Guys with enlcosed trailers

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

HAs anyone here used E-tracks for tiedowns? I was thinking of using it on my new trailer so I can have tie downs that are movable if I plan on hauling other things around. Do you like them? Are they easy to use? Easy to install? Good places to buy them and the accessories?

[Super Dave]

I have E-track in my trailer.  I had it installed at the time of building, so it's welded to the frame and then recessed into the walls.

It's real handy.  I have little E-Track hooks that go into them so I can attach tie downs to.  You can get little things that you can put a 2x4 into.  Haven't seen any special accessory thing other than that.  

Installing them yourself?  Find the self tapping screws that hold on the interior walls.  Remove one, put up the E-Track, put the screw back in.  That will get you mounted to the chassis "studs".  Get some more similar length self tapping screws and mount the e-track in the rest of the frame studs.  

That give you some ideas?

[Eric Kelcher]

Here is place to get it. sline.com the S-Track is better than the E-Track for a couple of reasons you can in a pinch use a traditional tie down with it and it is stronger. The tracks use the same clip clips.

They can also custom make any strap you need in most any color.

[StuartV666]

I got my E-track and tie-down hardware from http://www.mrproducts.com. I've ordered from them twice now and both times everything showed up promptly and was correct.

I had found another website that makes accessories for landscaper's trailers, too. They had a bunch of stuff that was made to clip into e-track that looked like it might be useful in my race trailer. But now I can't find the link.

- Stu

[the_weggie_man]

E-track is good. I have it in my trailer but on the floor not the walls.  You can get it at most trucking supply places and trailer supply joints.  Do some shopping on the phone though. I bought clips at one place for $8 each but found another place for half that.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Thanks. Like Gorde, I'm planning on mounting 3 on teh floor (both sides and down teh middle). A truck & trailer repair place in MAdison has 10' sections for $14/ea and the D-ring clips (not the ones with straps) for $8 ea. I'm thinking of mounting them with sheetmetal screw with a bolt every 5th hole with a fender washer underneath for more piece of mind. Better to make it extremely strong than too weak.:D BTW pick up the trailer tomorrow. ;D

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     I have E-Track in my trailer as well. When I decided where I wanted the stuff in my trailer I had it all welded in when they built it. I have 2 tracks recessed in the floor running the entire length of the trailer, and 2 tracks recessed into each wall running the entire length of the trailer. All the tracks are welded to the trailer.
     Being that I am a Tool & Die Maker, I have made some trick bracketry to use with the E-Track. I have some ideas for more E-Track accessories to make, and plan on doing that stuff very soon. Though I am somewhat protective of some of the ideas I have dreamed up because I could probably make some good money by selling a number of the things (as trailer accessory products).
     The only real draw-back I noticed with E-Track, is indeed the accessories can be somewhat pricey. I bought my trailer thru Bill at American Trailer Sales in Madison, Wi. and he hooked me up with alot of quick release straps and D-Ring mounts (that clip into the E-Track) for my trailer at decent prices (of course I bought a trailer from him also, that may have influenced his prices!).

[StuartV666]

I'm planning on mounting 3 on teh floor (both sides and down teh middle).

When I got my trailer and bought my e-track, that's what I was planning to do to. You might want to give it a little more thought before you do that. I ended up going with a strip down each side and 4 flush-mount D-rings in the floor. 2 about 8' from the back of the trailer, and 2 right at the back of the trailer. When I've got 2 bikes in the back of the trailer, each bike is secured at 4 points. The two outside straps hook to the e-track. The 2 inside hook to 2 of the d-rings. Thus, each d-ring only holds 1/4 of one bike.

If you put the e-track in the middle, you may have a couple of problems One is, if you put one strip down the middle, it won't be far enough out from the side of the bike you're hooking to it, to give the bike good support. The tie-down will be pulling almost straight down, instead of down and out. At least, that was the case in my 6' wide trailer. So you end up needing two strips down the middle. One just to the center side of each bike's wheels, that you hook the OTHER bike to.

But then, with one or two strips of e-track in the middle of the trailer, moving anything around on the floor of your trailer that has to roll or slide becomes a real problem. For me, I have a rolling tool box that I wheel in and out of the trailer. And I have a rolling mechanic's stool that I sit on when I'm working on my bike. In either case, if I'm doing that in my trailer, having that e-track in the middle of the floor is a real pain.

Just food for thought.

- Stu

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     I had the E-track installed in my trailer to try and make it as universal as possible, but must admit that it can be a pain if you have a roller toolbox or stool. What I do to stop the wheels from dropping into the E-Track openings is set a piece of 1x6 wood over the top of the track. Though not directly related, I quickly found out that the checkerboard linolium floor I had put in does not stand up well to the wheels from toolboxes and roller stools!
     I had trouble deciding where to mount the tracks so that they would be usefull in the most situations. The deciding factor was actually snowmobiles and cars, since my trailer is a car hauler (8 feet wide inside). I had the tracks spaced 4 feet apart which leaves 2 feet between them and the walls. This spacing is good for strapping down a vehicle and is also on the centerline of snowmobiles and four-wheelers when parked next to each other. This also works well for strapping down the bikes in the center of the trailer. If I ever needed to have the bikes next to each other I could always put some D-rings along the edges of the trailer. The bikes could then be centered on top of the E-Tracks and use 2 D-rings and 2 E-track mounts (from the other track) per bike.
     I like to make stuff as universal as possible and not limit my options too much.

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Well I have my 5X8 flatbed set up for 2 bikes and the straps are pretty verticle. Never had problems.

But I was planning on putting down a 1/4" plywood between the tracks to level the floor. No worrries about a rolling toolbox since I'm mounting mine to a bench in the front.

BTW I'm getting the track and hdwre from Badger Trailer north of MAdison. Now I have to hope they are open Sat so I can borrow my friends long bed ram to get the 10' sections just in case it snows and i cant get the trailer out.