ssdeuce

I'm looking at buying a trailer to tow my C5 Z06. I've found a tilt trailer and 18' dovetail. Both are priced about the same. I'm curious what people's opinion about which is the better hauler for my Z06 and me loading and unloading by myself. Thanks

travisnd

I have an 18' (16' flat w/ 2' dovetail) low-deck car hauler from Sweet Rivers Trailers. The manufacturer is Down2Earth. I've had it since mid 2007 and it's been great. I've added a tire rack, storage box and winch mounts over the years. Don't have to carry crazy extra ramps to load my Corvette since the trailer deck is 4-5" lower than a standard car hauler. Lowered on stock bolts my door still clears the tires when the fender was removed. I don't even bother driving it on/off anymore... I just winch it up... so much easier.

http://sweetriverstrailers.com/metal..._7000_gvw.html

sperkins

The angle of approach on most tilt trailers I've seen is pretty massive. It makes loading in the rain nearly impossible and somewhat dangerous in my opinion.

I too have a 4" drop deck Down2Earth trailer. I've put countless miles on it in the last 2 1/2 yrs and I've never even checked the bearings.

You can see the 4" drop deck in this pic:

TRACKMAN2

regular trailer tire rack and a winch! (winch is a very good idea!!!) mout it off center to line up with your frame rail Dont use the Pheonix tow hooks to load there efective for pulling you out of the mud or wall but loading repeatedlly bends the crap out of them.

CodeBlack

I have a 20 foot tilt sloan kwik load. Plus side is that its easy to load yourself, I use a winch. Negative side is if you want to add a tire rack you upset the balance of the bed and it won't tilt all the way down. I have seen pictures of them with racks here on the forum but don't know how they do it. I never had a problem loading in the rain. The bed rolls back and the frame stays in place

Bills Z06

I use an 18' dove tail and have no complaints. A buddy has tilt trailer and he is somewhat satisfied with it. I think it's all a matter of preference. I do think that loading the car with a winch would be much easier with a dove tail trailer though.

travisnd

I have a phoenix tow hook on my C5Z and load with it all the time... it flexes some, but no issues with it permanently bending. I used very large washers to spread the load when installing it. I may weld it in place next time I have the bumper off though.

ssdeuce

Thanks for your input guys! Good to know about the tilt trailer makes me kinda rethink that idea. I'm looking around trying to find the best one for me.

jaa1992

I got the same trailer as scott and travis. I love this trailer, even with a broke engine and no winch its very easy to roll it up on the trailer. I don't need any additional ramps to put the c4 on there.

rbl

Actually quite easy and the wife takes care of it for the most part. The Corvette parking brake will hold the car. Do your normal tilt/roll back. Use a piece of 2 x 4 under the jack screw and jack it the last couple of inches so it is on the ground ... quite simple. Loading is no issue at all, but we leave it jacked. You need it stable to unload so it does not bounce up when the car rolls off.

I have a nice tire rack with a full set of wheels and a small tool box ... works for me. I painted a while line in the center of the wheel in the "UP" position so when I drive on I just open the door and stop the car at the right spot on the line. Set the brake and pull it up.

IMO ... the tilt trailers are centerline of worthless for this and using a winch its totally unnecessary plus a further complication to a simple event.

Dan Wendling

Why not look at a roll-back trailer?

http://www.rollbacktrailers.com/

travisnd

Well some of us don't have parking brakes and out of the four C5s I've had I never had one with a parking brake I'd trust to hold it in place in a mud pit let alone on a tilt trailer.

Using my winch allows me to load the car by myself w/o having to crawl in/out of my caged car. Being outside of the car allows me to get it perfectly positioned every time and I leave the winch hooked up to the tow hook for extra security.

Also, now that I'm running 255 tires that are so short my door won't clear my tires with the fender removed. So instead of having to climb out the window opening or put boards down for the left side I just winch it up.

My $0.02

CodeBlack

Not following you. Are you talking about the sloan kwik load. If there's to much weight on the front of the bed the bed of the trailer won't come down all the way to touch the ground. I spoke to sloan about this problem and he said its not design to have that kind of weight such as a tire rack for that reason. I use small pieces of wood so that the nose doesn't hit going up and my car is stock height. where is the jack screw on the sloan. Another draw back is that the ground needs to be level or the edge of the bed won't touch the ground

rbl

Correct ... Sloan Kwik load is what I have.

If you cut a piece of 2 x 4 about a foot long and put it under the jack foot after you back it up and let it tilt as far as it will go. Then turn the jack like you are jacking it up to get off the ball the trailer will continue to tilt until it hits the ground in the rear and it will stay there .... this is REALLY simple.

If you don't have a parking brake then you do need a winch. I have had (2) C5's and (4) C'6's and all of those parking brakes work just fine for me with such a shallow tile as this trailer has.

CodeBlack

got it

Wah

I'm selling my 18-foot Sloan Kwik Load. It was manufactured in 2009 and comes with two options - the fairing/stone guard and 2-5/16" coupler. Trailer is located in Columbus OH. Price is $3,500.

TRACKMAN2

mine bends all up because i have a centermount winch it drestoyed the screen in my duct thingy.. when the car gets up close the extreme angle of the cable bends it .. no fault of there product just bad execution on my part!!!

rbl

I am also selling mine in late May when I get back and it has a tire rack already with a good stone guard built in ... $3,000.

Located in SW Virginia

waddisme

I have the dove tail. There is a place in Hickory that makes these so he customized mine as much as I wanted. With the dovetail, the extended ramps included, and jacking up just a little, I can get car on without dragging. I could have gotten more of a dovetail, but I have to use my driveway to turn trailer around, so now trailer just barely scrapes. I got trailer, removeable fender, extended ramps, dovetail, dual trailer brakes, and full metal deck for $2300 new. Used over 2 years with no issues other than the cheap tires that were on it.

[IMG][/IMG]

RDnomorecobra

that looks sweet and price is good. and the wood deck version is even cheaper. i will bookmark for when I want to stop pulling this silly looking utility trailer behind my vette ...