A funny thing happened on the way to the bonanza..

gornoman

Well-Known Member
It was a beautiful Friday morning when Scot (essness) showed up at 6:00 am.

We got the second cart loaded up and hit the road.
30 miles south we blew a trailer tire under my cart. Pulled over on the shoulder, sprang into action, and had a new spare dogged down in under 10 minutes. Spent the next 2-3 hours getting off the highway and going into towns to try and find a replacement spare for the balance of the trip. Finally, we scored a fresh tire in Lafayette, IN. continued on, drove all afternoon without a care.
BAM! Second flat! Under my cart, AGAIN! Starting to see the pattern here?
This damage has rendered the trailer inoperable. We are screwed, 70 miles from our hotel in London, and it's getting dark!

...we abandoned the trailer and carts on the shoulder, and get off at Exit 115 turning directly into an Embassy Suites Hotel. Scot is a Gold Member (or something) and asks the front desk for a wireless passcode so he can get online and fire the first flare. We now have guys from across the country trying to help us from their computers and cell phones. Scot is working a laptop and 2 cell phones, I have a cell phone and a beer. Scot is my hero!

We come up with a plan to phone ahead to our hotel in London and see if anyone down there can save us. Instead of calling them direct, I call my youngest daughter back home. She is a front desk manager in a Hilton property, and our London hotel is a Hilton property. This strategy really worked great because in about 15 minutes we have a committment from some incredible carters in London to empty their trailer and come 70+ miles north and rescue us. At the exact second we got that info, Scot made a deal with the tow company to transport the carts to London. Giving them the damaged trailer was part of the deal. I thanked Melissa greatly, and we headed back to the carts to await the tow truck.

.....the truck showed up quite promptly, we loaded up the carts, shook hands and headed south to London. The carts arrived, we unloaded without incident and gave one of the fellers a ride around the lot on a yellow sparky. He thought it was really cool. I was glad they were going away...

The next morning I'm eating breakfast in the hotel (next to one of the founders of Alltrax, who I met and don't remember his name) and a fella comes in and says "Anyone here named Gorno?"

Next thing I know, we have a way to transport the carts to the Bonanza. They were the same folks who were willing to come north last night! Hell YEAH we need a transport, thank you very much! They went to the dragstrip (8 miles) grabbed their empty trailer, and brought it back to us in London. We loaded the carts (AGAIN!) and drove to London Dragway.

We were having a great morning at the event, but Scot left the grounds to go see if he could scout up a way for us to get home with the carts. Tried some rental joints, nothing appropriate, tried some places like Lowes and Tractor Supply, nope. Then he found a trailer sales lot and pulled in. He scored a real nice, brand new trailer, made the deal, and brought it back to the track. We continued our day in a good mood as we thought we were in the clear....
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
.....until the end of the day when we tried to load the carts. Seems you can't fit our 2 carts on a 14 foot trailer and raise the ramp/gate to finish the job correctly. This is where Dirtysouth (Steve) gets involved.

He sizes up the situation and devises a plan. he has a way to place one cart sideways to allow the second cart to pull farther forward and balance the load.
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
We were in much better shape on the way home. The new rig had a 3500 lb. axle rating.

He will probably sell it from home and might even make a buck on the deal. Hopefully enough to pay for the tow!
 

essness

New Member
Finally getting around to this site
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Yea, it was quite the adventure. The new trailer may already be sold
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And it will cover all costs associated with the demise of the other trailer. Only problem left is, I dont have a sled trailer anymore. Oh well, it was time to upgrade to an enclosed trailer anyway
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I recommend that if your gonna have issues on a road trip, have Gorno with ya! Despite the adversity, we had a blast!

Through the generosity of fellow carters, I guess we never really felt like we couldn’t overcome anything that happen.

It was quite the expirience
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Special thanks to;
Shawn and Melissa
Steve (Dirty South Racing)
Krazy Karts (I think Chris?)
 

essness

New Member
HRC, I didnt count on the weight differance for the sparky. We stopped after the first blow out and moved the carts forward, dropped the tonge about 3" and took the tires from 35 lbs to 50 lbs. It almost worked
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HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Good to hear it all worked out in the end.
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I used a Triton sled trailer for years to move carts. All my longer road trips I only had one cart on it. I never had tire problems with 2 carts on it but I had plenty of bearing trouble. I finally bought a trailer similar to the one you bought and so far so good.

If you buy another sled trailer with that size tires I have 2 here on wheels you can have if you want them for spares.
 

essness

New Member
Thanks HRC! That would give me 3 spares, (I kept the one I bought in Lafeyette, IN)
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Who knows, If I go next year I might need all 3
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gornoman

Well-Known Member
My fault! The whole weekend was MY FAULT!

All the fun.........MY FAULT!

All the trophies......MY FAULT!
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
It's all good. My wife has reined my large head in. I can walk through doorways again!

I will take a few minutes of glory with the doubters at the campground this weekend however. I earned it!
 

DWscott

New Member
I learned long ago when hauling various cars etc on trailers to have correct rated HIGHWAY tires and use large diameters as well. Those small 8" and 12" dont cut it? Remember that a electric cart weighs about 900-1000 pounds and at highway speeds can wipe out a tread in nothing flat. Way too much flex and even when inflated correctly will overheat. I found that 14" is really borderline but if kept inflated to max rating on sidewall will work SO SO? 15"-16" in highway rated treads will last forever if kept inflated correctly along with multy axles taking weight off tow vehicle besides.
EXPENSIVE YES, COST TO REPLACE CARTS??????
 

Gonzo

Tennessee Squire
Now I have to start paying attention to everyones sigs. Guess I can't just read them once anymore.
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Pimp Daddy

Cartaholic - R.I.P.
DW is right about the smaller diameter tires. Don't have the calculations, but the RPM's of the smaller tire would possibly cause a failure at sustained interstate speeds.
 

Nubs

Cartaholic - V.I.P.
Dirty who? oh, thats that evil doer guy, remember gorno some good reading back in here.
 
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