[SmallHurst]

Chuck,
I use the oblong holes, but I use the t-hook that you can get from Northern Hydraulic. It has all rounded edges so it will not cut the frame. Those holes were used by the factory for transprot, so they are designed to hold up. It also loads the suspension so that the car is not bouncing around when the trailer goes over bumps. You can dip those t-hooks in plasit-dip to keep them from marring up your frame.

As for trailer tires, last season I had 2 go on me. One was a true blow out and another was the tread seaperating on me and growing a large bubble on the tread. My trailer was 3 years old last summer. I would strongly suggest that if you are going anywhere, have a spare mounted. If you are going over 500 miles in one direction, I would consider carrying another tire that could be mounted in case you get stuck in a place that does not have any tires available. By the way, as much as I hate doing business with WalMart, they do carry Good Year Marathon trailer radials (and even the D range tires).