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Car trailers sturdy enough to haul a B body.

Kern,
I use a Bigger 22ft landscape trailer with a wooden deck and one axle electric brake. Work great for all my needs.
Some thing to keep in mind though is some manufacturers and dealers roll the weight of the trailer into capacity. In other words say for example they list it as a 5000lb capacity gross but your trailer weighs 1500lbs so your actual cargo is 3500lbs.
Also, electric brakes are fine and less maintenance. One axle brake is standard with lighter capacity. For instance my wife's horse trailer is 3500lb empty and carries 3 horses so thats another 3000lbs + or - plus all the gear. It has one axle electric and works great. I pull the wheels off every spring clean, inspect and repack the bearings. I probably don't have to do it that often but maintenence pays
 
Kern,
I forgot to add if you go wood get ruff cut oak. Pine trailer decking will not last nor is it strong enough for tough use. If you find a used trailer a local saw mill can cut you some hardwood for the decking
 
Hey-O said:
This would work fine for as much as you would be using it.
https://sleequipment.com/6x18steelcarhauler-car-hauler.html?fee=34&fep=3947354&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=product ads(BSC)&utm_term=1101201914870&utm_content=Ad group #product_tabs_description_tabbed
Click to expand...
Looks like a nice trailer for the money.


Too bad the estimated delivery cost to the west coast is an additional $4000+.
(Kern could probably drive the 4600 mile roundtrip and pick it up, for about half that.) Thats why there seems to be a 50% premium on trailers on the west coast.
 
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That’s what i did with Kaufman trailers built it was 600.shipping and they ship about 6-8 on a large flat bed trailer, and the flat bed trailer is also a customers that they will deliver. Smart actually if you were the owner. But i just had to remove mine myself and we used 2 large forklifts one per side lifted it and had the driver drive out from underneath it.
 
I’ve had a Parker Performance, 18’ steel deck dovetail trailer since 1999. Paid $1900

2x 3500# axles, brakes on one axle. The trailer itself weighs just over 2000#. Assuming the right tires, I could put a 5000# car on it. I’ve had my ‘65 Ford Galaxie wagon on it and it fits just right, and that car weighs 4200#s. Every state is different with brakes, break away brakes, etc.

My dad borrowed it to move some shop equipment once. I found out years later, and after my brother in law showed me a picture of the loaded trailer, dad had almost an 8000# load on it. He grew up on a north Texas farm - they don’t give a **** about load ratings, etc on farms. Trailer was none the worse for the wear.

I think a dovetail is mandatory without a tilt deck, as the approach is steeper loading a car without the dovetail. This can cause issues with a lowered car, or if you have an air dam. Back when I had a string of 5.0 Mustangs and was racing scca, I had to load the cars backward as they were too low in the front for the approach.

The trailer has been all over the US, and I’ve calculated it’s got around 35,000 miles on it.

I’ve towed with a 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton, and now my K3500 GMC. My 1/2 ton was a step side, I-beam axle f150 and it was a dream to maneuver with the short wheelbase truck and the tight turn radius with the I-beam axle. I wouldn’t recommend a 1/2 ton, but you can get away with it. The heavy brakes and load capacity of the HD trucks takes a lot of stress out of towing.

The worse thing about owning a trailer is that you will bring home projects because you can. ;)
 
HALIFAXHOPS said:
@mopar Tim has a reallly nice one
Click to expand...
Quik load
https://www.kwikload.com/products/car-hauler/
SDX_18_Roll_Back_Tilt_Car__Racing_Trailer_zSZ9O4.jpg
 
Buddy of mine use to plan his vacations around buying a clean California car, drive it back to the Chicago area, fly down to Texas & buy a truck & trailer roll up to Oklahoma, buy a 30's vintage hotrod drag the whole mess back to California.. He did it every year for probably twenty years... Visiting family & friends along the way... Every year he'd get back to California & sell the truck, trailer & vintage hotrod..... He made money off every deal, his vacation was free & he put money in the bank every year... Guess thats why he now has a nice $1.6M ranch outside town.... Back in the 80's he was in a tract home...
 
Jesse6869 said:
That’s what i did with Kaufman trailers built it was 600.shipping and they ship about 6-8 on a large flat bed trailer, and the flat bed trailer is also a customers that they will deliver. Smart actually if you were the owner. But i just had to remove mine myself and we used 2 large forklifts one per side lifted it and had the driver drive out from underneath it.
Click to expand...

I sold trailers from 1997 - 2003. I picked my own up from a manufacturer in north Texas, using one of two Dodge Cummins one-ton pickups. I could comfortably haul ten 16' - '20' utility trailers, car haulers, or a combination of such at a time, Two stacks of up to five, pulled in tandem. One finds out very quickly who the inattentive jackasses are on the road! I'd get a set of trailers home, then bum a friends' rough-terrain forklift to unload - damn, was that a nice rig!

Trailers have doubled in price since the plague hit. What was a baseline 16', 7K GVW tandem-axle utility was two years ago ($1900 w/brakes) is now a $4K trailer. Car haulers have skyrocketed. You won't find a new one under $4,000 in my area. Aluminum? Fuggetaboutit! $6K has been the least-expensive one I've seen lately. Used trailers in good shape bring nearly-new money. Stolen trailers are a HUGE problem in OK.
 
patrick66 said:
I sold trailers from 1997 - 2003. I picked my own up from a manufacturer in north Texas, using one of two Dodge Cummins one-ton pickups. I could comfortably haul ten 16' - '20' utility trailers, car haulers, or a combination of such at a time, Two stacks of up to five, pulled in tandem. One finds out very quickly who the inattentive jackasses are on the road! I'd get a set of trailers home, then bum a friends' rough-terrain forklift to unload - damn, was that a nice rig!

Trailers have doubled in price since the plague hit. What was a baseline 16', 7K GVW tandem-axle utility was two years ago ($1900 w/brakes) is now a $4K trailer. Car haulers have skyrocketed. You won't find a new one under $4,000 in my area. Aluminum? Fuggetaboutit! $6K has been the least-expensive one I've seen lately. Used trailers in good shape bring nearly-new money. Stolen trailers are a HUGE problem in OK.
Click to expand...
And you can pretty much double those prices on the west coast. I guess nobody actually builds trailers out here.
 
33 IMP said:
And you can pretty much double those prices on the west coast. I guess nobody actually builds trailers out here.
Click to expand...

There used to be a couple of manufacturers in California. Like how Gillig and Thomas school buses built for CA schools differed from nearly every other school bus manufacturer in the US, the California-built open car hauler trailers had a style that was unlike most in the rest of the country, and to me, were readily recognizable. I saw quite a few of those at Bonneville in 2010 when I last went. All I can figure is the cost of business has driven the builders out of the state, or bankrupted them.
 
I bought a locally backyard built (but very well built) car hauler here in california about 30 years ago, for around a grand. I doubt i would take five grand for it today, cause i couldnt replace it with comparable quality for that, here.
 
="3sloppydogs, post: 911954311, member: 31564*
Some thing to keep in mind though is some manufacturers and dealers roll the weight of the trailer into capacity. In other words say for example they list it as a 5000lb capacity gross but your trailer weighs 1500lbs so your actual cargo is 3500lbs.
Click to expand...

ALL trailer manufacturers do this. It is NEVER the tare (empty weight) plus 7K# capacity, it is tare plus cargo equals 7K#, for this example. The very definition of "gross weight" is the trailer and the load, weighed together. Keep in mind, your actual, no-****, real-world capacity is always the least of four values:

1) Axle rating 2x3500# = 7,000#
2) Ball rating = 7,500#
3) Hitch rating = 10,000#
4) Trailer tires = 2,200# each x4 = 8,800#

On our example, the limiting factor is the axles, so the load can't exceed 7,000# GVW for the trailer. This assumes the towing vehicle is rated for the tow weight (can it tow 7K# safely and legally?). I've seen some seriously unsafe **** over the years roll down the road. I never took trailer trades, unless I knew the trailer and owner, and knew it's history of use.
 
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I went to a trailer dealer today. Holeeee crap the prices!
 
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