I am going to get a new trailer to haul my race car around and I am seriously considering an enclosed setup, my only concern is the ability of the truck to tow it. The truck is an 05 F-150 4x4 with the 5.4L V-8, Flowmaster exhaust, and AirRaid Intake, and factory tow package. I also have the Diablo Sport tune, but switched it back to stock so I can run 87 octane again. So I have a couple of questions...First, should I change the tune back to the performance 91 octane tune? Second, the car wieghs in at 3240 lbs, then add about 150 lbs of equipment and a 180 lb. driver, what do you recommend for dry trailer weight? Would the aerodynamics of the enclosed trailer play a big role in towing ability? I have always towed it with an open trailer. Thanks for any help.

 

The truck probably won't care about the weight, it's the surface area of the front of the trailer that will be your problem.

 

Thats what I was worried about. So your opinion is to stick with the open trailer?

 

I tow a travel trailer and that's about as much frontal area as anything! No cap either, so it's getting hit full force! I do fine with my setup and I have the lowest powered 5.4 engine and 3.55 gears!

They do make some covered utility trailers with a rounded nose piece to it (Wells Cargo for example). I don't know how much they help, because the one I towed was behind an E250 Van, so there was not all that much exposed to the open wind to begin with...

You should be fine with that setup. Get a WD hitch setup and decent brake controller and have fun!

You'll know it's back there for sure, so you just need to have the proper performance expectations that one would expect with over #5000 being drug behind you...

You will probably not be in OD all the time. Not a problem, just leave it in third and cruise along at 60-65 mph pulling some 2500 or so rpms. It'll do that all day. You will slow down on the hills..... If it holds third gear, great, but if it needs to downshift, let it and just hold second and you'll be fine doing 50-55 mph pulling around 3500 rpms.

You don't need to 'race' anyone when you are towing. That's what you will do when you get to your destination by the sounds of it!!

If you want to tow the thing and do 75 mph and only pull some 2000 rpms, then you will need a diesel or some sort of mod to the 5.4 that will get your peak torque at around 2000 rpms!

Good luck!

Mitch

 

Thanks Mitch! Well I think thats proof enough for me to go with the enclosed, unless anyone has proof that would sway me otherwise.

 

I often tow a 7x14 enclosed tandem trailer w/ my 00 F150 ORP 5.4 L. It is loaded heavy w/ fire hydrant tools, and my truck pulls it just fine. I know it's their, but I don't have any problems towing it.

 

Get a V-nose trailer or a cab for the truck bed. Either will save about 2mpg on the highway.

 

It can handle the weight, but the weight on the tongue or the place where the ball hooks up to is going to be the area where you want to watch it.
If it holds you will be alright but its just if the truck can support the tongue weight which is where the majority of the weight of the trailer is distributed to.

 

Good point. Do they let you "test drive" trailers? lol.

 

With a weight distribution hitch and careful attention to how you load it, you shouldn't have a problem with tongue weight. You may have to back the car on there (350Z I assume) so you get a little weight off the tongue.

The only thing I see a problem with is if you want to tow at 75mph uphill or something.

Where do you race? I race SE-R cup with NASA here in SoCal. How's Parump(sp?)?

 

I do HPDE and Time Attack and then I am doing the Open Road racing this year as well. Pahrump is an awesome track, definately up there with Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca in my opinion. Well worth the trip, especially on the 3.1 mile configuration. I will be running with N.A.S.A. once or twice this year, but again, only the HPDE or the Super Street Time Attack.

 

Nice. We will likely do our series championship there.

I ran Time Attack a couple of times with my SE-R, but the new turbo power:weight rule ruins my SE-R's competitiveness.

BTW: there's a slight disparity between Laguna Seca and Buttonwillow. Buttonwillow's fun and all, but it just doesn't compare...

 

Having driven both, I just don't see what all the hype is about Laguna Seca, but thats just my opinion. Its an awesome track though, but if I had to pick between the two one weekend, I would be at Buttonwillow simply because its less of a drive and generally cheaper.

This may be the coolest thing I have ever driven on a track, but the rest of it didn't impress me much more than Buttonwillow does. Maybe because it was on/off raining that it ruined my experience.

"The Corkscrew" at Laguna Seca...

 

I think I like it because of all the elevation change. Buttonwillow's elevation changes look like the paved over where they piled the dirt from digging out the rest of the track...

But yeah, while Laguna Seca is nice, I don't think it's a 9 hour tow nice...

CA Speedway is nice as well. Close, excellent pits and a pretty fun layout. Coming off the oval is pretty exciting...

 

I haven't had the liberty of running the full ROVAL, but will be there later in the year with Speed Ventures. I have only run the infield course twice.