Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Lazerr on March 27, 2015, 04:03:12 PM
-
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200612544_200612544?cm_mmc=Google-pla-_-Trailers%20%2B%20Towing-_-Trailers-_-37561&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=37561&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=37561&gclid=CNf04Jy1ycQCFYs2gQodrp4AMg
Anyone here buy one of these? Good? Bad? Ugly?
Looks like a good price.
-
I owned that very one! I used it to haul a couple of Go-Karts for a few years. It has a small footprint when folded and easily stored on one side of my double garage.
It's very good for light duty...bags of fertilizer...lumber...stuff like that.
My tow vehicle was a Slobburban and I had the devil backing it up because I couldn't see it very well. I solved this by skewering tennis balls onto a couple of fiberglass rods and mounting them on each corner at the back. Bob's Your Uncle.
I thought it was worth the money for what I tasked it with.
:salute
-
The same kind of thing can be had at Harbor Freight often for less. I used a HF trailer as the basis for a rowboat trailer, worked good. Only downside is that the connections aren't welded.
-
Yeah i found a tilt bed version at harbor.. should work to haul the 4wheeler ice fishing right.. i wont ever haul it far.
-
I was going to get one of these:
http://www.redtrailers.com/Trailers.asp
But I didn't like the bolted frame.
I almost got one from Harbor Freight and am I glad I didn't.
The week before I was going to buy it I happened to be at the MVA and so I went up and asked an agent about the registration processes.
Turns out where I live, MD, any trailer built from a kit has to go through this nutty process to get the thing inspected, stamped with a state serial number, and then titled. And every steps requires that you go to the MVA to get permission or a serial number or temp tags. A lot more difficult than buying a used trailer. My guess is that the trailer dealers got the state to make getting a kit trailer up a real pain.
Make sure your state does not have a nutty process to title a kit trailer.
End up getting this 5 x 8
http://bartleytrailers.com/category/trailers-by-type/utility/
-
Excellent point SysError. Oregon is pretty free for all, you don't have to register a trailer unless over some weight (can't remember what,) whereas Washington across the river you need a title.
-
Here you dont need to register under 3500gvw
-
Even with bolted construction you will be fine. If you don't load it up with engine blocks it will last a long time. Especially if you have a set of sockets in your tool kit. :)
When it comes to welds, I prefer American to 'otherwise'. But what do I know?
:salute
-
Even with bolted construction you will be fine. If you don't load it up with engine blocks it will last a long time. Especially if you have a set of sockets in your tool kit. :)
(http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx199/homersipes/trailer_zps7ivlunwe.jpg)
hahaha ya dont add a lot of weight like this guy did all on the tongue, I have a few buddies that have the bolt together trailers and they all love them
-
The harbor freight ones come with a unique vin number and ID plate that might help avoid some of the additional state requirements. I've had 2 harbor freight trailers and they were both reasonable quality, as long as you look at them closely during construction and figure out for yourself where the weak areas are. Get the ones with the 12" wheels and use high quality bearing grease since they don't come with pre-packed wheel bearings. I'd say that the wheel bearings and the wiring kits are the 2 weak areas for the harbor freight kits, but that's why they don't cost very much.
For both of my trailers I mostly ignored the instructions for building a wood cargo box, and made my own. I just designed my own kit, went to home depot, and bought/cut the wood right there in the store. They say that they only do one cut per sheet for free and after that charge per cut, but sometimes you can find someone who doesn't count so well which helps with the cost.
-
I purchased and assembled one of the smaller 4'x4' models in the early 1980s while stationed at Ft Knox Ky, and except for the wheel bearings it has been trouble free.
I was attending the Armor Officer Basic Course at the time, and at some point I realized that all the stuff I had acquired while at the school was not going to fit into my rather small car for the trip to the next duty station. Having heard nothing but horror stories about using contract shippers, I started looking around for other options. I came across the Harbor Freight advertisement in a Popular Mechanics magazine, and the wheels began spin...
I placed a mail order as there was no internet in those days, and a few weeks later I received a note to report to the First Sergeant at the Unit Orderly Room. When I arrived the 1SG asked me what the hell was that pile of crap in his Orderly Room? I explained it was a kit for a trailer, and he looked at me like I had grown a second head, blinked, and told me to make it disappear.
I took it back to my 3rd story BOQ room and began to assemble it there that afternoon. It only took a few hours with hand tools to assemble, and that was when I realized I had a problem...it would not fit back down the staircase...not even if I took the axle off. Fortunately the BOQ room had a small outdoor balcony, and I was able to lower it with a long rope down the 3 stories to the ground.
Next I slapped on a plate, hooked it up to the hitch on my 1978 German Ford Fiesta, and off we went to the local lumber yard...no Lowes or Home Depot in those days. I had spent some time planning how to build and attach a 4'x4'x2' box with a lid, so I already had a list of materials and tools I would need. I bought a couple 4'x8' sheets of 1/2" exterior plywood, half a dozen clear-grain 1"x4"x8' Pine boards, some hinges, mending plates, screws, bolts, and other hardware, then strapped it down on the bare trailer frame with ratchet straps and headed back to the base to get to work.
Over the next 2 weekends, I got a lot of strange looks from other residents and passers-by as I cut, drilled, assembled, and finally painted my new creation with a couple coats of a nice bright red oil-based enamel.
When the end of the course and moving day finally came around, I loaded all of the heaviest, least fragile items into the trailer, closed and locked the lid, added duffle bags of uniforms into a car-top carrier mounted on top of the trailer lid, and finally loaded all the fragile items into the Fiesta. A few hours spent out-processing, and I hit the road towards the new duty station on the other side of the country.
At first I was a bit concerned about the weight of the loads in both the car and the trailer, so I stopped often to check the temps of the tires and the wheel bearings, but everything stayed cool, and I pressed on. I was used to getting around 35-40 Mpg in the unloaded Fiesta in mixed city-highway driving, but was quite surprised to find that I was averaging 40-45 Mpg while towing this heavy load. I also noted that the car-trailer combo did not seem to have the same tendency to gradually slow down while climbing long grades. I don't really know how to account for this improvement in performance other than perhaps it was some freak combination of aerodynamics that was allowing the trailer to "draft" along in the wake of the car (sort of like what you see nascar drivers doing).
To wrap up a long story, I arrived with all my household goods in great shape, and the great new trailer no worse for the wear of the almost 2000 mile journey. I still own and occasionally use the trailer, and the only problem has been a need to replace the wheel bearings once due to water seepage into the hubs thru the in-board Axle seals. Probably could have avoided that if I had been more carefull to keep the hubs packed full of grease on a regular basis, but this one did not come with grease fittings, so it required jacking, removing the wheels, and dis-assembling the hubs/bearings/axles.
Yes, I am that old...
CptA
-
Lots of guys run the Harbor Freight version out here for dirt bikes and atvs. Common recommendation is replace the included bolts with a better grade before assembly.
-
..., and the only problem has been a need to replace the wheel bearings once due to water seepage into the hubs thru the in-board Axle seals. Probably could have avoided that if I had been more carefull to keep the hubs packed full of grease on a regular basis, but this one did not come with grease fittings, so it required jacking, removing the wheels, and dis-assembling the hubs/bearings/axles.
Great story. Would have been interesting if someone had taken a Polaroid of you lowering the thing down.
You hit on the only issue I have to deal with. I had left the trailer behind a shed for maybe a year(? 2?) and when I hooked it up and started driving a buddy of mine thought he heard squeaking from a wheel. Removed a cap over the Axle seal and she was dry as a bone. Check and pack those axle seals often!
-
I picked up the four by eight folding trailer I wasn't planning on using the fold up feature on it so I instantly broke out the welder and just a welded its solid I used it for about 8 years moved all in all kinds of crap on it I eventually built myself a car trailer and I sold the smaller one to my friend. All in all though they're pretty good trailers I've seen a lot of them around.
-
Great story. Would have been interesting if someone had taken a Polaroid of you lowering the thing down.
You hit on the only issue I have to deal with. I had left the trailer behind a shed for maybe a year(? 2?) and when I hooked it up and started driving a buddy of mine thought he heard squeaking from a wheel. Removed a cap over the Axle seal and she was dry as a bone. Check and pack those axle seals often!
Depending on the size of the axle hub you can purchase a product called bearing buddy they replace the dust cap on the hubs with a spring loaded cap with a zert fitting in the middle of it we just hook the grease gun up to it and pack it full of grease. On my car trailer I pack it maybe twice a year and on my tournament ski boat I grease them once a month because it's in and out of the water a lot.
-
bearing buddy is the best thing for trailers ever made :cheers:. I put them on my boat trailer, still grease it every month but sure saves the bearings and having to grease them all the dang time