Single or tandem axle trailer for racecar?

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skyline_guy_r34, Jul 12, 1:35am
Been through this before. Will do it all again. Have a racecar weighs in at 1025kg including driver so around 950 just the car. Had a tandem axle braked trailer for it but was stolen a few weeks ago. Insurance payout all ok getting paid sometime this week.

Need a new trailer now. Boss reckons since car only weighs 1tonne i dont NEED a tandem, and that a decent single axle will be a great trailer for it.

Whats your views! I found towing with the tandem very satisfactory (had self levelling suspension also). But wondering if I could get away with a decent single axle this time round.

Cheers guys

h.e, Jul 12, 1:49am
i would get a tandem personally.i think the over length of the trailer would indicate it would need to be tandem plus they tow and back better

edit is it just the car on the trailer what about spare tyres,fuel etc

pieman33h, Jul 12, 1:50am
have had both, tandems are good but a pain to move around when empty by hand, single axle towed awesome but had big tyres on it plus if ya get a flat you cant struggle on

skyline_guy_r34, Jul 12, 1:55am
Just the racecar plus a few spares, most of which go in the towing car. Probably around an extra 50kg weight of spares goes in the racecar.

zooki007, Jul 12, 1:59am
We use a braked single axle trailer to tow the rally car. The car weighs 1300kg. It tows really well.

fordcrzy, Jul 12, 2:41am
get a braked single axle with good quality Commercial tyres so they handle the weight a bit better.and get a spare aswell. single axles are so much easier to manouver.having said that if your car is very front heavy consider a tandem to flatten the load out.

skyline_guy_r34, Jul 12, 2:48am
Racecar is a series 1 rx7. Supposed to have very good weight distribution.

Im not worried about empty manouvering. Just really focussing on towing capabilites.

trader_84, Jul 12, 3:28am
Mate, I'd go with the tandem. Just seems safer and more predictable to me. I have a tandem I built and finished not long ago. I get praises and stuff from people who see it in use. Its big, tracks well and loads real easy. I made it tilt and built extra long ramps as well. It sits low and has extra steel in the middle so I can transport my 2T digger around the place also. I hired hire place ones and looked long and hard at different designs etc prior to building my one. I tried to incorporate all the stuff I thought was good blah blah blah. Truth be known . if I had to do it all over again - I'd buy one already made and just make sure it was one built to last. Lol!

stevo2, Jul 12, 3:37am
A single axle with commercial rated tyres will do the job ok if towed by something reasonably heavy, but a tandem would do it better

v8_mopar, Jul 12, 3:48am
Yep

Moving is not to hard if you lift to turn from the back not the bar

mrfxit, Jul 12, 3:49am
Now come on ppl . HOW the heck can you honestly argue against^^THAT^^

trader_84, Jul 12, 3:56am
On my 'to do' list is to make one of those plate thingy's that sits between the towball and your number plate . that guides the coupling over the towball, making hooking the trailer onto the bastard towball easier. My trailer has a bit of weight on the drawbar (even just sitting unattached and with no load on it) Its parked on a metal hardstanding and is a pain to move by yourself because the jockeywheel digs into the metal.

trader_84, Jul 12, 4:01am
Floyd . what sorta MoParts you into!

skin1235, Jul 12, 4:14am
a wee trick is to fit a thin pole to the trailer coupling, fibreglass fence standards are excellent, then when you back up check the rear vision mirror, when that pole is in the middle of the rear screen the trailer is lined up perfectly, just remember to NOT use the crunch into the rear of the car as the indicator that you've back up about 6 inches too far

trader_84, Jul 12, 4:21am
Lol! I use a 93' LN106 to tow the trailer. Its painted red and is affectionatly called the 'red ruffy' The red ruffy has not got a straight panel to his name and the crunch method is the only way he knows of . to get hooked up, hehe!

trader_84, Jul 12, 4:31am
Cool car mate! They are nice to ride in aye! I can remember when they first came out. I've always been a Chrysler man . even when it was unfashionable to be one. My first car was a VE and I have always had some sorta MoPar up until recently. I sold my last two coupes off last year to make room in the shed and to reflect a change in direction. The only thing MoPar I have left is a couple of engines. One of thems a funny looking one too . its got these wide assed rocker covers with holes in them for sparking plug leads. I understand its an 'older' design but are still sought after for some reason, lol! We need to start a MoPar thread.

sr2, Jul 12, 4:34am
Nice ride mate.

v8_mopar, Jul 12, 4:41am
Yea real nice ride in the v8's, very little body roll. Would love to have had a coupe, next car maybe :).

skin1235, Jul 12, 4:55am
very nice ride

I regret selling my 78 CL a few years back, although she did have the extended range tow pack ( extra 2 leaves in the rear, 65amp alt but also the full 140 litre tank, mate that thing was plain scary to fill up, and that was while gas was less than $1.50 ltre) Still, she could do 3 trips Waverley to Napier to bring home the caravans at the end of the picking season without a top up

v8_mopar, Jul 12, 5:00am
Desert tanks hell they costly. I got the 99 litre and thats bad enough to fill

skin1235, Jul 12, 5:20am
hell yeah, you had the bank manager on speed dial if you went down the servo

the spare well was filled over, the spare stood in the left quarter, plus the tank was deeper by about another 3" ( 75mm) right across, actually sat up 2 inches into the boot, the normal tanks bolted flush with the floor

gt4nz, Jul 12, 5:22am
Hey mate check out this auction. We have one of these and many of the car club have since brought one, we have 15 inch mags on ours being the only difference. Awesome balance and we've towed everything from our evo 8 to a V8 commodore, and comfortably sit on 100km everywhere.
390742115

r15, Jul 12, 7:40am
i've towed all round the country on tandems and then recently i used a single axle trailer.i was towing with my 2.5 turbo diesel hiace, with a 02 corolla runx on it.it was so much nicer to tow than the tandem! felt like half the weight, i'd seriously consider a single with a car that light if you have a nice heavy tow vehicle

sr2, Jul 12, 4:01pm
Thanks for the vote of confidence UJ; love the shots of the Cortina, must have broken your heart to let it go. I'm still in mourning after the sale of the old COSEVO!

mgmad, Sep 6, 3:41am
To be honest, trailer design is at least as important as wether it is single or tandem axle. We have a purpose built single axle trailer, properly balanced, designed to tow up to 2 tonnes worth of boat etc, and it tows brilliantly. Tows 1200kg worth of rally car no worries, extremely stable even when keeping to the legal limit on tight twisty roads. We can easily maneuvre the trailer with car loaded by hand.

That said, a poorly designed, poorly balanced trailer (single will be worse, but tandem can also be bad) will be a bastard to tow.