Track car on trailer in garage
Discussion
This is so far just a thought. Am thinking of converting my track MX5 into a non-road legal car with the intention of doing some racing. At the moment it's stored in a single garage but there is no room for a trailer. However, I'm looking at getting an external separate garage built off the road into my garden. Couple of questions
- With internal measurements of 7m x 4m, do you think I will be able to fit it in the garage on the trailer, and is this a sensible idea?? I'd like to have some more space in the garage as well for other stuff. Looking at some Brian James trailers it seems doable.
- There won't be a big driveway before the garage (this could be possible however, but will eat into my garden quite a bit). Although it's a quiet road it would mean uncoupling the trailer after reversing it into the garage with a bit of messing about in the road. I am not sure how long the process takes to couple and uncouple a race trailer but if it takes a fair while then it could cause a nuisance by blocking the pavement.
Any other suggestions on how to go about it. I guess the final thing remains that I won't be able to get the car off the trailer at home to do any basic maintenance work, at least without driving it a few metres on the road round to my main drive, which will not have direct access to the separate garage due to the layout of the property.
Anyone any experience who doesn't have a PH company director mansion with acres of private land and driveways??
Cheers
Steve
- With internal measurements of 7m x 4m, do you think I will be able to fit it in the garage on the trailer, and is this a sensible idea?? I'd like to have some more space in the garage as well for other stuff. Looking at some Brian James trailers it seems doable.
- There won't be a big driveway before the garage (this could be possible however, but will eat into my garden quite a bit). Although it's a quiet road it would mean uncoupling the trailer after reversing it into the garage with a bit of messing about in the road. I am not sure how long the process takes to couple and uncouple a race trailer but if it takes a fair while then it could cause a nuisance by blocking the pavement.
Any other suggestions on how to go about it. I guess the final thing remains that I won't be able to get the car off the trailer at home to do any basic maintenance work, at least without driving it a few metres on the road round to my main drive, which will not have direct access to the separate garage due to the layout of the property.
Anyone any experience who doesn't have a PH company director mansion with acres of private land and driveways??
Cheers
Steve
I can't fit my trailer in my garage so can't help with that bit, but I can't imagine anyone will get too annoyed if you take 30 mins to load/unload once or twice a month (i.e. racing!).
Brian James do (did?) some small trailers designed to fit in a garage - some even came with A-Frame's that folded up.
Good luck
Brian James do (did?) some small trailers designed to fit in a garage - some even came with A-Frame's that folded up.
Good luck
Can fit a trailer in easily, working on the car on trailer is the pain, a cracking solution is what PH'er Whoosher engineered- winch the trailer up to the roof beams, small electric winch & securing bars (so its not only held up by the winch cable)
He will be able to help with pics when he sees this no doubt.
He will be able to help with pics when he sees this no doubt.
Manouvering a loaded trailer by hand isn't really possible, even if the ground leading up to the garage door is absolutely snooker-table flat and smooth - so you'd need to have sufficient space to back it in. I don't know how much experience you've got reversing with trailers - some people find it a doddle, others find it akin to doing rubik's cube wearing boxing gloves after drinking three bottles of wine.
Might it be possible to manhandle the trailer in nose-first, then load the car onto the trailer? That way, you can easily remove the car from the trailer to work on it, and you can bury the nose of the trailer in cupboards/shelving? You'd obviously need to have some rear steady legs on the trailer, to stop the nose rocketing skywards as you load/unload the car - if there's room, you could hitch it to a towball bolted to the wall, which would even add some security.
Some of the trailer manufacturers do space-saver trailers with folding noses, deliberately designed to make domestic garage storage possible/easier. Don't forget height - it might sound obvious, but a car on a trailer is a lot taller than a car not on a trailer, especially if it's a narrow trailer with the wheels tucked under the bed...
Might it be possible to manhandle the trailer in nose-first, then load the car onto the trailer? That way, you can easily remove the car from the trailer to work on it, and you can bury the nose of the trailer in cupboards/shelving? You'd obviously need to have some rear steady legs on the trailer, to stop the nose rocketing skywards as you load/unload the car - if there's room, you could hitch it to a towball bolted to the wall, which would even add some security.
Some of the trailer manufacturers do space-saver trailers with folding noses, deliberately designed to make domestic garage storage possible/easier. Don't forget height - it might sound obvious, but a car on a trailer is a lot taller than a car not on a trailer, especially if it's a narrow trailer with the wheels tucked under the bed...
I had a similar issue with my current house. Single garage, just big enough for my race car (Pug 106), but not really enough room to work on in the garage. When I first moved there I had my trailer stored at a friends farm. But that got a PITA after a while so I bought a BJ minno which is designed to fit in a single garage, and then put my race car on top and stored them like that in the garage. Working on the car was done on the driveway, in small but intense bursts as I did not want to upset the neighbours by leaving my ratty race car out overnight.
I then got an extension for a double garage ( with two bedrooms above - the only way to appease the wife) designed to be big enough to have car and trailer side by side, insulated so that I can work in it in comfort in the middle of winter.
As for unloading, it took me about 30- 40 mins to take the car off the trailer, push it into the garage, drive car onto trailer and then put tools etc back in to their respective storage places. I would allow an hour though just to be safe.
An MX5 might fit on a BJ minno, if so that would be your solution until you build a bigger garage.
I then got an extension for a double garage ( with two bedrooms above - the only way to appease the wife) designed to be big enough to have car and trailer side by side, insulated so that I can work in it in comfort in the middle of winter.
As for unloading, it took me about 30- 40 mins to take the car off the trailer, push it into the garage, drive car onto trailer and then put tools etc back in to their respective storage places. I would allow an hour though just to be safe.
An MX5 might fit on a BJ minno, if so that would be your solution until you build a bigger garage.
Altrezia said:
I can't fit my trailer in my garage so can't help with that bit,
Brian James do (did?) some small trailers designed to fit in a garage - some even came with A-Frame's that folded up.
Good luck
My BJ came with a folding tow pole but as I store it in a brick barn I've never gone through the folding process which of course might be a bit of a pain..Brian James do (did?) some small trailers designed to fit in a garage - some even came with A-Frame's that folded up.
Good luck
NJH said:
Size of the door is the problem I have and most people with large enough garages, very few trailers and hence cars to fit them are narrow enough to fit through a standard width door.
This.I have a very large garage but the door frame prevents me getting the trailer in.
Also, the turning area outside needs to be big enough to allow the trailer to be reversed in (unless you're planning on pushing it in yourself.) That normally means having enough room to begin to straighten up up the car with the trailer attached. And I didn't have room for that either.
Thanks for all the helpful replies so far.
I am looking at getting a bespoke size electric roller shutter door (3m wide) but, yes, I had assumed the height will be fine but sounds like a need to verify that! In terms of manoeuvring it, I'd need to start off with the car/trailer across the road, which is a wide residential street with a 20mph limit although does get a lot of through traffic (and average speeds a lot higher than 20mph because it's wide). However, once backing onto a short drive area and into the garage the ensemble should be clear of the road but not the pavement. As someone mentioned, I won't be using it that frequently.
Maintenance sounds like a nuisance although the "whoosher" idea referred to sounds interesting - if there's not already a thread on that I look forward to hearing about it. I could make this all a lot easier for myself by taking up more of my garden but my other half doesn't think much of devoting a lot of the garden to this endeavour!
Steve
I am looking at getting a bespoke size electric roller shutter door (3m wide) but, yes, I had assumed the height will be fine but sounds like a need to verify that! In terms of manoeuvring it, I'd need to start off with the car/trailer across the road, which is a wide residential street with a 20mph limit although does get a lot of through traffic (and average speeds a lot higher than 20mph because it's wide). However, once backing onto a short drive area and into the garage the ensemble should be clear of the road but not the pavement. As someone mentioned, I won't be using it that frequently.
Maintenance sounds like a nuisance although the "whoosher" idea referred to sounds interesting - if there's not already a thread on that I look forward to hearing about it. I could make this all a lot easier for myself by taking up more of my garden but my other half doesn't think much of devoting a lot of the garden to this endeavour!
Steve
Thinking about it, there's an even easier option for manouvering the trailer in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcFUooXmSzo
Cheap? No. But a lot cheaper than dangling the trailer from the roof...
http://www.towsure.com/camping-caravanning-equipme...
One each side, friction-drive against a tyre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcFUooXmSzo
Cheap? No. But a lot cheaper than dangling the trailer from the roof...
http://www.towsure.com/camping-caravanning-equipme...
One each side, friction-drive against a tyre.
Brief post, I`ll get more details if necessary. Above the garage ceiling are steel RSJ`s, I have 3 x `ton Block & Tackle, one on the A frame and 1 on each rear corner.
They are used to lift the trailer up to the ceiling.
Here`s a photo from 2008
I`ve just been out and taken this one
You need sufficient beams to hold the weight of the trailer. Mine is somewhere around 600kg empty. The blocks are nowhere near their working limit and it`s dead easy to winch it up.
Another option could be to put the trailer in nose first, but fix a trailer prop to each corner
If the front 2 are tall, you can tilt the trailer and leave it as a ramp, with each corner supported by the props, then it`s easier to drive your car on/off without the whole faff of taking the trailer in or out. If you car isn`t too low, you just need the rear props to stop it bottoming out when you take the car on/off.
With 2 people, we can easily push my trailer around the driveway, it needs 3 or 4 when it`s fully loaded, but so long as you are pushing on a relatively flat surface, it isn`t too bad.
They are used to lift the trailer up to the ceiling.
Here`s a photo from 2008
I`ve just been out and taken this one
You need sufficient beams to hold the weight of the trailer. Mine is somewhere around 600kg empty. The blocks are nowhere near their working limit and it`s dead easy to winch it up.
Another option could be to put the trailer in nose first, but fix a trailer prop to each corner
If the front 2 are tall, you can tilt the trailer and leave it as a ramp, with each corner supported by the props, then it`s easier to drive your car on/off without the whole faff of taking the trailer in or out. If you car isn`t too low, you just need the rear props to stop it bottoming out when you take the car on/off.
With 2 people, we can easily push my trailer around the driveway, it needs 3 or 4 when it`s fully loaded, but so long as you are pushing on a relatively flat surface, it isn`t too bad.
My trailer works very well with limited space and maneuverability, it's a Brian James, not sure what model.
- Folding tow pole, as the hitch goes up the foot pivots down and it rests on that, the trailer is then only 5-600mm longer than the car
- 4 x 10" wheels that sit under the bed rather than at the side of the bed, so whole trailer is narrower than my towcar.
- electric winch, and a hasp anchor bolted to the floor at the back of the garage so the trailer can winch itself with the car on it up the drive and into the garage (just use a strap with a couple of karabiners to get any extra length needed).
- centre of the deck is boarded so with the trailer secure it is easy to work on the car leaving it on the trailer, it's a a convenient height and I can put it on axle stands etc.
Good luck.
- Folding tow pole, as the hitch goes up the foot pivots down and it rests on that, the trailer is then only 5-600mm longer than the car
- 4 x 10" wheels that sit under the bed rather than at the side of the bed, so whole trailer is narrower than my towcar.
- electric winch, and a hasp anchor bolted to the floor at the back of the garage so the trailer can winch itself with the car on it up the drive and into the garage (just use a strap with a couple of karabiners to get any extra length needed).
- centre of the deck is boarded so with the trailer secure it is easy to work on the car leaving it on the trailer, it's a a convenient height and I can put it on axle stands etc.
Good luck.
I have an MX-5 that is now SORN and track 'prepped'. We keep it on a Brian James clubman trailer in a regular sized garage. The trailer is 6ft 9 inches wide,15ft 6 inches long. It fits in the door with a gap wide enough to put a piece of paper only and the mx-5 fits on the trailer with no spare room at all. Its all really rather snug and tolerances are small, but it means it all works ok. Happy with the system as it stands!
HughS47 said:
I have an MX-5 that is now SORN and track 'prepped'. We keep it on a Brian James clubman trailer in a regular sized garage. The trailer is 6ft 9 inches wide,15ft 6 inches long. It fits in the door with a gap wide enough to put a piece of paper only and the mx-5 fits on the trailer with no spare room at all. Its all really rather snug and tolerances are small, but it means it all works ok. Happy with the system as it stands!
Sounds similar to my setup with the Westfield. I'm lucky enough to have a double-garage, but still have to fit it al lthrough a single-sized door. The trailer has about 10mm clearance each side, and the car is a pretty snug fit on the trailer, but it works:
In terms of unloading, I'm not able to reverse the trailer round due to the position of my neighbour's garage, so I have to go through a bit of rigmarole.
- Find four-car-length space on road.
- Unstrap Westy, fit ramps, remove from trailer and park somewhere on the road (it's road-legal)
- Hand walk trailer round to the garage, nose-first
- Drive Westy round, park on trailer
- Park tow-car in front of garage
- Put away tools/straps etc
Just stumbled across this thread, some great ideas! I’ve just bought a trailer for the track car. Situation is that I only have two parking spaces, I was planning on storing the trailer somewhere but I’ve currently got the track car sat on the trailer so my van can go in the other space!
It’s does work but I was under the impression it’s a bit of a no no, having the trailer sitting there with the weight on. However I notice some people on here are doing just that.
Basically, is it ok or will I wreck the trailer?
It’s does work but I was under the impression it’s a bit of a no no, having the trailer sitting there with the weight on. However I notice some people on here are doing just that.
Basically, is it ok or will I wreck the trailer?
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