I've started looking around at a new trailer. Something like the car haulers are made. Any suggestions, pictures or such? I think the tandem 3500 lb. axle setup would be fine for me.
Thanks
Jim

Jim, I dragged this one home about a month ago. I bought a 30 year old Bobcat, and needed an excuse to get a decent trailer. 18 x 83. 5200lb axles. 225/75/15 "D" range 6 lug wheels/tires. 10000lb gross. It tows well. I have put about 500 miles on it so far. It has been a good purchase. It's a Top Hat brand if that matters. I went and looked, and the hoops are D range, not C.

Big Tex is hard to beat. PJ is good too. Get as wide as you can, 18 to 20 feet is a good length. I had a Big Tex 18’x76” and hauled a few cars on it, used it for years. Sold it in ‘19. Will be looking for another one soon, and will be after a 20 footer, probably a Big Tex 10CH-20.

Of course, what you are towing with matters, trailers get heavier as they get more capable, and no need to buy a trailer that can haul more than the truck will unless your think you will be buying a more capable truck in the near future.

Stay away from unknown brands unless you look them over really well. I picked up a little 6x12 utility trailer last year, and discovered after a bit that the safety chains, while up to spec as far as chain and hook strength, were merely spot welded in place. Had they been called upon to keep a loaded trailer attached to the truck, they would have failed, and the trailer would travel wherever it happened to go, the safety chains, left hanging from the truck hitch. I remedied the problem, but you should not have to on a new trailer. Trailer was a B/R brand, by the way. Bought it from an outfit over in Licking here in MO.

Get a flat bed that can haul cars, not just a car hauler trailer.

Bruce

I like metal floors to a point. They can get slick at times, but usually never need replacing.

I really like torflex suspension. I've got a single axle 3500# I built & it tows like a dream,, empty or at near capacity. An x boss had a 10,000# tandem w/torflex & it performed the same. It is nearly 30 years old now & goin strong.

The Rolex IMO? A tilt bed Alumatrailer w/torflex suspension. $$$$. Built for life & never needing a paint job.

I borrowed an open center car hauler once that I really liked but that's all it was good for. Not like you could use it to haul dirt, gravel, or mulch...... But that might be a good thing

3500# axles have very light duty bearings. Always buy larger than what you think you need.

A car hauler

Something like what you have would be great. Thanks for the replies.

I see pickups towing these carrying a bunch of cars.

Neighbor has an older Mustang "drag racer". Turbo charged, roll cage, but still street legal. Bugged me to buy my 16' double axle flat bed, then wound up getting a used car hauler (two steel areas for the trailer bed, open center). Turned out he was glad he did.

Snapped the driveshaft at the races last fall, crawled under there and replaced everything, since the center was open to allow access.

Use my flatbed to haul fire wood (two+ cords with the 30" high racks on), old tractors and whatever I need moved. Big Tex, 10,000 gross. Pulls very well. Original PT wood floor lasted about three years, exposed to the elements. Usually parked under trees out back, so it doesn't get to dry out.

Replaced it with a better grade of 2x6 PT lumber and treat it every fall.

I have a 20’ gooseneck and a 16 footer for hauling. I wish I’d have built a 20 instead of the 16.

Check out Rice Trailers. Excellent quality and value. Recommend getting a 10,000 pound capacity trailer. The 5000 pound axles are much stouter than the 3500 pound, will have brakes on both axles, uses 6 bolt 15" wheels, and the 10k trailer doesn't weigh much more than a 7k.

make sure you get a good wench for it.

I had an 18’ Big Tex with 3500 lb axles that I used and abused for years. Hauled hay, vehicles, moved several time with it etc.
broke the springs once from too many overloaded trips. Tree fell on it and crushed it last year. Bought an 18’ PJ with the 5200 lb axles to replace it. Seems like a higher quality trailer than my BigTex was. I’d have gone with the 7k lb axles but I wanted to be able to pull it with my half ton too.


not much is handier than a flatbed trailer.

I use a 16ft two axle Big Tex to mostly haul firewood and an occasional rig up to Dodge 3500 crew cabs. Only issue was the stock biased ply tires. Life has been great since those were replaced with the heaviest loads coming in at 7,000 lbs.

I've not had issues, but I don't care for the exposed wiring one finds on most trailers. If one has plans for getting off road and out there, it would be wise to rearrange the routing and durability of that system.

Ha I forgot to mention the wiring. Yeah, I rewired mine multiple times.

If you want to spend the money, Aluma trailers are good.

"I think the tandem 3500 lb. axle setup would be fine for me."

A tandem trailer with 3500 lb. axles is a light duty trailer. The frame is made out of very thin metal and rusts easily. You can't get good heavy duty 15 in trailer tires. I bought an 18ft tandem trailer with a wide bed mainly to haul my 4 WD 3/4 ton '80 Chevy truck back and forth to the deer lease. My trailer weighs 1500 lbs. so I should only be hauling 5500 lbs. My Chevy truck weighs 5100 lbs. empty. If my Dodge diesel truck breaks down I won't be able to haul it home on this trailer. I wish I would have bought a trailer like my SIL has. It's the same physical size as my trailer it but has bigger axles/wheels, the frame is made out of heavy galvanized tempered steel and all the wiring is protected.

Big Tex trailers are good, and I agree with others about the 3500 lb. axle trailers. I would go 5k axles at least on a vehicle hauler, and at least 18 ft. if not 20. My Dodge 2500 4wd weighs 8,000 lbs,. and I was in a sweat once when I simply had to move it on a 16 ft. 7,000 lb, trailer. I would expect a Dodge 3500 dual rear wheel to weight at least that much. IMHO, the initial expense of the heavier trailer pays off in wear factors (bearings, etc.) and peace of mind going down the road.

trailers are bringing stupid prices right now. used stuff that was going for 1500 is 2500 now, if i was going to haul a lot i'd go aluminum.

Thanks guys. I'm still looking and calling. No rush on this but I do want one before September. I do think I'll go with the 10,000 pound rating. The extra cost really isn't that much.

What are you going to be hauling with it?

Figure out what the most weight you'll be putting on the trailer and go from there.

Lots of people don't get enough trailer. Or enough tire.

Recently upgraded to a 20' bumper pull with a dovetail and two 7k Dexter axles. Had them swap the 10 ply POS tires that were on it with Load Range G 14 ply tires.

I agree most people do not get enough trailer. When I purchased one to haul a Kioti 45hp tractor with loader attached I wanted to make sure it would handle that load plus any future attachments/equipment I might need to move. Since I already had a 14ft tandem 7500# trailer the new one I got was a 20ft with tandem 7000# axles for a 14000# rating.

Like you I thought the 20ft length and extra capacity of 14000# was worth the little extra cost.

Often said, Quality is remembered long after prize is forgotten".

"Most people don't get enough trailer" or "Get one that has a higher capacity than you need"

Yes, and not so much.

For every trailer I see overloaded, I see another one that's over stressing the tow vehicle & sucking gas to haul little. Hard to stop or maneuver.

My point is it's as challenging to have just one trailer as it is one rifle.

That is where an aluminum trailer shines.

That's why I have 7 trailers...

Pick the right tool for the job!

I was nearly convinced to buy an aluminum stock trailer a few years ago.

Until, when I was visiting the ranch center that sold them, and the service guy was welding up stress cracks on one.

I asked him how much of that do they see? Se said it was pretty common on aluminum trailers that get used hard on dirt roads and rough ranch terrain. Seeing the stress cracks, I decided against aluminum.

Don't get me wrong, for most people they are fine. And steel trailers get stress cracks too, in rough terrain. It's just easier to fix the steel trailers for most welders of my ability.

Most all big trailers are aluminum, and most of those are of rivet construction.

Supply was really bad a few months ago when I was looking for a new utility. I wanted something better than the Tractor Supply junk I had been running for 12 years. (Almost doubled my money selling it though.) Around here the two better trailers are PJ and Big Tex and there was zero chance of getting something in a timely fashion so I started reading reviews. There are quite a few brands I’d never even heard of that have good reputations for being well built. I ended up looking at a Lamar and found one that was getting delivered the following week a few hours away. I’m rather impressed with the build quality. Might add them to your list.

Did they charge you extra for that dent in the fender?

No, some jackass backed into it a week after I bought it.

LMAO

Probably though,, the first thing the owner of a new trailer or dually truck is to take a hammer & knock the hell out of one or both fenders. Just speed up the inevitable.

Anything on wheels. My neighbor bought a good used camp trailer last year for $4k. They never used it so he added $1k to his purchase price and put it on Craigslist last week. It was gone in under an hour. They hadn't even finished cleaning it up yet.

I got a new dove tailed equipment trailer, and sold the older one I had for more than I paid for it.

Actually, I sold it 5 times... LOL.

Placed an ad on Texas site, and had 4 guys PM me saying they wanted it. First one to tell me they did was my fencing guy, so being first, he got the trailer.

I bought a 6 x 12’ utility 12 or so years ago for $1,200 and sold it for $2,100! I had replaced the wood decking and the original tail gate that I’d taco’d so it was well maintained. Guy came from 4 hours away and paid asking price.

Shucks

Aluminum flatbeds look interesting. Wonder if they get cracked easy too, Wabs?

Cracking can be a problem with aluminum.
The solution is prevention.
Buy enough trailer!

This has been my experience. Aluminum trailers are fine for highway use. They are good looking trailers and lightweight allowing for more cargo weight. Washboard roads and the constant twisting and washouts encountered on two track roads cause cracks that are more difficult to repair. Loaded or unloaded makes no difference.

I got tired of pulling ramps so I went with a PJ tilt bed with a 6' deck on the front. Has a tool box for straps with a built in winch with battery compartment.7K axels with brakes on both. LED lighting is a must. This way I cant drag bottom and damage the undercarriage. My next will have the electric powered hydraulic jack.

What Rockinbbar says. I have a bunch of trailers, it takes years to find out what's fits best, because your toys grow, tractors, trucks , dozers . l went and got 20 ft. steel deck, 16 inch wheel , 7500 # ax. heavy removeable ramps , my 2500 and 3500 trks all weigh 9 to 12-K , so you need strong trailer to haul just them .

Right now my main thing to haul is material for the fabrication side of my business and at times the finished product. I've been using a utility trailer for this for quite a while. This October we have an elk hunt planned in Colorado and on this trip I want to take my Jeep. I have,'t checked it on a scale but I'm guessing 3500 lbs. But as many of you have said going a little bigger is good. A 10,000 pound rated trailer would likely cover everything I need and in an 18 foot with a 2 ft. bevertail. My tow rig is my 1997 F250 with a 460.

Says here CJ-7 has curb weight of 2707lbs. Plus your additions.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce.

Remember the weight rating of a trailer, GVWR, is the weight of the trailer and the load it carries. If buying a trailer to haul cars I would think you would want to get one that would haul the largest car you might expect to have and need to move. That is what I did in my case.

My truck is a Ford F250 Super Duty Crew Cab which weights somewhere around 7000# with fuel and other excessories such as tools. I used that vehicle as the maximum vehicle size I may move, and it also was convenient that my tractor also weight somewhere around 7000#. The truck is also a little over 20ft long which meant a 20ft trailer. Now in my research I found that 20ft trailers weighed somewhere around 3000# so adding my trucks weight, or tractor, at 7000# the GVWR would need to be somewhere north of 10,000#. I went with a 14000# GVWR trailer which give some additional weight capacity for added safety and the cost of a 14000# vs 10000# trailer was minimal compared to the total cost.

This of course was what is needed to fit my needs and your needs may be different but I would suggest you go through the same thought process I did to determine the best size to fit your needs now and the future.

What I notice a lot of guys do when buying car haulers is they don't pay attention to the details- Where and how many tie downs do they have? Are the tie downs appropriate for car hauling or just for tieing down loads? Is the trailer deck wide enough between the fenders to load your vehicle on it without taking off the fenders? Does it have storage under the trailer for the loading ramps?

These are just some of the issues you may run into and I've seen guys I know realize they didn't think of them after they already bought a trailer they couldn't use....

If you're planning on using it to rescue vehicles that may not be under power to load, a box in the front for a battery and a winch to load dead vehicles is a good investment and the battery can be tied into your charging system on your tow vehicle pretty easily...

What? A wench or a winch? If a winch, what pull recommendation.I just redecked my car hauler and welded on a tube for a receiver hitch to mount the winch, so it's removeable.. Will a 3,500 lb. Superwinch work?

This one is not far from me and in stock. https://www.lemens-equipment.com/inventory-listing.php?id=1166

$ 4,290.00

18ft (16+2) 12k Tandem Axle Flatbed Trailer with Dovetail
82" between the fenders
Trailer weight 2,660lbs
6" main frame
5" channel wrap tongue
3" channel cross members, 16" on center
Two 6000lb easy lube axles(6 yr warranty)
1 brake axle
New 235/80 R16 10ply radial tires and wheels
8k Dropleg jack
4 d-rings & stake pockets
Tread plate fenders w/supports
#1 treated 2x8 lumber(screwed down)
Adjustable coupler with bulldog 2 5/16
DOT tape
Tube front rail
4ft ramps and ramp storage
Spare tire mount (tire & wheel extra)
7 way round RV plug
LED lights

Axle: Tandem 6000lb
Brake: One Brake Axle
Color: Black
Coupler: Adjustable 2 5/16 inch
Fenders: Diamond Plate Fenders
Jack: 8k Dropleg Jack
Loading: 14in Slide in Ramps
Tires: 235/80R16 10 Ply Radial

Location: Eldon
Body Style: Flatbed Trailer
EXTERIOR: Black
Curb Weight: 2660
GVWR: 12000
VIN #: 7L4BF2229MA001436
CONDITION: new
WARRANTY: yes

Not a bad price for what it is!

Seems to suit your description of what you need.

Better get it before someone else does.

Looking at the photos, I see it doesnt have stake pockets, but a couple of D rings on each side. Just make sure you have enough places to secure your load.

We have a PJ 16' with the heavy axles, it works for what we need.

Be sure to include trailer weight in your GVWR calculations.

[/quote]

Not a bad price for what it is!

Seems to suit your description of what you need.

Better get it before someone else does.

Looking at the photos, I see it doesnt have stake pockets, but a couple of D rings on each side. Just make sure you have enough places to secure your load.
[/quote]

I didn't see any stake pockets either but it's hard to tell in the pictures. I can weld some on myself though and a rub rail makes for a good tie down at times too.

Good advice. This trailer I posted the specs on is rated at 12,000 lbs. That would more than handle what I plan to haul. The Jeep weighs about 3000, extra camping gear we might have would be under 500 lbs. The trailer weighs close to 3000 lbs. so I'd be way under with my planned load. I could also haul a full size pickup if I wanted or had the need to.