How to tie the Atom down on a trailer

[GraemeW]

Having just acquired a trailer, I was looking for some unambiguous advice on this. Perusing through historical posts on the forum it seems anything but unambiguous. Most seem to say tie down the chassis at certain points, others the wish bones close to the chassis, and yet others over wheel straps.

What is the current advice?

Thanks

[phil4]

Over wheels is how the chap who moves my atom does it... and he does a fair old bit of car moving!

[autobackup]

I did quite a bit of research before I specified overwheel straps and the majority consensus wherever I looked was that the overwheel (vertical) method was by far the preferential method - however to use this type of strap it does requires the trailer to have punched decking or strategically positioned holes for the strap hooks!

When I picked up my rebuilt Atom in June from the factory Steve Rooke was very happy and expressed his approval of the overwheel straps on my new PRG trailer as they allow the Atom's suspension to work properly as the trailer is towed.

If the car is strapped using the wishbones/chassis for anchor points then should a deep/large pothole be unexpectedly/inadvertantly encountered there is the distinct possibility of inadvertantly distorting the suspension geometry.

[GraemeW]

Thanks Paul and Phil. That's what I was assuming because that's the type of straps i've got. But some older post suggest even that method can adversely affect the geometry? In addition it was also Ariel's advice not to strap the car on like this. I can't find the posts now. Perhaps at that time they were not aware of the over wheel method?

[autobackup]

Graeme


Top and centre photos below are - NOT RECOMMENDED tiedowns

The bottom picture is the RECOMMENDED tiedown method!

[GraemeW]

Thanks Paul

[HenryJS]

We dont advise that you use over wheel straps on an Atom or Nomad.

We have had specialist 'car movers' that have over tightened the straps and unwittingly adjusted hte 'setup' of the car. If you give me a couple of days i will post oms pictures of how we do it here... 19 years of moving Atoms and we've never had a car move... over seas, over land - never.

[GraemeW]

Thanks Henry. I thought I had seen something to that effect in an earlier post somewhere

[John Scherrer]

Tom said this regarding transporting the Atoms down to Guadix, Spain, a few years ago:-

Image2.jpg (68.71 KiB) Viewed 3008 times

This link explains the factory recommended method :-

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=12290&p=229232&hil ... ap#p229232

[autobackup]

Henry/John

When I collected my rebuilt Atom from the factory on the 9th of June this year Steve Rooke helped me load and strap it down (facing forwards) and said that he was very happy with both the PRG trailer's build quality and also the vertical 'over the centre of the tyre' friction type straps.

However he did say that he didn't like the more usual (and much cheaper!) 'round the top of the front & back of the wheel' loop type straps which can obviously exert a sideways force to the suspension of the carried car when cornering under tow!

I did a considerable amount of research on which type of straps would be best to use prior to buying them and eventually took the advice of Richard Proudlove of PRG trailers Ltd who produces bespoke trailers for many types of sports car teams (e.g. Jaguar & Aston Martin) plus supplying several formula racing teams.

Richard pointed out to me that when using these modern 'over the centre of the tyre' type of straps the load on the suspension is purely vertical and that they allow the suspension of the loaded car (provided, that is, they are not overtightened) to work normally (as if it were being driven on the road) while it is on a trailer - after considerable experience over many years PRG no longer recommend any other type of strap for strapping performance cars on their trailers.

- as Richard is an expert after providing trailers for many hundreds (if not thousands?) of high performance cars I was happy to accept his advice!

Additionally - looking at the way they hold a car - as they don't apply any twisting or sideways stresses, I cannot see how they could possibly affect the suspension geometry anymore than driving the car normally on the road would?

I towed my Atom up to Silverstone on the 10th of June for Supercar Sunday (did 3 VERY high speed 'parade' laps) and then shipped it to Cyprus the following Wednesday - sitting on the PRG trailer - strapped down with these straps with no problems at all (I assume the container ship probably 'rocked and rolled' a bit enroute?) or any damage to the suspension!

[GraemeW]

That makes sense. Now confused. I have Brian James over the wheel straps and assume they are of reasonable quality. Haven’t needed to tow Atom anywhere yet. Also interested to see what Henry recommends

[HenryJS]

Well that's their advice - our advice to you is to not do it that way!
As i said - in the past we have experienced car setups being affected using any method that isn't our recommended one - if you don't yank on any parts connected to the suspension, there's no risk of it being affected at all...

[Anon]

Well that's their advice - our advice to you is to not do it that way!
As i said - in the past we have experienced car setups being affected using any method that isn't our recommended one - if you don't yank on any parts connected to the suspension, there's no risk of it being affected at all...

This makes perfect sense Henry and I take your recommendation.

I am now trying to find a trailer, ideally one with a roof, if you have pictures or more info on best practice on securing an Atom on a trailer I'd love to see it. Do you secure the Atom in place using the tow hooks front and rear or simply any part of the chassis?

[Toilet Duck]

If you give me a couple of days i will post oms pictures of how we do it here...

Any joy finding the pics Henry? Would like to see the factory tie down method.

Cheers

[HenryJS]

sorry TD, i havent been able to find them - i need to take some more! when weve got an atom / nomad on a truck I will get some pics.