Alright... Give me anenclosed trailer rundown. (Page 1 of 2)

Yeah.  I've looked through there quite a bit.  $13K is too much even split a couple ways.  Thanks.

My advice is when you sell your enclosed trailer don't forget to file the release of liability. A trailer I sold years ago continues to cross bridges with it's new owner and I get dinged.

Being a guy who pulled an 8500-9000#, 24 enclosed trailer to and from Barber from Chicagoland I can say in all honesty, keep it under 8000#, learn how to load it, etc, etc.  You can pull it with a well set up 1/2 ton or older 3/4 ton.  You won't be carry much weight in the bed.  You will be averaging 60-65 mph but it is not actually that bad until you push the weight up.  1995 C2500 LD with a pre-vortec V8 and an NV3500 5-speed...and crappy 3.42 rear and my only real issue was brakes.

I am actually perfectly fine with spring axles.

24' "economy" trailers are often cheaper than 20' at least close to the trailer manufacturing meca of NE Indiana...certainly cheaper than 22' trailers with a 9-10K capacity.  Outfit how you like.

Get radials.  Be prepared to change out the tongue jack.  Pay for e-track low on the walls if it is an option.  Do everything else your way.

I carry 2 spare tires.  Just last time on the way to Sears, I felt a strange recurring vibration in my seat.  So I stopped at the next tire shop.  Sure enough, 2 tires were separating.  I lucked out that time. 

20" is just enough.  Ours has a V front so we put a 36" tool box in that area.  We bought a matching overhead cabinet from HiWay products...I think.  We riveted stringers on single wall/ exposed stud sides.  The stringers are amazingly strong.  We tie our shop tool box to them.  There's also a bolt/washer/nut selection on the black tool box. oh, and pit pal cabinet, and a helmet bin.

P6030082

I went with 24 with V nose and an extra foot taller than standard, it's a little overkill and in retrospect I should have brought a standard height 20 ft with V. My situation was I had the opportunity to save a bunch on delivery or buying local as one of the original Apocalyptic team members was driving up from Georgia and could deliver for me so i had to choose from the sales lot rather than custom build my own.

I used http://diamondcargo.com/ they are cheap and it shows a bit with the finish and overall attention to detail. Little things like two hubs had been overfilled with grease to the point they blew the rear seals out and coated the brakes in grease, fortunately one on each side so still had some brakes! But I got a whole lot of trailer for the money. Basically paid what a lot of 20 ft trailers were advertised for used for a new 24 ft.

One nice thing with the 24 ft is once the car is in and everything loaded there is still a good 4 foot of space to toss random stuff in like bikes, gas grill etc. I could properly park a golf cart or ATV in there with the race car if I needed to.

The V is nice, I added a bench at a height where I can roll carts under it and mounted a vice at a good working height. I have grand ideas to fit it out better but the race car keeps needing attention.

Trailer purchased.   24' Stealth.  Bumper Pull. White.  Standard car trailer.   No A/C or any special add ins (we can do them later if we need to.  On lot. We pick up in Indiana.   $5100 with 3 yr warranty.

Tell us how we did wrong. 

Yep. Exactly. We actually made that as a conscious decision to go with a lower weight rating.  That will force us to bring only what we really need and not a whole 'nother car's worth of parts. 

Since we may. Need to pull with a half ton we are try to keep the weight down.

Car is 2500lbs.  We figure a 1000 lbs of stuff with it in the trailer.

You might consider upgrading the diff lube.  I put some major wear on a f 150's diff pulling the 20'.

5.3 1/2 ton GMC Sierra with airbags works fine for me.

I shopped around for a while, actually bought the trailer before the truck. I found a 20' interior -22-24' overall enclosed for $4500 in Nor Cal, but off in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. I used www.searchtempest.com to search Craigslist on the west coast. 20' interior works good. More room and you'll carry more stuff.

Its rated for #7K, but the Tare weight it 3500# and with the 2700# valiant and my tool box and all the spares and tires and , and , and, it was probably always overloaded a bit. The tires were original, and D range and I've managed to ruin everyone of them and the spare. I'm buyin E rate tires now. As noted, learn how to load it so its balanced., and try not to carry so much crap, or put some of it in the truck. I tow it with a 99 F-250 dually, gas. Should have found an early 90s F-250 diesel. Plenty of those 80-90's 7.3l F250s floating around as ex 5th wheel tow trucks.

Thanks for all the advice guys.  Our list of "to do's" is getting lengthy.  We have been looking at e-track and accessories.  The lighting options are good ideas.  Lots of light is essential

As for the tow vehicle, we'd love to always have access to a 1-ton diesel.  If that doesn't happen, we will always be pulling with a truck.  The size will vary, but we will be trying to avoid 1/2 tons.