Car hauler vs landscape utility

[tractchores]

In my opinion a $1000 used 10K trailer has many potential issues.
Were the axles overloaded by the previous owner?
Have the wheel bearings EVER been repacked, or replaced?
Are the tires of the appropriate weight rating, and less than 10 years old from date of manufacture?
Do the tires have 50% tread remaining?
Is tire sidewall hairline cracking visible?
Do the electric brakes (required) actually work properly?
Is the emergency breakaway battery fully charged, and..... does it hold a charge.
Two years ago I paid $4400 for my new 14K equipment trailer, w/ramps.
I use a 14K Equal-i-zer weight distribution hitch.
I tow only several times each year, but I do so at highway speeds.
I know exactly how my trailer is maintained, because I have maintained it since new.
I suspect that in ten years I might be able to sell my 14K trailer for $2400 (I store it inside).
I consider $200 per year to be well worth the peace of mind when pulling a loaded 14K trailer.

All good things to consider. Not that it's super relevant, but I've had the trailer for 3 or 4 years now. A trailer is fairly easy to check out compared to say a car. When I bought it I did a bunch of checks to make sure nothing serious was wrong. The axles and bearings were fine, tires were shot, decking needed to be replaced, but brakes and lighting worked fine. I ended up spending a few hundred on new tires, maybe 100 on new decking. Works great now. My only regret is that it has dayton style wheel hubs, which were a serious pain to re-align when I did the tires. There are great deals to be had on used stuff, but like mentioned at least in my area its generally construction / equipment trailers. Definitely well worth the money spent on it. I'm going to need to replace the break-away system shortly, but that's fairly cheap as well. I'm pretty certain I could get my money back on it without an issue, which was important too.

 

[Diamondpilot]

For me after owning about a dozen trailers from a single axle 10' 3500# to a 30' 26,000# Goose Neck my most useful and versatile is my 18' 7,000# landescape trailer with slide in ramps.

It weighs 1800# leaving 5200# for carrying capacity. Its 83" wide and I have hauled everything from a car to a 1/2 ton truck. Mulch, lumber, boats, you name it.

 

[bspeedy]

Be careful towing with a Tacoma. Too much weight and the tail will wag the dog. I'm sure that is what contributed to the folks who said 4k felt sketchy.

 

[PA452]

Yeah, the most I've towed with a Tacoma has been maybe 1500#, possibly more. Years ago I pulled a 12' UHaul trailer loaded with household goods about 400 miles, no idea what it weighed though. Towed like a dream. That was back when I had a manual transmission Tacoma, my current one is an auto.

ETA: Just looked up that UHaul trailer, it was 1920#, more than I thought. Plus all the stuff I had in there, maybe I was up around 3000# or more. I had it packed.

 

[kevinwak]

I have a car hauler and built removable sides out of two 2X6's high with an inch space between. I rarely use it with the sides, once to hall gravel and once to haul grass clippings. Only issue with removable wood sides is storing them. Get the 7000 pound trailer of whatever style you decide. The 500 pound weight difference is minimal since you will rarely be loaded to max anyway. With my 7000 pound toe rated F150 I have pulled three trailers regularly, the car hauler with 500 gallons of water, scaled at 7500 pounds, our 6000 pound camper and our pontoons boat, about 4-5000 pounds. The pontoon boat feels the heaviest at highway speeds, the car hauler the lightest feeling. The wind drag sure aff cts how it feels

 

[MossRoad]

Here's some pictures from 2003 of our 18' car hauler trailer with the 2x12 sides I was talking about on the front half. I brought home 2 tons of limestone and used the PowerTrac PT425 to unload it off the trailer for some landscaping around the house....

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[timswi]

This has worked very well for hauling my RTV1100 or the BX23. Very handy for loose stuff as it stays in the trailer, still have to tie stuff down but not as much...I haul a couple of ton of wood pellets each fall. The fork lift has to use extedners to load them--That's about the only inconvenience I've run into..Car haulers definitely have their place too and I may get an 18 or 20 footer someday.

 

[PA452]

Tough decisions...

I was pretty well set on a Big Tex 60CH car hauler. Every time I'm about there I get to thinking about another facet of what I might want and I start looking at other options. Passed a trailer store yesterday that I didn't know carried the type of trailers I'm looking for. Ended up going back today when they were open. They carry Belmont and Currahee. The Belmonts seem really nice, maybe some of the nicest trailers I've looked at actually. They're also a little pricey, and the bigger issue for me with my tow vehicle being a Tacoma is that they're kind of heavy.

They had a Currahee landscape trailer that I looked at for quite a while. There were some things I didn't care for, but some things I did. For example I originally was hesitant to get a gate in case I ever wanted to haul something just a little bit too long. This gate pops right off without tools or even removing any pins. Just lift up on the one end, sliding the pivot pin on one side through a groove and out of the mount, then slide the other pivot pin straight out of the mount. I didn't care for the way it was wired, but honestly I haven't cared for the wiring on most of the trailers I've looked at with the exception of the Belmont and if I remember correctly the Sure Trac didn't seem so bad compared to many. Weight was 1600# with a GVWR of 7000#. Ended up not picking it up today after much debate, and on the way home I realized that the trailer actually didn't have a good way to chain down a tractor. There are no stake pockets, no D-rings. You could hook a chain on the bottom of an angle iron upright, but there would be no way to loop the chain through or run it in such a way that the hook is hooked downward. I could always add stake pockets myself but I don't really want to have to.

Been looking for a Big Tex 60SP but unfortunately I can't find one anywhere around here. That's the landscape equivalent of the 60CH. GVWR 6000# with a trailer weight of I believe 1650#.

 

[PA452]

For those with landscape trailers, do you have stake pockets? And if not, how are you attaching chains if chaining down a tractor?

Looking at landscapes again, I'm noticing a lot of them don't have stake pockets and I'm not seeing a good way to attach a chain with the hook pointed down, unless the uprights are strong enough for attaching a chain, but I figure they probably would have too much flex not to mention being a little higher than I'd want.

 

[Teachu2]

My Big Tex has stake pockets on the outside. Not wanting to come over the side rails to chain down, I added some 1/2" D-rings bolted through the floor and through the cross member above the axles. 1/2 in. Forged Cargo D-Ring Anchor

All these do is keep the tractor's tires firmly in contact with the floor of the trailer, but I like the extra margin of safety.