You should use a strap to attach the winch cable to the car. Cables and
hooks will mar the paint. It is really difficult to get a strap or cable
with hook around the front cross member which would be the ideal connection
point. If you loop the strap over one of the lower suspension arms it will
slide up to the inner end of the arm and get jammed in there.
If you really want to do things right you should get a pair of the original
equipment towing eyes, as illustrated for Canada only (Can't imagine why
LOL) on page BK2 of the parts book. These attach to the inner ends of the
threaded front bumper mounting tubes which pass through the main frame
members and make great attachment points for towing or tying down the front
of the car. To these I attach a 6 foot strap with a hook on each end and a
traveling loop in the middle to which I attach the winch cable hook.
There are 2 schools of thought on how to secure a car to the trailer. I like
the method used by the commercial guys wherein they attach to the car frame
and pull the suspension down to a point where the body of the car will not
move at all. I use the afore mentioned tow eyes for the front if available,
or go over the main frame rails just ahead of the front suspension mount and
the rear of the rear springs at the back. This prevents suspension wear on
long journeys but more importantly prevents that second inertia shot if you
get into a tricky situation at speed with the trailer.
ALWAYS remember to tighten the wheel spinners when you come to unload the
car. For some reason they tend to vibrate loose in trailering and there is
even a Triumph Bulletin on the subject and watch that diamond plate, it can
get real slippery when wet particularly with a couple of drops of oil.
Michael Salter
www.precisionsportscar.com
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-healeys@Autox.Team.Net [mailto:owner-healeys@Autox.Team.Net] On
Behalf Of pdeturck@rochester.rr.com
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2004 3:59 PM
To: healeys@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: trailer
Happy New Year!
My son and I recently purchased a used, flat bed car hauler
with a 15 ft. diamond plate full deck for use with our project cars.
The hauler has four tie-down rings integrated into the decking.
I prefer to drive my '66 BJ8 but if I ever encountered an occasion
where it couldn't be driven and or it needed to be winched up on the
trailer,
1) what would be the safest method (connection point) for using a winch?
2) How would the those of you on the list chose to secure it for transport?
Frame ties, axel straps, ratcheted tie-downs? Wheel chocks ? Etc.?
Thanks.
-pd-
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