jeeper31

I am thinking about having a tire rack made for the front of my trailer. This woujld serve to hold my tires an dto provide more weight up front so the car can sit a little farther back.

Does anyone have plans for a tire rack? About what do the run to make and have welded on? I would probably have a trailer shope make it and weld it.

Thanks

chrisp

I'm in the middle of mine. If you use steel square tubing and source it on-line your looking at about $200-$250 in materials/shipping. If you use aluminum it's much higher.

I had the welding quoted locally at $80/hour with about 4-5 hrs of work. Of course the time required is directly related to the complexity of the design and number of welds.

DrJupeman

Btw, I just paid $400 or so delivered for an aluminum rack from ATC pre-made and ready to bolt (hardware for bolting included... ).

chrisp

Charlie, for an open or enclosed trailer?

Bull

For an open trailer, you can buy a complete aluminum rack from Trailex for $573, including two locks and all hardware. If you don't have a Trailex trailer, you should be able to easily fabricate a mounting method for the trailer you have.

DrJupeman

Crap, sorry, enclosed, not open.

Gary R.

Seems like a lot Charlie, is it better made than the ones here?
http://pitproducts.com/tireracks.html

Veloce Raptor

Dan, I have one on my open trailer that the previous owner fabricated himself. Just realize, however, that, without any wind deflector around it, a filled tire rack will significantly increase the wind resistance of an open trailer, cutting your tow behicle fuel economy.

DrJupeman

Yeah, I knew I was paying a premium, but the new one matches the two I already had. The original two were "from the factory" when the trailer was built. I can't really comment to the difference in quality with the link, but the ATC ones are big, beefy, aluminum, and have worked well for me in the 5 years I've owned the trailer. That said, 99% of the reason I bought another one from ATC was for aesthetics...

chrisp

If you have the clearance and resources to get a custom design, keep it low. That's what I am doing. My tow vehicle is 60-something inches tall and my rack with tires will be under that and drafting the truck as much as possible. My tires will only be 23" off the deck of the trailer.

A930Rocket

+1. I see a big difference in fuel milage with a tire rack on my open trailer when it's loaded with tires. I was real surprised when I couldn't get to my usual first pit stop on the way to VIR.

BTW. I had a local steel fab shop make mine.

Veloce Raptor

Yes, I agree. Due to where my car sits on the trailer and othe rfactors, I was unable to lower my tire rack more than 1'. It made some difference, but the top half of the tires are still in the air stream.

M758

I had one made to fit my converted utility trailer. It still sort of in the middle of low and high. I can't really tell if it kills mileage or not. Of course my truck shell really has a bit impact anyway. Still it is an essential part of my set-up I always carry 2 extra sets of tires to the track. I have even carried a 3rd extra set and that set goes in the back of the race car.


My trailer has a 16ft deck and only the header panel is under the tires. Still I gives me room to put more stuff under the tires like my canopy weights.

chrisp

if anyone is searching in the future I'll post some the pictures I used to borrow ideas from. For obvious reasons, I can't recommend any of these designs nor take credit for any of the pictures.

APKhaos

My generic steel trailer came with a nasty big tire rack that I needed to replace in short order. It was so damn tall that it created real windage issues.

Here's what I ended up building after making up a few trial versions from lumber before settling on this layout. Its low, and the toolbox and fuel jug space works very well. The hinged door that opens to the fuel jug rack is not really essential, but its mighty handy when filling the jugs with the car loaded.