[DeTomaso] Trailering Tiedown Points

Thu Mar 15 12:00:07 EDT 2007

In towing lots of race cars I've seen many people do all kinds of
things to keep cars in place.

Some have used a cradle type of tie down over each tire that kept the
tire securely locked down in one place and allowed the suspension to
function to help smooth out the bumps and not allow the car chassis to
absorb the hard jolts.

I have seen others use ratcheting straps on the four corner to the
trailer for corners or D-rings mounted in the floor ( which should be
bolted to frame mounted backing supports, I have never trusted only
graduated washers to diamond plate as a mounting method ), some
cris-cross and some don't and as already stated, those that cris cross
are doing so because their trailer is too short for the job.

I have always used a tire block of some kind as a safety measure, even
if it was only sections of a 2 x 4 jammed between the floor and the
tire rubber.  Usually they are always left in gear, but many don't do
that either for the stress put on the transmission/transaxle teeth by
jolts and potholes.

When I bought my Pantera, I used a 20 ft open trailer to bring it
home, ratcheting straps to the frame in front and around the frame at
the rear, snugged down and re snugged after the first 15 minutes, with
wooden blocks behind and in front of all four tires, with the car left
in third gear, car facing forwards closer to the front of the trailer
than to the rear to put weight forward of the trailer center line.

If I were to haul the car in an enclosed trailer, I would probably put
it in backwards to achieve the same thing but wouldn't have to worry
about wind pressure opening up the hood, etc.

Open trailers with a fold down fender assemlby are best or have a
skinny friend if you're like me and probably can't crawl through the
window frame unless it was only as a last resort in a fire and you had
no concern about personal dignity or harming the frame, glass, door
rubber, etc.

If you have an enclosed trailer, a 12V wench in the only way to go.

With open trailers you'll want extra long ramps, maybe some pieces of
wood to help get the car started and/or a tilting bed, with an
enclosed trailer, I beavertail door and floor would be ideal.

Just my two cents.

Michael Shortt
Savannah, GA

On 3/15/07, Matt Merritt <mmerritt at eventvehicles.com> wrote:
> Hi Mike and All:
>
> I'm no engineer but my basic understanding of leverage makes me think that
> attaching tiedown straps to the wheels would put more stress on the
> suspension (but probably not the unibody) than using the inboard part of the
> A-arms.
>
> I guess that the bottom line is that if you're going to tow your Pantera
> often you should fabricate some stout tow loops (not hooks).
>
> MM
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 5:51 PM
> To: peter-kovacs at sbcglobal.net; hjbutler at bellsouth.net; Matt Merritt;
> detomaso at realbig.com
> Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Trailering Tiedown Points
>
>
> In a message dated 3/14/07 15:18:33, peter-kovacs at sbcglobal.net writes:
>
> << No offense taken Matt. You both went in to more detail than I did and
> brought up important points. I used to run the straps over the A arms until
> I was advised by Pantera people at the Las Vegas event that I was possibly
> impacting my alignment when cinching down the car. Is that a valid concern?
> >>
>
> >>>I have seen A-arms bent by well-intentioned trailer-types, most
> >>>notably in
> the rear.  The front ones seem stronger.  Running the strap through the
> wheel in the front seems to be a great technique, and in the back I would
> definitely run the strap through some part of the chassis rather than the
> A-arm.
> Contrary to what Matt suggested, it's not difficult to run the rear straps
> around the rearmost cross-piece of the chassis (to which the center sway bar
> mounts are affixed).
>
> Finally, in the most extreme case, I have seen a Pantera chassis (Ellis
> Woumnm's) literally broken by an overzealous tow truck driver.  He cranked
> down super-hard on the straps, then took the car on a very bumpy drive.  The
> chassis cracked just forward of the footboxes, and he had to weld it back
> together at a PCNC tech session.
>
> Larry Stock recently discovered that his chassis was broken there too, and
> the only thing holding the car together was his chassis stiffening kit!!!!
>
> Mike
>
> Mike<BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers
> free email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free from AOL at
> http://www.aol.com.
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>

-- 
Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia

This email is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally
privileged.  If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
that any retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this
communication is strictly prohibited.  Please reply to the sender that you
have received this message in error, then delete it.  Thank you