Wide Trailer or R&R Paddles Every Time?

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Dockmaster

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Curious how many of you have to R&R your paddles to get your sand car in your trailer? How much do you despise having to do it or no big deal? I would prefer not to have to mess with it but going to a custom over width stacker trailer big enough to haul all my junk is getting up there in cost. I can find some fairly decent deals on nice used trailers at 102 wide but the extra 4" gets pretty expensive for a trailer that checks all my boxes. I must admit that some of the cost driver is me really wanting an all aluminum trailer with lots of options. 

With a good sand jack and a cordless impact how big of a deal is it to take them on/off? Do you do it each night to put your car to bed for the night? Would you spend $25k + to not have to mess with it?

 
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On my last toy hauler I had to change all 4 tires and winch the car in backwards as well as strap the front end together and it barely fit. That was a PITA and it took my 2 hours to load. Kinda put a damper on the end of a trip. My moho with the flatbed was a piece of cake, just pull the car up and leave. The gooseneck trailer I have now, I have to remove the rear tires and winch in. It's not too bad, realistically only takes me 15 minutes. But it seems to be SO much nicer to not have to change tires. Just make sure you actually check your torque specs. Forgot a couple trips and had a wheel get super loose on me.

 
I've had it both ways, and I'll say (even though it goes against you wanting my trailer :p ) with a high-end car you'd want to put away nightly/in bad weather paddles on, no question.  If it's just for the trips/to from, not putting away mid-trip it's generally no big deal.  There are exceptions, like my last stacker.  It was a "ramp style" stacker, and the SxS went up top, the sand car under it.  The paddles needed to go up on the loft in front of the ramp-lift.  So it became a sort of pain for order-of-operations.  It was easiest to change the tires on the sand car first, then use the ramp to bring them up (being extra-lazy I'd just set them on the edge of the ramp, then winch it up so it was a flat-roll to the loft).  The problem was, either you needed the RZR on the ramp first and had to sneak the paddles around it, or you needed to park the rail far enough away to drive the RZR onto the ramp after the paddles were up, but that meant backing the rail up in soft sand on load tires (aka a no-go) or a super-long winch pull.  Definitely "first world problems" but if I ever do a stacker again, everything will drive in it on the sand tires, period.  If I ever have another high-buck sand rail, it will have a trailer it drives in on the sand tires so it can be put away in inclement weather.  

-TJ

PS- I'm a terrible salesman 

 
acefuture said:
On my last toy hauler I had to change all 4 tires and winch the car in backwards as well as strap the front end together and it barely fit. That was a PITA and it took my 2 hours to load. Kinda put a damper on the end of a trip. My moho with the flatbed was a piece of cake, just pull the car up and leave. The gooseneck trailer I have now, I have to remove the rear tires and winch in. It's not too bad, realistically only takes me 15 minutes. But it seems to be SO much nicer to not have to change tires. Just make sure you actually check your torque specs. Forgot a couple trips and had a wheel get super loose on me.
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That's a good point.  Constant wheels on/off leads to mistakes.  Cross-threading, not torquing fully, etc. etc.  From my race car days where wheels/tires we on/off all the time (be it for brake pad changes, swapping compounds or dry/wets, or even way back when I'd tow a little trailer behind my Corvette and then change tires, I was ALWAYS pulling wheels on/off) I always torque, go do a short drive kind of tossing the car around, come back and torque again.  

-TJ

 
Yes, I have to R&R, it does suck but its not that big of a deal for me. I look at it as a chance for a visual inspection.  I also dont use an impact (im poor :lol: ) and do by hand as Im a weirdo about the lugs/studs. Plus im a early riser so I can change while everyone is still sleeping

Car stays out so I only R&R twice.  Would I love to be able to just drive in, shiat yea but, if changing 2 tires is what it takes then so be it.

 
We have talked about this.. buy the wide trailer......  :bangin: . I have had 3 wide trailers and will not go back. 1 currently waiting for new wide stacker.

 
Definitely wide for me I lost a tire years ago luckily no body or real damage. Really would only have to change one tire seen that done several times but putting it in in bad weather is the best a must in Idaho

 
More so than having to change at the end or beginning of a trip. It seems to rain a lot more in Glamis than years before. It’s nice to drive into your trailer to get out of the rain for a few hours. 

 
Get the trailer that does not require you to take the paddle tires off.   The money spent now is less time you will be spending swapping tires and getting loaded and unloaded.  Plus if you every want to sell the trailer much easier when you can tell a perspective buyer you can drive your rail right in. 

 
URCLEVER said:
We have talked about this.. buy the wide trailer......  :bangin: . I have had 3 wide trailers and will not go back. 1 currently waiting for new wide stacker.
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I know, I know, but I'm a cheap bastard........sometimes. 

 
Justdirt said:
Definitely wide for me I lost a tire years ago luckily no body or real damage. Really would only have to change one tire seen that done several times but putting it in in bad weather is the best a must in Idaho
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Yeah weather is a big concern for me. The thought of having to change tires to put it away when it starts to rain at Oregon dunes isn't exciting for me. 

 
When I was younger I would change the rears.  Even had my rear wheel pass me going down sand highway, but that's another story.  Now at 74, I can barely lift a big paddle tire and wheel to get it on the hub, so no more for me.

And as others have said, having your car safe and secure inside a trailer does help me sleep better at night.

 
I built an enclosed wide enough to pull right in with the tires on. We are there every 2 weeks and we use the trailer as a basic garage just for the car. I pull the car in every night regardless of weather.  If I need to take the car in for a repair I have a flatbed on site.. Its convenient living an hour and half away from the dunes.

 
My enclosed has a 96" wide rear door and my car is 100" with paddles.  I've had the trailer for 14 years and I don't mind changing the paddles to fit the car inside.  I never owned anything that was so nice that rain would hurt it.  My car stays outside for my entire trip, and my trips tend to be 10-14 days at a time.  If I know it's going to rain I throw a cover on the car.

I bought a new Universal enclosed with a 104" rear door for my transport business.  So far every car we've transported has fit inside no problem,  Racer, Funco, Tatum, Buckshot (always a wide car), Extreme and a few others.  I picked up a Ultra stacker for my buddy Joe a while ago and the rear door is 110" wide.  Could for sure see it in the rearview mirror.

 
Any chance of weather, the car gets put in my trailer, such a nice easy option.  I did have to change tires way back to fit into trailer, I hated it.  One thing people don't also realize, these paddles are huge, storing them sucks.  But then again in those days I was in a toy hauler.

 
All great input, thank you everyone. Pretty much confirms what I expected to hear. 

 
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