April is coming fast and as your fearless leader (except at turn one after the start) it is my job to make sure everyone is up for the task of racing. I am not what one would call a good communicator of the written word so this message may have run on sentences and may end up being just one paragraph. I started doing this crazy sport around ’97 or ’98 and have had many adventures along the way.
We are going to start at the beginning. We have to get to the race FIRST. For most of us that means digging out the trailer, hooking to the tow vehicle, loading up the car and hit the road. I have a vast knowledge of what should be done but am also one of the ones that does not ever seem to do it. For me I have to remember where I parked the big enclosed trailer which is somewhere in rural Boyd Co. KY. After I find the trailer it would serve me well to organize it a little bit from the mess at the end of last season. Take a look at the spares and make sure to restock before the week before the race.
Next is to inspect the tires. Trailer tires never seem to last the 50k or 60K miles they should. I ended up replacing all mine by the end of last season due to various flats. One of those flats was along the side of I71 on the way to Mid-O. I purchased my trailer new it 2006 and it is on its third set of tires. Check for dry rot, big bulges in the sides, cuts, etc. Speaking of flats, I always carry two spares for the trailer. I have done this with open and enclosed trailers. Someone long ago let me in on that secret and it has stuck with me. It was put to me like this: You are driving down the road and have a blow out. Now a few things can happen. Typically you feel it (a little). Depending on how it blew, it may have a tendency to take tire # 2 out with it due to all the flying debris from tire # 1. If this does not happen, sometimes the sudden addition of all the extra weight now on only tire # 2 is enough to over load and cause it to blow. If lucky, you notice you lost a tire and slowly pull off the road to a safe location to change. I personally have never had tire 1 take out tire 2 but I have had multiple flats on the same trip. It is hard to find real trailers tires on the fly, even in Mansfield. Now to changing the tire. Hopefully it is on the passenger’s side as it sure is a lot safer on that side of the trailer along the interstate. If not, I pull the truck and trailer over as far as I can even if one side is in the dirt. I try to do this after an overpass or at the end of a guard rail to offer me as much protection as I can get. I also set out cones to warn drivers. Now, make sure you have the trusty 12 ton bottle jack with you. Depending on your setup, your 1.5 ton sears race jack may just not be enough to lift the trailer while loaded. My trailer tips the scales at around 9K lbs when all loaded up. Maybe more but I really don’t want to know. If you find you don’t have the bottle jack and the race jack is not up to it, try using the race jack along with the tow vehicle jack if possible. Not ideal but may get you going. You will need to remove the lug nuts from the trailer and this is not always the trusty 19mm or 3/4” we use on our cars. I have a 4 way lug wrench I keep in the tow vehicle that works just right. You may also want to use your cordless impact but sometimes mine does not have enough oomph to get the lugs off.
Onto inspecting the rest of the trailer. Check or add grease to the wheel bearings. If you are lucky you just take your trusty grease gun and pump a few squirts into the zerk fittings. Otherwise you have to remove the hub cover and check that way. You may also want to adjust the bearings on the trailer. Jack up one side and see how much top to bottom play there is. Sometimes this can be adjusted out with a fractional turn of the bearing nut. This is more typical of new trailers as they never seem tight enough for me from the factory. While it is jacked up think about adjusting the breaks. I am not sure if trailer brakes are self adjusting but I don’t think mine are. I always adjust till the wheel just barley has some drag, then back it off just a touch. While the grease gun is out go ahead and squirt some up under the main coupler.
Now since you are out there with your trailer anyway, go and hook up the lights to the truck and see if all the lights are still working. This is a good time to fix that bad ground that makes the lights blink all the time. If you do not hook the trailer coupler to the truck ball, you may notice that nothing works. This means that the trailer is getting it’s ground through the coupler. A jumper wire will fix this if you are too lazy to hook up all the way.
Those of you with open trailers and wood decks. My first trailer was that way and after a few years when I drove up onto the trailer, the car went through the boards. Mine did not come with treated or painted boards and they had rotted. Take a look at this and make sure yours is fine.
I am going to stop this message for now. There are a lot of veterans among us and I am sure some of this is old hat by now but for those new and upcoming I hope it helps. For those old and slowing, I hope I sparked a memory to remind you to get this stuff done. Please feel free to copy the group and add whatever you want. I would like to get the dialogue among our group going and get everyone excited about the new season.
Respectfully,
Michael
#36
Great Lakes Region Spec E30 Administrator
PS: I am posting this on the GL forum at SE30 website as well. Please let me know who I may have left off the email list.