Trailer Trio: The 3 Best Improvements That Can be Made to a Race Trailer

Notice the aged appearance of the tie-down strap on the passenger side. Tie-down straps do not last forever. It’s a good practice to renew before the strap shows signs of wear.

At a casual glance, the tread on this tire appears good, but a closer inspection reveals the tread wear bars indicating this tire is no longer safe.

Any time wheels are removed from a car trailer to replace the tires, you should also inspect the brakes and wheel bearings. Spin the brake drum by hand to ensure the wheel bearings turn freely without noise. Feel for excessive slop.

Guilty as charged. It was not a safe idea to run this wheel without a dust cap. Dirt and grime causes premature bearing wear and likely a wheel bearing failure.

A taillight was always out. Vibration and shock made keeping the brake and taillights lit with ordinary incandescent bulbs near impossible. Replacing with LED trailer lights means the lights always work and the trailer is much more visible.

Removing the old taillights required taking off two ¼-20 nuts. It’s not uncommon to have different color-coding for the brake and taillights. Cutting the trailer harness in this manner made it easier to keep wires from getting mixed up.

Installing the Summit Racing LED trailer lights was a direct bolt-in making sure to snug, but not over-tighten, the mounting nuts.

We tested the connections to make sure they were hooked up correctly for brake and running lights before crimping the electrical connectors.

After the Summit Racing LED taillights and LED DOT marker lights were installed, a final inspection was made to ensure no wires from the trailer’s wiring harness were hanging in harm’s way.

The Summit Racing ratcheting tie-downs at eight feet long are the perfect length for securing a car. For tight, less-accessible areas, like this roadster’s front axle, Summit Racing axle straps make an impossible situation, possible.

Notice how the weight of this 1966 Chevelle Malibu doesn’t phase the sidewalls of the Carlisle radial trailer tires.

Here again, the axle straps make it a lot easier to tie the rear end of a car down.

Up front, the axle straps fit through the frame crossmember where the ends of a typical ratcheting tie-down are too large to fit.

Beyond being properly equipped, how well a car trailer tows is determined by ensuring the tongue is at the right angle. This is controlled by where the car is placed on the trailer and the angle adjusted by moving the car forward or backwards.

Four tie-downs: A tie-down at each corner in an X-pattern reaching across as far as possible is the best way to secure a car onto a car trailer.

An extremely heavy car, this 1969 Buick Riviera towed with ease thanks to radial trailer tires and four good heavy-duty tie-downs.

Another very heavy car, this non-running 1964 Chrysler 300K had to be pulled onto the trailer backwards. To overcome a heavy nose, it was placed farther forward to get the correct balance.