Car Hauler tips/tricks/ideas

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bucket

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Personally, I wouldn't worry about the underside of the wood. Most trailer decks rot from the top only. I know of many people that actually flip the wood over once the top starts getting soft.
 

bluex

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Well I got voluntold that I'll be using my truck an trailer for the kids dept at church this year in the christmas parade so I needed to build some sides for it so they can decorate an the youngins don't fall off lol.
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Also got the winch a few weeks ago. It was on sale for ITC an they did a $25 off coupon that you could stack so I went ahead an grabbed it. That allowed me to get the 2 yr warranty on it for nearly free. I think I'll probably have to add another fairlead to the front. The one that came with the winch is smaller an I needed the plate it came with for the height :doh2:

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I like this because everything is self contained an I made the plate to mount the controls. Upgraded the cables to 6 gauge real copper today. Saw where HF uses copper clad aluminum for their wires so I didn't want to leave that. Once I get my wiring for the truck side I'll replace the last 2 from the winch kit.

Almost used it today on a cheap 80 short fleet I found but there was 1 bad picture an it was back in the woods so of course it was RUSTY. Had to leave it as the guy wasn't to happy with my offer but it had very few usable parts :sad72:
 

bucket

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Awe, look at that cute little guy lol.

Joking and teasing aside, it should do ok. For a few years I ran one of those super cheapo winches that's designed to just hook on a trailer ball. I made it work. @Swims350 may remember that hokey setup, from when I picked up the Camaro.

But you'll definitely want to carry a snatch block for the heavier work.
 

TotalyHucked

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^Was gonna say, I'd def suggest a snatch block to up the pulling power but that oughta do ya fine for a good while. We had a 7500 in our box trailer at work that I WAYY overworked several times and it's still plugging right along
 

legopnuematic

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Winch looks nice, the weight savings of the synthetic rope over a cable is nice too.

At least it's electric. Hate to be the poor soul who has to hand crank a vehicle on with this setup I saw on Craigslist.
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I'm glad my days of having to use a come along to load vehicles is over.. Especially when they did not roll either.
 

TotalyHucked

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Yeah our R&D director has a hand crank on his trailer. He's in his '60s, I finally harassed him enough a couple years back to put an electric winch on it lol
 

bluex

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Snatch block an a few d-rings are on the list still. I think we had a 3500 on the other trailer at first, the weather killed it an upped it to either a 5k or a 9k i can't remember. It wasn't fast with the 3500 but it pulled anything we needed up on the trailer, even if it had flats. I think this one will do just fine.

If you look back that Tahoe I loaded with a come along and his parts truck. It sucked, its in the box for emergency but I hope I never need it again lol.
 

bucket

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Winch looks nice, the weight savings of the synthetic rope over a cable is nice too.

At least it's electric. Hate to be the poor soul who has to hand crank a vehicle on with this setup I saw on Craigslist.
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I'm glad my days of having to use a come along to load vehicles is over.. Especially when they did not roll either.

Yep, I'd take that hand crank over a come along any day. I do not miss my days of trailer loading with a come along at all.
 

HotWheelsBurban

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Yep, I'd take that hand crank over a come along any day. I do not miss my days of trailer loading with a come along at all.
Yup! In February 1988, we had to move 14 cars off a property that was in the family, but having to be sold. Did it over 4 days, with the '81 Sierra 305 and a borrowed trailer, a riding lawnmower with a chain, and a couple of come alongs. Dad and I definitely got a workout! We were hauling the cars to another property belonging to a friend of the family, about 5 or 6 miles away. We were able to sell a couple of the vehicles and pull parts off some others, before the guy "let" some people in or decided to pilfer what was there. Next trip up there (couple hours from Houston) we saw what had been done(still makes me ill to think about what was done)(cutting up pristine body '57 Chevys was part of it). That ended that storage......
 

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