Aluma Trailer

[babablackgoat]

This might be the best trailer for me: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zh6yUfUjV8Rfxan56

Aluma model 3182: https://www.fthr.com/products/car-trailers/bumper-pull/3182-car-trailer

About 1500 pounds. More expensive than steel yet about 1000 pounds lighter. Manual tilt for easier loading without adding weight. Dual axels both rated at 3500 and electric drum brakes. And used to save money.

To reiterate, my tow vehicle is not the best: 2011 Dodge Durango R/T rated at 7400 pound capacity.

Thoughts? Anything I am missing or not thinking about?

[39PitCrew]

This might be the best trailer for me: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zh6yUfUjV8Rfxan56


To reiterate, my tow vehicle is not the best: 2011 Dodge Durango R/T rated at 7400 pound capacity.

Thoughts? Anything I am missing or not thinking about?

I discovered recently that the rating on my Avalanche (8000#) may be different than the rating on my factory hitch receiver (5000#)
You may want to verify that the vehicle rating and the hitch rating are close.

[Fbody383]

Thoughts? Anything I am missing or not thinking about? I think you're on the right track. I pull a wood deck, so a couple hundred pounds heavier, with a 1500 extended cab chevy with no issues.

I would suggest getting 2 spare tires.

[babablackgoat]

Thanks much for input. Put my deposit down today. Tentative pickup on Friday.

There is not a perfect formula for trailering. Sparing the details, it would be helpful to have someone verify I am loading the car correctly this long weekend prior to driving to Hallett next weekend.

Anyone available to make sure I am not doing anything too stoopid sometime this weekend in Sugar Land?

Mark

[babablackgoat]

I mean anything stoopid with the trailer...not life in general. haha

[Supercharged111]

I've never been able to load the car without extra ramps. With the price of lumber as it is, you may be better off with race ramps.

https://www.raceramps.com/

You said yours was a tilt though, right? Maybe you'll be OK?

[Fbody383]

..helpful to have someone verify I am loading the car correctly this long weekend prior to driving to Hallett next weekend.
Roughly where in Sugarland?


Understand the tongue weight. You might need a few tries to get the car situated. You want "some" weight on the tongue so the trailer doesn't wag, but not so much it squats the truck too much. Did you get a hitch weight distribution setup? That will help tremendously.

Know your tie down points. I use factory tie down locations at front with CROSSED straps, and run axle straps on the rear axle housing, with straight straps to the trailer. I've always been more conscious somebody would cut me off and don't want the race car in the back seat.

You'll have to load it and drive it at highway speed to see. Don't be surprised if it takes you a couple tries to get it in a good-enuf place.

Also, my experience is as long as you tow under about 70mph the trailer tires seem to stay pretty happy.

Hope that helps.

[Supercharged111]

Think about your tow vehicle too: do you need to tow in 3rd like Dave to keep from grenadine the transmission? Also, a locked converter = a cool, happy transmission.

[Fbody383]

do you need to tow in 3rd like Dave to keep from grenadine the transmission? C'mon now... I only race in 3rd. It's mostly flat... most of the way.

[Supercharged111]

C'mon now... I only race in 3rd. It's mostly flat... most of the way.

There's 2 kinds of 4L60Es, those that have died and those that will.

[michaelmosty]

There's 2 kinds of 4L60Es, those that have died and those that will.

Is that is what is in an 07 Tahoe??

[babablackgoat]

Bought the trailer and brought it home safely last night. Had hiccups in the process yet happy with this one. Updated album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zh6yUfUjV8Rfxan56

[babablackgoat]

Roughly where in Sugarland?


Understand the tongue weight. You might need a few tries to get the car situated. You want "some" weight on the tongue so the trailer doesn't wag, but not so much it squats the truck too much. Did you get a hitch weight distribution setup? That will help tremendously.

Know your tie down points. I use factory tie down locations at front with CROSSED straps, and run axle straps on the rear axle housing, with straight straps to the trailer. I've always been more conscious somebody would cut me off and don't want the race car in the back seat.

You'll have to load it and drive it at highway speed to see. Don't be surprised if it takes you a couple tries to get it in a good-enuf place.

Also, my experience is as long as you tow under about 70mph the trailer tires seem to stay pretty happy.

Hope that helps.

Fortunately in a slightly involved process, gathered info form several sources. Explained to me that tongue weights should be 10% of total load. If trailer is 1500 and car is 3400 plus gear is around 5000 plus pounds so tongue weight should be 500 plus or so pounds. In a perfect world squat would be square, all of which correlates with your comments.

Due to toolbox, could not get weight distribution.

For tiedown points, 4 are embedded into the steel and too far apart yet more can be added. For now, planning on using the tiedowns on the side.

Thank you much for above guidance and suggestion on trying at highway speed first. From industry, I am overly safety conscious and concerned with trailering. Could use someone to doublecheck how I tie the car down.

I am right next to the old sugar mill just off of Alt 90.

[babablackgoat]

Think about your tow vehicle too: do you need to tow in 3rd like Dave to keep from grenadine the transmission? Also, a locked converter = a cool, happy transmission.

Fortunately since R/T has secondary transmission cooler. If overworking my transmission, I reckon I will feel it and will adjust.

[babablackgoat]

There's 2 kinds of 4L60Es, those that have died and those that will.

Had a built 4L60 in my GTO and still smoked it. Dropped a T-56 Magnum-F in it instead.

[babablackgoat]

Bought trailer from here: https://www.stxsc.com/

Superb support with every little detail.

[Supercharged111]

Fortunately since R/T has secondary transmission cooler. If overworking my transmission, I reckon I will feel it and will adjust.

You can hear if it's locked or not. I was returning from Hallett a jillion years ago and found myself unlocked in 4th in some crosswind for like 15 minutes. When I finally looked down the trans (not a 4L60) was rocking out at like 230! I pulled it back to 3rd, let lock, and the temp dropped like a rock. Just gotta keep an ear open for it.

[babablackgoat]

You can hear if it's locked or not. I was returning from Hallett a jillion years ago and found myself unlocked in 4th in some crosswind for like 15 minutes. When I finally looked down the trans (not a 4L60) was rocking out at like 230! I pulled it back to 3rd, let lock, and the temp dropped like a rock. Just gotta keep an ear open for it.

Ah. I will go thru the menus to find transmission temp. Should be in there somewhere.

I am familiar with the partial lock from the built 4L60 for the GTO. Occasionally would come unlocked in the middle of a corner. Not a big deal after is happened a couple of times. But at least I know about for towing so to keep an eye out.

[Supercharged111]

Is that is what is in an 07 Tahoe??

Yeah. If you're good with a rebuild long term it's not a huge deal to worry about. Wife's Envoy had the same trans and I toe in OD when it lets me. If it hunts I pull back to 3rd. We got it at 63k so young enough to love it and make it last as long as possible. It had a filter change before I got it and I did a full flush within a week of purchase. We're creeping on the 50k mark since, so another full flush is on the horizon. Keep them clean and keep them cool is your best bet at a long life. Aside from extreme ignorance, you should expect at least 150k from it before really worrying about it. 2007 had most all of the updates they gave the thing.

[Pranav]

Looking good!

You're going to be a bit short on time for hallett for these suggestions but see if you can get a weight distributing hitch with clamp on brackets. Highly recommend the blue ox brand.
It will make a huge difference in stability, comfort, and sway.

I am not a fan of open hook straps, closing end straps like these are the way to go.

"Mac's Custom Tie-Downs 121007 Mac's Ratchet Straps | Summit Racing" https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtd-121007

My preference is to use axle straps on the rear axle tubes at a minimum, cross the closed hook straps hooked on those to the trailer, but you have to be careful with those as you can damage the brake lines.

"Mac's Custom Tie-Downs 121724 Mac's Axle Straps with Sleeve | Summit Racing" https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtd-121724

I permanently installed these hooks to my axle with longer UCA bolts:
https://vorshlag-store.com/products/s197-mustang-rear-tow-loop-kit-pair

[BryanL]

Fortunately in a slightly involved process, gathered info form several sources. Explained to me that tongue weights should be 10% of total load. If trailer is 1500 and car is 3400 plus gear is around 5000 plus pounds so tongue weight should be 500 plus or so pounds. In a perfect world squat would be square, all of which correlates with your comments.

Due to toolbox, could not get weight distribution.

For tiedown points, 4 are embedded into the steel and too far apart yet more can be added. For now, planning on using the tiedowns on the side.

Thank you much for above guidance and suggestion on trying at highway speed first. From industry, I am overly safety conscious and concerned with trailering. Could use someone to doublecheck how I tie the car down.

I am right next to the old sugar mill just off of Alt 90.

Few comments/suggestions for research.

-Believe the rule of thumb is 10-15% of load should be the tongue weight depending on the trailer type. You will have more than 5k lbs by the time it's all said and done.

-How are the tie downs too far apart yet you are going to use something wider on the side? I'm missing something. Featherlite has made tons of trailers and I wouldn't imagine the tiedowns being in a spot that doesn't work for our cars. I would also question the strength of whatever you are hooking it to on the side as I doubt it's rated as high as the built in's which are probably 5k each.

-Research whether you should cross the straps or call your dealer about proper tie down setup and side strength.

-Factory hitch ratings will likely be different depending on whether you are using a weight distribution versus regular and just because a hitch has a rating on it doesn't mean the truck has the same rating.

-I have a hitch with a built in tongue weight scale that I can bring if you want to verify at Hallett. I may not be using it as I have a WD setup to get setup but not too concerned with the weight I tow now.

-CAT scales are at truck stops, you can get an app on your phone and it's $12 to weigh. You put it on the scale so you get the front and rear axle weights of the truck and the weight of the trailer.

-Comments are all right on and about using an axle strap for the rear and being careful with the brake lines. For the front you can get a hook for the factory tie down location, loop a strap over a lower control arm (alignment), hook it through a spoke on the wheel (seems sketchy to me), strap all the way through a wheel or tie downs that go over the wheel.

-Get it set, drive some to see how it feels, check tie down straps and move weight around as needed. It's been interesting watching the tongue weight scale move depending on where the car is loaded along with extra sets of wheels, fuel, dirt bikes, gear, etc.

Staying below 70 is good advice as most trailer tires are only rated to 68 and over 70 seems to be when trailers start wanting to whip around depending on tongue weight, tow vehicle weight/wheelbase, and wind conditions. There are good videos from manufacturers and some DIY youtube people about how to measure and figure out your setup. But you start measuring your front and rear wheelwells of truck and get the trailer level to determine where you need to start with your hitch height and then start measuring after hooking up and loading the car (make sure the trailer is hooked to the truck before loading-hah), then adjusting where the car is loaded to see how much drop the truck has.
Anything you have in the truck bed at the axle or behind also is considered tongue weight. Think about what you can load in the car - I put fuel jugs in the back with some other odds/ends, tools in the passenger seat area. You might want to put a jack and stands in the car.

I just went through a lot of this learning process over the last year even though I've towed open trailers for over 30 years and enclosed for over 10 but getting the tongue weight scale and a CAT scale was an eye opener...and now have a trailer 3k lbs lighter than before.

[Supercharged111]

I'm scared to hit the CAT scale with my rig.

[Fbody383]

I dropped by Mark's place Sunday afternoon and chatted and tied the car on the trailer. We used the factory front tie down locations (because I always have on my 4th gen) and ran the straps over the rear axle under the brake lines until Plan B - axle straps or those cool (pricey) Vorschlag type bolt on thingies.

We drove the truck a little to get a feel for the brake controller with the car loaded, talked about the truck squatting and maybe moving the car back a little bit once fully loaded, and/or if it wiggles too much once it's up to highway speed.

[Supercharged111]

I dropped by Mark's place Sunday afternoon and chatted and tied the car on the trailer. We used the factory front tie down locations (because I always have on my 4th gen) and ran the straps over the rear axle under the brake lines until Plan B - axle straps or those cool (pricey) Vorschlag type bolt on thingies.

We drove the truck a little to get a feel for the brake controller with the car loaded, talked about the truck squatting and maybe moving the car back a little bit once fully loaded, and/or if it wiggles too much once it's up to highway speed.

You're loaded for Hallett already? Overachiever.

[babablackgoat]

@ BryanL

Few comments/suggestions for research.

-Believe the rule of thumb is 10-15% of load should be the tongue weight depending on the trailer type. You will have more than 5k lbs by the time it's all said and done.

Corresponds to exactly what Hitch Master said.


-How are the tie downs too far apart yet you are going to use something wider on the side? I'm missing something. Featherlite has made tons of trailers and I wouldn't imagine the tiedowns being in a spot that doesn't work for our cars. I would also question the strength of whatever you are hooking it to on the side as I doubt it's rated as high as the built in's which are probably 5k each.

I stand corrected. Fbody383 came by and showed me how to tiedown. Same photo album updated here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Zh6yUfUjV8Rfxan56


-Factory hitch ratings will likely be different depending on whether you are using a weight distribution versus regular and just because a hitch has a rating on it doesn't mean the truck has the same rating.

I have heard.


-I have a hitch with a built in tongue weight scale that I can bring if you want to verify at Hallett. I may not be using it as I have a WD setup to get setup but not too concerned with the weight I tow now.

-CAT scales are at truck stops, you can get an app on your phone and it's $12 to weigh. You put it on the scale so you get the front and rear axle weights of the truck and the weight of the trailer.

-Comments are all right on and about using an axle strap for the rear and being careful with the brake lines. For the front you can get a hook for the factory tie down location, loop a strap over a lower control arm (alignment), hook it through a spoke on the wheel (seems sketchy to me), strap all the way through a wheel or tie downs that go over the wheel.

Done.


-Get it set, drive some to see how it feels, check tie down straps and move weight around as needed. It's been interesting watching the tongue weight scale move depending on where the car is loaded along with extra sets of wheels, fuel, dirt bikes, gear, etc.

Done. Short ride with Fbody383 just down the street. Then took down the highway up to 70 mph. Found the transmission temp in the menus: Max was 173 deg F. Today was 163 just driving around Houston.


Staying below 70 is good advice as most trailer tires are only rated to 68 and over 70 seems to be when trailers start wanting to whip around depending on tongue weight, tow vehicle weight/wheelbase, and wind conditions. There are good videos from manufacturers and some DIY youtube people about how to measure and figure out your setup. But you start measuring your front and rear wheelwells of truck and get the trailer level to determine where you need to start with your hitch height and then start measuring after hooking up and loading the car (make sure the trailer is hooked to the truck before loading-hah), then adjusting where the car is loaded to see how much drop the truck has.
Anything you have in the truck bed at the axle or behind also is considered tongue weight. Think about what you can load in the car - I put fuel jugs in the back with some other odds/ends, tools in the passenger seat area. You might want to put a jack and stands in the car.

Understood.


I just went through a lot of this learning process over the last year even though I've towed open trailers for over 30 years and enclosed for over 10 but getting the tongue weight scale and a CAT scale was an eye opener...and now have a trailer 3k lbs lighter than before.

Thank you very much for input. Valuable info not just for me, but also anyone else getting into this.

[babablackgoat]

Looking good!

You're going to be a bit short on time for hallett for these suggestions but see if you can get a weight distributing hitch with clamp on brackets. Highly recommend the blue ox brand.
It will make a huge difference in stability, comfort, and sway.

I am not a fan of open hook straps, closing end straps like these are the way to go.

"Mac's Custom Tie-Downs 121007 Mac's Ratchet Straps | Summit Racing" https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtd-121007

My preference is to use axle straps on the rear axle tubes at a minimum, cross the closed hook straps hooked on those to the trailer, but you have to be careful with those as you can damage the brake lines.

"Mac's Custom Tie-Downs 121724 Mac's Axle Straps with Sleeve | Summit Racing" https://www.summitracing.com/parts/mtd-121724

I permanently installed these hooks to my axle with longer UCA bolts:
https://vorshlag-store.com/products/s197-mustang-rear-tow-loop-kit-pair

Thanks much Pranav. Fbody383 mentioned on the phone that these might be some appropriate upgrades.

[babablackgoat]

I dropped by Mark's place Sunday afternoon and chatted and tied the car on the trailer. We used the factory front tie down locations (because I always have on my 4th gen) and ran the straps over the rear axle under the brake lines until Plan B - axle straps or those cool (pricey) Vorschlag type bolt on thingies.

We drove the truck a little to get a feel for the brake controller with the car loaded, talked about the truck squatting and maybe moving the car back a little bit once fully loaded, and/or if it wiggles too much once it's up to highway speed.

And was greatly appreciated. With potential for substantial disaster, really needed someone to show me the ropes...or straps in this case.

[babablackgoat]

I will take this opportunity now to apologize for everything I going to forget and need help with including the car and camping for the weekend.

Usually I am self-sufficient. In this case I am going to ask for help.

[Supercharged111]

Ahh, I misread the earlier post. It's baba that's already loaded. Glad to hear your got it sorted out, I look forward to meeting you and the others that I haven't yet.

[Fbody383]

Ahh, I misread the earlier post. It's baba that's already loaded. Cmon now... where's the love. Good thing for you I don't have stickers to bring. And no CBP. Now you have to podium.