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Trailoring a 1960 Cadillac properly

Started by 60eldo, April 14, 2014, 02:38:36 PM

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60eldo

   I just bought an open trailer today 10,000lb 18ft x 7. It has an electric wench. My question is .  Is it better to hook onto the rear of the car and pull it up backwards as there seems to be a better spot on the frame, or frontwards. Has anyone done this alot and knows,  Ive never done this before ,,,thanks
Jon. Klu

brian faull clc#25881

John, there is an opening in the front crossmember in the middle under the motor where you can put a tow hook. That is where I usually hook them.
brian faull clc#25881

60eldo

   Yes Brian I think I saw that,,,,,but I didnt think that thin metal was strong enough
Jon. Klu

60eldo

   OK,,,I just went outside to look. Is it that long thick piece that the springs go through?  Theres a about 3 in. hole in the middle, looks very strong
Jon. Klu

76eldo

Stop.

You need to tow that car with the heavy part on the front of the trailer. If you have the engine and front end weight at the rear of the trailer you will have trouble controlling the trailer on turns and on the highway.

Guys with rollback trucks have a cable with large j hooks that they put on the front suspension or frame  and pull that up with the single hook.

I just trailered a 61 Coupe about 600 miles on my new trailer and had no problems. You really want to try to center the weight load over the trailer axles.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

INTMD8

I usually run a nylon axle strap around the front of a lower control arm to winch it up.

Dan LeBlanc

Be careful of the overhang off the rear of your 18' trailer.  I towed a 62 a few times on a short trailer and if it was loaded engine first, the overhang off the back was too much and caused the trailer to whip at anything over 50mph because the amount overhanging weighed more than the engine.  Backed it on and was able to put enough weight on the tongue that way that all was good again.  I can't remember the length of the borrowed trailer.

When I finally bought a trailer, it was a 21' and the truck pulls like there's nothing behind me.  I can drive the car on and there's no overhang.  If there's little to no overhang on the 18' trailer you bought, you might be ok.  Best thing to do is to load it, try it, if it works, keep going, if not turn it around.





Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

76eldo

Here's the way I towed the 61 and had no problems at all.

The 60 is longer but any overhang in the back will not be as heavy as the front if you back it on.

Good luck with the new trailer.

Brian

Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Classic

Regardless of which way you load the car on the trailer, you need 10-15% of the combined car and trailer weight on the trailer tongue.  Anything less and you risk the dreaded and extremely dangerous trailer sway.  If you are towing with anything less than a dually pickup, you also need a load equalizing trailer hitch.  You also need a brake controller to automatically apply the trailer brakes when you apply the tow vehicle brakes.  If your car weighs 5000 lbs. and your trailer weighs 2000 lbs., you need 700-1050 lbs. on the trailer tongue.  Which means you also need a substantial tow vehicle.

If you should encounter trailer sway, immediately manually apply the trailer brakes only using the brake controller to slow the tow vehicle and trailer.  Trying to “power” through the sway does not work!  The sway only gets worse and most often results in an accident.  Reposition the car further forward on the trailer to reduce the possibility of sway.
Gene Menne
CLC #474

walt chomosh #23510

Johnny,
   Your wise to seek advice on trailering....I've trailered drag race cars in my younger years(I was even a trailer dealer) and it is serious business. I've heard story after story about accidents and sometimes you don't hurt just yourself and your car.....you hurt others. A friend of mine who has been at this game many years recently was trailering a Studebaker down a mountain in Nevada and felt a slight movement in his tow vehicle. Well,he looked out his side window and the Studebaker was passing him! Be careful....walt...tulsa,ok

60eldo

#10
    WOW,,,alot of great answers thanks guys. But it looks like this is gonna be trial and error. I just bought this 60 barn find, check it out. One of you says back it on, while one says front on 1st,    mmmmm      not sure how to do this
Jon. Klu

The Tassie Devil(le)

Me thinks seriously that if you don't actually know what you are doing, you should get someone to go with you that does.

Someone could get hurt, and we don't want to read about it after the event.

Be safe.

Bruce. >:D
'72 Eldorado Convertible (LHD)
'70 Ranchero Squire (RHD)
'74 Chris Craft Gull Wing (SH)
'02 VX Series II Holden Commodore SS Sedan
(Past President Modified Chapter)

Past Cars of significance - to me
1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe
1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe
1937 Chevrolet Sports Coupe
1955 Chevrolet Convertible
1959 Ford Fairlane Ranch Wagon
1960 Cadillac CDV
1972 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe

Ken Perry

I have towed Hundreds of  old Cadillacs,always tow with the engine forword!!!!!!!! Start off slow ad see how it is handleing. If you or someone is going to use J hooks make sure you don't get them hooked around the tie rods,it will bend them!!! The slide bed guys are bad about this.Also make sure you have enough truck,  You can get killed towing these cars so be carfull !!! Ken Perry
Cadillac Ken

76eldo

The trailer I bought is 18' by 7.5' with 10,000 pound axle rating.  I have not gotten a winch yet but the trailer is prepped with a mounting plate for one.

I have access to an 03 Dodge 2500 series crew cab pickup and i just did a run with this rig from Cleveland, OH to Newark, NJ delivering a 61 CDV to the port for export.  The trailer is brand new, and the truck has a trailer brake controller.  There is a big difference in an empty trailer and a loaded one with respect to the settings on the brake controller.  You have to back it off when the trailer is empty so you don't lock the trailer brakes up on moderate stopping.

The only time I ran into and minor instability was on RT 80 crossing PA.  I had the cruise set on 68 and when passing large tractor trailers on a curve and coming out of the air that they were pushing you could feel some crosswind pushing you to the left a little bit.  I also noticed that minor steering corrections on a curve would create a just a little sway on the trailer, but if you picked a line and held that line in the curve, it tracked perfectly.

If you back a big Caddy onto a trailer you will have some serious problems unless you are not going over 35 miles per hour for a short distance.  You need the weight bias to be centered and the engine and front end are much heavier than the back end of the car.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Gene Beaird

#14
Johnny,

Do NOT tow that car loaded backwards on the trailer.  As others have said, you want the heavy part of the car, usually the engine/transmission, between the trailer wheels and the hitch.  And, as others have said, you'll want ~10-15% of the total weight on the trailer hitch (usually a couple of hundred pounds). 

I had a friend roll his trailer, the car on it, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee he was towing it with after trying to drag a 64 Fury he'd backed onto the trailer to a friend's house.  The whole kit went on it's roof at about 35 MPH after the 'tail started to wag the dog' when the heavy engine and transmission hanging out the back of the trailer started a bad case of sway. 

We have another friend and fellow autocross competitor who backs his Porsche Boxster S onto his trailer.  It's odd looking, until you realize that the engine and transmission is behind the driver. 

That car looks nice under all that dust.  It should be a beaut all cleaned up.


Gene Beaird,
1968 Calais
1979 Seville
Pearland, Texas
CLC Member No. 29873

76eldo

Johnny,

Also. Never load or unload unless the trailer is connected to your tow vehicle.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Dan LeBlanc

Ok, here's my response to everyone who said not to back the car on.

In my instance, the rear tires of the 61 were just on the trailer.  Everything from the back tires to the tip of the rear bumper was hanging off the end of the trailer.  This overhang was enough to upset the balance of the trailer, remove too much weight from the tongue and caused the whipping situation.

Once I turned the car around, all that overhang was out over the tongue of the trailer.  This shifted more weight onto the tongue of the trailer than driving the car on.  Then the wheels of everything were firmly planted and I could drive on and I hit speeds of 75mph as everything was nicely balanced.

I don't disagree that driving a car on is preferred.  In fact I indicated that you should try that first and THEN if it didn't work, to back it on and try it that way.  With an 18' trailer, you're likely ok.  The trailer I was using was definitely shorter.   Although there are rules of thumb about how it SHOULD be facing, the only true rule of thumb is to load it in a way where you have the appropriate weight on the tongue and the load balanced over the axles of the trailer.  The orientation of driving the car on will usually work, but not always.

Now with my 21' trailer, driving on and hauling with my 1-ton dually is not an issue.  Going to the GN this year with the car on the trailer and my actually try using the Navigator.  I'm not a fan of that idea, but momma wants to use the Navigator while there.

Dan LeBlanc
1977 Lincoln Continental Town Car

60eldo

      OK,,, so if I wench it on cause it doesnt run, would the best place to put the hook be in that hole in center if cross member?
Jon. Klu

76eldo

Johnny,

I have never looked under my 60 to look for a spot to do that, but if your cable and hook can go all the way around the front crossmember and hook to itself you would be better.  Pulling a lot of weight on a hook in a hole in the frame might cause the hole to distort or bend something.

Looks like some Eldo hubcaps sitting on the back seat of that car...

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

60eldo

    Now that sounds good,,,thanks, I dont want to damage anything
Jon. Klu