We have been speaking to various people regarding winches for the car trailer. A journey to The 4WD Workshop in Frankston yesterday had us returning this morning with the empty trailer with a plan to measure and install an IronMan electric winch. After arriving at the workshop and following some serious head scratching, it was owner & head bush-basher Geoff's recommendation that we use a portable winch instead, which would be powerful enough (at a 450kg dead pull / lift), much simpler (and therefore much cheaper) to fit and be lighter as well. A 24V Warn PullzAll has duly been ordered and will be configured and installed in a week or so. As an added benefit, it is a unit that we can probably use elsewhere around our property given it's flexibility & portability. I will also ask the guys to supply (and fit as necessary) a safety chain to attach the LandCruiser to the tow hook on the GT3 just to provide one last level of security.

As we had the trailer on the LandCruiser, we thought it was about time to bite the bullet and take the GT3 and trailer for it's first loaded drive. So out with the tie down straps, tools, ramps, blocks of wood, gloves and who knows what else we had at hand. The recent ride height change now means only one extension wood block is required each side to drive the GT3 onto the trailer. And Robin has found a place to store these blocks together with the metal ramps so storage is neater and simpler.

After some experimentation and fiddling with the tie down straps & winches, the car was loaded and tied-down quite solidly. The good news is that we were able to fully utilise the in-built (& re-inforced) tie down 'eyes' / hooks on the floor of the trailer. Robin duly climbed aboard the LandCruiser and we set off for a slow lap around the block. Taking it very, very easy, we managed it no problem and the GT3 had not moved at all over the, admittedly, short journey. And Robin thought the combo towed pretty well and felt stable.

Some fine tuning work to do to trim the lines to remove some excess strapping and to maybe tie the rear down a little differently but it all seemed good to go and pretty straightforward. Some heat proof gloves will be necessary to thread the straps through and around hot wheels and brakes following a 'real' race day though.

.

All in all, a very positive day in the lead up towards the big Bathurst road trip in April!