Small Trailer Help

[bcp]

Good idea, but he said he has to drive across town to the collection point.

Missed that.

Bruce

 

[BoylermanCT]

Sign up for the Tractor Supply loyalty club. They offer me 1 free trailer rental a month.

I use a 18"x50" hitch platform to haul my 3 garbage cans. It has a 6" rail that I use rubber bungees to hold the 3 cans in place during the 10 minute drive to the dump. Something like this.

500 lb. Steel Cargo Carrier

Amazing deals on this 500Lb Deluxe Steel Cargo Carrier at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

A Harbor Freight or Northern Tool trailer would probably be the cheapest option if you want to buy a trailer. They have stake pockets so you can add your own sides. I sold mine a few years ago, but it had 3' rail sides on it.

 

[Panik]

If they have wheels, you only need a hitch, not a trailer.

Funny you mention that.... when we first moved in I tried street side service very briefly....

So, funny you mention that... I'm a flatlander, grew up in a house about two above sea level...

When we first moved in I very briefly tried street side trash service. Got the bright idea to hitch all four cans in a train to the back of the jeep I had at the time so that I could tow them down to the main road. Failed to recognize two factors:

1) The wheels on those 96 gallon toters are not the most true
2) From the house to the bottom of the drive is about a 250' drop in elevation over an 1/8th of a mile.

It's never a fun time to watch your trashbags and trash cans ski on past your jeep as they head on downslope to the main road. It's also not fun to wrestle trash cans half full of water out of the street side drainage because the chicken trucks and semis going past blew them over after they were emptied and before the rains moved through.

I also once, and only once, tried strapping two cans to the bucket of the BX to drive them down to the main road. Even in 4 wheel low gear it was an experience I was not willing to repeat. These days if I need to do tractor work along the frontage I use the much less steep and indirect path through the woods to get there.

 

[VoyagernOK]

Harbor Freight has a trailer that very well might suit your light duty needs. Just add a sheet of plywood for a deck and it has 2x4 stake pockets for sides if you want.

1720 lb. Capacity 48 in. x 96 in. Super Duty Folding Trailer

Amazing deals on this 1720Lb 48In X 96In Superduty Folding Trailer at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[coobie]

Sorry..... hate having to pull pics from the phone to the laptop. While it doesn’t really need it, there’s a Jack stand in the bed of my truck that I’m going to add just cause I don’t like trailer tongues laying on the ground
View attachment 712390

Nice looking trailer and good idea..

 

[California]

Harbor Freight has a trailer that very well might suit your light duty needs. Just add a sheet of plywood for a deck and it has 2x4 stake pockets for sides if you want.

1720 lb. Capacity 48 in. x 96 in. Super Duty Folding Trailer

Amazing deals on this 1720Lb 48In X 96In Superduty Folding Trailer at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Agree but put a 2" hitch on it. (Original is 1 7/8).

A friend had one of those bounce off the ball without the hitch opening and no visible defect. The safety chains were adequate so he didn't lose the trailer.

 

[ljjhouser]

That is a nice looking small trailer. But a 5 x 8 is more common (because of sheet stock) and may be easier to find. Also, We have a county transfer station where we take trash. It is cheap and handy. We built a trash bin, 4 x 4 x 8 enclosed and with doors. About one time every 3 months or so, we load up the trailer and take the trash - about 6 miles. Best wishes, Larry

 

[Tony H]

A couple reasons and honestly no snark here...

1) I've got a Z71 truck with 31.5" tires and while I'm 6' the bed is somewhere above my navel... I don't even really want to try and man-handle cans into the back of my truck anymore whether it's a 96ga or a 32 if they're full of heavy stuff. I've done my fair share of manual labor and I'm trying to be nicer to my body than I used to. I've had a bulging disc and no cartilage in the right knee since my 20's. To be frank, I'm honestly hoping once the zero turn is payed off to be able to convince SWMBO to let me get a grapple for the BX so I don't have to handle brush as much.

2) We're a very busy blended family of 6 with 3 autistic youngins... Wife's in grad school and I tend to work 50hr weeks and like it or not we produce a fair amount of waste. I don't want to have to go to the remote site more than once a week and don't want more trash cans in our drive than the 4 we already have.

3) Given the above, it's also a reasonable excuse to buy a small trailer that I can also use in combination with my BX to accomplish yard work - (mainly hauling a 50ga watering rig for tree planting)

In other news the wife and kids came home from Nana's and my oldest, who loves mowing and dragging brush referred to my new trailer as being "cute" Let's see if I teach him how to drive when he gets older, LOL.

AND

Dang I have forgotten how difficult it is to back a small trailer.... it's a pain even with a back up camera. LOL!

They do respond very fast to small turns of the steering wheel. Very tough if you can't view the fenders in the mirrors. Flags that clip on or attach somehow so you can see the back of the trailer is a big help.

 

[California]

They do respond very fast to small turns of the steering wheel. Very tough if you can't view the fenders in the mirrors. Flags that clip on or attach somehow so you can see the back of the trailer is a big help.

I originally built my little trailer (post #11 above) as a jeep trailer for offroad camping. (photo). I kept a broom in it with the handle sticking up to represent the back corner that I couldn't see.

Nightmare to back is an understatement, it not only will cramp severely in an instant, it's so narrow that you can't see it in either mirror until it is way cramped. About like backing a cement mixer.

 

[Panik]

That is a nice looking small trailer. But a 5 x 8 is more common (because of sheet stock) and may be easier to find. Also, We have a county transfer station where we take trash. It is cheap and handy. We built a trash bin, 4 x 4 x 8 enclosed and with doors. About one time every 3 months or so, we load up the trailer and take the trash - about 6 miles. Best wishes, Larry

What you are saying about 5X8's is why I so surprised to see exactly what I needed sitting at Lowe's on day I was shopping.... honestly felt a little like winning a decent scratch off lotto when I made the purchase. Truth be told, I kinda needed a little win in my corner the way life's been going of recent.

They do respond very fast to small turns of the steering wheel. Very tough if you can't view the fenders in the mirrors. Flags that clip on or attach somehow so you can see the back of the trailer is a big help.

I originally built my little trailer (post #11 above) as a jeep trailer for offroad camping. (photo). I kept a broom in it with the handle sticking up to represent the back corner that I couldn't see.

Nightmare to back is an understatement, it not only will cramp severely in an instant, it's so narrow that you can't see it in either mirror until it is way cramped. About like backing a cement mixer.

Yeah, at one point I used to work for a off-road recreational vehicle grant program and had about the same size trailer I do now, but for a single atv... about 90% of the time I needed to back in somewhere I would just unhook the trailer, hand wheel to where it needed to be and call it good.

The broom handle and flags are great ideas!