Tied Down

[the bear]

I know most of the speed series guys use trailers or transporters. Being a total newbie to all this I have to ask stupid questions

How do you secure your cars to the trailer. Obviously ratchet straps are involved but do use use wheel straps or secure some other part of the car to the trailer  ie where do you attach the straps

Need to sort it out before North Weald. (Just purchased a trailer but the guy was no help as he had used it for scrap cars)  

Your input and ridicule will be appreciated.

[peterg]

depends what there is on the trailer to secure it to....

if there are proper tie-down points at each corner and in the middle then get a set of wheel straps, if not then you will have to either use some hook or looped ratchet straps    hook ones have a big metal hook on each end whereas the looped ones are intended to go round something on the car and then round somewhere on the trailer and through the ratchet mechanism again to enable you to tighten it down...

see the Machine Mart catalogue for suitable straps in all cases here  

[stu.graham]

There are various ways to secure the car, I use the Brian James system which goes around all 4 wheels with either end of the straps fixing to cut outs on the trailer. Others use the chasis to strap it down, again tying back to the fixings on the trailer.

Brian James sell the all the straps as Demon Thieves, Machine mart etc.

HTH

Stu

[DickieB]

I tie the back down over the chassis rails, and the front down with 2 loops welded on by Procomp to the outside of the lower chassis rail. Key thing is to make sure that 1 strap stops the car going forward, whilst the other strap stops it going backwards. Sounds obvious but I've seen some howlers! Narrow nature of trailer should stop sideways movement with straps however you strap them.

[the bear]

I like the idea of wheel straps and have checked out Machine Mart. Do I go for 4 wheels straps and 2 ratchet straps ie one each side with a loop over each wheel or do I go for 4 ratchet straps?

[davidgh]

Four ratchet straps  

One failure out of four is not going to be a disaster; one out of two.........

[Numptie]

I use the BJ tie-down wheel straps. They're really convenient as they're  just the right length so no tidying up tails.

For fairly short trips, I just use them on the rear wheels and attach / tighten the winch to the front of the car.

Cheers,

N

[Toby Mack]

if you use hook type ratchet straps then be careful how you fit them. Do NOT wrap the strap round the chassis and then back to hook onto the trailer- this will tend to leave one part of the strap tight and the other end  not so tight.

Fine until you go up/down a few steep hills and the car shifts on the trailer a few inches and one end goes a bit slack so the hook falls off. Of course sods law says that this will happen to both rear straps and the next time you brake the westfield tries to join you in the towcar  

No prizes for guessing how I know this........        

[felters]

You also need to ensure that you get the nose weight on the trailer  right. Not sure what your tow vehicle is but front wheel drive cars in particular must not have too much weight on the hitch.

Also do a couple of practice runs before your first meeting - even now I still hitch up the trailer etc. the night before. In summer I may even load the car if it's good weather - I do put a rain cover over it though. Good luck!!  

[Mark Stanton]

Most cars seem to have a max nose weight of around 75 to 85kgs ...................... but best check with your car manufacturers handbook first and ensure tow ball is set at optimum height as prescribed by the trailer manufacturer else you could be there for ages        

for example my PRG twin axle trailer has a required tow ball height of 17.5 inches from ground to top of ball