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I have a trailex open trailer and C6 Z06. i currently drive my car up onto the trailer, but it is tough on the clutch and i often dont get it on perfectly straight. rather than run a fender into my trailer toolbox or spare tire, I want to get a winch
probably a power winch, although trailex says their hand winch will work fine
the question is about how to winch it up onto the trailer. i dont want to install a front toe hook right now. Im not sure i would trust them for winching. i have seen the 'V' bridle, which attaches to the factory tie down points in the frame.
The winch normally is mounted on the front of the trailer on a small pedestal. If I use the bridle, then the tow cable will destroy the front lip spolier.
questions: 1. should i mount the winch down low on the floor of the trailer or on the small pedestal?
2. how do i keep the V Bridle from destroying the lower lip of the front of the car?
3. is there a front tow hook that is any good, and does not require major dissassembly of the front of the car?
4. anyone have a suggestion for powering an electric winch? i dont want to wire it into the tow vehicle (would have to run a heavy wire to the front of the truck) and I dont want to have to carry a giant car battery with me. just looking for different options
But I don't understand not wanting a tow hook. The whole point of it is to tow the car off a track with it, winching it up onto a trailer is maybe 5% of the stress seen when towing off track at much higher speeds being jerked around by the truck. You also want a power winch unless you want arms like Popeye. Yes it can be done manually but why the hell would you?
So which tow hook attaches firmly to frame? From my reading here on the forum, many of these towel hooks probably are not attached really firmly to the frame
Anyone here have any experience with the bridle?
Anyone have an opinion about the height of the winch? Should it be on a short pedestal or mounted directly to the floor of the trailer?
I use an LG tow hook which mounts extremely securely to the front impact bar/frame using 4 through bolts. I have winched it onto my trailer more times than I can possibly count. It is a trivial matter to install a tow hook on a C6Z. The front fascia pops off with no drama.
My winch is mounted directly on the deck of my open trailer and I have a steel plate underneath that it further secures to. Make sure the winch is mounted on the same side as the tow hook (left or right) so that it pulls straight. Then I mounted a battery on the trailer inside a battery box that the winch uses. Also a very straight forward matter, done in a few hours. No reason to over-think these things.
So a bit off subject but I thought I would ask anyway. I forgot and left my 02zo6 in gear and started winching it into my trailer. I only pulled the can a foot or two before I realized my mistake. My question is do yo think this caused any damage to the transmission etc...
So a bit off subject but I thought I would ask anyway. I forgot and left my 02zo6 in gear and started winching it into my trailer. I only pulled the can a foot or two before I realized my mistake. My question is do yo think this caused any damage to the transmission etc...
The V Bridle works well. I used to use a tow hook to winch my C6Z and C7Z onto an open trailer but the winches were not mounted on a pedestal. As the car got close to the winch the front of the car would be pulled down. With my C7Z I found the offset tow hook also torqued the car sideways and down and the tow hook would twist in its mount (screw in) as the car came up the ramps.
That is when I decided to go with the V Bridle. I forget the length (they come in several lengths) but it is sufficient for the strap to stick two feet out in front of the car when it is fastened to the shipping slots under the car. As the car comes up on trailer the V Bridle rides under the Stage 3 C7 Z06 front splitter. Once I have the car in the place I want it I set the parking brake, remove the V Bridle and attach the front tie down straps. I suspect I wouldn't have a problem even if the winch was on a pedestal since as the car got closer to the winch the V Bridle might raise a little in the front and come up under the splitter but that would just lift the car a little with no damage to the splitter. Each side of the V Bridle is 2 inches wide and once it is stretched out it will only make vertical movements in relationship to the car.
Is it hard to drive these wide body cars up on a standard open trailer to a point a winch is the preferred solution for most? I trailer a narrow body car now which has plenty of room on the sides. I have not tried to load the C6 GS yet but I am worried about the width as my judgment for centering is not the best.
i didnt want the hassle of wireing battery to tow vehicle either.
so i bought a walmart "value" 12v battery for like $69 and one of these boxes from walmart. bolted box to the tongue of the trailer. battery goes in there. and i have a little solar battery charger from Amazon for like $20 that works AWESOME since i dont park it near house for power to plug a charger in. winch just bolts to metal floor of trailer.
you can see my setup here
you can JUST see the winch to the right of the trailer box
i had to cut the fender off the driver side tires of the trailer to get the door open on the car.
pic from other side.
u can see box, and winch is under that "Traveler" winch cover.
Last edited by STANG KILLA SS; 08-12-2019 at 04:31 PM.
I use a V Bridle set up with T hooks that hook into the frame rails up front. I have an enclosed ATC trailer with the winch mounted on the floor inside the cabinets, using a nylon cable. I have no issues with this set up, the car winches on straight, no trouble with the front splitter and no nosing down as the car gets pulled in to its tie down location.
i didnt want the hassle of wireing battery to tow vehicle either.
so i bought a walmart "value" 12v battery for like $69 and one of these boxes from walmart. bolted box to the tongue of the trailer. battery goes in there. and i have a little solar battery charger from Amazon for like $20 that works AWESOME since i dont park it near house for power to plug a charger in. winch just bolts to metal floor of trailer.
you can see my setup here
you can JUST see the winch to the right of the trailer box
i had to cut the fender off the driver side tires of the trailer to get the door open on the car.
pic from other side.
u can see box, and winch is under that "Traveler" winch cover.
Interested in what solar battery charger you got, any links / part numbers?
Where do you guys like to get your v-bridles from? A lot of the ones I've seen that were longer had hooks that did not look like they'd work well with the frame slots on a corvette.
I would worry the bridle straps would hurt the front air dam/spoiler as it comes up the ramps of the trailer??
The car is at an angle to vertical as it comes up the ramps. The bridle is pulling the car from behind the front wheels so it is lower than the front of the car as it comes up the ramp and will be pulling from at an angle to the frame. The cable attached to the bridle is pulling the bridle over the edge of the trailer while the nose of the car is up in the air away from the ramps. As the car comes up on a trailer with a beaver tail there will be a point where the splitter approaches the rear deck while the bridle starts to lift off the deck. If the splitter comes into contact with the bridle at that point it will press down on two 2 inch wide soft strips equally split from the center line of the car. Right where you get to that point the nose of the car starts to rise again while the bridle remains close to the trailer deck. If you have the winch mounted on the trailer deck the bridle will run across the deck with the nose of the car x inches above it. If you have the winch on a pedestal then the bridle will start raising as it gets closer to the winch, however, by that time it will be time to stop the winch and tie the car down.
Where you might have an issue is if the splitter might hit the trailer with the bridle between the splitter and the trailer deck but the bridle would probably help there Vs hinder since it would give something for the splitter to ride on.
If your splitter can take slamming into things on the track it will be able to handle the V Bridle strap with ease.
Where do you guys like to get your v-bridles from? A lot of the ones I've seen that were longer had hooks that did not look like they'd work well with the frame slots on a corvette.
08-09-2019, 10:11 PM
how to winch Z06 onto trailer
