Utility Trailer - What type of design worked best for you.

[coobie]

I am in the process of buying a all aluminum utility trailer. I am looking at 6-7' by 12'. I have pretty much settled on a Aluma or a Legend. The Aluma has a all aluminum deck, rail/sides that are bout 6" tall and a bi-fold back ramp/gate. The legend has a full ramp at the back, a wood deck and rail/sides that are about 15" tall. Has having a tailer or shorter side around the trail have any advantage - taller over shorter or shorter over taller? The pictures below show the rail difference.

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Had to choose between both you have listed,went with the Aluma 7X12.Been a great trailer went with the ramp gate.

 

[SJay]

What are you going to use it for?

Hauling brush around my property, hauling the zero turn and Gator occasionally. Don't want a tandem axle. Would mainly be pulling it with a Jeep Liberty. I want the higher weight capacity that the aluminum offers because I want to get a Kubota RTV some day and it is a little heavier than your standard side by side.

 

[SJay]

If you ever intend to put pallets on the trailer the side rails will be a problem. My trailer doesn't have any sides, but instead has stake pockets so I can put sides on with a 2x4 stake. I currently have 16" tall sides (3 - 8' long pieces out of a sheet of plywood) but have run with 4' tall on occasion. You may want to consider how you'd attach solid sides so you can haul stuff like dirt or gravel.

The Aluma has stake pockets.

 

[ArlyA]

We recently got a single axle, 5x14 Big tex trailer. We wanted a 12ft one but this used one popped up FS and we got it. Since then, we've been hauling brush with it and became very, very happy that we accidentally got the 14ft. We use our 6x6 to tow it.

 

[sawtooth]

Ok so here I go. I’ve had 3 utility trailers and hopefully on my last one now. If your only doing short light duty hauling the aluminum trailer is fine. I had the Aluma 14’x84” atv side load model and honestly didn’t like it. But I have a 3/4ton truck so the trailer weight was of no concern to me. The problem with aluminum trailers is that they are loud and bouncy when going down the road empty and where you have moving parts there is WAY more metal wear due to aluminum being so soft. I bought my Aluma in 2015 and replaced the trifold rear gate support post 3 times since then. These post are what the gate support arms attach too. When I asked my dealer about it he admitted they had to replace these often on trailers that see much use. We also had issues with the welds on the fenders cracking as well. Just sold it a few months ago and went back to a steel PJ 14’ model which is awesome. Never Aluminum again for me. But if you don’t plan to use it much and when you do only traveling short distances I think you will be fine. It’s basically a light duty option which unfortunately you pay a premium price for using.

 

[SJay]

Ok so here I go. I’ve had 3 utility trailers and hopefully on my last one now. If your only doing short light duty hauling the aluminum trailer is fine. I had the Aluma 14’x84” atv side load model and honestly didn’t like it. But I have a 3/4ton truck so the trailer weight was of no concern to me. The problem with aluminum trailers is that they are loud and bouncy when going down the road empty and where you have moving parts there is WAY more metal wear due to aluminum being so soft. I bought my Aluma in 2015 and replaced the trifold rear gate support post 3 times since then. These post are what the gate support arms attach too. When I asked my dealer about it he admitted they had to replace these often on trailers that see much use. We also had issues with the welds on the fenders cracking as well. Just sold it a few months ago and went back to a steel PJ 14’ model which is awesome. Never Aluminum again for me. But if you don’t plan to use it much and when you do only traveling short distances I think you will be fine. It’s basically a light duty option which unfortunately you pay a premium price for using.

Thanks for the real world review, very helpful.

 

[ArlyA]

This is great info to have. Thanks for posting Sawtooth!

Ok so here I go. I’ve had 3 utility trailers and hopefully on my last one now. If your only doing short light duty hauling the aluminum trailer is fine. I had the Aluma 14’x84” atv side load model and honestly didn’t like it. But I have a 3/4ton truck so the trailer weight was of no concern to me. The problem with aluminum trailers is that they are loud and bouncy when going down the road empty and where you have moving parts there is WAY more metal wear due to aluminum being so soft. I bought my Aluma in 2015 and replaced the trifold rear gate support post 3 times since then. These post are what the gate support arms attach too. When I asked my dealer about it he admitted they had to replace these often on trailers that see much use. We also had issues with the welds on the fenders cracking as well. Just sold it a few months ago and went back to a steel PJ 14’ model which is awesome. Never Aluminum again for me. But if you don’t plan to use it much and when you do only traveling short distances I think you will be fine. It’s basically a light duty option which unfortunately you pay a premium price for using.

 

[sawtooth]

Glad to help. I come on here all the time looking for peoples experiences. Love the forums. Helps us make the best choice for our intended use. No single product fits everyone’s needs perfectly I guess that’s why we have choices.

 

[zing]

Since you are hauling brush and stuff it sounds like the higher sides would be better than the low one. For me I haul shavings for horse bedding and poles/standards/etc for the riding ring so having some side height is helpful (my sides also have steel mesh which I find useful). The side height is irrelevant when I haul my side-by-side or the occasional round bale of hay, and I don't have pallet forks so for me the higher sides are the better choice. I think that is just a matter of evaluating your planned usage.

The biggest advice I will give is to consider tire size. My utility trailer is 6 by 10 with a single 3500 pound axle. I SHOULD be able to put 2800-2900 lbs on it but by the time I am around 1700+ the rinky-dink 13 inch rim, narrow tires that came with it are half flat, even with extra air in them. I would swap them for 15inch tires, but the fenders are too small to allow the extra height or width, so I would have to replace these too, which I can't do without a welder. As well, the bearings seem to wear out faster due to higher impact when those little tires hit potholes and because the high tire pressure makes it bounce around like crazy while it is empty. Take the time to make sure the tires on the trailer are big enough to actually match the axle capacity properly, or that at least there is enough room under the fenders to swap them for bigger/wider tires if you want to.

 

[SJay]

The PJ Trailer sounds very interesting. I am going to take a look at a 77" x 12' Utility trailer tonight or tomorrow. I know it is not aluminum, but it may work very well for what I want. Nice thing is the sides are removable or I can leave them on.