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After the past 6 years of using regular tie-down straps to the frame of the Wolverine and breaking 1 or 2 straps every year decided to give these Speedstrap tie-downs a try. Watching the YouTube videos they appear they might be what I'm after of securing the wheels and letting the Wolverine float while being trailered.
They seem to be quality and hope they are as good as they seem. The Wolverine seems to be planted on the trailer.
I believe I'll cut a couple pieces of bicycle tire tube and place on the rear rims where the straps go through.
On my ATV trailer I use an earlier version of this tie down system. It is so much faster than using tire bonnets. I've had it for ten years and it still works great.
Inside my toy hauler it's a different situation. I can't install a system like that as I would forever be tripping over it. I've thought about installing e-track and then using the over-the-tire straps from the above kit.
The clearance between the cab of my UTV and the cabinets inside the toy hauler is a bit narrow. Too much body roll could allow the cab to come into contact with the cabinet. So I use chains to cinch the suspension down enough to minimize the body roll. Getting the UTV in/out of the toy hauler is a lot of work. Switching to a fifth wheel (or slide-in camper) and pulling the UTV behind on the ATV trailer has been something I've thought about. But I have nowhere to store the UTV if it isn't in the toy hauler.
Most definitely would be a challenge inside a restricted amount of side space. With the aluminum trailer and bed slots for mounting the D rings worked pretty well. I would of went with straps over the center of wheels but my trailer doesn't really offer a good tie down for that style.
The initial setup and adjustment of bonnets was a pain but should be quick tie-down now.
I think the Wolverine is ready for the roughest of trailering.
I've wondered how much angle the bearings, suspension and steering can handle when using a strap that goes through the wheel and secures to a D ring that is way off to the side. I suppose that a through the wheel strap shouldn't be used on the front, only on the back. The tie down locations in my toy hauler are lousy. I already added two for the rear, which are more inline with the rear tires instead of way out to the side. I don't think I can add tie downs for the front because the tanks are in the way.
The problem with going straight back on the rear of the load is if you dont have enough "pull down" the load can bounce off to the sides and if you dont have side rails the load can end up off the trailer.
I haul mostly cars and I always cross the rear straps after I had a load early on almost come off.
I also use what is called axle straps to go around axle tubes / springs and front frame cross member that the strap hooks to.
The axle straps have a cover over the webbing to they dont get hurt and cut and all my straps are 2" wide. https://www.summitracing.com/search?...=axle%20straps
Dave ----
It's one beefy golf cart to get off the beaten trail for sure.
Here is just one of many place looking for the 19th hole. Nthing like climbing a mountain. Even the boys are in that thread. One has past on though recently. 😞
I looked at the Speedstrap system but from what I could find they won't fit my tires which are a bit smaller than the bottom of the range they quote on their website (26" to 36").
One option would be to upsize my tires. I had planned to do just that for a trip that I had planned for this year (the extra clearance would have helped a lot), but that trip isn't going to happen now, so no new tires.
I'm using a set of Harbor Freight tire bonnets now and they're a bit kludgy. The static hook end is too short, the tire bonnet itself is too big. So it doesn't fit all that well. I have to use a couple of HD carabiners and
to extend the static hook end. It seems like Redneck Engineering to make it all work. That's for the rear tires.
The front tires are a challenge because the available tie downs are directly in front of the Ranger (as seen in the picture below) or directly off to the side of the tires against the wall which is a bad position. As I said in a prior post, I'm concerned about pulling the tire hard to the side and the stress that puts the bearing, suspension and steering under. I understand what Dave (Fuzzface2) means by having the tie down to the side a bit to keep the vehicle from moving side to side. I'll keep that in mind.
I poked around on the web and found Mac's Small Adjustable UTV Tire Net. These would fit my existing tire size just right and the static hook end (not the ratcheting end) can be adjusted for length.
I need to open up the belly and see if there is a gap between the tanks that is close to the front of the front tires that would work for a new set of tie downs. I really dislike the yellow straps shown in the picture, they're always in the way and I don't like compressing the front suspension so much.
Wow, that's some tight quarters when loaded for travel.
(sigh) Yes it is. But I'm used to it. At least this toy hauler has a front bedroom. The prior toy hauler had no bedroom so when the UTV was in, there was no place to sleep.
After the past 6 years of using regular tie-down straps to the frame of the Wolverine and breaking 1 or 2 straps every year decided to give these Speedstrap tie-downs a try. Watching the YouTube videos they appear they might be what I'm after of securing the wheels and letting the Wolverine float while being trailered.
They seem to be quality and hope they are as good as they seem. The Wolverine seems to be planted on the trailer.
I believe I'll cut a couple pieces of bicycle tire tube and place on the rear rims where the straps go through.
I'm guessing the trailer doesn't have much suspension travel, but even if it did, tying to the frame of the UTV puts a lot of stress on straps as the suspension of the UTV compresses over bumps and then rebounds against the straps. The only ways to avoid this and still tie to the frame is to compress the UTV's suspension quite a bit. Much better what you're doing now, but I've always been concerned with side-loads when pulling outwards on the wheels, whether on UTVs or carts or cars. Seems to work fine though, I've seldom heard of actual issues on cars or off-road vehicles caused by doing this, so my worrying seems to be for nothing when not tightened down too aggressively.
I'm guessing the trailer doesn't have much suspension travel, but even if it did, tying to the frame of the UTV puts a lot of stress on straps as the suspension of the UTV compresses over bumps and then rebounds against the straps. The only ways to avoid this and still tie to the frame is to compress the UTV's suspension quite a bit. Much better what you're doing now, but I've always been concerned with side-loads when pulling outwards on the wheels, whether on UTVs or carts or cars. Seems to work fine though, I've seldom heard of actual issues on cars or off-road vehicles caused by doing this, so my worrying seems to be for nothing when not tightened down too aggressively.
That Triton trailer has a 3500# 4 cord independent suspension torsion axel. Wasn't sure if I'd like the torsion axel but after nearly 50k miles towing the Wolverine (2,400#) it really is a very smooth towing trailer even on rough roads. No bouncing or darting behind the truck. Another plus of that aluminum trailer is empty weight of 520#, it can easily be lifted in the front and moved out of the way, even on the roughest of terrian. 😉
I also was concerned on the possible pull of the wheel outward while securing the fronts but it's more a down pressure than out pressure.
