Home Depot DK2 Light Duty Trailers Any Good?

[rgr33]

I have had the Home Depot version of this trailer for close to 10 years. We buy, remodel, and flip houses on the Oregon coast, about 75 miles away. I have never tried to stress it or overload it, but have hauled everything from Rock to cabinets in it with no problems.

The only thing that I don’t like is the 12 inch tires, I run them at highway speed often, and never had any problems, but the tread always wears a bit too soon. The end gate on mine pulls out similar to the stake sides on a truck. I replaced the original lights with led, and that worked out much better than the cheapies That it came with.

 

[npalen]

Well, yeah, for cotton balls you need something more like this:

 

[fried1765]

I have had the Home Depot version of this trailer for close to 10 years. We buy, remodel, and flip houses on the Oregon coast, about 75 miles away. I have never tried to stress it or overload it, but have hauled everything from Rock to cabinets in it with no problems.

The only thing that I don’t like is the 12 inch tires, I run them at highway speed often, and never had any problems, but the tread always wears a bit too soon. The end gate on mine pulls out similar to the stake sides on a truck. I replaced the original lights with led, and that worked out much better than the cheapies That it came with.

"12 inch tires".
DANGEROUS when fully loaded, and highway speeds!

 

[mrmikey]

Well, yeah, for cotton balls you need something more like this:

Balls....not bales LOL. The'd be a tad big for the end of a Q-Tip ........Mike

 

[npalen]

"12 inch tires".
DANGEROUS when fully loaded, and highway speeds!

Just a thought on smaller tires would be that the surface speed at the point where the rubber meets the road is no more on a 12" tire than on, say, a 15" tire. Yes, the rubber and bearings would wear faster on the smaller diameter.

The "boat trailer tire" link below shows a load range D max load of 1220 lbs at 65 psi. A pair of these should handle a trailer rated at 2000 lbs. With that said, I would certainly be more comfortable with larger diameter tires.


Kenda Karrier S-Trail ST145/R12 Radial Tire w/ 12" Galvanized Spoke Wheel - 5 on 4-1/2 - LR D Kenda Tires and Wheels AM3122

 

[WilliamBos]

I looked at these too, then opted to buy a 5 x 10 from Canada trailers. A bit more money, but a lot more trailer - 15 tires are a huge plus for me.

 

[adam728]

12 inch wheels are a whole lot better than the 8's that come on some trailers. I will admitt, I was nervous about the 12's on the uber cheap Harbor Freight 4x8. But it's been from Michigan to Georgia and back with 600-ish lbs on it, and has had probably 20k on it by now, typically hauling maybe 300-800 lbs, and mostly freeway, where the wife will loudly vocalize her displeasure with a trip taking any longer than necessary, which means often cruising in excess of 80 mph. After 7 years I replaced the tires due to cracking, but they were also getting quite worn down.



I wouldn't want to run them near capacity all the time. But they aren't the worst.

 

[MFWD]

Hello,
I'm not sure how much money you want to spend, but have you thought about an aluminum utility trailer. I bought the 5.5'x10' aluminum utility trailer from Tractor Supply and really like it. I can move it around easily and it does have 15" wheels. Good luck.


MFWD

 

[bmoore]

I'll second the recommendation of an aluminum frame trailer. I've had this 6.5x12 Aluma flatbed for 9 years, it still cleans up to almost brand new condition, and the only maintenance it requires is tires and wheel bearing grease. I paid around $1800 for it 9 years ago, and probably could sell it today for what I paid for it (similar trailers are going for about $2500 new now).

And yeah I know the rear end of the van is sagging in the photo below... that was 2 years ago, and since then the van has had suspension upgrades to compensate for the weight of the RV conversion, plus wheel and tire upgrades. In the photo I'm using a 5" rise draw bar, and now to tow the same trailer, I'm using a 0.5" rise draw bar...