CamarosRus

Pace American 20' Enclosed (NO Escape Door)
Currently has routine D-Rings for tie down in all four corners.

2012 Grand Sport is Low with ZR1 Splitter. If I was able to
get around front control arm strap going forward would damage
front splitter

Dont know if proper to strap thru my $$$$ Forged Wheels.
Do NOT want cosmetic damage to PowderCoat Wheels
How about Horz E track on Floor and use those straps that go
OVER tires and ratchet pulling is OUT IN FRONT of Car....

I think straps thru rear control arms would work pulling to rear D rings
either straight or X crossing ????

I will have to elec winch car into trailer as I wouldnt be able to get
out of left door without hurting car in some way..... How do pull car
straight into trailer with eng off , A6 in neutral
Also without front tow hook how do I pull car into trailer

Entire process seems like a PIA !!!!

Thanks, Chuck Auburn,WA




With 295/30-19 front tire on 12' GS there would be minimal space for Yellow Strap to go down to E track and not hit Plastic Wheel House Liner............

davidfarmer

I use race ramps and additional foam to boost them. I have your splitter but another 4” extension. Either get a tow hook/strap or drive in and crawl out


T hooks in frame slots to secure.

Bill Dearborn

To pull the car into the trailer with the winch shorten your front tie downs so the latching mechanism is just in front of your splitter when T hooks are installed in the front slots. Snap the forward end of both front tie downs into your winch snap lock or whatever block you use and use that to pull the car in. Once in the trailer release the tie downs from the winch cable and extend them to the D rings and tighten down. Myself I prefer using T Hooks for tie downs but installing the rear tie downs and T hooks before you winch the car into the trailer is problematic since the rear wheels will run over them as the car moves forward unless there was some way to keep them clamped to some spot in the rear center of the car and tight enough they wouldn't drag under the tires.

Bill

AzMotorhead

T hooks at the frame jacking points to secure I have blocks secure to trailer floor to raise the front 3" and rear 1.5" Raceramps makes them.
If you put the T hooks in the frame cutouts prior to putting the car in the trailer its easier

CamarosRus

I will not drive car in and try to crawl out. I will not stand in seat and crawl out window
Need to winch in and keep tires going straight or adjust path right/left by moving tire from outside
(Is this even possible?)

I'm assuming these T-Hooks look like ???????
I'm assuming these T-Hooks insert into frame where Jacking Pucks normally fit.

I'm assuming I can pull Forward & Aft with Ratchet Straps on these T-Hooks

How do your T-Hooks adapt to the Hooks on my Ratchet Straps

Anyway I'll research these T Hooks

Thanks for posting your pics ??????

Chuck Auburn,WA

TrackAire

I'm too old and fat to climb in and out of windows without scratching the hell out of everything. I winch in both my Viper and Vette into my trailer with no escape door. I'm not sure I'm understanding the issue here but here is what I use.

-In my opinion, you'll need an external tow point on the front of the car. I see that this is a show car but maybe somebody has a front tow ring or eye that is easy to install and remove. Trying to use T hooks (I use an R hook) or equivalent to get to the DOT tie down holes in the frame is a major PIA on a lowered car. Attaching the winch cable to tow in the vehicle is going to be your biggest challenge.
-With my tow vehicle connected to the trailer, I drive the truck up a set of ramps with my rear tires to "lift" the front of the trailer an additional 8" to 9" so I have minimal break over angle.
-Race Ramps are used to extend the door length and help lessen the angle.
-I use an electric winch with remote. GET A WINCH WITH A WIRELESS REMOTE!! You can leave the window down, put the car in neutral and with the key in the "ON" position (but engine not running) you can make minor steering corrections from outside the car as you winch into the trailer. Super easy and safe.
-Once the car is in the position in the trailer you want to be in, lean in through the window, put the car in park, engage the parking brake and turn off the key. You may have to use a sort pole or handle to engage the foot brake to allow you to shift the car into park....you'll have to check what your car requires with the engine off but the key on.
-If your winch is center mounted in the trailer and your tires are pointed straight, it pretty much drives straight in. Like I said, you can make corrections from outside the car as the car is slowly winching in.
-I have no problem attaching tie down loops to the rims, even expensive powder coated units. I've hauled Lambos, Vipers and Ford GT's and have attached either through the spokes or all the way through the rim. You can buy straps with extra soft protection sleeves and then use a micro fiber towel as additional protection.
-I do not strap the car down super tight. I just make sure it is snug with a lot of wraps on the ratchet. I always wonder why people tighten the car to the point of compressing the suspension or making the tie down straps so tight you could strum a note on them. Where do you think the car is going to go?

If you were involved in a major accident, most of the time the trailer tie down points will fail. Look at how they have yours attached to the floor. Is it just sandwiched to the plywood or are there metal backing plates that are also attached to some part of the frame? You just want to make sure the car doesn't move forward in an emergency braking situation or if you run into something straight on. Even in the most extreme panic stop, your tow vehicle and trailer aren't going to be able to generate much negative G's....it doesn't take that much to hold the car from moving forward. If you were involved in a severe accident, side damage or roll over of the trailer is going to damage the car regardless of how well you have it strapped down. That is what insurance is for.....don't stress or over think it.

Here are the tie downs that work best when attaching to the DOT frame holes in my opinion. Again, I don't know if this will work with your application to pull forward or tie down easily, but you can get these R hooks with a loop welded to them to give you more options for connecting to your tie down strap.
https://www.truckntow.com/r-hook-saf...-4700-lbs.html

I have also used the E track with the strap that goes over the top of the tire. Mac's tie down makes some nice ones. My Viper was lowered way more than your Vette and I had no problem using them from a fender liner clearance concern. But, you have to be able to get around the car a bit to reach behind the front tire and in front of the rear tire to latch it in. Too much work for me and concern about scratching the car.

RecMech

We have been doing this for years.. Lowered on coilovers with a low splitter (actually sits lower now than it did in the picture). I jack the nose of my trailer to gain some angle at the rear.

-Drive car onto race ramps and stop.. Connect t hooks to Mac straps, keep ratchet straps short to place the ratchets and hooks just in front of the splitter. Join the 2 ratchet hooks to the winch.

-Pull car into trailer using wireless Warn winch. Optionally you can stop as the rear of the car is on the ramp to ease hooking up the rear t hooks and straps (they will drag as you finish pulling the car in).

-I use a Race Ramp parking aid to make sure the car settles in the same place every time, it also prevents the car from rolling while untied.

-Loosen winch and cross strap the front of the car. Cross strap the rear of the car.

Winch it out the same way, but I usually have to push on the nose to get it out of the parking aid and started down the tail.

I leave the car in neutral with no parking brake. It has traveled thousands of miles with a couple panic stops and not a single issue.

I use (2) Mac straps up front with the metal hooks directly on the ratchet (no short strapping) due to the layout of my trailer d-rings. (2) Longer straps in the rear, (4) t hooks.



T hooks from Mac's

CamarosRus

Track Aire and RecMech, THANKS for your useful replys and good suggestions ......

Im beginning to understand your methods

Chuck Auburn,WA

TrackAire

I forgot to mention, the other advantage to raising the front of the trailer is when winching the car out, it rolls out due to gravity and the slight downhill decline. Connect your winch cable to the car and slightly tighten the cable, put car into neutral and release the parking brake, then hit the reverse button on the winch. It makes it a super easy one man job and no touching or having to push the car out.

CamarosRus

Do I attach a snap hook to the T hook and then sew a length of Strap Material then sew a D-Ring that can be connected to winch hook........

Same T hook strap set up left and right

Dont think I can find/buy ready made straps....I already have extra bulk strap material..............

CamarosRus

Hello All, I'm talking with www.autohaulersupply.com about sewing T-Hooks onto X length of straps with
D Hooks on front (that would protrude past front splitter) .....that I would fasten winch hook into ......then disconnect winch hook .....cross straps (X)
and use my existing ratchet straps to pull into front corners of trailer

At rear I would buy X length of strap with T-Hook on car end and bare strap would go into my existing Ratchets

Do I have my thinking OK ??????

Just want to confirm that car can be PULLED Fore and Aft from FRAME locations TIGHT ......
Do I want to attempt to place car in PARK and SET E-Brake ????

Thank You for helping me.......Chuck

Bill Dearborn

The tie down straps can be purchased with snap clips on each end. The winch cable should have a fairly large snap hook on the end. Just snap the tie down snap clips onto the winch snap hook and that should work. You want to use the tie downs since once the car is in the trailer you may find you can't reach the front T hooks to attach the tie downs.

Here is what I am talking about as far as tie downs:




Attach the snap clip and tie down shown at the top of the picture to the T Hook an run the tie down strap through the cam block shown at the bottom of the picture and adjust so it is locked and will not slip. Then attach the the snap clip on the end of the cam block to the winch snap hook shown below. Do this for the tie downs attached to both front T hooks and use them and the winch to pull the car into the trailer. Once you have the car where you want it undo one tie down and fasten it to a front D ring and set it so the car won't roll when you unfasten the second tie down from the winch snap hook and attach it to the other front D ring. The fronts are easy the rears aren't as easy as the tie down straps will drag on the floor and the rear wheels will probably roll over them placing them out of position. I have seen some Circle Track racers build two ramps inside their trailer so the car rides on the ramps when inside the trailer. This lets them crawl under the car to tie it down or better yet lets them crawl under the car when they need to work on it in the pits.

This is the strap I use to winch my C7 Z06 onto my open trailer:

I lay the strap on the ground behind the trailer and drive the car over it then just snap the clips into the T hooks under the car and let the winch pull the car onto the trailer. I don't use my front tow hook since it tends to pull the front of the car down increasingly as the car pulls further onto the trailer. However, I can get to the side of the car to transfer the T hooks from the V strap to the tie downs. In your trailer you won't be able to do that.

Bill

mfain

I use S-hooks on this car - they hook into the little angle iron jack pads, but it is very similar to t-hooks on the Corvette. I have an escape door, but I still have your clearance /maneuvering room issue on the right side. On the right, I put the S-hooks in and snap the tie down straps into them (Mac's twisted hook straps) before loading the car in the trailer. Then I pull the ratchet end of straps to the front and rear of the car, wrap them with a towel, and tie them up out of the way with soft cotton rope. I drive the car in, hook up the left side front and rear through the escape door, and untie the right side straps and hook them to the D-rings. You would have to do the same procedure on the left with no escape door. I cross the rear straps, but not the front. Macs sells double post tie down plates (about 6 inches long) like small sections of e-trac that bolt to the floor where you need tie down points if you opt to use straps over the wheels, but you will still have some difficulty in getting the straps over the wheels once the car is loaded. BTW, I use the e-brake, but I don't put the car in gear. I don't want it rocking against the gears (manual). Good luck.

Pappy

RecMech

Here you go (dont mind the mud).. This is how I winch it on. From here I disconnect the winch hook and cross tie the straps to the d-rings. (the ratchet handles will be just in front of the splitter)

The excess webbing make a nice handle to lift the hooks over the door opening so it doesn't catch.





I can drag a C3 on in a similar fashion..

CamarosRus

RecMech, As I already own everything you have pictured above (except I have swiveling J-Hooks on my Ratchet Handles)
I just need to buy the T-Hook Assys and connect my Snap Hooks. Then adjust my Ratchets so they are just in front of Bumper/Splitter
and connect BOTH ratchets (J-Hooks) to winch Hook (I hope)

Chuck S Auburn,WA

CamarosRus

Looking for SEWING/STITCHING Vendor in Seattle Tacoma area
to sew MY Webbing and MY Hardware.............

Jfryjfry

I read that one of the posters does not engage park or set the ebrake.... I’m not sure why you wouldn’t - without them, 100% of the car is being held by the straps and, more concerning, the anchors. With the car in gear and ebrake set, the tires are doing most of the work.

Ive had straps loosen (a little, certainly not completely) and can only imagine the shock loads that would create, not to mention the likely increased loosening if the car were freewheeling between the straps.

Perhaps there is something i’m missing and I am all ears to learn something new. But until shown otherwise, not using the car’s ability to hold itself in place seems needlessly risky.

TrackAire

With the car in gear, one theory is the minor motion of the car moving back and forth can hurt the gears/synchros, etc. I personally don't worry about it because I assume after the first lap on the track and banging up the gears and downshifting hard I've done more damage than any movement in the car trailer can do with the car in gear. But the reality is this, if the car is tied down correctly, it doesn't need to be in gear or parking brake on. In a severe accident these trailers fold up like a soggy taco so the car will get damaged whether it is locked into position or not. As I've stated before, the negative G's that occur under an emergency braking situation is minimal compared to the car on the street. Tow vehicles and trailers just don't stop on a dime like your Vette does.

If you ever want to see a bunch of guys lose their minds, read the FordGTforum and look at their towing discussion threads. When Ford delivered the vehicles from the factory to the dealership back in 2005-2006, the rule was to leave the car in neutral to avoid possibly damaging the engine because the car in gear would move the piston up and down a fraction of an inch and possibly wear the engine out in one spot (I'm not joking).

I think Ford did this to avoid having a car being put into gear and then a truck driver strapping the **** out of the car and cinching down the car with a lot of stress against the drive train. In other words, it should be strap the car down first, then put it into gear and then the emergency brake on, not the other way around. Those transaxles in the Ford GT's could be finicky if mistreated.

If you ever want to see what your car is actually doing in the trailer (and how much it's actually moving), leave the lights on and set up a Go Pro camera or equivalent and go for a ride on a rougher than normal road.

Jfryjfry

Interesting. It makes some sense but doesn’t explain not setting the ebrake. The ebrake will help hold the car in place and reduce the load on the straps and anchors.
And if you set the ebrake firm enough with a working ebrake on a rwd car it would not allow the wheels-transmission-motor to turn over if you leave it in gear,

the suspension can obviously take the load - thatnisnt the question. But without the ebrake or leaving itnin gear 100% of the car’s motion is being handled by the tie downs and anchors. If you set the brake, the brake will handle most of it.

I, personally, don’t want to trust tiedowns and anchors 100%

CamarosRus

Using the ABOVE pictured T-Hook assy (with ring) does anybody know if connecting a FLAT Snap Hook or
TWISTED Snap Hook makes a better set up UNDER the C6 Corvette ??????

I may be ordering 10 Foot Straps and Snap Hook Sewn Assys