tie down car to trailer questions

[JStieger]

Normally when I haul my jeep on the car trailer I tie down to the frame with tie-downs crossed etc. I've had no problems with this since I have compressed the suspension quite a bit. Well, yesterday someone gave me a pretty convincing argument to tie down to the axles (load on bearings, let suspension travel, etc).



Well what are the experts (your!) thoughts on this? I would do a search on here, but I would like to know by tomorrow morning since I'm leaving on a trip with jeep and trailer if I should do this or not?



If you tie down to the axles, do you have to cross the tie-downs also?



Why do the professional car haulers I've seen tied down to the frame with those pronged hooks rather than to the axles?

 

[Mtngoat]

Trailered my Jeep all over the place for years all over the place, Moab, NEw Mexico, etc, and i always tied it down to attachments (D-rings) on the front and rear, compressing the suspension. And so have all my buds. Never heard of ANY problem doing it this way. If your bearings and such can't handle the pressure imagine how bad they will be when you hit a big bump, or drop off a rock wall? But, thats just my personal opinion, I am not an expert.

Robin

 

[LesStallings]

I tie the back down to the axle. Since what I haul does not have front axles, I tie down to the frame. I guess this allows some body movement in the rear. And yes, I do cross the rear tie down also. I want to be sure the car does not move any side to side.



I think professional car haulers hook to where ever the manufacturer provides a spot. The manufacturer assumes the car will be transported once in its life. My show cars have more miles in the car hauler than on the street.



I use the cushioned axle straps and take care not to damage any suspension components, brake lines, etc.

 

[Okie-Go]

I hauled for two years and I used the hooks that go into the frame as the transport trucks use. I then put a chain on the back and x'ed them. Never any problems and very seldom did I have to stop and take up another link with the boomer.

 

[wcjp]

Many in my offroad club tow our Jeeps to the trail. None tie to the frame. I've heard the arguments for either method. No one has had any problem with tiedown to the axle.





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[jeepit]

I always use axle straps with 4" nylon rachet straps to D hooks. I also run winch cable to D hook in case a strap would let loose.

 

[Learguy]

Grab a Shock

I learned years ago, if you strap the axles, when you stop, grab a shock and see how hot it is. You are putting miles on your shocks. I always strap to the frame.

 

[rlyons]

I operated a tow business for years and the best place to tie down is on the tires with tire tiedown straps. The next best place is on the axles. Let the suspension do it's job. If you tie to the frame with a lot of new cars you will damage the unibody and warp the body. With a lot of new cars you will damage the suspension parts tieing to the fram as they are made from aluminum. The absolute best is to tie to the tires and let everything work as it was designed.

 

[Boomer II]

I tie down to the axles with axle straps and ratchet straps.

 

[JStieger]

I tie down to the axles with axle straps and ratchet straps.

Do you cross them over to opposite trailer corners?

 

[RDelissen]

to the axles, no crossing of the (ratchet) straps

As others have said there are always arguments going on about this.

My reasoning -> how far are you going to compress the suspension that it's enough not to loosen the straps/hooks/chains when you hit bumps/potholes????

 

[RDelissen]

I learned years ago, if you strap the axles, when you stop, grab a shock and see how hot it is. You are putting miles on your shocks. I always strap to the frame.

how is it different when parked on a trailer, compared to driving down the street?

The shocks still do what they normally do -> absorb

 

[Nate]

This is not the best example since it was a 16 foot trailer and a bit too short for the Jeep, but you get the idea. It's the only pics I have... I wanted to take some pics of me using an 18 foot trailer (perfect length) but I forgot my camera.



I tied the suspension down and also the axles. I don't crush down the suspension a ton, maybe 1-2" at most, but enough that the Jeep isn't swaying all over (tall lift and no swaybars).



I use straps. They are rated to 5000lbs each and I've got 6 of them, so should be ok. Also I put the Jeep in 4WD and put the park brake on.



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[TKingsbury]

I tie my Samurai to the axles. No problems at all. On cars I tie to the rear axle and then the front sub-frame. I use all chain and the cars I normally tow are 60s and early 70s Mopars.

Travis. .

 

[JStieger]

This is a good discussion!

to the axles, no crossing of the (ratchet) straps

As others have said there are always arguments going on about this.

My reasoning -> how far are you going to compress the suspension that it's enough not to loosen the straps/hooks/chains when you hit bumps/potholes????

When I tied to the frame I compressed the suspension enough so that the tires were visibly squished a bit (i. e. , the tires would have to pop to lose tension) and so that the suspension was compressed enough such that I couldn't get one more link with the binders.



Do you run the straps under or over the brake lines?



I have chains and binders as well as 10,000 lb ratchet straps with axle wraps, but the last time I used the straps (1st tow using these straps) I ended up running the axles straps around the frame and then crossed the ratchet straps on the front and back because I was worried about the brake lines crushing! I didn't have to take up any slack after cinching everything down.

If your bearings and such can't handle the pressure imagine how bad they will be when you hit a big bump, or drop off a rock wall?

I was thinking the same thing too. My '45 jeep is not flexy with 4 leafs all around and a ride like a hay wagon!



Also, with my last truck when it was Found On Road Dead, the tow truck driver used winch cables and cinched down the suspension pretty good via tieing down around all 4 leaf springs.



I think I might try the axles tomorrow and if I don't like it then I can always go back to the frame...

 

[RDelissen]

Do you run the straps under or over the brake lines?

neither, the brake lines in the back run on the back side of the axle so they're not in the way. And up front it's no issue anyways (no brakelines running along the axle).

These are the straps I've got (actually even bought them at the BigTex trailer part store )

http://www.textrail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.prodInfo&productID=351&categoryID=66



The nice thing is that they hook into itself as shown in the picture, so it won't come loose (like a J-hook might)



HTH

 

[Boomer II]

Do you cross them over to opposite trailer corners?

No, but my Jeep trailer is kind of unique. I built it pretty low to the ground and the tires sit in pans, so it's not going anywhere. I'll see if I can show a pic. This was coming back from Moab through Cortez Colorado.

 

[Eric_77]

FYI A car/truck/jeep should be chained not strapped according to DOT with a approved (they are gold in color) transport chain which makes me wonder about the Uhaul car transport that use the tire net, but I guess they also have the chains that many people don't seem to use.

 

[Scrappy]

I have a 16x6. 5 that I bought to tow my Durango from AK to FL. it is just big enough for the durango(barely). I bought the hook setup like the car transports use and hook to the frame (in the factory tie down slots) using 4 5K straps. I keep the straps as close to horizontal to control lateral movement but not up and down too much. I hook to the rear of the durango's frame and run the straps to the front and the other way for the front(the straps cross under each other forward to back). This is the only way that I can get the straps close to horizontal and long enough to work (the trailer tie downs points are too close to the Durango's to pull rearward on the rear and forward on the front). I have not had any trouble with the durango moving around like this. the steeper the angle the straps are at the more you have to compress the suspension to keep it from moving.

 

[Learguy]

how is it different when parked on a trailer, compared to driving down the street?

The shocks still do what they normally do -> absorb

If your paying a couple of hundred dollars each for a shock on a race car, it does matter. Then you get to the track and your set-up is crap due to hot shocks. FYI, when towing a rail, I used a couple of airbags under the frame also to reduce flex on the frame. Not everyone tows a Jeep.