Hearse-Con! Big ass motherfucking hearse meet!

[Morella]

Maybe an old two or three-axle long RV trailer. They're worth almost nothing ($500 at best) in worn-out or damaged condition, but you could tear the body off, and weld on some ramps easily enough. Wooden 2x would be OK for the tracks, maybe with some reinforcement here and there. I think you would come out much better than paying $4k or more for one.

-dee

[CHAINSAW]

oh yeah, that was my idea. All it needs to be is axles, hitch, some 12" wide flat plate or wood like you said to drive on either side, then nothing but reinforcment beams across the frame.
Im trying to decide where the axle placement would be best. 3/4 of the way back like most car trailers, or one set about 3/4 of the way back, then another set at the front on a swivel (think of your old little red radio flyer wagon as a kid.. the handle being the hitch and it rotates to turn easily). That way the weight of the car would be dispersed a little better, and my pickup wouldn't lift the rear wheels off the ground when I drive up on the back of the trailer like it does with a normal car trailer. I think trailer house axles would hold the weight good, and could be cut and extended out so the trailer can sit fairly low to the ground. I dont even think you would need any suspension on the trailer as good as the cars have themselves. With all materials and a couple of junk yard axles I think one could be built for around $500. I didnt think of using an old junk RV trailer.. thats a great idea.. thanks for sharing.

[Guest]

i really really want to go, but i just dropped a pot load of money on a top secret hearse project

[Luciferica F.D.]

That sux Ryan...hope your project goes well

[Morella]

oh yeah, that was my idea. All it needs to be is axles, hitch, some 12" wide flat plate or wood like you said to drive on either side, then nothing but reinforcment beams across the frame.
Im trying to decide where the axle placement would be best. 3/4 of the way back like most car trailers, or one set about 3/4 of the way back, then another set at the front on a swivel (think of your old little red radio flyer wagon as a kid.. the handle being the hitch and it rotates to turn easily). That way the weight of the car would be dispersed a little better, and my pickup wouldn't lift the rear wheels off the ground when I drive up on the back of the trailer like it does with a normal car trailer. I think trailer house axles would hold the weight good, and could be cut and extended out so the trailer can sit fairly low to the ground. I dont even think you would need any suspension on the trailer as good as the cars have themselves.

Umm...I'm not quite sure I'm getting all of this, but if I am, you're scaring me. I would say, use locking ramps and three axles. Move them around as necessary to keep your truck from popping up.

If you have front wheels on your trailer, supporting any significant amount of weight, you won't get your 10% over the tongue which is needed for stability, and I don't know what those wheels would do to the handling. The only trailers I have seen with front wheels are made for pintle hooks, and the ones that I have towed start to get really wobbly as the speed increases.

If you don't have suspension on the trailer but you do on the hearse, I can imagine certain conditions where your trailer brakes would be affected as the wheels lose contact with the ground.

I don't pretend to be an expert in trailer design, but I've seen how everyone else designs theirs, and I think that there must be a reason for it. For instance, a semi takes 10% longer to stop when empty than when fully loaded.

-dee

[Psychoholic]

We drove out there in '05 for the PCS 2005 event (pics: http://dead-ends.com/index.php?action=media )
and it was a BLAST. The ride was great (I imagine it's even better in May than in the nether regions of Satan's ballsack in f'n August), the scenery is amazing and you will have no shortage of stories for both trip out and back. I think for us (and we did take the VERY long way back so we could go through the mountains and we did some hellacious detours to get some pics) it was 3458 miles, we went through 317.96 gallons of gas (but bear in mind how my car is - most people would do better by far). If you have a way, and that does mean 'beg, borrow or steal', you owe it to yourself to make the trip. Zach and all of his constituents are more than gracious hosts, the weather out there reallllllly made it hard to come back to Georgia.

[Morella]

What? Where?

Is this where we all meet for the first event? I have never even been to Denver.

7:00 - 8:30 Meet and greet at That Scary Place. Meet the people who will be rocking you over the next three days and get ready to cruise...7739 East Colfax Ave, Denver

7:00 pm, right? Just making sure, being neurotic. I can print a Mapquest to find it.

I'm definitely going, all arrangements made, and I definitely don't want to fail to hook up with you guys and miss any part of this after 1000 miles. I've seen it happen to people at more than one event. The last time I went to a hearse event, just a one-day party then, and it was only 120 miles, but we were given bad directions (unintentionally, mostly because of a road closure) and couldn't find the place. Tony won't even go to a meet with me anymore because of that fiasco.

Everything is set up for me. I'm going alone, and I'll take your generous offer of camping for nights. I'll be in the white coach that says "FUN RL" on the front plate, and according to Chris I'm 7' tall, but I think it's more like 6. I haven't met any of you except some of the Trocars, from the Baker and races, and some Phoenix people, and I've lost 50 pounds since then. I'm awful at remembering names and faces, I mean really awful, so don't get mad at me, like most people do, if I don't know who the hell you are 5 minutes after I meet you.

I have a brother who lives in Ft. Collins, who has probably never seen the inside of a hearse. He works with the circuit court of appeals, but he surprised me by saying that this sounds like fun and he may show up for an event, so please help him find me if he asks.

I'm really looking forward to this.

BTW, why does the event page bookmark as "May 5th"?

-denise