Hi all,

We haul our "66 Mustang and I tie it down using the front frame rails, and the rear axle. So the front suspension is some what tied down, while the rear suspension is not. Kinda strange, but I haven't had any problems.

I would also like to haul our 2001 Cobra Mustang. It has an independent rear suspension.

I am needing your opinions as to how to tie down the '01, considering the rear suspension configuration. Tie all four corners so the suspension is somewhat restricted, tie just the front suspension restricted, or ?

I would appreciate your thoughts - thanks

 

The way you do your 66 is the way I have done many older cars on my open deck car trailer. I also had a winch cable as a back up to the strap up front
I know it does not have a full axle but cant you get a strap around the rear sub frame of the 01?

The other thing with going to the frame and squatting the springs is unless you get the frame sitting on the bump stops if you hit bumps the frame can bounce and the straps can come off or break with the weight of the car banging on them.

Now the new way of doing the "tie down" is tire straps. I think they came to be because the lower control arms on the new stuff are just stamped sheet metal and if you put a strap on them they fold in half.
I am guessing your 01 at the rear is the same way?
My .02
Dave ----

 

I always strap them from the wheels or tires that way the straps dont come loose.

 

I try to always tie down to the suspension, if that is not easily accomplished then I would look into running the strap through the wheels. My buddies with really low show vehicles tie down this way all the time with no issues, they use soft towels or microfiber cloths at the shiny parts of the wheel to not leave any marks.

 

I've always tied mine down thru the wheels using axle straps (with the added sleeve) and crisscrossing the ratchet tie downs.

 

Thanks for all the replies.

I found these on Amazon.

However, putting straps through the wheels is certainly an option also.

Thanks again, Dave

 

In my experience with my side-by-side, tire bonnets take longer to put on and are not light. A strap over the top of the tire into E-Track is a lot faster and weighs less. I haven't tried the straps through the wheels yet but those worry me as they could allow the vehicle to move left/right.

My ATV trailer uses the E-Track straps and my toy hauler uses the tire bonnets.

 

not if you crisscross them

 

Maybe I'm overthinking this but doesn't that put a lot of stress on the wheel bearings in a direction that they don't normally get?

 

I have always strapped to the frame and compressed the suspension. (Always at least 4 straps and never relied on wheel chocks.)

Different strokes for different folks I guess.

 

Not on my end. I ratchet the straps just tight enough to keep car in position and not go gorilla on them. I'll put more stress on the hubs/bearings racing that I'll ever put on them with the straps. Many use the axle vs the wheels and when I began towing I asked lots of questions and either way is acceptable, just don't get nuts with ratcheting the straps.

 

As a reference, Porsche recommends using "transport wheel nuts" when hauling their GT3 Cup family of racecars. The Cup cars have a single large wheel nut to retain the wheels. The transport wheel nuts have a big loop to attach ratchet straps to. Thus the car is tied down via the wheel hub and thus the wheel bearings. I have hauled these cars hundreds of time using this method. It works very well. This method is also common on prototype sports racing cars. These cars all cost $100,000+ to upwards of a $1M.

Given this, if such wheel nuts aren't available my second best choice is looping an axle strap through the wheels. Third would be tying to the outer end of the control arms. This lets the suspension work and prevent the problem of the tie-downs briefly going slack and snapping if the trailer hits a big bump and the car's suspension compresses.

Back in the day I worked with a Pro Team that raced Cobras. IIRC, there is a handy place in the rear lower control arm to loop an axle strap.

 

I suppose that if it works for Porsche, my UTV should be able to handle a little tie down stress.

One of my problems is that the cab of my UTV is within 4" on either side of upper cabinets within my trailer. It's already hit the cabinet once during transit. I'm not sure if the UTV shifted or if it rolled on the suspension and hit the cabinet. I suspect the latter but the former is possible as I was securing the tire bonnets inline with the tires, not off to the side. Securing the UTV by compressing the suspension would probably eliminate that but I really don't like doing that since the UTV sits in the trailer for months at a time. Releasing the straps would work while in storage but requires me to remember to tighten them back up to go camping. Tire bonnets don't need to be released for storage.

First world problems, I know. Here's what I'm dealing with.

 

Every load has its own requirements to be properly secured. The racecars I haul are all very low and stiffly sprung, much stiffer than the trailer they are riding in. As a result, they don't move much on the suspension.

We typically haul either ATVs, UTVs or golf karts in the haulers along with the racecars for easy paddock transport. They get tied down differently. The Golf Karts are easy but the big UTVs (a Razor in our case) must be ratcheted down on the suspension or it wallows all over the place on its soft suspension. In fact, the first season we used the Razor by the end of the season one of the shocks was leaking badly. I gathered it was from the constant motion of the chassis riding in the trailer for anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand miles per trip. Hours and hours of constant motion probably blew the seals.

Also, I often have to store a car in a trailer between events. Its my practice to release the tie-downs so as to not have them under stress continuously for days or weeks at a time. Not only will it stress the vehicle but also the ratchet strap. It is my practice to check the trailer to ensure everything is secured before moving the trailer each time. A friend once assumed the car was tied down, only to find out that somebody had moved it inside the trailer to access a cabinet, and had the car roll back and forth in the trailer and damage both the car and trailer.