Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Aluminum stock trailers.

1. Wilson

2. Wilson

3. Wilson

What brand are you looking at?

Some are pretty good some are pretty shabby.

NO real knowledge of stock trailers but curious about selecting rivets over welds. I know welded boats are considered much stronger than riveted boats....

Sorry for not replying sooner.

Modem or computer issue, wife just fixed it....



Heading out the door and I will get back to you guys this afternoon.


Duralite is what the local dealer sells, that and Travalong(Flave will love that one....).


http://www.duralitetrailers.com/equipment.html

Go with the Traveldong.



Travis

PS- I'm not a rancher.

Or employed.

I bought my 20' Exiss in '97, it's a 7'x7'. It was nice when we hauled horses around, but it's kinda high and catches wind pretty bad. Nice trailer though, no complaints.

Featherlites around here almost exclusively, probably due to dealer availability. All aluminums for everyone, for cattle. Rivets last longer than welds, but come "loose" quicker. Just get to know the dealer (or an aluminum welder) and get the welds redone immediately when they break. Overall, it lasts much longer that way.

If you're using it for cattle, you will not be able to load a 3-bay short trailer anyway, as the critters hit the front and then immediately turn to come back. Especially with bulls, it's a great way to get yourself knocked cold and run over as they come back out and you're trying to push the bay-door closed. Never let a new 'hired hand' do it. With a 32' trailer, we still only run two bays.

Aluminum trailers used on rough country( think ranches) keep the welders in business around here

I worked for a top rated custom trailer manufacturer (Tracer Trailers) for a number of years, and I have to say that the fears about aluminum trailers and their durability off road are well founded. We found early on that you need plenty of sub frame support and plenty of re-enforcement at critical areas like rear openings and side doors etc.
Haven't really kept up with what's on the market, but I'm sure you'll get what you pay for.
I have two Featherlite trailers for hauling my horse's. Been real happy with them, but on a side note, some of the most indestructible looking trailer's I saw back 25-30 years ago were the Eby's.

IME it is hard to beat 4-Star trailers. They solid and long lasting

If you want a steel trailer its pretty hard to beat one of these. http://www.hughesranchtrailers.com/

It has the gap at the bottom like Mark was talking about.

Thanks for all the info.

Kind of spooked thinking about pulling an aluminum trailer off road very much.

The dealer says you can't hurt them but I don't know, it would really suck to end up with a $19k twisted piece of chit. But at the same time there are still a bunch of old pots going down the road so hell if I know.

I think we will just stick with a steel. Heavier but stronger not to mention $6k less money.

Check these out

http://www.4startrailers.com/stock-trailers/gooseneck-trailers/stock-trailers/

Sooner is a very well built trailer.

Sam , No one in the parts that spends any money on a gooseneck gets steel anymore .....Wilson or Eby seem to be the ones folks brag about

I,ve got an old steel trailer cause I am a tightwad, but its starting to cancer thru the sides pretty bad

whatever you do get the longest one you think you can maneuver ; if I ever get another one , it'll be a 30 footer tri ax

you should get on newagtalk.com and ask , specifically the stock talk board , this topic has been beat to death there and a search is easy to run

ag talk is a really great resource for everything from fixing your tractor to backgrounding calves to marketing to argueing with the 2 resident libs on the political board....LOL

Probably a bit late to chime in but going to anyway. I think one needs to check out the Platinum line made in Oklahoma City. They have more aluminum bracing in them than anything on the road. If I recall, your typical 24 ft stock type outweighs the nearest competitor by 400 lbs. That's a lot of aluminum bracing.

We do have one and really like it.

I'm not farming any more but all my truckers in the past have had Eby trailers.

FWIW,

Dale

There is a reason the semi's are ALL riveted. Wilson all the way if your going aluminum. The torsion axles beat the trailer to death when empty so lots of cracking on the welded ones. I bought a 24ft featherlight in 2000 and had cracked welds within the first month. I put close to 85k miles a year on and I sold it 2 years later with all kinds of patch jobs on it. Wilson IS the best aluminum gooseneck period.

Thanks again everyone for all the replies, info and links.

Wilson seems to be the way to go which isn't surprising. Most of the truckers you meet on the highway pull Wilson trailers.

Only problem is we try to support the local business and buy stuff at 'home' when possible. But maybe our local guy can get or deliver a Wilson and still make a little money.

I was looking at specs and see Wilson has a slam latch on the rear gate. That would pretty much be a 'must have' option but Duralite doesn't have that feature which sucks.

Wilson will make whatever you want Sam. When I ordered mine I even got to pick how many lights and where to put them. Neighbor of mine just got a little 16 footer with a ramp/side door so he can load his quad in front and then load cows in the back....pretty slick.

PS....You can buy directly from them.....no need to go through a dealer.

From your pictures showing some of the situations in which you haul your trailers, I'd stick with steel. FWIW.