Hauling vehicles

Just bought a car trailer and have no experience hauling vehicles. What works best for tie downs, chains and load binders or ratchet straps? What's the best places to attach to vehicles? Trailer has a hook ring in each of the four corners. Thanks for the help.
 
If you have no experience ask someone local who knows to show you. Chains to frame is most secure. Ratchet straps work good too but you have to watch for sharp edges that may cut the webbing. Either way you should pull the load a little way and recheck the tiedowns. Separate tiedown on each corner too.
 
Seems every vehicle is different. Some have tie down loops from the factory, others you just have to find a place to attach the straps. Study the situation carefully though, energy absorbing bumpers are not suitable for tieing down! Look for sharp edges that can cut a strap. Look for anything that can be damaged, like brake lines, wiring harnesses, steering components, etc.

I like heavy duty ratchet straps for pulling the vehicle down securely, but it also needs to be safety chained, just in case! Even though there are tie down loops on the trailer, don't attach the straps and the safety chains to the same loop. Think redundancy.

Always assume the worse case possible! No matter what emergency maneuver, the worst imaginable accident, that vehicle must remain on the trailer!

Keep that in mind and all will be well!
 
Most cars today do not have a frame you have to use straps on the tires if you hook to the under body you may end up with bent fenders and quarter panels.
 
I have an 18' car hauler and my wife drives a '98 Buick around town which periodically needs to be delivered to a mechanic. I winch it onto the trailer and then look underneath for a solid metal body part and try to get strap hooks over it. No traditional frames anymore but they all have structural components and you just have to search them out. Tighten her down securely, I use four straps. Stop after a couple miles and retighten if necessary...even with binders.
 
I actually haul cars myself also. the way i tie them down is i use ratchet straps. i run the atrap thru the wheel and hook back to the strap. the reason for this is if you haul a car with any air shock and you strap the the body there is a high chance of killing the air shock. because the car will try to self level but you have it straped down causeing it to kill the shock. another reason is if you use chain and binders and hook the the body while your driving down the road and hit bumps and the car bounce up and down there is a chance of the binder hook or chain hook slipping off. so for me personally i always use ratchet straps. Be safe and hope this helped
 
you should be able to look up the rules for your state online for innerstate chains and binders are required the way i read it, but i use ratchet strapps onthe cars, and chains on the trucks and tractors and equipment i haul, the main thing as already mentioned is secure the vehicle to the trailer by a unsprung part, ie its axles, wheels ect, this does 2 things, first the straps wont bounce loose when you hit a bump, and it also lets any vehicle ride on its own suspension, not just the trailers, so suspension componets and the vehicle itself wont get damaged
 
All good tips.. Seeing that this is a tractor forum I ask this.. Where would you all tie to with a narrow front tractor? The rear has many options.. drawbar, axel, through the wheels etc. But what about the front? Tough to get a tie down on 4 points.
Thanks for the thoughts on this.
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When I restored my DC I added a tie down ring to each side of the rails near the front. There are some holes which are perfect for mounting a ring to tie down. Let me know if you want me to send you a pic.
 

Go to Tow Supply US. They have what you need to do it quickly easily safely without damage to the vehicle.
 
I'd probably use a pair of axle straps, one to each side of your trailer. They are made to hook back to themselves and are more durable than simply hooking back around an unprotected strap.
 
hauling sumilar type front end, put one strap around hub, tie forward, another one tie rearward.. holds front end down nice,, can do about the same for rear tires.........
 

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