MTFCA Forum

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My very good friend in Lomita, CA. is terrified that he will scrape his precious "original" front hubcaps when he loads and unloads his Model Ts. He uses an awkwardly thin tilt-trailer with ominous chisel grade steel fenders. Because of this, some poor sap usually gets recruited to precision guide him on or off. It's a real pain in the ass and there's no doubt that that monitor will get blamed if things go south.

So, I just fabricated these little jewels for him. They are 2" PVC caps with inter-tube rubber lining (secured with contact cement) and an adhesive felt pressure rim (purchased off Amazon). They fit snugly 'like a velvet sheath' over the front hubs, protruding out only 3/16" from each hubcap (the thickness of the PVC). Now, no longer will he need to worry about damaging his treasured NOS hubcaps, at least when he's hopping on and off his skinny trailer.

Cheers
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Lomita you say...

That's a great idea. My trailer is narrowest between the wheel fenders. I have to lean out as far as I can and get the driver's side a few inches from them. The right side is the problem, but if I can keep as far to the left as I can it works. The hub caps are above the fenders of the trailer and not a problem with wood spokes, however, I have to be careful with the 26 which has original wire wheels not to scrape the spokes. I suppose a person could build a channel for the wheels so they will stay in a groove in the channel.
Norm

My dad damaged the front hubcaps on his 1917 touring on his trailer fenders the first time he drove the car up on it. They were excellent originals that he had re-plated. He didn't use his trailer much - he had a friend that he loaned it to who used it more than him. But from that day forward, he always removed the front hubcaps before putting the Model T on it.

I'll have to ask him when he bought the trailer - maybe the late 1950s. It was really well-built single axle steel trailer with no suspension. He used my grandparents' 1956 Cadillac for the tow vehicle.

On the tilting trailers I build the tail/stop/indicator lights are in a 12" high channel on the extreme outside of the tray. Initially it was to accommodate long, individual led strip lamps, but it has become a design rule I now follow, regardless of the lights to be used. The light pillar is a great reference point when reversing, and the driver can tell where the trailer corners are rather than have them low down and out of sight in the mirrors. With model T's, those same pillars are also reference markers for loading the car. I drive mine on, lining up the front of the car with the pillars. With the front wheels at the trailer end, the hubcaps are almost already on the trailer. With a 6' wide bed, the clearance is not huge, but the pillars make it quite easy to navigate.

Allan from down under.

I thought those from the Lomita region only use original authentic interventions? Neat idea.

My trailer is pretty narrow, too. Always a problem staying centered when loading and unloading the car. I finally came to my senses and bought a winch. Now the car creeps up onto the trailer slowly and smoothly and is so easy to watch out for the hub caps.

Best of all, the winch has a wireless remote switch, so I can stand along side the trailer at the narrowest spot and see exactly how close I am with my hubcaps.

One of the best $75 I ever spent.

I would recommend he install 2 2x4's to the floor of his trailer. At the front the 2x4's are centered and just far apart to keep the wheels away from the side of the trailer. Toward the back they are farther apart so they sort of guide the car into the center of the trailer. Much easier to drive the car onto the trailer that way.

Gotta admit, those covers that Steve made look awesome, too.

P.S.from my previous post:

I gotta believe that winching a T onto the trailer is a lot less abusive to the transmission as well as to the hub caps.

I would get a set of repro hubcaps, put them on before loading, and take them off after unloading. If you damage anything, it's an easily replaceable piece.

I have never damaged a hubcap, but I scraped the right front fender once. Since then I carry two pieces of foam pipe insulation that I place over the door cables before the T heads up the ramp/door.

Excellent idea John !! That’s the same problem I’ve had so I shall now adopt your solution. My enclosed trailer is only 7’ wide so, when loading a T, I place the LF fender about 2” from the sidewall. Then I can exit all my T s from the right side. But I have scraped both front fenders on the beavertail steel cables. No more thanks to your good idea.

After a unloading incident with my enclosed trailer ($300 repair), I installed a Harbor Freight winch and now winch my Model T both on and off. I "steer" it by nudging the front wheels left or right and it insures "no drama" during the loading/unloading process. When I can, I park the trailer so it's on a slight downslope which makes it easier. Loading with a winch is easily done by one guy which helps if you're on your own.

Oldav8tor wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:36 am

After a unloading incident with my enclosed trailer ($300 repair), I installed a Harbor Freight winch and now winch my Model T both on and off

Tim: where do you fix the rope on the T ? I have a winch on my trailer too (but not used the trailer at all so far) and would wind it around here ?

Tim said,
"After a unloading incident with my enclosed trailer ($300 repair), I installed a Harbor Freight winch and now winch my Model T both on and off. I "steer" it by nudging the front wheels left or right and it insures "no drama" during the loading/unloading process. When I can, I park the trailer so it's on a slight downslope which makes it easier. Loading with a winch is easily done by one guy which helps if you're on your own."

That's exactly how I do it, Tim. The only thing I can add is that, when I have to unload on flat ground, I use my T jack under the hitch to raise the nose of the trailer so the car will roll back gently as the winch plays out.

And, joe.wal, that's exactly where I attach my rope for the winch.

Dick

When I first got my trailer (7 foot wide), I hated driving my T to load and unload. The last straw was when I was backing out and it got a little away from me and the right front axle (just behind the hubcap) snagged the cable that attached to the ramp, stretched it and broke it resulting in breaking one of the cable drums as well. The axle also caught the edge of the trailer door frame which had to be straightened..... I was lucky that a little touch up paint took care of the Model T but the trailer damage ran to $300 by the time we were done.

A friend had experienced something similar (with more car damage) and installed a winch as a result. I followed his lead and it has worked very, very well.

I mounted the winch to the right front of the trailer (accessible from the door), attaching the cable to the end of the axle (see photo.) You don't want to pull from the center as there is a slight risk of bending the axle by doing so.

I use a web axle strap to which the hook on the cable is attached. Guiding the car by a line painted on the trailer floor where i want the left wheel to track, I winch the car far enough forward to hook up another axle strap around the same point on the left end of the axle, which is in turn attached to a fixed length of chain. I then relax the winch cable to allow the car to roll back until after I've attached two axle straps and ratchet straps to each end of the rear axle and snugged them up. Like Dick, I have used the tongue jack to raise the front of the trailer slightly to help in this part.

I then advance the winch enough to snug the cable attached to the right front axle. Don't overdo it. Snug is good enough. I have a knife switch on the (-) terminal of the battery which I disconnect before closing up the trailer. The winch itself has a brake so it can serve as one of the four hold-down points keeping the car secured within the trailer. I'd learned from trailering other vehicles that it is best to attach to the axles rather than any part of the body above the springs (too much movement.) My technique is simple and leaves the car ready to travel with minimum fuss.

I have trailered the car a lot of miles this way with no problems. I've experienced rough roads and heavy braking without issue. I'm sure others have equally good techniques but this has worked for me.

Our trailer is 8/6X 18 ft so i have never had any trouble! The extra wide was also nice when hauling it behind the 5'th wheel to the OCF because it was easy to spot way back there!! I wonder if the OCF will ever come back?? Bud.