Cascade Crew

Kage87Z

Well, I'll be starting the long road to wherever this thing is going to go.

Saw a bumper sticker once, it said "I go wherever I'm towed." One wonders... all the years I've had this thing and money I've sunk in it... will towing be the outcome?

I'll have picks and vids up in a day or so... "Once more into the breach!"

Schultzy89GTA · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:12 pm Post subject:

Hey man, how did you do? I was online for a while last night and had the PIR live feed up but never saw you. Hopefully it all worked out well and no carnage.

-Schultzy

Kage87Z · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:33 pm Post subject:

I never made it to the strip.

Got loaded up... headed down the road... and saw a cloud of smoke coming from one of my trailer tires.

It was my fault. I put new axles on it, and when me and a buddy welded (well, he welded) the.... I guess you'd call them "cradles" or something like that onto the axles that would then sit on the leaf spring to keep the axle from torque twisting when the brakes are applied... I (we) forgot to center the axles evenly side to side.

So, both tires on the passenger side were rubbing under load; not bad enough to notice when in the air, but certainly bad enough under load to be a major problem.

I took 4 hours to try and move the axle over, but because those cradles were welded on, the axles couldn't move over due to the close tolerances and the U Bolts.

Eventually, I got it back in good enough shape to drive the car off, and then drive it home (about 2 miles... REALLY felt different with the drag tires on it) grab my little pick up and some crow bars and head on back to my rig.

With Danielle holding the flashlight, I was barely able to move the worst axle enough to get about an 1/8th of an inch tire clearance and haul it home.

I've still got the old trailer that works perfectly well, and I've now got to pull the new axles off the new trailer, cut the cradles off, smooth the axles out again, put new cradles on and re-weld them, this time in the right position.

So, if I get a good racing day before the season ends, we WILL be hauling it to the track.

I'm learning much more about trailers and trailer axles than I EVER wanted to know.

I'll keep everyone in the loop and keep the board posted.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

Flip the trailer over upside down so you can place the axles perfectly where they belong.

Kage87Z · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:22 pm Post subject:

Twilightoptics · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:43 pm Post subject:

I'm with Rod. It's the only way to do it right.

Kage87Z · Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:53 pm Post subject:

So.... how would I do that?

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

I dunno what you have to work with, I have always used a forklift.

The axle placement looks wierd too, way to far forward. I see that it is a tilt deck, but still looks like the car needs to be forward a ways. My dad and I built my car trailer and the back tires on my Camaro sit almost on top of the back axle on the trailer. Yours looks like it could get a little wiggle happy at freeway speeds. Mine is absolutely solid up to 80 mph.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

I had this GTA on backwards, but you see where I pack a car in relation to the trailer axles.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2328

Another one with my carmaro on facing the right way.

91RSVert · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:35 am Post subject:

Ive always parked the car on the trailer centered over the axles whenever possible.

Twilightoptics · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:33 am Post subject:

Weather permitting I'm thinkin about going and beating on the ol Maro Friday at PIR.

Think you'll have your trailer fixed?

Kage87Z · Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:08 am Post subject:

Even if I don't get the tilt fixed, I've still got the ghetto trailer. In fact, I pulled a friends busted fox body out of PIR with it yesterday afternoon.

So, especially because Saturday shows as rain, Friday might be the day.

I found out the hard way how balanced the trailer is for purposes of reduced tongue weight... I popped it off the hitch without putting something down to block the tires, and it took off across my yard into a tree.

Typically, I just stop the car a foot or so after the deck tilts down. Before I had the axles welded, I towed a Bronco over to Seaside without any trouble.

I don't have a forklift handy, so I may have to find some other way... but the ingenuity of the American GI continues to astound the world.