Who here trailers their corvette to the track? What trailer do you use? How do you store it when not in use? (how do you keep up appearances with the car equipment just lying around with limitted garage bays?)

---I miss the mini-towing hook that could be put on the back of the previous models, so you could just drive your corvette to the event, and tow your sporty tires. I think I've seen only one post of someone who's modified their C7 to tow, so I'm not considering that a reliable option, and am looking at actual trailers to carry a C7 (towed by F150....) instead.

 

I tow with an F150.

The first thing I'd advise you to check is the tire pressure sticker info. Take a look on your driver's side door or door frame for a yellow sticker, and in addition to tire info, it will say "max weight of passengers and cargo should never exceed xxxx lbs". That's the "payload capacity" of your truck - that's the GVWR (max weight of your truck) minus the empty weight of your particular truck as it came from the factory.

Also, lie down under the rear end of the truck and look up - you should see a sticker with the hitch tongue weight and towing limits.

My 2013 King Ranch has lots of options, so the payload capacity is only 1100 lbs! After installing a tonneau cover and bed liner it's down to 1000 lbs!!!

With me and wife, her luggage , and a couple hundred lbs of track support stuff in the bed, I'm down to only a couple hundred lbs remaining for tongue weight of a trailer.

If you have the max tow package, or a 2015 or newer with the aluminum body panels, you might have a much better payload capacity.

The tongue weight of a trailer should be 10% to 15% of the loaded weight of the trailer.

If you have an open trailer it may weigh perhaps as little as 5000 lbs loaded with your car on it - and with a realistic tongue weight of 12% (600 lbs), plus a WDH (Weight Distributing Hitch) whose weight of almost 100 lbs is all on the hitch, you'll have around 700 lbs of payload capacity used up by your hitch and trailer tongue weight.

If you have an enclosed trailer you may be 7500 lbs or more loaded up - that will be maybe 900 lbs of tongue weight plus the almost 100 lbs the hitch head weighs, so around 1000 lbs of tongue weight.

If you have a 1500 lb payload capacity, with the example open trailer you'll have 800 lbs of payload remaining for people and stuff in the cab and bed of the truck. With the example enclosed trailer you'd have only 500 lbs remaining.

You also need to check the GCWR (combined weight) of the truck/trailer to make sure you're within limits, and there's another sticker on your door that shows the GVWR (max weight of the truck), and GAWRs (max weight allowed on each axle).

Bottom line - unless you have the max tow package, the F150 can run into some weight restrictions with what might be considered a modest size trailer.

Many people will say "just hook it up and go", but I prefer to run within the published weight specs from the manufacturer.

With my very limited 1000 lb payload capacity, I'm only able to tow my 6500 lb trailer with a 750 lb tongue weight by using my Trailer Toad, which carries the entire tongue weight of the trailer - so I have the complete 1000 lb payload capacity for me and the wife and luggage in the cab, and tools compressor and other track junk in the bed!! Below is a picture of the Trailer Toad between the truck and trailer.



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BEZ06 Great write up. Thanks for all the info on towing . Very helpful in any future towing I do with my pickup.

 

Or get an aluminum open trailer that's 1200#....

 

Yeah - but with my 3500 lb C7 Z06 even that will approach 5000 lbs loaded up if I have a tire rack and could figure a way to carry a small amount tools/supplies. And that will be at least 500 lb tongue weight, and with a WDH of almost another 100 lbs I'd be at 600 lbs on the tongue.

My F150 is a true 1/2 ton truck with a 1000 lb payload. With my payload challenged F150 I'd only have 400 lbs remaining for me and my wife - and nothing else!!

Many 1/2 ton pickups may have 1500 or so payload, and some with max tow packages may actually be up near 1 ton trucks.

My only point is that if you have a pickup, don't think that you can just hook up a 24 ft enclosed trailer and be good to go!!

I used to pull a trailer behind my C6, but finally got to the point that I was concerned about my LS7 giving me a problem, or that some other mechanical or damage problem might prevent me from driving home from a track event.




I go from Daytona 800 miles each way to Bowling Green for track events at the Corvette Museum track at least once per year, and every June go 650 miles each way to VIR for the NCM event there. That's kinda far to get stuck.

I did finally have my LS7 go KABOOM on the track, but it was at an HPDE at Daytona Int'l Speedway, so I was only 10 miles from home.

I got an enclosed trailer to pull the car to track events after that!!

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I use 4"-drop-axle, hinged fender, tilt, open trailer with high quality tires. This config does not get impacted by winds, and is lower weight than other solutions, too, so it's less drag on my truck.



The 4" drop axles get the bed much closer to the ground. This means much easier loading angles.


I bought aluminum trailer wheels from TireRack and upgraded to 6 lug axles (I custom ordered my trailer) for $90, which substantially increases the load rating of wheels, yet cuts the weight by a huge margin compared to steel wheels. I also use LT truck tires, which are good for 99 MPH, unlike ST tires, which are only good for 65 MPH. This way, I do have quite a bit of cushion if something goes wrong (having to speed to pass, lower tire pressures by mistake, etc.).


By only using tiny wood pieces, I can load any car.


I use a load-balancing hitch to make sure the load is evenly distributed.


This is how it looks. I use a RAM 1500 HEMI Laramie 4x4 Crew Cab w/ STD box.

 

I've trailered my 2017 GS, but echo the sentiments above. I have an enclosed trailer, but pull with an F250 D with weight distribution bars and a pneumatic helper spring. I weigh the tongue with a scale. Trailering can get bad in a hurry if you are not set up very carefully.

 

I just picked up my new Intech trailer about 3 weeks ago. All aluminum construction. All LED 12V lighting. 5,000# Dexter tortion bar axles. I keep it indoors in my "hobby shop."