those trailer weights seem a lot lower than I had seen previously, it's still fairly expensive for an open steel trailer

you might look around for a used aluminum one at that price

 

If you're going to use an open trailier get a full size Van. You can store all your stuff inside the van. Plus vans sell used for way less than trucks, tow very well and ride better.

 

A van would be a good choice.

I use my crew cab short bed truck with a locking roll away top. I have a tire rack on the trailer that will hold 7-8 mounted tires (depending on size) and a tool box on the trailer tounge that will hold a jack, jack stands, impact gun plus a few other small things. I can put the remaining tools, spare parts, ice chest and even a canopy in my truck bed with the top closed. The back seat of the truck can hold weekend bags and food for myself and a friend.

If I didnt have the tire rack I would be in trouble, or I would be filling the car with tools and parts.

For most open trailers, the fenders will need to be removable or your doors probably wont open more then a few inches. You will also need some long ramps or a low trailer. I have a standard Big Tex open trailer with 4' ramps and I use 6' (4.5" lift) wooden ramps and I still have to jack up the tounge of the trailer to get the car loaded smoothly. Doesnt help that my splitter is 4" from the ground.

 

Just can't go aluminum. friends have gone back to steel trailers because of stress cracks in the aluminum ones. While the rollback is pricier, the ease of loading and offloading the car would be well worth it to me not having to deal with ramps, spacers or whatever.
I too have been thinking on another van.

 

I tie down using the holes in the front crossbrace and to the rear subframe, this provides an extremely secure tie down with no risk of disturbing the alignment, bending anything, etc.
I really try to never tie down to the wheels, control arms, sway bars etc. for a couple of reasons. First I do not like the idea of the car working the suspension while on the trailer, and I REALLY do not like attaching to the wheels themselves, mostly because if you cross the straps as you should, you are very likely to pull the alignment out at the least, and damage control links etc. at worse. I just avoid it.

I have a steel open trailer with dovetail and tire rack, had it about 20 years and it still works fine, probably could use a coat of paint though. I only know of a few aluminum trailers that are in the same condition after as much time. I also have a 26foot enclosed trailer, a base model with plywood floor and not much else. Works perfectly for taking a single car and equipment to the track for a test day or even a race weekend.

 

I used a Sloane Kwikload rollback all of 2006-2008 and loved it. For ease of getting on/off and not having to worry about stuff like opening car doors into trailer fenders, it can't be beat.

However, I'm with TeamRX8...the weights given are much lower than any Kwikload I've seen in the real world. The 18' I was using was closer to 2500# when I weighed it to calculate tongue weight/vehicle location.

 

I've known a lot of people with aluminum trailers and have never heard of any cracks or failures, including my own. It seems to me that you may want to research some more. Weight isn't an issue as long as your tow vehicle and gas budget can handle it. If you need to use the tow vehicle for driving to work etc. then this may influence your decision. A dually as a daily driver in the city might wear on you in time. If the trailer is 2500# then your RX8 and other gear will likely add at least another 3000# on top of that. Trailers built for sports or race cars usually have 10 ft ramps.

www.montrosetrailers.com

The enclosed low profile trailer on page 3 of the auto haulers is mine when it was built in Jan/2007.

 

For anyone who likes driving sports cars especially racing, DD any full sized pick up is a PIA. Taking ramps, turns and parking are just no fun. Plus with the price of gas, you will save money by DD an econo car and save the truck for trailering. Or better yet, rent a truck, van or RV to trailer your car. Anyways that was a little off topic.

10' ramps should get most cars including a stock RX8 up with no real issues. But even with 10' ramps mine, getting my car loaded is still an art.

 

Because your trailer is still not properly equipped for your use. You need a trailer with a low bed height, rear corner jacks, and 10ft ramps just like in my link above. I just crank the front up a bit, support the back end with the rear jacks that rotate into place, and drive up a slight incline no problem with a 12.5" ride height, including when I had a splitter too. My center resonator/muffler hangs down about 2" lower than the chassis and clears fine. I haul mine with a Honda Ridgeline. With a Lear topper and it's massive trunk in the bed I can haul even the kitchen sink with me (in amateur racing terms). It has a 5000# tow limit, which is why I went for the lightweight option. It was my daily driver for four years, but is now serving tow duty since I bought a Civic Si for daily use. Guess I have high rpm/low torque fever

However, the tilt trailer will work just fine if that's what he wants. I wrote them off for the weight. I bought a super lightweight enclosed trailer that cost me less than half what any other enclosed aluminum trailer company had to offer and not much more than what they wanted for open aluminum trailers.


.

 

Yep, I know. I bought my trailer used off a friend and it was a bad idea. The tires were shot, the wood will need to be replaced soon and the design of the trailer will always make it difficult to load the RX8. The trailer suspension has plenty of clearnance to the frame, so I am going to lower it an inch and that should help a little. I also installed a winch so I can pull it up nice and slow.

Lesson learned, by a trailer designed for what your going to use it for.

 

The main guy in question was towing a viper "weighs a ton" cheap trailer? poor driving habits? don't know. The trailer weights were right off the spec sheet they sent me on the kwik load, add a couple items and it's prolly right up where yours is at.
Thats a sweet trailer Team
As always, thanks for all the input yall. hehe

 

It's all good, demonstrates some of the things you need to be looking at like the heavier the setup the more tonque weight so depending on the tow vehicle you may need to consider a lift kit or weight distribution, sway control, etc. You have time so don't rush.

 

One thing I will add to the thread is that some States legally require a chain when towing for tie down. You can strap everything but at least a single chain, preferably on the back, is still required. Can't add much more as I've only trailered my Pinzgauer, I prefer driving my RX8.

 

More thay 1 way to skin a cat... CA law says each wheel has to have a lock down, although thats not what i see on the highway.. this setup was 1800. for the carson trailer, used and it is all steel. 300 for raceramps to allow low car. 80. for the overkill straps. Confidence on the road was my intent..

 

I don't see how that or a chain will matter over having four individual 5000# straps tying the chassis down. The usual chain that most people use is probably not even that strong

 

Just a thought but what about using the stock towbars?

 

:facepalm:

 

Howdy,

Looks like I'm going to need to tow an RX8 next week.

Can someone confirm that the rocker has the standard t-hook slots? I'm all setup for that with previous c5 and 4th gen f-body towing. My t-hooks look like these:



Thanks!

Mark

 

pretty sure Jason Isley used them.

and welcome aboard n00b, I suppose you will be bumping all kinds of silly stuff for the next several months

 

Howdy,

Thanks. I figure I'll just PM all my noob questions straight to you.

:-)

Mark