heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

Why no on the electric jack? Im betting its corrosion as the trailer sat for the past year so it makes sense. Ill see what I can do to unstick it as it seriously sucked cranking that thing. I mean Im not wicked strong but the thing was terrible.

And any feedback on those tires? Id love to order parts tonight so they can start rolling in and I get get this thing in good shape next weekend.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

Not needed on a light trailer like this. So, not worth the expense and hassle of the jack itself, batteries, etc.


That seems really cheap for tires. I would go to your local discount tire and pick up 4 of whatever they stock. And trailed tires don't need to be balanced, so don't worry about that.

heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

it does seem cheap indeed, but not the cheapest so seemed like a decent option. Guess I can make some calls. Just between tires for the evo tires for my truck and tires for the trailer Im like ahhh so many tires lol!

Regarding the jack I'll start by seeing if it is just corrosion and if thats the case then I should be able to free it up and make it good as new. The only reason I considered the electric ones was what seemed like a small difference in price seemed to be worth the convenience. The trailer already has a battery for the winch so seemed like an easy thing to simply wire into. The previous owner had the battery setup to charge off the truck by running power to the rear of his truck but I have no interest in doing that considering Ill hopefully rarely need to use the winch anyway. Instead I was thinking of picking up a simple solar panel as a trickle charger which I thought was a decent idea but dont know much about them. Its just these small details that I would like to iron out as I tend to overdo things but it makes me happy. The reality is if the trailer battery died I have a jump pack I could use or I could always steal the battery from the truck.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

Your truck doesn't "need" tires...LOL.


If I had the option, I would always winch my car on the trailer. Save a lot of wear on the clutch trying to inch the car up the ramps..

amn_suazo

iTrader: (1)

you will laugh how well the truck will behave when you have everything loaded up. Hopefully my pic works this time. This is a trailer I borrowed from a friend so I don't know the specs of it.

Meathooker

iTrader: (2)

as mentioned above i wouldn't mess with an electric tongue jack. i've had a dozen trailers and never put one on because i didn't want to hassle with them. Spent too much time a a kid messing with my dads of gpas because the battery was dead or something else wrong with them.

for our current trailer i finally broke down and got one - but it was a PIA to crank by hand haha



+10 on the winch. ours isn't installed yet but i have one on shelf waiting to go in.

heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

Thanks for the feedback guys! As mentioned I only considered the electric jack bc the trailer I purchased, the current jack is crapped out. So it was the, if Im going to replace it I mind as well upgrade thought. One of my buddies has a spare jack that he brought into work today actually so if that one bolts up fine Im just going to use that.

Its interesting that you'll prefer to winch the car up vs drive it up. I figured winching would be more involved and potential for cable rubbing into the bumper on the approach. Do you just have the wireless remote and winch it up while sitting in the driver seat?

If Im going to pursue leveraging the winch to get it on the trailer I think the solar panel idea is a decent one vs making sure to remember to keep the battery charged. Slowly making progress getting the thing where I want it to be.

I fixed one of the lights last night and hope to chase a wire back to one of the side marker lights as the + is nowhere to be seen. Im not sure where it went but Ill find it or run a new wire if all else fails.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

You use the tow hook that would presumably be installed for track days to winch the car on the trailer.


To power the winch, get an optima blue top, and keep it on a solar charger. You can also run a 2g or 1/0g cable from the truck batter to the rear bumper, make plug, then continue that to the trailer battery. Then the truck charges the battery while driving too. And you can winch the car on with the truck idling, and drawing from two batteries, you'll never have a power issue.

heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

Youre telling me that people actually use tow hooks for their intended purposes other than just for hard parking!? Hmmm now I might have to get one. I've avoided it for years since I just auto-x and I figured knowing me my shin would make contact way too many times and Id hate it. Maybe I can get a fabric one instead.

I plan to explore the solar charger route. The previous owner had a power cable running to the back of his truck exactly how you described it but Im not going to bother replicating that as I wont be using the trailer everyday so I dont see the point for my limited usage. I dont even know what kind of battery is has in there now but Ill see how long it lasts and when it dies Ill replace it with some sort of deep cycle RV type battery.

Do you have a solar panel and controller that you would recommend? And what about a decent non ricey tow hook?

EDIT: Just found this badboy. Think this would fit the bill? Nylon strap seems more appealing to me

Meathooker

iTrader: (2)

2g wire it overkill if you have a battery on the trailer. most trucks are only rated at 5amps in the trailer charging circuit and are prewired from the factory. All you need to do it run a 10-12ga wire from the trailer plug-in to you battery.

heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

Are you saying I can splice into the trailer side wiring and charge the trailer battery off of that? I dont want to mess with running any wires on my truck but dont mind doing modifications to the trailer wiring. If not I'll just try out the solar panel method but powering off the truck would be even sweeter.

LetsGetThisDone

iTrader: (1)

To give supplemental power to a battery that's powering a winch? 10ga? No thanks.


I'm talking about hooking up the hot in the truck, to the hot of the trailer battery to charge it and provide extra power for the winch if needed. I certainly would not rely on 20ft of 10ga for that.

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

If that 10-12g is powering a charger for the battery all in the trailer then ya sure that'll be fine, but if you're powering the winch itself and want to do it off the truck then ya over that distance you'll want bigger. Three ways I've done it - one is off the truck using a marine style quick disconnect plugs like these:

https://www.google.com/search?q=powe...D0xLI7_0kN8rM:

The two other ways keep the batt in the trailer dedicated, one using the harbor freight solar trickle charger/regulator I had on the open trailer, the other with the enclosed I just drop the trickle on it every 2-3 months lol. Also on the 3rd round I used an Autoparts store branded marine batt, 50 bucks cheaper then the bluetop.

heel2toe

iTrader: (41)

Those marine style plugs are exactly how the previous owner had my trailer wired. Im sure that works fine but Im going for a simple approach here and dont want to run the wiring in my truck.

How did the HF solar charger work out for you as that's the route I want to go? I didnt even know HF had them...Ill by stopping in there this weekend to get the wireless remove for the winch so if they have panels then sweet!

Did you use a panel like this with this controller?
https://www.harborfreight.com/15-Wat...ger-68692.html
https://www.harborfreight.com/7-amp-...tor-96728.html

Balrok

iTrader: (15)

Yup same stuff. It works "ok", as to be expected of HF and the restrictions on the solar approach. I'd personally still throw the trickle on it when you get it back in the driveway each time.