trailer To The Tow Rig

The first thing that you need to do before loading your trailer is hook it up to the back of your tow rig.  While it is helpful to have someone spotting you as you back the truck up to the trailer (particularly if your vehicle is not equipped with a backup camera), our preference is to have one person hook the trailer up, including latching the hitch, hooking up the wiring, attaching the safety chains, and raising the foot on the trailer jack.  Otherwise you risk thinking that the other person did one of these tasks and finding out the hard way that the jack wasn’t raised when you tear it off.  That makes disconnecting the trailer from the tow rig a challenge!  Also, ensure that the wiring is routed properly to avoid rubbing during turns and that the safety chains are long enough to allow full turning but not so long as to drag on the ground.  We cross the chains so that the tongue of the trailer falls on the chains should disaster strike.

Wood Deck or Metal Deck?

Car haulers are available with metal or wood decks. Wooden decks tend to cost less initially, but the wood will eventually need to be replaced. Wooded decks are not as slippery or noisy as metal decks, but the wood can crack or buckle under heavy loads and sometimes you end up with splinters when you are tying down a vehicle. Common sizes for both metal and wood deck car haulers vary including 16, 18, and 20-foot. There aren’t many downsides to a 20-foot trailer over a 16-foot trailer, when you are towing with it the extra space can be useful. If you plan on towing a longbed, crew cab truck you will need an even bigger trailer. At this point a gooseneck might make more sense than a bumper pull trailer.

Trailer Axles and Tires

Trailer axles are generally rated as 3,500, 5,000, or 6,000 pounds each. The combined rating for both axles should be greater than the weight of the trailer and the vehicle loaded on the trailer. We recommend getting brakes on both axles, this is a minimal added expense and will provide you with increased braking capacity. Also, trailer axles are available in a variety of different bolt patterns. If you can match the bolt pattern to your tow rig it will give you more flexibility if you get a flat tire.

If you do get a flat tire on your trailer, you want to change it as quickly as possible since the only remaining tire on that side of the trailer is now holding all the weight and could also fail. Sometimes this is easier said than done since it is difficult to see the tires on your trailer, but tire pressure monitors can be added in order to alert you to a flat. If you do get a flat, using a floor jack or an ARB Jack is helpful, or you can drive up on a piece of wood to raise the trailer enough to get the new tire on the trailer. Having an electric impact is helpful too since the flat tire is already off the ground and the wheel might just try to spin when using a normal ratchet.

You can run LT tires on your trailer, or even a trailer tire on your truck if you are in a bind. The two are not the same though. Light truck tires (LT) are while trailer tires (ST) tend to have thicker sidewalls and a narrower tread since they are not applying power to the ground or making sharp turns. Trailer tires are designed for low rolling resistance at the expense of traction, with stiff carcasses to carry heavy loads.

Loading The Trailer

Once you have your trailer hooked up to the tow rig, it is time to load your rig. Take the ramps out and put the retaining hardware in your pocket so you don’t misplace it. The ramps need to be wide enough to line up with the tires, we often see people put the ramps narrower than required and have to reposition them. Pull your vehicle up on to the trailer until you see the suspension on the tow rig start to drop. Too far forward will result in light steering on the tow rig. Too little tongue weight on the trailer will cause the rear of the tow rig to sway going down the road, so it is important to get this right. Reposition the vehicle on the trailer if you have to, and take note of where it sits for future trips.

Like hooking the trailer to the tow rig, we recommend one person straps down the trailer to ensure that nothing gets overlooked. For instance, you did put those ramps away and pinned them, right? You don’t want to drive off with your ramps dragging behind the trailer! On an IFS vehicle we typically go through the front lower control arms, and on a solid axle we go around the axle tubes as long as none of the brake lines are in the way, otherwise we put the straps around the lower control arms. There is some debate about whether to cross the straps or not. We typically cross one end and leave the other end straight, but that is largely a function of providing extra length to the straps by crossing them. It is better to have straps that are too long than too short, since it gives you more options in where you position the vehicle. Wrap up the excess so that they don’t flap in the wind and fray. We generally fold the strap flat in 18-inch lengths and route it through the handle. We tighten each corner snugly and then go around and tighten them as much as possible. We also check the straps each time we stop for fuel.