This is where I go to buy used trailers.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=36

 

I tow cars on tandem axle trailers, tow dollies, and I pull boats and loaded double jet ski trailers around all the time. Many, many times I have towed these loads on multi-state trips. I have occasionally driven with trailer brakes but that is the exception and not the rule.

FWIW, most of the wrecks I see involving towing anything involve trailers with brakes. I think they make people forget to be respectful of the overall mass of the load and they end up driving like they aren't loaded, ie. following too close, cornering too quickly, not braking early enough for a turn or intersection.

Would I like to have brakes? Yes of course. Until I need to maintain them. Do I need them and feel that my life is in danger everytime I tow without them? No. Would I spend what it would take to have them just to tow a silly little Miata? No. I don't need to. When I tow 10k lb. tracked excavators behind a dually on a 2800 lb trailer, yes.

 

My vote is wait and buy a trailer with brakes on at least one axle. I recently bought my first car hauler - ended up with a steel 16' flat trailer with wood runners, aluminum ramps, an open center, brakes on one axle, and a breakaway kit for $700. Towed it up to CMP last weekend and it was nice and smooth. I'm going to add a weight distributing hitch to better balance the load and protect against sway.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the trailer. I'm going to paint it with POR-15, top coat it with tractor paint, and replace the lights with LEDs.

 

Well I must be slightly insane then, I have a 18 foot car trailer w/o brakes, and Ill load a 3740 lbs Thunderbird Turbo coupe on it and pull it with a Ranger.

No issues... just be aware of what your doing and leave longer stopping distances.

 

I'm sure nick93t is a cool guy and all, but I would seriously question the manliness of a guy with a pastel colored car. I'm sure Barbie would like trailer brakes when towing her pink Corvette too.

 

Don't act like you don't love it ***

https://www.miataturbo.net/showthrea...t=29930&page=4

 

honestly, i was wondering if i knew you too. i generally go out once a month, almost always ECR until the last couple months when i went to Cresson. i was racing a 2012 competition orange boss 302, generally i remember what people drive more than them. ive been on track with more than a few FI miatas at ECR, one that sticks in my mind was green, sounded like a SC car.

PS: if i dont know you, we should get up to some hoonage at ECR or MSR. 5-star ford has a track day at ECR on june 23 i believe, its a sat, cheap and free lunch. $150, if you want to run i can get you with the guy setting it up. any other texas folks that want to for that matter, let me know. everyone i know locally is too big a puss to track with me.

 

I won't have the turbo back until late summer. 302s?

I have a huge #723 on my car, it's hard to miss.

 

BTW, Johnwag and I pulled Matt's car from Dallas to California on more than one occasion and never had trailer brakes.

 

I don't remember seeing you. My boss was a normal street boss not the s. I was going mostly on member days. And ecr's hpde days.

 

This right here.

I see a pretty distinct line in this thread: Those that have done a panic stop with a trailer, and those who havent.

 

ftfy

 

If you think changing your driving habits will prevent Grandma in her Land Yacht from pulling out in front of you or prevent Bambi from determining its peachy to cross in front of you, you're a derptastic dumbass who gets what you deserve.

 

That's not a fair statement. When you're pulling a trailer, you are often cut off and forced to panic-stop with no fault on your own part.

I've got as many miles pulling trailers as any of you--some with brakes, some without. Trailer brakes make you (and everyone around you) safer, period. The brakes on your truck were designed for just that--stopping your truck. They're not intended to stop your trailer. Get a trailer with brakes and get a good brake controller.

 

If grandma wants to pull out in front of me, she's going to get what's coming to her. I'm not saying towing a trailer without brakes is the ONLY solution, and I'm not saying that brakes on a trailer are a bad idea, but what I'm hearing from some is that brakes on a trailer is the ONLY solution, and that people who tow trailers without brakes are idiots.

Frankly, that argument is religious, and as such, it holds no merit with me. Until you accept the fact that people who tow trailers without brakes are not idiots, your argument is unacceptable.

I've been cutoff, I've had to dodge animals, and I've had to panic stop all with a brakeless trailer, but I also drive 55 on the freeway, I plan for people to cut me off at stoplights, and I expect that one day I'm indeed going to send Bambi on an out-of-body experience...even with a trailer that DOES have brakes, if you think you're invincible from deer hits, you've got some learning to do.

Is everyone around me safer if I have a trailer with brakes? Sure. But we'd also all be safer if we took every Ford Excursion off the roads and made the owners drive Ford Tempos instead.

Finally, my last point - an overconfident driver towing a trailer with brakes is ALWAYS going to be more dangerous on the road than an unambitious driver towing a trailer without brakes.

 

i bought the trailer with the design i wanted, even though it didn't have brakes. whether or not i'm an idiot remains to be seen. it's well built and very low to the ground so it should be easy enough to get the car on the trailer, the rails for the tires are only about 6-inches off the road, should make it easier to see out the back of the truck too.

i am thinking about putting a winch on it now to get the car loaded easier alone and in case i break it at the track. is a hand winch considered too ghetto for the track, lol? i'd really rather not mess with wiring up an electric winch since it will be mostly stored outside.

 

So, amidst your backpedaling, you've magically found a way to make the laws of physics not apply to you. Well, that's nice to know. I'm not sure Ive ever seen so many strawmen arguments to justify bad behavior, so you deserve a cookie. People like you who insist on towing without brakes obviously lack the knowledge and ability to tow and do it safely, so maybe its YOU who should be driving the Tempo.

The bottom line is trailers with brakes stop shorter, give you the ability to arrest sway with the brakes, and allow you to control your load better than trailers without brakes. If you want to argue that any of those aren't true, you're an idiot (and we've already established that because you tow a trailer without brakes). If you want to argue that you've gotten away with it before so it should be ok, you're a dumbass.

 

That's twice now you've called me a dumbass, and once you've called me an idiot. If your argument was correct, you'd attack the argument - instead, you're attacking the person. (Hell, in order to "attack my argument", you even had to put words in my mouth, suggesting I said braked trailers are inferior to trailers without brakes:
)
Have I ever called you names? That's childish and immature at best. This argument is over, and now I'm going to call you names.

Now you're a dumbass AND a troll.

Go be a troll somewhere else.

 

Because you are a dumbass idiot, and you seem a little butthurt about it. My argument is correct, hence your lack of rebuttal to the following facts:

1. Trailers with brakes stop shorter.
2. Trailers with brakes give you a method to arrest sway
3. Trailers with brakes allow you to control your load better.

You're right about one thing though, your argument is over because you have no argument. You can't defy the laws of physics and you can't control the actions of others behind the wheel. No amount of preparation and planning changes any of the facts in this post, although I'm sure that won't stop you from trying to argue otherwise.

 

No dude, you're a troll. You're also a hand-ball bottom crybaby, you're annoying, and if you're not a virgin I can't believe it. Please, STFU and go back to cruising the poz forums for unsuspecting victims to "control your load".