Project Trailer-All Done and Using It!

By Mike Kojima

We have gotten a few emails asking about the status of Project Trailer and to be honest we had kinda forgotten to write about it in the mad rush that life in our world is about. The truth is that our trailer works quite well and that we are pretty happy about going with a custom trailer built to our specs by Shadow Trailers in Cypress California.

If you have been following our trailer stories, you would know that we were trying to build an open deck trailer that addresses all the shortcomings that we have experienced with our trailers in the past. We wanted to stay open deck because not all of our several tow vehicles around here have enough beans to pull an enclosed trailer.

Shadow is well known for their high quality powersports and personal watercraft trailers but they wanted to show that they can build excellent car haulers as well. After owning and breaking a couple of cheaper trailers, we can tell that the Shadow trailer will last a lifetime without much maintenance.

Read Part One Here!

Read Part Two here!

Perhaps the biggest beef we have had with our other trailers has been wrestling with the ramps. Our trailers all have had big heavy ramps that pull out of the side of the trailer. So you have to undo them, pick them up and carry them around to the back of the trailer. This sucks and the ramp's length is limited by the width of the deck. For our low cars, we want long ramps so our departure angle is reduced. Side loading ramps are often stuck on the trailer by curbs, buildings and other people in the parking space next to you right when you want to load or unload your race car,
On our trailer, our ramps are hidden in the back under the deck behind this flap door. To use the ramps, just open the door, pull them straight out and hook them up to the rail on the rear of the frame. Super quick and easy on the back. Our ramps are extra long as well.

Our ramps were custom fabbed by Shadow and have a steel frame with an aluminum deck top. This won't cave in like the typical steel mesh used for most ramps and is somewhat lighter considering their length. We love the neat, tidy and easy to use ramps!

Look how flat our ramps angle is. Our goal was to be able to load and unload low race cars with splitters without having to remove the splitter or to have to carry tons of wood to jury rig field expedient ramp extensions. We just use two pieces of wood to help the car make the transition up the thickish ramp.

Piece of cake and no rubbing or broken parts!