On several occasions I’ve seen guys talking about adding an escape door to their enclosed trailers to make it easier to load a car. Besides being a lot of work on an existing trailer, I don’t really understand the attraction to having one. After all, a simple winch means you just drag the car into the trailer and strap it down. No need to be in the car and worry about opening doors and such. Maybe I’m nuts, but what the hell do you need an escape door for anyway? Depending on the trailer manufacturer we’ve seen escape doors cost anywhere from $350 to $1,500.
A winch for that same car trailer is between $250 and $700, and works when your junk is blown up and can’t drive into the trailer under its own power.
I remember the first time I got a winch for my trailer. Even though it was just an open trailer, having a winch made loading it so much easier since you couldn’t open the door on the car once it was on the trailer anyway.
I’ve loaded up a lot of enclosed car trailers, with cars of all kinds, and usually loading them is a pain in the ass if you don’t use a winch. Your average pro touring competitor, with a touchy clutch and 6 speed trans, is bucking and jerking or taking 10,000 miles off the clutch trying to ease it in the trailer. An automatic car makes it easier of course, but people still seem to have trouble getting them lined up, finding help to make sure they stay lined up, and then getting the car exactly where it needs to be front to back in the trailer. A winch solves all that since you can pull the car in slowly, making adjustments as you go, all by yourself.
What do you think? Door or no door? Winch or no winch?
Escape door takes a ton of structural integrity out of the trailer. My opinion is if you can’t get out of your car when it’s in the trailer, either the car is too big or you’re too big.
Usually it is that the driver is too big !!!!! and I agree, the structural integrity takes a real hit. I used to be draughtsman at Chaparral and I know from experience that a unneeded hole in the side of a trailer is not the way to go.
Winch worked for me on my enclosed 24ft. Never had one with a side door.
my $400 smitty built was the best thing i ever bought for a trailer. The 4ft ramp door on the side is great for unloading things with the car still in though.
When I specced out my enclosed trailer it had to have a winch.
Only thing I’ve added is the wireless remote hand held controller.
What do you do when the winch brakes?
Obviously having both is the way to go, but the escape door in my trailer was a must have when I spec’d it out. Pop up rain shower? Jump in the car and pull it right in, open the door and get out. Much quicker and easier than the winch. I almost never use my winch, except when I break something. Also with the escape door and the man door open they provide some nice cross ventilation through the trailer on those hot, humid days at the track. But hey, your results may vary.
Should the winch fail and cable brake it could result in a runaway vehicle.
Or the throttle could stick or……..
How you get your car in and how you secure it are two separate matters. If you get a runaway vehicle, your doin’ it wrong
I love the escape door on my 28 foot Lightning trailer. My old trailer didn’t have one, and it had a winch. If the car ran, I still drove it in and squeezed my 6ft 2in 230 lb frame out of the car. Because it is so much easier and faster and more convenient to drive the car in then to winch it in. When I ordered my new trailer, I specified the height of the bottom of the escape door opening and the fore / aft position of it so that every car I own would be able to swing its door open through the opening.
In my world, winches are for broken cars only.
I have one and it’s great not only for cars, but shelter at the track and hanging stuff from at swapmeets.
Had a 58 Impala in the early 80s and hauled it an enclosed trailer and I made a side door for it, best thing I did to the trailer. Also took a rear door from a travel trailer and made an access door in the front to make it easier to get to the front tie downs.
I’ve never had an enclosed trailer but I do have a winch in my trailer and a drop down left fender.
I usually drive the car onto the trailer. The winch is real handy when the car doesn’t run.
can someone explain how the structural integrity w or w/o a side door would matter in the event if a towing accident or rollover? i cant see much different either way. or maybe structural integrity is referring to the longevity of the trailer.