Tie down in an enclosed trailer

christopher · Nov 10, 2014

Mind if I ask a little bit about the strap you were using??
Honestly interested to know more about the specifics of it and of its failure point

cowkiller · Nov 14, 2014

They were heavy motorcycle straps in both cases. The straps broke about 8" from the hook. The ratchet strap that was used broke close to the hook as well and I do not have any specifics on the strap other than they were a medium duty strap (not the super light stuff)

christopher · Nov 14, 2014

Got the answer on the tie downs. They are load rated for 5,000 pounds and through bolted to the steel frame. Failure load should be more than double the load rating.

Mirage was EMPHATIC that every sled should be strapped at all times

hoov165x · Nov 16, 2014

I am 49 years old, snowmobiling since before I was two. Doing my own thing as an adult for over 30 years. Owned 12 enclosed trailers, and have never tied down my sleds. Set the parking brakes and forget them. I have had some panic stops during that period of time and the worst that has happened was the sleds moved up against the front of the trailer.

That said, you must drive like you have a large trailer with a load- no Mario Andretti stuff.

If you were to get in a rollover accident or any accident where high inertial forces are at work, your tiedowns likely wouldn't help anyway........and, the sleds would be the least of your worries.

turbolover · Nov 20, 2014

I put a strap from the skid back to a tiedown point on the floor.
I don't care how many HP you've got, its about impossible to get a sled to slide backwards during acceleration.
Braking will develop more g forces anyway. I just don't want them to slide forward and jack up my cabinets.
Tieing to the bumper is a bad idea. It is a sprung part of the body and will always move. This causes stress of the bumper and body as the suspension move with road surface bumps and the strap continually loosens and tightens, yanking again and again on that point. If you tie to the skid almost parallel to the floor it allows the suspension to move but not the sled in the trailer.
I'm not an engineer but I have been a tow truck driver. In an accident the only thing I care about are the people. I've seen salvageable cars completely destroyed to minimize further injury to an occupant. Trucks and trailers drug out of the road to get fire and rescue through and allow traffic by.
In my opinion a tiedown is to lessen the wear and tear of transport, kind of like a cover is.
We used to put our sleds on an open 2 place trails with a 1/2 bar that went from side to middle across the skis with a hairclip pin in it. No straps on the back and go. That thing only kid of held the sleds in place on the trailer.
Once there is an accident it doesn't matter if you had them tied down with chincey cheap motorcycle straps or 20,000 lb semi load straps. The best thing you could do for yourself is have a good insurance policy to cover ACCIDENTS.
I agree with hoov165 the driver has way more to do with the sleds moving than the straps.

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NorthMNSledder · Nov 24, 2014

turbolover said:
I put a strap from the skid back to a tiedown point on the floor.
I don't care how many HP you've got, its about impossible to get a sled to slide backwards during acceleration.
Braking will develop more g forces anyway. I just don't want them to slide forward and jack up my cabinets.
Tieing to the bumper is a bad idea. It is a sprung part of the body and will always move. This causes stress of the bumper and body as the suspension move with road surface bumps and the strap continually loosens and tightens, yanking again and again on that point. If you tie to the skid almost parallel to the floor it allows the suspension to move but not the sled in the trailer.
I'm not an engineer but I have been a tow truck driver. In an accident the only thing I care about are the people. I've seen salvageable cars completely destroyed to minimize further injury to an occupant. Trucks and trailers drug out of the road to get fire and rescue through and allow traffic by.
In my opinion a tiedown is to lessen the wear and tear of transport, kind of like a cover is.
We used to put our sleds on an open 2 place trails with a 1/2 bar that went from side to middle across the skis with a hairclip pin in it. No straps on the back and go. That thing only kid of held the sleds in place on the trailer.
Once there is an accident it doesn't matter if you had them tied down with chincey cheap motorcycle straps or 20,000 lb semi load straps. The best thing you could do for yourself is have a good insurance policy to cover ACCIDENTS.
I agree with hoov165 the driver has way more to do with the sleds moving than the straps.

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Assuming you don't have ski-slides in your trailer then I agree. With ski-slides that have just a little snow/water on them even a GM 5.3 can slide a sled. LOL Part of our issue is that due to multiple loading options the sled track also sits on slides in the trailer so they are very easy to slide around.

turbolover · Nov 24, 2014

NorthMNSledder said:
Assuming you don't have ski-slides in your trailer then I agree. With ski-slides that have just a little snow/water on them even a GM 5.3 can slide a sled. LOL Part of our issue is that due to multiple loading options the sled track also sits on slides in the trailer so they are very easy to slide around.

Good point Ben.
I don't have ski slides in my trailer. It is used for hauling 4 wheelers and cars, so no ski glides here. Even when the floor gets icy on a long trip, sleds don't slide around in there.

I still think the biggest thing is the driver. Go ride with someone that hauls horses. Then ride with some hauling sleds. A good horse hauler will be courteous to his work animals..ie slow starts, gradual braking and thought out smooth turns. Kind of like driving on ice. Hmmm. This keeps the horse(power) from getting knocked around and nervous. When they come out of the trailer they're ready to go to work. (No broken, shifting sleds)
I've ridden with drivers (usually twice, out & back) that I wasn't worried about the sled. I was thankful to just arrive in one piece.

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NorthMNSledder · Nov 24, 2014

turbolover said:
Good point Ben.
I don't have ski slides in my trailer. It is used for hauling 4 wheelers and cars, so no ski glides here. Even when the floor gets icy on a long trip, sleds don't slide around in there.

I still think the biggest thing is the driver. Go ride with someone that hauls horses. Then ride with some hauling sleds. A good horse hauler will be courteous to his work animals..ie slow starts, gradual braking and thought out smooth turns. Kind of like driving on ice. Hmmm. This keeps the horse(power) from getting knocked around and nervous. When they come out of the trailer they're ready to go to work. (No broken, shifting sleds)
I've ridden with drivers (usually twice, out & back) that I wasn't worried about the sled. I was thankful to just arrive in one piece.

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I 100% agree with this. You need to drive like your pulling a load. Some don't. Our trailer is sleds only in the winter and just sits all summer so its single use.

But I think people just have to go with what works for them. There are so many different trailer set-ups out there now that you just have to find out what works best for you and makes you comfortable hauling.

jims68 · Dec 4, 2014

This is a real world experience we had last year. Waiting at a round about north of Waconia MN we were rear ended by another pickup and 28" v nose trailer that smashed a Chevy Trailblazer into us pushing us at least 5' forward. Bent the back tail in, one hinge on door and part of door right above bent hinge, bent ball and receiver and bent the whole hitch down couple of inches. Was a pretty good hit. We had a RX ton, newer SRX, new REV 600, 1981 440 SRX, 1977 440 SRX and my 1985 mod Phazer in back. We were expecting carnage but nothing moved at all that we could tell. All out gear was between sleds and the 77 was across the back. All brakes were set and I have old sled tracks down each side. Was very surprised by the whole deal and we in the end had over $4000 in damage. The Trailblazer I think was totaled and the Chevy truck that initiated the accident had pretty much the whole front end damaged. We had to pull out his passenger fender and bumper so he could at least steer.

jsledder · Jan 7, 2015

Are you saying all the kept your sleds in place was the brakes being set and the old sled tracks down the sides of the trailer?

I've got a Mirage with the Polybead floor and I can drag a sled from the front to the back with ease on a dry floor, add a little water/snow/ice to it and they'll damn near move just by parking on an incline. I strap mine down and they still end up kissing bumpers. And the tie down points on the floor... screwed into the decking only, a couple have 1 screw that goes into the pop can material they use under the decking and I highly doubt they would take 5,000lbs. I don't expect to keep the sleds safe in a major accident, just keeping them sliding all over inside is my goal. And... trying to keep the drip tray on the pizza cooker from flying out.

Cat401 · Jan 7, 2015

I'm going to install the new SuperTrac in my trailer....nice, narrow profile with adjustable "D ring" clamps made specifically for the Superclamps

troyby · Dec 8, 2015

I'm very glad I always tie mine down

I'm very glad I always tie my sleds down in the trailer. We were going to put some break-in miles on my friends 2016 Pro Axxis and a gust of wind blew my trailer over. We thought for sure the sleds were going to be smashed but they didn't get even a scratch.

As we were waiting for the tow truck, I stuck my phone through the hole in the roof and took a picture. We couldn't believe both sleds were still tied in and unhurt.

bholmlate · Dec 8, 2015

So Polaris sleds are flickable Glad to see no one including the sleds were hurt in your little adventure. By the looks of things it could have been much worse.

NorthMNSledder · Dec 8, 2015

Wow, Can't believe with that truck it moved it like that. Crazy what the wind can do.

mdbrown9 · Dec 8, 2015

Holy micro burst

How'd you have your sleds anchored?

sledheader · Dec 8, 2015

I had to hit the brakes for a deer coming back from riding the other day. Both sleds slid forward into my fuel tank. I'm not in to spending 300 bucks or more on superclamps so I plan to fab up my own tie bars to go across the skis.

troyby · Dec 8, 2015

mdbrown9 said:
How'd you have your sleds anchored?

Just one strap on front and one strap on back to the bumpers and the floor anchors. It was a Look trailer. I guess their anchor points are pretty solid.

If you look at the rear of the Axxis, you can see the strap on the back bumper going to the floor and the extra laying on the wall. You can also see one of the chairs in the blue bag laying on the wall so you know the sleds are almost upside down in the picture.

mdbrown9 · Dec 9, 2015

troyby said:
Just one strap on front and one strap on back to the bumpers and the floor anchors. It was a Look trailer. I guess their anchor points are pretty solid.

If you look at the rear of the Axxis, you can see the strap on the back bumper going to the floor and the extra laying on the wall. You can also see one of the chairs in the blue bag laying on the wall so you know the sleds are almost upside down in the picture.

That's amazing

I've been a "set the brakes and go" guy

Changing my ways

togwotee9 · Dec 17, 2015

This argument has been going on longer than which came first, the chicken or the egg.

:llama:

sledheader · Dec 17, 2015

Here is what I built. Pretty simple and cheap (about $30 in material) to build and easy to use.

Tie down in an enclosed trailer

how do you secure your sleds in an enclosed trailer?

nothing

front only

front and rear

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