Avoided towing disaster.

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RockinRobin

RockinRobin

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Went to a track 3+ hours away and on the drive home we hit some pretty good bumps. Opened the trailer door at home to find that one of the straps to the front end came out of its hook due to bouncing, and since I criss cross them it started bouncing to the side that still had tension. Went online and ordered ratchet straps that have the locking hooks to eliminate this possibility in the future. Been towing this car since 2013 and never had this happen before. Still had fun racing though!
P.s. I winch my car in the trailer and I leave the winch cable attached to the car with a little slack in it so it cannot roll backwards if something goes wrong.
 
My son and I have both towed ALOT over the years.
We had our first near catastrophe 2 weekends ago.
72 fury wagon parts car.
We stopped a few times on the way home once loaded and checked our straps to be sure they hadn't vibrated/worked loose/settled.
Well was fine. About 90 miles into the trip home we got on the off ramp, stopped at the top of the ramp, as soon as he started to let out the clutch when we went to take off, I heard a thud. Both straps had broken, car rolled right off the trailer.
We'd only moved about 8 feet from taking off from that stop when it went "thud".
We were using some pretty heavy straps, such as are often seen on a flatbed semi, we'd done this many many times before, secured a car on that same trailer with the same type of straps, never an issue in the past. Snapped them like "nothing".

Could have been much worse. We hooked up the winch, pulled the car back up and then he found the chains and binders that he was originally looking for. No damage done to car, trailer or anything else.
This used to be his trailer, a guy he works with (and does a poor job of maintaining anything) and like a year and a half later had to borrow it back .. and nothing was as my kid had left it when he sold it.... Nothing arranged, nothing where it previously was, just a mess.
I've borrowed trailers before and usually I have to do all the maintenance on them, just to do what I borrowed the trailer to do in the first place.
I've rewired them from scratch, done full brake jobs, packed bearings, replaced tires and more before when I w had to borrow trailers just to be able to do the job I needed a trailer for. Always left me wondering how the respective trailer owner was getting stuff done, with their equipment in such dilapidated condition....
 
Interesting stories about towing drag cars in the old days.

88C98C44-2EE5-4EBA-AE8B-F8F5A07784F7.jpeg
 
I have towed hundreds of thousands of miles, and had three mishaps over those years. I find that crossing the straps makes it worse if something goes wrong, so I never do it anymore. I try and winch most vehicles up and leave them hooked to the winch if I am loading by myself, but let owners drive their cars onto the trailer if they want, sometimes it is better to get the vehicle just where you want it. Two weeks ago I picked up a 2001 Mexican Ramcharger and found out the tires were wider than my fenders when I let the owner drive it up on the trailer, he came up gangbusters and before I could make him stop it smashed both my fenders down the the tires! We had to back the vehicle off and remove the rear trailer tires to beat the fenders off the tires with a sledge then we had to change the front tires by using his spare and mine from my transport truck. Sometimes it just doesn't work out right...
 
mcodecuda said:
And this is why I never cross my straps. Break one strap and the car pulls sideways.
Click to expand...
It is even worse, actually. Because of the diagonal angle, moving the rig sideways actually creates slack in the remaining tie which now allows fore and aft movement and may then cause the ties on the opposite end to unhook
 
There was a big thread on this on the B side.
Some swear by cross strapping, (including some who claimed that their state required it) others will only straight strap. I'm one of the straight strappers. Check out a few offroad trailering videos on you tube to see why.
 
Strap the rear housing down not the body in the rear and X them

In the front never tie the body down always the suspension if you can. If you do pull the suspension down put blocking under the center of the K member and pull it down against tight to stop the bounce.

We always cross the rear straps because they end up being long. The fronts are short so we run them straight to the D-rings. They can't go side to side being that short and pulled down against the K-member.
 
2 chains and two chain binders, K-member and rear axle are my anchor points.
 
HemiSSDart said:
I have towed hundreds of thousands of miles, and had three mishaps over those years. I find that crossing the straps makes it worse if something goes wrong, so I never do it anymore. I try and winch most vehicles up and leave them hooked to the winch if I am loading by myself, but let owners drive their cars onto the trailer if they want, sometimes it is better to get the vehicle just where you want it. Two weeks ago I picked up a 2001 Mexican Ramcharger and found out the tires were wider than my fenders when I let the owner drive it up on the trailer, he came up gangbusters and before I could make him stop it smashed both my fenders down the the tires! We had to back the vehicle off and remove the rear trailer tires to beat the fenders off the tires with a sledge then we had to change the front tires by using his spare and mine from my transport truck. Sometimes it just doesn't work out right...
Click to expand...
Mexican Ramcharger. Sweet. I want one! Never been in one, but have seen one for sale here in Michigan.

I cross my straps. I have had the car move sideways with straight straps.
 
Bobzilla said:
Mexican Ramcharger. Sweet. I want one! Never been in one, but have seen one for sale here in Michigan.

I cross my straps. I have had the car move sideways with straight straps.
Click to expand...
Converted to a Cummins 6-speed, straight on straps...

2001 Mexican Ramcharger.jpg
 
I haul a lot of trucks, heavy equipment and hard parts for machines for my company a lot. Connecticut DMV when I get pulled over in an open deck trailer always tells me to cross rears and straight fronts. In enclosed trailers they never check or make me open the doors. Dumb asses- if they only knew how thin the plywood inside and aluminum skin are of the trailer. Hell I could not even be tied down. They don’t check. They ask for CDL license and insurance cards for trailer and truck, check my DOT inspection decals are within a year old and send me on my way. I like crossing my straps in the rear - less side to side tail walking the dog stuff. But if one comes loose - it’s trouble. Check straps after first 10miles then every hundred.
 
A strap in good condition won't break. A strap that is old and sits in weather? Not so much.
Doug
 
dvw said:
A strap in good condition won't break. A strap that is old and sits in weather? Not so much.
Doug
Click to expand...
I agree and I will add that buying cheap **** straps for ten dollars, or some such low number, is a bad idea for anything important like a vehicle. Buy good name brand straps. The cheaper stuff is not as strong for abrasion resistance and often leads to premature breakage.
 
I always use chains and binders. In 35 years never had one break. I have to much in my car to trust a nylon strap
 
Ok so here is what I did. I got a pair of Vulcan ratchet straps that have the spring locks on the hooks. I have 2 sets of d rings in the trailer. One is almost directly under the front of the k member, the other about 3 feet forward of that. I looped the strap around the k member and down to the 1st set of rings, then ran the strap over the top of the k member to the other set of rings not cris crossed. This pulls the frame downward when I tighten the ratchets. We'll give this a try this weekend and see how it goes.
 
volaredon said:
My son and I have both towed ALOT over the years.
We had our first near catastrophe 2 weekends ago.
72 fury wagon parts car.
We stopped a few times on the way home once loaded and checked our straps to be sure they hadn't vibrated/worked loose/settled.
Well was fine. About 90 miles into the trip home we got on the off ramp, stopped at the top of the ramp, as soon as he started to let out the clutch when we went to take off, I heard a thud. Both straps had broken, car rolled right off the trailer.
We'd only moved about 8 feet from taking off from that stop when it went "thud".
We were using some pretty heavy straps, such as are often seen on a flatbed semi, we'd done this many many times before, secured a car on that same trailer with the same type of straps, never an issue in the past. Snapped them like "nothing".

Could have been much worse. We hooked up the winch, pulled the car back up and then he found the chains and binders that he was originally looking for. No damage done to car, trailer or anything else.
This used to be his trailer, a guy he works with (and does a poor job of maintaining anything) and like a year and a half later had to borrow it back .. and nothing was as my kid had left it when he sold it.... Nothing arranged, nothing where it previously was, just a mess.
I've borrowed trailers before and usually I have to do all the maintenance on them, just to do what I borrowed the trailer to do in the first place.
I've rewired them from scratch, done full brake jobs, packed bearings, replaced tires and more before when I w had to borrow trailers just to be able to do the job I needed a trailer for. Always left me wondering how the respective trailer owner was getting stuff done, with their equipment in such dilapidated condition....
Click to expand...
This is exactly why I just buy the stuff. I suffer with the payment but I got tired of repairing other peoples junk just to use it once.
 
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