Buying a UTILITY TRAILER Need Advice? Also can a 12ft or 14ft Haul a Car?

[Dargo]

i have a single axle, 6.5'x12' landscape/utility trailer with a rear gate. it has a gvw of 3500lbs, no brakes. it as hauled numerous cars, that are within reason. it has hauled a later model dodge stratus, a buick roadmaster, several chevy luminas, a chrysler k wagon, several neons, several smaller hondas, an older nissan pickup, an older toyota pickup, and has been from NY to utah twice with a ford escort wagon on it. you usually have to remove the gate after driving on, because it will not fully fold up. the trailer has taken it like a champ, and comes back for more. Best $800 i ever spent. its 7 or so years old, and needs a new paint job, but still has the original tires and deck. so yes, you can haul cars and trucks, they just have to have short wheelbases.

Whew, I wouldn't want to be anywhere around you on the road. It would not only be dangerous, but illegal and overweight in most every state in the union. You have a utility trailer designed and made to carry lawn mowers, not vehicles. It's going to cost you well over $800 the first time a DOT cop pays attention and finishes up with you.

 

[George2615]

I suggest if you are getting a general purpose trailer and want to haul an occasional car don't get one 76" wide. Look for a 2 axle trailer at least 82" between the fenders and 16' or longer.

A 76" x 14-16' wide trailer might fit a small compact car but if you ever want to haul a full size one or a pickup it won't fit.

If your driveway is blacktop or cement you could roll a 2 axle trailer around using a caster wheel but only on level ground. (you wouldn't want a 2000 lb trailer to get away from you, roll down a driveway and hit your wife's new car). Use a tractor to move it around.

Most single axle trailers are rated at 3000-3500 lb. I would not haul a car on one.

 

[some zilch]

Whew, I wouldn't want to be anywhere around you on the road. It would not only be dangerous, but illegal and overweight in most every state in the union. You have a utility trailer designed and made to carry lawn mowers, not vehicles. It's going to cost you well over $800 the first time a DOT cop pays attention and finishes up with you.

i'd love to see a dot cop pull me and my single axle trailer over...it'll never happen. overweight, yes; unsafe, not really. its no more unsafe than 30ft campers pulled by f150s and such. i do 150000lb loads on a daily basis, and the occasional 220000 pound load, so the less people in my way, the better; stay home.

 

[windy acers]

I bought a tractor from a guy because it bent the 7000 gvw. landscape trailer.Go with a 18ft dove tail 99999 gvw. with 6 lug wheels with ramps and brakes on both axels and you will never be sorry.

 

[not2old]

Hopefully, my car trailer was a one time only expense so I bought one to fit the biggest job I'm likely to encounter. It's a 20' tilt deck 14,000lbs and will just legally carry a crew cab diesel dually. Any smaller and it would not only be illegal, but likely not fit.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

99999 gvw.

What are you going to tow with? A semi?

 

[Baucom]

There's no "handier" trailer than a 5x8-5x10 single axle because it's small, light, and capable of handling those frequent jobs that are too large for a pickup truck bed. However, once you get into hauling anything larger than a lawnmower or ATV they're very limited by size and wt. capacity.

All around it's hard to beat the value of a 16' 7K landscape trailer with a gate or car hauler with slide in ramps, if it has enough capacity to meet your needs (~5K payload capacity). Around here they're about $100-200 more than a 6.5x12 single axle with brakes but offer many more hauling options. I can haul 4 ATVs, a class 1-2 CUT, or a small car such as a Civic or Corolla (but I have to crawl out the window) on my 16' 7K landscape trailer. My MSO states the empty wt. at 2K, but I expect with a caster on the jack it could be moved around on level pavement by hand if you're decent sized--it's lighter than a small car and I can push one of those around.

 

[Argosy]

I've got a 16 ft. trailer and a Saturn SC-2, which is a really small car. It fits on the trailer but barely.

Car trailers are different than the landscape trailers with the short angle iron railing. A car hauler has a flat deck so once the car is loaded you can open the door to get out. That's not going to happen with a landscape trailer. OTOH if you intend to haul a bunch of smaller stuff a car hauler doesn't have a lot of places to tie everything down.

 

[Dargo]

I've got a 16 ft. trailer and a Saturn SC-2, which is a really small car. It fits on the trailer but barely.

Car trailers are different than the landscape trailers with the short angle iron railing. A car hauler has a flat deck so once the car is loaded you can open the door to get out. That's not going to happen with a landscape trailer. OTOH if you intend to haul a bunch of smaller stuff a car hauler doesn't have a lot of places to tie everything down.

Exactly. That is why it is extremely dangerous, and illegal, to haul cars around on a 6.5'x12' landscape/utility trailer with a single 3500 pound axle and no brakes. I do not intend to be rude, but I care not what qualifications that poster says they have. Facts are facts, and that is in no way, shape or form even remotely safe or advisable. It actually reminds me of some of the crazy pictures we've all seen in emails with someone hauling their 4 wheeler on the luggage rack of their Taurus or the guy with the wood hitch on the back of an S10 Blazer for a gooseneck trailer. Just because someone has done it, and so far not killed anyone, doesn't mean it's a good idea. On the above mentioned reference, don't take my word for it, call any DOT office or look up any rules governing trailers in any state.

As you said, utility/landscape trailers are made with much lighter materials and the angle framing above the deck is actually needed for support; and that's on utility trailers rated for 7,000 pounds with two axles and brakes. A car trailer has a much stronger frame, generally brakes on both axles, and side pockets that allow you to use 2X4's to drop in and make your own side rails if you like. A 16' trailer would be the absolute minimum I would consider for hauling all but the smallest sub-compact cars. A good quality 16' car trailer that can also be a good utility trailer isn't much more money than a utility trailer anyway.

 

[Harold_J]

I've been wondering, why do you think manufacturers don't commonly offer a single axle utility trailer with say a 7K axle as found on the 14K tandems?

It would seem that a properly built one could handle a 5K load, be easier to move around in tight spaces and save quite a bit on tolls if you have to deal with that.