SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

Since I have decided to attend more Autocross, HPDE and PDX events this year I decided that it was a good idea to purchase my own car trailer. I purchased a new 18 foot steel deck trailer to pull my car with. I only paid right at $2,000.00 for it. It came with trailer brakes already installed and weighs in at 2000lbs. I'm really excited about it, as I was tired of borrowing trailer when I needed one. The trailer is black to match my tow vehicle and has a 2 foot dovetail.



So you know I couldn't just leave the trailer stock lol. So I bought two underbody mount tool boxes. They measured 48 inches long by 18 inches wide and deep. The retail price for these boxes were in the mid 400's. I found a place right around the corner from my house that had plenty of them. At first I thought the boxes were used but once I opened up the inside I realized that the boxes were brand new. Nothing had ever been inside of them. They even had the keys still zip tied to the inside. Best part, I only paid $300.00 for both of them. Anyway I wanted to use one of the boxes to mount a generator, winch and air compressor inside of. The other one I wanted to use to store my jack, jack stands, tools and other stuff. So I mounted the first box on the actual trailer and mounted the other one on the trailer tongue.









The next order of business was to have portable power and air. So I purchased a 1000 watt generator from Home Depot for $99.00. It came with a 1 year warranty and I bought a 2 year extended warranty for a total of 3 years coverage. Best part was it arrived in the mail in 2 days. The next thing I bought was a 3 gallon air compressor from harbor freight. It was funny because I was at harbor freight the day before and saw the same compressor for $60. The next day it was on sale for $39.00 so I picked it up. I also picked up a 20 foot retractable air hose reel from harbor freight for $35.00. I then went to tractor supply and purchased their 4500 lb winch for $150.00. I then mounted everything inside the box, drilled a hole for the air hose to pass through and then drilled some more holes so the exhaust gasses from the generator could escape.

















Now usually when winches are mounted to trailers the only power available for the winch is a battery. Only problem is the battery doesn't last very long and you have to remember to charge the battery before each use. I figured out a great way to solve this problem by buying a quick disconnect 25 foot 4 gauge jumper cable set commonly used by towing services. This way I can pull power from my tow vehicle battery and never have to worry about anything. Now however I did upgrade my tow vehicle battery to an optima just in case. I installed the cables/lines in my tow vehicle and then mounted the rest to the trailer, eventually connecting it to the winch. I had to drill a small hole in the box for this, but I was able to seal the hole back up with some silicone.







The absolute best part:
Trailer $2000.00
Under Mount boxes $300.00
Generator $100.00
Winch $150.00
Air Compressor $39.00
Retractable Hose Reel $35.00
2 Additional D rings $10.00
Quick Disconnect 4 gauge cable (25ft) $150.00
Weight Distribution Hitch $200.00

Grand Total: $2,984.00

Thats pretty cheap for a fully capable, fully functioning trailer that has it's own power and plenty of storage. A good example is when I was pricing trailers I was finding trailers just like mine for $3,000.00 and some even more than that and they had no accessories. So I'm very pleased. Only thing left to do is mount my weight distribution hitch. Anyway enjoy the pictures and comment.

HondaRcB

Looks good man. Should add some lights for hanging out at the track when it gets dark. I'd also plum the exhaust from the generator directly to outside of the box, or just leave the box open when it's in use. You'll probably want it open for cooling reasons anyway.

HondaRcB

Racks for fuel jugs and wheels/tires also come in handy.

SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

I'm so glad you replied and reminded me about the lights. I had it written down somewhere and misplaced the piece of paper lol. I was planning on adding some lights on top of one of the boxes. I though about plumbing the exhaust but I'm just going to leave it open, sometimes I regret drilling the holes but oh well. Thanks for the reply.

SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

I'm planning on adding fuel jugs on either side of the box thats mounted on the bed. I'm still contemplating the tire rack. My main focus for the year is auto cross, so I don't think that I'll be going through too many tires. Because of that I decided to hold off. Now if I end up attending a bunch of track events I will definitely build a tire rack, buy tow more sets of wheels and get some really good tires. If I end up getting a tire rack I want to mount it really low, maybe a few inches above the box on the trailer.

Dallasb84

Dude.... Get rid of that tounge jack and instead go with an electric unit. When I trailer I have to almost jack the rear tires off the ground on my truck so I can drive up the ramps. Otherwise it's 2x4 and crap like that.

A guy turned me on to the electric jack an let me tell you..... Pushing a button is FTW.

Nice outfit man!

SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

Haha thanks man for the compliment. I have considered the electric jack but opted for the stock one for cost savings. So does it work jacking up the front of the trailer to ease getting the vehicle on the trailer? I'm going to try that because I hate having to take off my front bumper every time I pull the car onto the trailer. I've tried searching threads on how to get a lowered vehicle on a trailer. How much are those electric jacks anyway? I'm also open to any suggestions on getting lowered vehicles onto trailers. I'm already familiar with the long board methods.

miamirice

I have a very similar trailer from bigtex. It's comical what I have to do to load my car (too lazy to take off the bumper/spliter). My spliter is 3.2" high. I back my tow vehicle onto 8" wood ramps, Then put an 8" wood block under the trailer jack and crank it way up. Then I do the 2x4 stuff onto my ramps.

Also- it's a common misconception that because a truck has a tow package and a trailer has brakes that they are actually working. A brake controller is needed. I got a unit from prodigy that requires 0 wiring. Just mount onto your trailer and the RF unit plugs into the cigarette lighter. It's awesome, 10 minute install.

SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

I have a prodigy controller as well. I had to do a little wiring but for the most part it was plug and play as well. Took me like 15 min total. I'm going to try some stuff with some 2x12's and see what happens. It would be nice to be able to winch my car onto the trailer without having to take off the bumper. We shall see what happens.

Bently_Coop

Looks good. Great job.

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

Wondering about that weight distribution hitch.....
If it's anything like mine that box might get in the way.
Let's hope it doesn't.

redGSRguy

We use something like this so we don't have to mess with jacking the trailer up or ripping off the splitter.
http://www.jegs.com/p/Race-Ramps/Rac...30491/10002/-1

Reyes

iTrader: (1)

Great thread! I have been wanting to do something like this to my trailer. Only problem is that my deck is only 16 feet so I don't have much room. I might just do an air tank that I can fill before an event avoid having to run power.

The best part of mine is that it sits very low. I can drive on with front bumper and splitter without even jacking up the trailer!

powerneedy

Nicely done!

SRDFTITAN

iTrader: (3)

OMG I can't believe how much those race ramps are....wow! Thanks everyone for the compliments. I actually purchased a weight distribution system today but the shank was not low enough. After getting my trailer level my hitch measured 17" off the ground, my ball at its lowest point measured 24" off the ground. Took a trip to some local rv dealers and tried different length shanks and receiver relocators and non of them worked. So I'm going to trailer the car this weekend and see how it goes.

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

Those hitches can be a pain to get height aligned and have the proper clearances but they are well worth the cost.
love the tool set up. awesome!

Bently_Coop

Check out a certified cat scale for weight distribution. There is a formula using all the weights from each axle to accurately distribute your load.

miamirice

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the whole load distribution can't be addressed until you trailer content is totally resolved ( fuel jugs, tires, etc....)

Calif_Kid

Nice trailer!! Just wondering - are the brakes electric and on one or both axles? I've got a 20' enclosed dual axle trailer from 2004 with electric brakes on both axles weighing say 2800 lbs empty but probably pushing say 6000 lbs with my race car plus all of the spares and tools being pulled by a 2000 Ford F150 4.6L 2WD truck. I've had the wheel bearings repacked every two years by a local trailer shop and had them look at the brake shoe thickness when they repack the bearings. I recently had the brakes lock up under fairly light braking in the dry, and then within the last few months two times in the wet at say 40 mph but not braking very hard - I was lucky to not hit anything... I thought that maybe my Prodigy brake controller wasn't adjusted quite right, but even after adjusting it, the brakes were still locking up even in the dry under fairly light braking. I then noticed that one of the brakes wasn't heating up while I was testing it, so I manually activated the brake controller and couldn't hear the brake magnet 'humming' on that one wheel, and I then rolled the tires onto ramps one at a time to confirm that one brake wasn't working. I had the trailer shop check it, and they said that the magnet on that one wheel wasn't working, so they replaced it, and the brakes now work well again. Bottom line, is that it is probably a good idea to repack the wheel bearings every few years (and some people use 'bearing buddies' like is listed on Amazon, but be sure to not pump in too much grease), and be aware that if the brakes are electric, that a magnet can stop working, so check everything if needed.

As far as the generator, I've heard that some tools can require 2-3 times their listed wattage when starting, so hopefully the generator you've got is sufficient. - Jim

liam821

I went back and forth between a steel deck trailer or an enclosed trailer. I ended up with an enclosed trailer because I can store my race car in the trailer when not in use and free up garage space. Plus I can store all my spare tires etc in there.

I pull with my diesel BMW X5 - which is an awesome tow SUV.

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

I'm starting to lean towards the enclosed sleeper trailers.
The hotel costs are creeping up and I just don't like leaving my stuff at the track anymore.
Nobody has robbed me but stuff has disappeared from time to time.
Been searching for that perfect Tundra to tow it all with, because in the great liberal state of California the registration costs are way way overboard for any 2500 series pickup.

liam821

This.

DaveSi677

That is awesome!

Love the addons!!!

joel n

Tundras are sweet hualin rigs. We use a 2012 5.7L tundra for our inclosed trailer setup. Only a 18 foot V nose, but fill steel frame. Heavy little bugger. Truck doesnt flinch at it. Use to work at toyota when the new body tundra came out. A contractor stopped in for us to check his truck after he hauled a 15,000LBS drill setup after a duramax trans failed hauling it. He claimed to truck did it with no problem, but a few bumps it made some strange noises. lol. It was a extended cab, long box. I think they are rated for 8000LBS. Since then he said he has towed over weight all the time with the truck and finds no problems after 2 years. lol. They are $$$$$ but worth it if you want to stay gas.

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

I'm searching for the best 2013 I can find.
The 2014/15 IMO suck.
They did things to them that I don't like ,so the nearest one I like would be a 2013.
Plus my credit union will finance a 2013 at new car rate.
Basically its a beefy 1500 with upgrades to the suspension, drive train and brakes..... without the cost of the inflated weight and registration fees in the lovely liberal state of California.
They are indeed pricey but worth every penny!