Open trailer with a car

[Harold,Cat&Sam]

Originally Posted by soon to be free

Just got back from a 5000 mile trip pulling my car on a open trailer with a guard in the front. One of the members was right if you have a oil leak or maybe just the blow by it will cover your car. We had to wash the car every time we unloaded it.

Check the bolts around your air compressor and power steering pump . They will loosen and cause an oil leak . Tightened ours up after noticing a leak a couple years ago and have had no problems since. Also check the fuel lift pump .

[soon to be free]

Thanks, I will check them. I used about 1/2 gallon of oil in 5000 miles I figured that was from the blow by tube.

[arcaidy]

We made it back from the trip. We pulled the truck just in case we needed to move the trailer or had any issues. We did use it to mover the trailer in to the space next to us. The place we stayed didn't have any pull through, just back in. The trailer was parked next to us.
I didn't try backing up the trailer with the bird. That is something I will need to be able to do if we don't pull a vehicle with tow capabilities or have a spot that is pull through and long enough for both RV and trailer.
It was a bit of a pain hooking up to RV, loading the truck, unloading truck, unhooking from RV, hooking to truck, parking the trailer. Then when leaving.... hooking trailer to truck to move to area we could hook back up to RV, unhooking from truck, hooking to RV, loading truck on trailer. Then doing the unloading again when home.
Everything pulled fine. I could feel it some when taking off. I drove slower than I did without a trailer. Hills were about the same while at speed. We didn't hit anything steep but some long inclines that slow us down even with out pulling something. I put a trailer brake controller on it and mounted it in the engine compartment. I am not sure if it'll survive the heat back there. I don't know if its helping much. On the truck I can feel help, but with the RV I couldn't any drag when just hitting the brakes enough to gets lights on. It may have help some when sitting at stop lights to prevent some rolling forward.
I never had any concerns with stopping. First trip I had to much tongue weight and could feel it a bit in some rough spots. Second trip was not enough and it moved a bit more than I'd liked when moving lanes. Both we just my preference and didn't cause any real issues or concerns. I did like being able to see the trailer wheels in the mirrors going down the road. I could not see the truck other than the mirrors. So pulling a tow dolly or something 4 down will be invisible from the mirrors.
The truck is heavy. I am guessing I was around 9,000 pounds with trailer. I'd have no issue pulling that regularly with the PT if I wanted to. The open trailer has its positives and we will keep using it for some stuff. I would like to try a dolly and see how that goes. I would like a solution for when we don't have room for the trailer.

[arcaidy]

On the way there

[max hendrix]

James. That’s a nice looking rig you have.

I have tried multiple combinations over the years. Haven’t tried a dolly yet behind the RV but have pulled them behind my pickup moving cars.
I just don’t like being locked into forward movement only. It really bothers me not having the option to back up. So for me I think a trailer has a slight personal advantage over flat towing.
I grew up driving all kinds of farm and construction equipment and trucks, forwards and backwards and never damaged anything until I jackknifed my BMC. I couldn’t believe how quickly it happened. The wheelbase on RVs is so long that the trailer can and will swing very quickly once it gets going. Be very careful. It’s lots easier to back up a 53’ long semi trailer than a 16’ long car hauler behind an RV.

I generally travel with two dirt bikes. I can put them up front with my Exploder in behind on the trailer. Junk goes inside. Or I can put them in my pickup and flat tow it with room for even more junk. This is a good solution if I want to carry firewood because I don’t want to put that inside the Exploder.

My pickup has suffered a few rock chips behind the bus but nothing terrible. I also had one of the aluminum legs get slightly bent on my blue ox tow bar. Not sure exactly how that happened but it was easy but rather costly to replace. I do know that there is a tremendous load on the bars when making a quick stop when traffic on the freeway shuts down — even with a toad braking system. I believe a strong trailer could handle that type of incident better than a toad.

Having to store the trailer somewhere is a concern but manageable in most instances. If you Jeep and break things, or tend to find bargains along the way, the trailer can bring home damaged vehicles or a tractor or whatever you find in those junk stores we like to visit.

Different situations call for different solutions. Not one size fits all.