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Aluminum, tilt bed for easy loading, stone guard to protect your car from road debris, tool box on nose to store straps and other tie down gear.
16 to 18 feet is ok for C6 or C7 Corvette. 18 to 20 feet for a full size car.
This one is 20 feet, weighs 1650 lbs empty, 4000 lbs with car and extras. Tow with a small pick up or SUV.
I had a Texas Roll Back for my Camaro race car. I love the tilt bed operation. Back up the truck to tilt it down, get in the car and off you go. Finish your lapping and drive up on it. Get out, get in the truck pull it a couple of feet forward to tilt it up and than tie the car down. All without help. Worth its weight in gold. More expensive than most 18 foot trailers but completely worth it. I also concur on the stoneguard/windscreen for the cars sake.
Apparently the company Texas Roll Back is no longer in business but others use that same design where the bed slides over the axles to tilt back and down.
great thread! I too am going to lease a truck for the first time and want an aluminum open trailer. Please, track rats give ideas on features and models. I know I want open for sure even though closed are great, please keep ideas and features/models of the open variety, thanks for input and any pics you might share
You do have to be careful of the tongue weight applied by the trailer. I just purchased a new 18 ft Big Tex Steel Deck 7000 lb trailer. I had a tire rack and wind screen added, empty the trailer weighs right around 2500 lbs. If the bed had been wood or if the trailer had been aluminum I might not have had a problem. However, the wheels of the trailer are positioned aft of the center of the trailer and this means there is a lot of tongue weight. With an unloaded trailer hitched to my unloaded my 2003 Tahoe the rear axle (3750 lbs GAWR) is overloaded by about a hundred pounds due to the tongue weight. To get the tongue weight down when the trailer is loaded I have to load the Z06 so the rear fascia is within two inched of hanging off the end of the trailer. That brings the tongue weight back down to ~800 lbs and gives me enough rear axle weight carrying capacity I can load my tools, spare parts and spare fluids in the back of the Tahoe. That leaves me with about 4 ft of empty space in front of the car that can't be used for carrying anything.
So just be careful what you buy. The funny thing is the loaded trailer with 4 tires, a couple of gas cans and an EZUP, plus the car with a full tank of gas comes in right at 6600 lbs which is about 800 lbs less than the Tahoe's towing capacity. I don't have a trailer pulling problem I have a trailer tongue weight problem due to improperly located trailer wheels.
Would like your thoughts on which company to purchase an open trailer from and what features I need to consider thanks for your comments
I purchased a Trailex CT-8045 aluminum trailer. 911 guys swear by them for open trailers. It's max legal limit 102in wide and fits our wide cars great. It's pretty light with spare wheel, tire rack, winch, etc... Comes in around 1,000-1,100lbs. I use a Volkswagen Touareg to pull it, which has 7,700 lbs towing capacity.
Last edited by mallett435; Dec 28, 2016 at 07:50 AM.
I main bit of advice is that width matters if you're towing a C7Z - especially if you want to run 13" wide rear wheels.
I used to tow my C6Z with a 17.5' Featherlite 3110 open trailer. The car fit fine and I sold it several years ago to upgrade to an enclosed gooseneck. I've bought an RV to take to the track so I traded the gooseneck in on a new 17.5' 3110 open trailer with an air dam, tool box, and tirerack.
It really was a nice setup but I had to trade it in after two events because there was at best 1/4" on the side of each rear wheel with the 18x13 track wheels on it. It was so tight that you had to have the car perfectly straight when loading or you'd get to the rear wheels and find that they were going to hit the side rails. Lots of back and forth to get the car on the trailer.
This was the 8' wide model and Featherlite did make a 8.5' wide model which is what I should have gotten. When I called my dealer about the issue he told me that Featherlite just released a replacement for the 3110 called the 3182. This one is 6' wider, 100 lbs lighter, and has integrated e-track in the deck. So I have one of those on order and will be adding the air dam, tire rack, and toolbox.
BTW, I still haven't found a good way to hold the tires laterally on the tire rack. The rod through the center will keep them from falling off the rack but they will fall somewhat to the side and can get badly scratched up on the end of the rack. For now I'm using cut pieces of PVC over the center pole to hold the tires up.
Here's a pic of the car on the trailer looking down from the top of the rear wheel. Both sides were this close and that is with the narrow 315 Pirelli slicks. I don't think 345 Hoosiers would have fit on the trailer.
Last edited by Poor-sha; Dec 28, 2016 at 09:10 AM.
Yes, Fenders are removable. I've had this trailer for over 15 years, keep it outside, and it looks almost new. I can sell it for what I bought it for.
Originally Posted by Poor-sha
I main bit of advice is that width matters if you're towing a C7Z - especially if you want to run 13" wide rear wheels.
I used to tow my C6Z with a 17.5' Featherlite 3110 open trailer. The car fit fine and I sold it several years ago to upgrade to an enclosed gooseneck. I've bought an RV to take to the track so I traded the gooseneck in on a new 17.5' 3110 open trailer with an air dam, tool box, and tirerack.
It really was a nice setup but I had to trade it in after two events because there was at best 1/4" on the side of each rear wheel with the 18x13 track wheels on it. It was so tight that you had to have the car perfectly straight when loading or you'd get to the rear wheels and find that they were going to hit the side rails. Lots of back and forth to get the car on the trailer.
This was the 8' wide model and Featherlite did make a 8.5' wide model which is what I should have gotten. When I called my dealer about the issue he told me that Featherlite just released a replacement for the 3110 called the 3182. This one is 6' wider, 100 lbs lighter, and has integrated e-track in the deck. So I have one of those on order and will be adding the air dam, tire rack, and toolbox.
BTW, I still haven't found a good way to hold the tires laterally on the tire rack. The rod through the center will keep them from falling off the rack but they will fall somewhat to the side and can get badly scratched up on the end of the rack. For now I'm using cut pieces of PVC over the center pole to hold the tires up.
Here's a pic of the car on the trailer looking down from the top of the rear wheel. Both sides were this close and that is with the narrow 315 Pirelli slicks. I don't think 345 Hoosiers would have fit on the trailer.
G]
Poor-sha is correct. I do have a 3110 and with Hoosiers, I have about a quarter of an inch on each side. It is a tight fit. With the seat up and me hanging out the window to watch the tires, I can usually drive up on the first try with no help. With practice, it's not that bad. The new Featherlite option that is 6" wider would be ideal.
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (track prepared)
C3 of Year Winner (track prepared) 2019
Originally Posted by jem_zr1
Cost and make of trailer please thanks
wstaab's trailer is an Aluma 8220 tilt, I had the same trailer but an 18' (8218) for a while. It was fantastic for an open, and the tilt made loading a breeze!
On an open trailer, tongue weight is not as big of a concern but I do agree it can be the one thing most people tend to overlook! The second thing most people fail to understand or even acknowledge is your vehicles payload capacity. I recently purchased a 2016 F150 5.0 with the intention of pulling my new enclosed trailer. You see on TV all the ads with 1/2 ton trucks capable of pulling 12k pounds, and Tacomas pulling the freaking space shuttle, etc. My truck has a payload limit of 1750 which means any aftermarket accessories (toneau covers, bed liners, etc.), passengers, or anything extra carried in the truck gets deleted from that number. So if I carry a few friends to the track and a cooler that 1750 could easily become 11-1250 in available capacity, assuming my truck is bone stock. Then you subtract your trailer tongue weight (don't forget the hitch, WDHs are nearly 100 pounds) from what remains and you can see how quickly you can overload a full sized pick up, let alone an SUV.
Food for thought.
Last edited by fleming23; Dec 28, 2016 at 10:18 AM.
My C6 Z06 track car weighs 3190 lbs with no fuel.
So 5000 lbs is the is the number with extras.
My Abacus is having issues.
I normally tow with a GMC Canyon rated at 7000 lbs towing capacity.
Escalade is rated at 10,000 lbs.
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