docohm

Anybody ever used a Uhaul flatbed trailer to haul their C5? If so, how well did it work? Any problems?
Thanks, DocOhm

docohm

What? Nobody has ever flat bedded your C5? I just want to know if it will work! Can I get the car on and off without damage?

Tar Heel

We're going to a three-day race in May in Dallas and have a truck but not a trailer yet and considered going this route. I've used one before and although I haven't tried it out with our C5 I'm almost fairly certain it won't work. That's just my opinion. The car sits too low to get on and off without a dovetail and the Uhaul trailer sits high and has short ramps. Plus I don't think the front area will clear the wheel stops. Also, and again this is my personal opinion, I've only used those in a pinch for "regular cars" and found their quality to be ... let's just say, less than desirable. I'm not sure even if it worked I would want to put my C5 on there.

Good luck with what you're doing!

oldschoolvette

not sure if it will clear. I used Uhaul for a C3 but that is way higher off the ground.

call uhaul and see what they say. If it will go up the ramps you are golden.

If the car is lowered you are done

PhysicsDude55

Yes it will work. By flatbed, I'm assuming you mean the car hauler trailer.

You'll need some wood to extend the ramps or the nose of the corvette will scrape when you're loading it. I used 6' pieces of 2X8s. 2X12s would work better. The Uhaul trailers are nice, because the driver side wheel well flips down, so you can actually open the door when you're on the trailer.



I loaded it backwards, but you can just as easily load it forwards. You can see the flipped down fender in the picture.

Also, bring 2 heavy duty tie down straps. The trailer comes with straps that tie down the wheels on the hitch side of the trailer, but you'll want to tie down the ramp side of the car also.

Tar Heel

We towed a car backwards once (don't remember why) and almost lost the whole rig; the truck, trailer and car we were towing. Since the two largest masses are opposite each other (the engine in the truck and the engine in the car) it created some type of physics motion and caused severe sway. Like a long wave if you will ... I've never been so scared towing in my life and luckily letting off the gas and allowing it to coast to a stop got us out of it. I personally will never tow that way again.

topdown01

I hauled my C5 from MI to FL on the lowest flat bed they had...looked like the one in their picture. I front loaded it. I used wood planks as described in the post above. Two on the ground to the ramps to change the incline angle and two short ones were used to help get over the humps and finally two short ones were under the front tires so that it raised the car a couple inches to clear the front lip of the trailer. I used the biggest truck they had to rent, a 16' truck I think. No issues other than the extremely long drive an me being so damn tired at the end

bj1k

Never haul backwards , especially if you are getting on any interstates. The whole rig can become a viscious snake on the highway at speeds over 40 mph. Once it starts to go out of control , it's hard to bring it back. There are videos of the viscious snake syndrome on youtube and it's not pretty.

docohm

But not hauling backwards assumes the vehicle is front heavy like most vehicles. The C5/C6/C7 is a near perfect 50/50 weight distribution....

bj1k

The front is probably still heavier with the engine and suspension as compared to trans and differential and suspension and the car would still be more aerodynamic going forward. Do you want to take the chance ? I wouldn't !

silver408z

I used a Uhaul flatbed this last March. The best thing I did when loading and unloading was find a driveway or parking lot with a hill in it. The ramps went almost straight out with no angle to them. With the incline from the hill it made it almost completely flat and easy to drive on or off the trailer.

The other thing I did to make it easier to get in and out of the car was to put 2x8 boards on the trailer and the wheels stopped on top of them. It gave just a little extra height for the door to clear the trailer fender. My car is slightly lowered.

The last issue I had was the air dam. You have to pull the tires all the way forward against the trailer to get the tie down straps over the front tires. The air dam will get pushed up on as you get the tires into positition. I did not notice any new damage to my air dam but it is 12 years old.

damilleniumboy

Uh, the Vette has an almost 50/50 weight distribution if you didn't remember btw.

damilleniumboy

How funny, I didn't know they made reverse aerodynamic cars lol. Yes I know, an air diffuser will help on this case haha.

damilleniumboy

I used one last year, and I backed into a drive-way plus a 2x4 to get the car up in the trailer. It's definitelly doable.

ajchance

I was looking into this when I got mine back in November. There's a thread on the forum somewhere that I saw that gave a good summary of the exactly what you'll need to get the job done, including ramps to get on the trailer, blocks to elevate the air dam, and tie strap hooks from Northern Tools. Sorry I don't have the link, but it was a great tutorial. I wound up finding someone to help me transport, so I drove it home.

duramaxsky

The problem you are talking about is weight distribution. If you load it so 20% or more is on the hitch you will be OK. The same is true with any bumper tow trailer. Too much weight in the rear it will take you off the road. Boats have the engine in the rear and tow fine. Look at a boat trailer. The axles are near the back so the weight is on the hitch. The problem with rental trailers is they move the axles too far forward so 1/2 tons can tow them. Most are just unsafe. A longer distance between the hitch and the center of the axles is better. But you need a truck that can handle the load that far back on it. That leaves out 1/2 tons and SUVs. My RV and flat bed trailers both have long wheel bases. Both require at least a 3/4 ton as the tongue weights exceed 1000 pounds. But they tow great. When towing my RV in states where the speed limit is 75 or 80 I go that fast no problem.

PhysicsDude55

Yeah the jeep was not good at towing the Vette. Its only rated to tow 5,000 lbs and the Vette + Trailer are about 5600 lbs. There was plenty of weight on the hitch, the rear suspension is about 3/4 compressed, and I only went 55 the whole way due to the weight issue. Since the Vette had near 50/50 weight distribution, I didn't worry about not having enough tongue weight. But yes, most normal front engine cars I would certainly load forwards.

I loaded it backwards because I thought it would make it easier to clear the ramps, and to clear the tire stops at the front of the trailer. You can see on their website they advise putting boards under the front wheels when loaded to make sure low cars clear. I didn't think of doing that, but its a better idea than loading it backwards.

http://www.uhaul.com/Articles/Tips/1...ound-clearance

Also, since I loaded it backwards, the folding out fender on the trailer was on the passenger door, so I had to crawl in and out of the passenger door to get in/out of the car.