06-11-2019, 12:18 PM
TL;DR trailer picked up Friday, arrive hotel at 3am, proceed to do a 1:36 2nd session at NJMP, and push the time down to a 1:34. 1:33’s are achievable. This will kinda be overall car, truck, and trailer review.
Let’s just start out and say the things we do for this sport are the things people just never see or will understand. After an agonizing two weeks, I finally told the seller of the trailer I was interested in to get his shit together and get the title. Later that day he says he has the title. Good. I proceed to meet the guy around 9:30am in Durham. The trailer looks about 90% of what is described in the ad. The difference being there are a couple bumps and bruises, but nothing major. Interior is damn nice as described. I then start to look at the tires. Two rear tires are bald on the outside. I then notice a nail in one of the rear tires…..
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media0.giphy.com/media/l3V0H7bYv5Ml5TOfu/giphy.gif)
I get the tire pressure gauge and of course it’s literally at 13 psi. I have no idea how this tire was not blown out…. Rest of the tires are good psi wise. Just one was 5psi off. I blow up the nail tire to 45 psi. I call a local Walmart and they have the tire size needed with two left. So, I was like I’ll take both and replace both rear tires. I check the bearings and the grease is light and a little thin. Good enough to get home. I offer the cost to replace the tires and he is fine with it. I send it to the Walmart. Thankfully I brought all my tools so I get the wheels off and they replace them in 30 minutes. I take a lunch break and start to head home.
The drive home was interesting to say the least. Never have towed with an enclosed before. This is a 24’ total length trailer. Full height interior is 6.5’ and overall height is 8.25’ so it’s a bit of a sail to say the least. With a normal hitch I’ve never felt so worried towing something. No matter 60 or 65mph it was the same amount of terror. So I just set the cruise to 60mph and just fought the truck every time anyone passed. Basically, any time a vehicle (SUV or Truck sized) initially passed, the whole truck and trailer sucked towards the vehicle a solid foot initially and as they got by the front of the truck the whole truck and trailer would push out a solid foot. Speed differential made it worse. People passing at 80mph were worse than slower. When semi’s passed I about poo’d a little. Without vehicles passing it was mostly straight. A little correction here and there every several seconds, but overall not terrible. I said no way am I towing this thing loaded 4 hours to NJMP. Made it home around 3:30pm and started working on the trailer.
![[Image: 0WprS31.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/0WprS31.jpg)
I started with re-greasing the bearings on all four corners. Pretty simple since they are EZ bearings. They for sure needed a lot of grease… Several pumps and tire spins finally old grease started coming out. Yeah those bearings will probably need a replace when the trailer gets inspected. Anyway, I asked Cabell to help installing the tire racks on the rear of the trailer while I started installing the weight distro/sway control hitch. After a couple of tries/measurements and picking up smaller lag bolts the racks were installed. I took my time being sure the hitch was installed properly. Then proceeded to pack all the tools into the trailer, packed my bag, ate dinner, and loaded car into the trailer. Headed out around 10pm.
The drive up was fun not in the same sense as the initial voyage, but in the sense of a lot of people who shouldn’t have been on the road. Once I got to the DC-Baltimore area and as the time got later into the night, there were a lot of drunk or very tired people behind the wheel. Weaving, driving super under the speed limit in the left lane. Finally, drove by a major crash that was on the opposite side of the road and kind of made me super aware. It’s a lot different driving at night vs the day. Other than other drivers on the road the truck had 0 issues with the weight distro/sway hitch. It just pulled at 70mph with tons of stability. There was no getting blown around by people passing. I finally arrived around 2:30am to the hotel.
After not really being able to sleep I woke up at 6am to head to the track. Nice facility they have at NJMP! First time here and the impressions are it’s nice. I head to the instructor meeting and find out I don’t have a student for the weekend. Weird. Never seen that before. I get some track tips from the instructors which turned out to be very helpful. My fist time out I run a 1:40 in the instructor group. Slowly easing up speed. I’m one of the blessed people who pick up on things very fast, but take a little longer to master so, my first TT warmup session I push it a bit more and hit a 1:36. A 1:36 is pretty much flying for my 2nd session ever at the track as the rest of the field is only 1:31’s. (I’m normally 3-6 seconds slower on track’s that I am familiar with). I do a 1:37 and 1:38 the next two sessions. Think I lost focus. I took a power nap and the last session I hit a 1:35. Not bad at all. Sunday morning I push to a 1:34 and some consistent 1:35’s. After reviewing video I think 1:33’s are about the limit with my driving ability with the way the car sits. To put that into perspective the normal top TT guys hit 1:30 with one in the 1:31’s and and another in the 1:32’s that are usually at the top.
![[Image: AmilzA3.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/AmilzA3.jpg)
![[Image: FxEwts3.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/FxEwts3.jpg)
The car again felt great from a handling perspective. Neutral on turn in and just the right amount of slip/oversteer on exit. I'm starting really dig the changes I've made to this cars handling. I think the race tires have helped with the handling characteristics a lot as well. The tires now have 19 heat cycles after this weekend. They are pretty steady and consistent on the grip level since like 8-9 heat cycles. Tons of tread left. I can tell they have a bit more slip and a bit less heat tolerance than when new. Overall, the tires are great for the price. I will probably continue to buy these until they are out of stock as I can't fork up $1200 on new Hoosier/BFG's when I'm not winning. I'm not close enough time wise that that extra half second to a second on the initial few heat cycles is justifiable.
![[Image: LUYqokl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/LUYqokl.jpg)
Overall, I’d go back to NJMP for sure. Facilities are nice. People are nice. Drive on 95 is so damn terrible though. On the way back it turned from the standard 4 hour drive to a 6 hour drive. Classic. That’s the one thing that makes me question not coming back. The fun part on the way home was the initial drive. There were 19mph consistent winds with larger gusts for the first hour or so of the drive. The sway bars were putting in work. You could feel them really kick in when the trailer tried to push. There were times I was literally holding the steering wheel right or left from center for several miles to keep the truck/trailer straight in the lane, but it wasn’t frightening in the bottom feeling like the first tow home was. It just kinda went and didn’t jerk around like before. Watching the tractor trailers though and seeing the cab of the truck straight, but the trailer being pushed over into the lane next to it was interesting to say the least….
I think the one thing I noticed the most about the enclosed was the truck did finally show it’s weakness. Power and mpg. It could pull the trailer no problem and has the power to do it as well as get up and go if needed, but I can tell it was straining to do it. Most hills (US-301) is needed to shift down to 4th and 50%+ throttle to keep speed constant. There were a few times it needed 3rd, but it had so much power in 3rd there wasn’t an issue. I could actually accelerate and pass people up very steep hills no problem in 3rd. The thing I’m worried about the most is wear and tear on motor/transmission. I started pre-selecting gears before uphills to make it easier on the transmission. I think I will want to upgrade to a 2500 eventually as I’m not sure how much transmission abuse these F150’s take? I think other than that the truck will pull it no problem. Obviously not as well as a 2500, but it is extremely capable for a 1500. The MPG’s were pretty amusing too. I averaged around 9mpg to and from NJMP. I would get 13-14 with the open. Then again total weight of everything is probably now between 11-12k pounds where before was only probably 9k pounds and the trailer is mostly a giant wall.
![[Image: cs9TF06.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/cs9TF06.jpg)
The nicest thing about having the enclosed is coming home and just only having to unload the car out of the trailer. Can just keep all my tools and shit inside of it. Pull out the tools at my convienence if I need them in my garage which the trailer is backed up next to. Plans for the trailer are add electric jack, winch, and A/C (it’s wired and braced for it). Should be a good long term investment! Looking forward to it as I get used to it more and more.
Lastly, the car will have full fluid changes before the long haul to PittRace in July. Re-mark bolts with paint pen. Other than that it’s holding up well to the abuse I’m giving it on track so far (knocks on wood). For now I’m going to relax and take a little break from things. Get the trailer inspected and add some of things I want to get done on it vs tracking the car the next few events I had planned. Onward!
Let’s just start out and say the things we do for this sport are the things people just never see or will understand. After an agonizing two weeks, I finally told the seller of the trailer I was interested in to get his shit together and get the title. Later that day he says he has the title. Good. I proceed to meet the guy around 9:30am in Durham. The trailer looks about 90% of what is described in the ad. The difference being there are a couple bumps and bruises, but nothing major. Interior is damn nice as described. I then start to look at the tires. Two rear tires are bald on the outside. I then notice a nail in one of the rear tires…..
I get the tire pressure gauge and of course it’s literally at 13 psi. I have no idea how this tire was not blown out…. Rest of the tires are good psi wise. Just one was 5psi off. I blow up the nail tire to 45 psi. I call a local Walmart and they have the tire size needed with two left. So, I was like I’ll take both and replace both rear tires. I check the bearings and the grease is light and a little thin. Good enough to get home. I offer the cost to replace the tires and he is fine with it. I send it to the Walmart. Thankfully I brought all my tools so I get the wheels off and they replace them in 30 minutes. I take a lunch break and start to head home.
The drive home was interesting to say the least. Never have towed with an enclosed before. This is a 24’ total length trailer. Full height interior is 6.5’ and overall height is 8.25’ so it’s a bit of a sail to say the least. With a normal hitch I’ve never felt so worried towing something. No matter 60 or 65mph it was the same amount of terror. So I just set the cruise to 60mph and just fought the truck every time anyone passed. Basically, any time a vehicle (SUV or Truck sized) initially passed, the whole truck and trailer sucked towards the vehicle a solid foot initially and as they got by the front of the truck the whole truck and trailer would push out a solid foot. Speed differential made it worse. People passing at 80mph were worse than slower. When semi’s passed I about poo’d a little. Without vehicles passing it was mostly straight. A little correction here and there every several seconds, but overall not terrible. I said no way am I towing this thing loaded 4 hours to NJMP. Made it home around 3:30pm and started working on the trailer.
I started with re-greasing the bearings on all four corners. Pretty simple since they are EZ bearings. They for sure needed a lot of grease… Several pumps and tire spins finally old grease started coming out. Yeah those bearings will probably need a replace when the trailer gets inspected. Anyway, I asked Cabell to help installing the tire racks on the rear of the trailer while I started installing the weight distro/sway control hitch. After a couple of tries/measurements and picking up smaller lag bolts the racks were installed. I took my time being sure the hitch was installed properly. Then proceeded to pack all the tools into the trailer, packed my bag, ate dinner, and loaded car into the trailer. Headed out around 10pm.
The drive up was fun not in the same sense as the initial voyage, but in the sense of a lot of people who shouldn’t have been on the road. Once I got to the DC-Baltimore area and as the time got later into the night, there were a lot of drunk or very tired people behind the wheel. Weaving, driving super under the speed limit in the left lane. Finally, drove by a major crash that was on the opposite side of the road and kind of made me super aware. It’s a lot different driving at night vs the day. Other than other drivers on the road the truck had 0 issues with the weight distro/sway hitch. It just pulled at 70mph with tons of stability. There was no getting blown around by people passing. I finally arrived around 2:30am to the hotel.
After not really being able to sleep I woke up at 6am to head to the track. Nice facility they have at NJMP! First time here and the impressions are it’s nice. I head to the instructor meeting and find out I don’t have a student for the weekend. Weird. Never seen that before. I get some track tips from the instructors which turned out to be very helpful. My fist time out I run a 1:40 in the instructor group. Slowly easing up speed. I’m one of the blessed people who pick up on things very fast, but take a little longer to master so, my first TT warmup session I push it a bit more and hit a 1:36. A 1:36 is pretty much flying for my 2nd session ever at the track as the rest of the field is only 1:31’s. (I’m normally 3-6 seconds slower on track’s that I am familiar with). I do a 1:37 and 1:38 the next two sessions. Think I lost focus. I took a power nap and the last session I hit a 1:35. Not bad at all. Sunday morning I push to a 1:34 and some consistent 1:35’s. After reviewing video I think 1:33’s are about the limit with my driving ability with the way the car sits. To put that into perspective the normal top TT guys hit 1:30 with one in the 1:31’s and and another in the 1:32’s that are usually at the top.
The car again felt great from a handling perspective. Neutral on turn in and just the right amount of slip/oversteer on exit. I'm starting really dig the changes I've made to this cars handling. I think the race tires have helped with the handling characteristics a lot as well. The tires now have 19 heat cycles after this weekend. They are pretty steady and consistent on the grip level since like 8-9 heat cycles. Tons of tread left. I can tell they have a bit more slip and a bit less heat tolerance than when new. Overall, the tires are great for the price. I will probably continue to buy these until they are out of stock as I can't fork up $1200 on new Hoosier/BFG's when I'm not winning. I'm not close enough time wise that that extra half second to a second on the initial few heat cycles is justifiable.
Overall, I’d go back to NJMP for sure. Facilities are nice. People are nice. Drive on 95 is so damn terrible though. On the way back it turned from the standard 4 hour drive to a 6 hour drive. Classic. That’s the one thing that makes me question not coming back. The fun part on the way home was the initial drive. There were 19mph consistent winds with larger gusts for the first hour or so of the drive. The sway bars were putting in work. You could feel them really kick in when the trailer tried to push. There were times I was literally holding the steering wheel right or left from center for several miles to keep the truck/trailer straight in the lane, but it wasn’t frightening in the bottom feeling like the first tow home was. It just kinda went and didn’t jerk around like before. Watching the tractor trailers though and seeing the cab of the truck straight, but the trailer being pushed over into the lane next to it was interesting to say the least….
I think the one thing I noticed the most about the enclosed was the truck did finally show it’s weakness. Power and mpg. It could pull the trailer no problem and has the power to do it as well as get up and go if needed, but I can tell it was straining to do it. Most hills (US-301) is needed to shift down to 4th and 50%+ throttle to keep speed constant. There were a few times it needed 3rd, but it had so much power in 3rd there wasn’t an issue. I could actually accelerate and pass people up very steep hills no problem in 3rd. The thing I’m worried about the most is wear and tear on motor/transmission. I started pre-selecting gears before uphills to make it easier on the transmission. I think I will want to upgrade to a 2500 eventually as I’m not sure how much transmission abuse these F150’s take? I think other than that the truck will pull it no problem. Obviously not as well as a 2500, but it is extremely capable for a 1500. The MPG’s were pretty amusing too. I averaged around 9mpg to and from NJMP. I would get 13-14 with the open. Then again total weight of everything is probably now between 11-12k pounds where before was only probably 9k pounds and the trailer is mostly a giant wall.
The nicest thing about having the enclosed is coming home and just only having to unload the car out of the trailer. Can just keep all my tools and shit inside of it. Pull out the tools at my convienence if I need them in my garage which the trailer is backed up next to. Plans for the trailer are add electric jack, winch, and A/C (it’s wired and braced for it). Should be a good long term investment! Looking forward to it as I get used to it more and more.
Lastly, the car will have full fluid changes before the long haul to PittRace in July. Re-mark bolts with paint pen. Other than that it’s holding up well to the abuse I’m giving it on track so far (knocks on wood). For now I’m going to relax and take a little break from things. Get the trailer inspected and add some of things I want to get done on it vs tracking the car the next few events I had planned. Onward!