Car hauling safety

"They" always told me to use straps to tie-down - not chains - for just that reason. And since they give a little, less likely to damage what they're attached to than chains.

Having one 'almost' get away 20+ years ago, Bob, I fully understand. Two restraints on each end, EVERY car, EVERY time. Since a lot of the cars that see my trailer are not my own, I could not imagine having to call someone with an oops story. It is too damned easy to be safe about it to risk damage.

I agree with the use of straps for safety tie downs on a trailer or truck, as they give and chains don't. It is always better to be safe than sorry. This reminds me of a time when I was transporting a Zip Van with a tow bar. The tow bar snapped off the front bumper of the Zip Van when cresting a hill. I was glad that I had hooked up two safety chains. The worst part was getting it lined up and hooked up again because I was all alone.

and an incident I'll never forget: 20 years ago.....Fall.....time to take the boat out of the water.........26 foot inboard. Got it on the trailer, my brother drove the car up the ramp.....the trailer hitch popped off, the safety chains broke and the whole thing when hurtling down the ramp - towards several other groups and their boats.

Thank You God.....it finally tipped down and the rudder ground it to a stop just before it hit someone. I use chains AND ties now on everything!

I use straps in front and chains in the rear. I also always go to frame mounting points and load the suspension when I tie down. There is still give but the car does not bounce around on the trailer like when they are tied to the rear axle.

Just don't let anyone hook the car down by using the holes in the bottom of the frame. I have seen several tear out! The bottom plate on the frame is not that thick. And with a little rust they become even thinner.

On a Studebaker, the best places I have found to tie to are at the front spring hangers on the rear springs and the front crossmember (the lip, not the holes) in the front. I have successfully moved dozens of Studebakers tens of thousands of miles in this manner and have never damaged a car in doing so.

Another thing.... always load the car with the engine at the front. Having a Studebaker V8 powered car with the engine at the back will, most times give you close to neutral or negative tongue weight and will definitely adversely affect the handling of the tow vehicle and safety.

10,000 lb tow straps! ! ! ! ! Two on each end. They're only $20 each. Cheap insurance. 40,000 pounds of hold down for a 3500 lb car. That's just about right.

Lee's mention of loading with the engine in front and the balance reminds me of a strange tow. We brought a 1956 Golden Hawk from Asa Hall's father's home in CT to Beacon, NY with a tow bar attached to a Corvair. Talk about the tail wagging the dog (a light weight, rear engine car pulling a heavy, long wheelbase car).

One of the first rules (I believe) is that a towed vehicle should not exceed the weight of the towing vehicle.

JT

(Who ain't gonna tow anything with the Honda...)

studegary wrote:

What about those bahemouth campers you see... there's no way you could tow them with a heavier truck unless you used a dumptruck. I just put a new trailer brake controller in my truck and it has 3 levels of "boost" where the trailer brakes come on sooner than the truck brakes, because of the weight difference.

Lee

having hauled stude's from sedona to saratoga and back,and a fair few

50's and 60's lincolns and one 56 mark II that was a beast, I strap the two rear tires to the bed of the trailer with premade "macs" straps. we had the trailer bed cut to accept the fold flat eyes. The front gets two straps to the crossmember. I drove a liquid O2 truck all over new england and into boston for a year or two, two inch straps with rachet closers and recheck after the first 3 and 50 and 200 miles and at all stops to get and give gas! I have always prayed just before I started out on a long trip with a car. and I am not the kind of guy who goes to church often. :)

The campers are designed to be towed. If you want to venture into other side of the coin, compare the typical 80,000 lb load of many semi(s)...

But as far as a car is concerned, better the car be heavier than the load being towed...

JT

Lee Aanderud wrote:

Having hauled a lot of construction equipment over the years, there's a pretty good rule of thumb about tying down a load. You should have the load secured well enough to tip the trailer upside down and not have it move. Anything less than that is asking for trouble... Jeff (had an employee put a trailered trencher 'in a tree' once...) Rice

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