Got me a new trailer today!

[Bigblue12v]

I'm pretty excited, sold my old beater gooseneck today and got me a really nice 2006 22' tilt deck car trailer Its extra wide, treated wood deck, brand new tires, all the nice side marker lights added onto it, LED taillight upgrade, brakes both axles, work flood lights, toolbox, winch, the front 4' of the deck is stationary and the rear 18' section tilts to load cars. I'm so pumped to get to use it!



We do 3-8 cars a week so this will be nicer and more efficient, gonna be sooo nice not lugging ramps around and messing with ramps to be right width, and cars bottoming out coming over top the dovetail onto the flat deck This thing looks to have less of a deck angle than a rollback truck which is probably right cuz the deck only sits maybe 2' off the ground

Will post pics tomorrow. Had to share the energy

[crazyman16]

Ya you will like that trailer!!!! I have the same trailer with a 8K superwinch and have hauled over 150 vehicles on it just in the last year! It works awesome for hauling junk vehicles. What size of winch did you install on it?

[Bigblue12v]

I have a 4500 lb. Champion winch I bought a couple months ago to put on my gooseneck. Its smallish but, I put a snatchblock on it from the very beginning and its never had a problem dragging anything onto the trailer, have picked up 4,100 lb cars with all 4's locked up and it didn't care one bit. The snatchblock doubles the power so its essentially 9,000 lbs rating now. This trailer came with a winch but it was a cheesy looking winch probably 2,000 lbs. So I am swapping mine out for it.

Question: Where at on the trailer is your winch mounted? This guy had a auto repair shop and used it to tow customers vehicles, he tried a few different ways of mounting winch:
First on the front of the deck (on the stationary portion) but the cable going over the front of the tilted section tried to pull the deck back down while loading
Second on the front of the tilt section, but the weight of the winch didn't allow the bed to tilt well (looked like might not pull car forward enough mounted there anyway)
Third is its current configuration: he built a heavy frame at the front of the trailer that holds the winch up high enough that the cable does not touch the bed when its tilted, so it pulls upward instead of across the top of the deck.

I should be OK with that setup except with my gooseneck i'd chain the rear of a car and use the winch to secure the front, out of laziness basically as it avoided getting 2nd chain and boomer out since the winch is already hooked up anyway. But with this trailer I can't use the winch to secure the front of the car because when the deck levels out the winch will be pulling upward on the car instead of downward so that won't help secure the car to the trailer. Not a big huge deal but wish I could find a good solution to the whole deal...

[IdahoScrapper]

What about using it as is, and welding a hook (or ring) at the base of the frame to put a snatch block/pulley block once it's leveled out?

If this works, here is a hack job sketch to show what I am talking about.

[Bigblue12v]

Here's some pics after I got my winch mounted, the lights are now wired to a toggle as well. I tested the trailer out with my Durango. I hate how much a bumper pull trailer squats your truck compared to a gooseneck. I'm pumped to get out and put this trailer to work!

[Bigblue12v]

What about using it as is, and welding a hook (or ring) at the base of the frame to put a snatch block/pulley block once it's leveled out?

If this works, here is a hack job sketch to show what I am talking about.

Good idea, might just use that idea too.... thanks buddy!

[Instaed]

Congratulations bro. What do I need to do to get 3-8 cars per week? Sounds like you have a good thing going there.

[Bigblue12v]

Get the word out big time, word of mouth is our best advertisement, getting people to spread the word. And we advertise in two different newspapers in two different counties. We also pay $20 cash finders fee which sometimes helps but i'm very surprised how few people actually get motivated to look around and ask around for $20 per vehicle... thats good money for no more effort than it requires!

[Mechanic688]

I hate how much a bumper pull trailer squats your truck compared to a gooseneck. I'm pumped to get out and put this trailer to work!

Hi BigBlue, You might consider some airbags added onto the rear axle in addition to the regular suspension. Most bigger camper dealers can install for you if your not set up to do it yourself,, That is the setup the commercial camper haulers use a lot on their trucks. This is just my thought on preserving your truck, as I built my own camper hauler to my speq's and used it for about 6 years. Mike

[Bigblue12v]

Mike,
I've been thinking about it, but its not necessary yet... so far I've been able to balance the load evenly to where its not a problem really. Worst case scenario it does squat the truck a little its acceptable and generally no further than 10 miles from the yard. I use to work at a shop where we installed almost any aftermarket truck accessory you can think of, so I've installed airbags on many pickup trucks. I've yet to take my vehicle to any shop for anything other than an alignment. Everything else I do in-house including repairs, fabrication, modification, installations etc. Just don't need the high tech laser alignment equipment Although i've done "tape measure alignments" on quite a few of my rigs (not daily drivers mostly off road toys or beaters).....

[Focker]

Heck that old dodge can handle it no problem.Man there is a landoll trailer on eaby i would love to buy 33 ft thing is a monster but is 9500 lol

[Bigblue12v]

Heck yea you could haul a mother load on a landoll! Those things are sweet!

Upgraded winches on the trailer last night. Got a Smittybuilt XRC 10,000 lb. behemoth. Got it brand new for dirt cheap. Got to use it today and as long as something will physically fit on the trailer, this winch makes sure it comes with me! Picked up a 1973 Chevy full size van today, all 4 tires were off the bead, all 4 were locked up. Van was sitting on its engine crossmember in the sand, it had been there for a few floods. Backed trailer up to it, hooked winch, put truck in 4 low shut off in gear, chocked one truck tire, locked up the trailer brakes, and hit the winch. It drug the truck and trailer the last couple feet toward the van til the trailer deck hit the van tires, then the winch proceeded to bring the van onto the trailer like it was just out walking the dog. Freaking sweet! Can't wait to use this winch some more!!! And its a LOT faster than the old winch (which I was using with a snatchblock so that slows it down a little) but still even on single line pull its almost twice as fast. I'm on cloud 9! This is a poor man's rollback setup now!