Building A Race Car Trailer Part 2

In Part 1 I covered building the basic frame of a budget race cartrailer. It was fitted with 6,000-pound mobile-home axles. They areplentiful throughout most of the country, and some are even free if youwant to crawl under a mobile home to get them. Our trailer has runnersrather than a solid floor, which makes changing oil on your race careasy while it's loaded. The target was $300 for the basics. I went $6over budget on the steel, and I was given the mobile-home axles. Thismonth we'll finish the details and add some nice touches such as awinch. So let's finish it up.

BUILDING THE FENDERS

Before rolling down the road, your trailer needsfenders. Arguing with the gorilla in the car behind you about a rockmark in his windshield is seldom any fun. You can buy a pair of fendersfor $75 to $100. However, I made mine from a section of leftoverpurling. My fenders cover behind and over the tires, but not in front.The front is the part of the fender that always seems to bend back intothe tire anyway. Cut the blanks 74 inches long. Notch out 51/2 inches bythe width of the flange in each side flange. This allows a smooth bend.Center these notches 16 inches from the rear of the blank. Afterbending, trim a piece of scrap to fit the curve and weld it in place.The Millermatic 185 wirefeed machine welds the thin parts just as itdoes the thicker ones--easily. Use a piece of 11/2-inch angle to cap offthe front. Double this and you have a nice pair of fenders. And the costis low--a little work and a little time. One-inch square tubing is usedfor mounting. This spaces the fender out from the frame properly.

THE TIRE RACK

Tire racks vary according to need. On this trailer, theside frames are built from 11-gauge, 11/2-inch square tubing. It wasgoing to be made from 1-inch material, but the steel company shippedmore 11/2-inch and less of the 1-inch. The crossbars are 1-inch square.The larger size for the sides makes it more stable for only a slightincrease in cost, and I recommend this configuration. The height of theside frames is 72 inches off the trailer surface. The front side tube isvertical. The rear downtube is angled back. The width at the top is 18inches while the spacing at the bottom is 32 inches. Bars across the topprovide a base for a deck. A length of purling was added across thisarea for the seat. This is a good place to watch the races. The taper ofthe sides lets you cut side covers from a single sheet of 4x8-footmaterial. On other projects, I have used Coroplast material for thispurpose. This is a plastic that appears not unlike corrugated cardboardwhen viewed from the edge. It is light, strong, and cheap. You can trimit to shape with a knife. Best of all, a 4x8-foot sheet is less than $10and can be purchased at plastic-supply and sign-supply shops. Attach itwith self-drilling, self-tapping screws. Be sure to use washers. Thispanel makes a good place to display sponsor names and car numbers. Thecrossbars for holding the tires are 28 inches below the top crossbars.This should allow you to put in any size you might need--except someSprint Car tires--so check your tires for fit. The mounts for theholding rod are welded in to match the tire sizes used. It is best toput a tire in the rack and check for position before welding.

TIE IT DOWN

It might seem silly to tie it down, yet there have been morethan a few Street Stocks driven on the trailer, put in park, and towedhome. This is not a good practice. Virgil Brown at M&R Products is asource of constant education. In the past, I have tied a car down at thefront and rear, thinking that was OK. Brown pointed out that afour-point tie-down system should be employed. According to Brown, ifthe trailer jackknifes or is involved in some emergency maneuver, onerear corner of the car can rise up when only two points are used. Withthis weight shift, the trailer will dip and something bad will happen.With that information in mind, I selected four 6-foot axle tie-downsfrom the M&R catalog. The front two will go over the lower A-frames.Four D-rings are needed to attach these tie-downs. M&R also offers wheelbonnets, which are a good option, because they don't require reaching sofar under the car to attach.

RAMPS

At the end of the trailer are two loading ramps made from leftoverpurling. Each ramp is made as follows: Cut two pieces of purling at 33inches and weld them together like the trailer runners. On one end, welda piece of 2-inch angle. This one is attached with the point out,somewhat like a very dull axe. At the trailer end of the ramp, weld apiece of the same angle with the flange out and on top. Drill or torchtwo holes in this. Lay the ramp in place and drill corresponding holesin the channel, only larger. The slack is necessary due to the variabledown-angle of the ramp. Weld 1/2x11/2-inch bolts into the ramp holes.These are the hooks that keep the ramp in place. There is an alternativeway to mount the ramps. On this trailer, they swing out and stayattached to the trailer. First, drill the outer hole all the way throughboth flanges of the channel. Now a 7-inch piece of all-thread rod can beput through the ramp and the channel. Presto, the ramp is permanentlyattached to the trailer. Lift the ramp and swing it in. Swing it out andit drops in place. When both ramps are in, a short chain holds themtogether at the center. Notice in the photos there is a T-shaped bar atthe center rear of the trailer. This is a rest for the ramps whentucked.