# Wood-Hauling Trailer?



## SpeakEasy (Feb 7, 2012)

I've not seen this topic addressed here before, so ... instruct me.

I want to ramp up my wood-scrounging ability, but I don't want to get a pickup. I have a mid-sized SUV, and I don't mind filling up the storage area with wood. It's not very convenient, and the amount I can haul that way is pretty limited. So I've begun thinking about buying a utility trailer. I already am set up with a hitch and towing package, because I haul a small camping trailer around. I'm looking at small trailers that will fold up for storage, because I really don't have a spot in my yard or driveway to keep a trailer all the time. I can find some room in the garage for a trailer that folds flat, however. Does anyone have something like this, and if so, what do you have? How does this little "Red Trailer" model look? 

http://www.redtrailers.com/ShowTrailer.asp?id=2

 I would put a plywood sheet down as a floor, and I'd build those fence-type sides. Is a 1200 lb capacity going to limit me too much when it comes to hauling a bit of firewood?

What do you folks think?

-Speak


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## SolarAndWood (Feb 7, 2012)

I'd get the upgrade.  You are going to hit 1200 pounds pretty quick hauling wood.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

Speak, you will destroy that trailer hauling wood.  Maybe not at first, but as time progresses you will tend to try and put more and more and more on it.......and wood (esp. green wood) is very heavy.  Those tires are not going to hold to that weight very well.  IMHO, I would look around for a beater truck for my wood scrounging adventures.


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## bogydave (Feb 7, 2012)

It all depends if you can stay within the limits of the trailer.
It sure will beat hauling it in the trunk of a car or back of a SUV. 
A cord of most wood is 4500 to 5500 lbs. 
Hauling about 1/4 cord on good roads at reasonable speeds, it be fine.
The upgrade to 2000 lbs may help you stay in the limits.
Check the bearings & hub nuts every now & then, to make sure they are holding up. A spare tire is nice too.


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## Dano5509 (Feb 7, 2012)

I had one that I put a 3/4 inch plywood floor on and built a rail system that went up 18 inches.  I also picked up a ramp for mine from Red Trailers and it was a good little set up.  I will tell you that you will get to 1200 lbs very quickly and the bias tires heat up really fast.  If I was to do it over I would look into one of those Big Tex 35v trailers in a 6x10 size, 3500 lb axle and find a place to store it if you can't do it at your place.  The Red Trailers are really popular but they are what they are, a cheap little trailer with very basic wiring/tires/metal....


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## aussiedog3 (Feb 7, 2012)

I would also recommend finding an old beater 1/2ton longbox 2 wheel drive pickup truck.
You will be amazed how handy and tough they are.
I bet with a little looking you will find something halfway decent around $750 bucks


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## KarlP (Feb 7, 2012)

That is actually a Long Chih LCI-851TA.  I have an LCI-851T (8" wheel) that came from Home Depot in 1999.  They are made in Taiwan and the US importer is http://armorrex.com/.

Harbor Freight stocks the LCI-850T (http://www.harborfreight.com/950-lb...ailer-with-8-inch-wheels-and-tires-42709.html) and LCI-850TA (http://www.harborfreight.com/1195-l...tility-trailer-with-12-inch-wheels-90154.html) and has them on sale very frequently.  I think I will go with one of those models when this one dies since they are much less expensive from HF.  Especially since you can use the very common "20% off a single item at HF" coupons on trailers.

My parents did slightly bent the 700kg axle on my 851T when they hit a pothole bringing me 0.4 cord of green mulberry in it.  I upgraded to the three leaf LCI springs from some gocart store in the midwest and got the redtrailer 2000lb dexter axle/hub kit.  When it was rear ended I called Armor Rex and got a new rear beam delivered for $20.  Trailer is 13 years old has almost worn the tread off its third set of tires.  It probably only has another 2-3 years in it before the New England salt does it in, but its saved its purchase price many times over in avoided delivery fees and tax free pickups in New Hampshire.


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## KarlP (Feb 7, 2012)

Scotty Overkill said:
			
		

> Speak, you will destroy that trailer hauling wood.  Maybe not at first, but as time progresses you will tend to try and put more and more and more on it.......and wood (esp. green wood) is very heavy.  Those tires are not going to hold to that weight very well.  IMHO, I would look around for a beater truck for my wood scrounging adventures.



Having done it for many years...Bull.  There is nothing wrong with 8" or 12" tires.  I've had one bubble in one tire in tens of thousands of miles of towing with them.  I've heard of far worse failure rates from the RV towing crowd with big trailer tires.  An old inexpensive beater truck isn't going to have that much more payload rating ... and will be old.


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## wetwood (Feb 7, 2012)

Here is the Harbor Freight version of that fold up trailer. Its on sale for $299.99 now on their website or just print that page and take it to a HF store.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1195-lb-capacity-48-inch-x-96-inch-heavy-duty-foldable-utility-trailer-with-12-inch-wheels-90154.html


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## wetwood (Feb 7, 2012)

Here is a thread that had a similar discussion about small trailers.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/88917/


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## nate379 (Feb 7, 2012)

There is NOTHING that is "heavy duty" about that trailer.

It would be fine for hauling a lawn mower around town, my Dad has one for that, but I wouldn't trust it with more than a couple arm wheelbarrow loads of wood.  I think that ~1200lb rating is a bit exaggerated.  Maybe it can hold that weight without folding in half, but good luck with actually towing that at speed on a highway without killing a hub or bending something.

I use my 10k 18ft car hauler trailer for wood.  I bought it for hauling my Jeep mainly but it's hauled all sorts of stuff from tractors, skid steers, dirt, wood, scrap metal, etc, etc.  Very handy.  I have towed it before with my Jeep, it's only around 2300lbs empty.


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## greythorn3 (Feb 7, 2012)

i use a car hauler if its in logs or a pickup bed trailer if its in rounds.


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## firefighterjake (Feb 7, 2012)

I know you say space is a premium . . . but in my experience you either want a truck or a heavier duty trailer than this one if your primary purpose is to haul firewood with it. If you were carting around a motorcycle, lawn mowers, leaves from the yard, etc. this would be fine . . . but green firewood can be very heavy and would quickly put this trailer overweight.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

KarlP said:
			
		

> Scotty Overkill said:
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yeah put a cord of wood in that cheap trailer and let me know what happens when you wreck an oncoming car with it.  You can't haul crap in those cheap junk trailers, eventually you will push it beyond its limit and it just ain't worth killing somebody.  Spend some money on a 3/4 ton beater truck, you CAN haul more on a truck than on one of those piece of junk trailers.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

firefighterjake said:
			
		

> I know you say space is a premium . . . but in my experience you either want a truck or a heavier duty trailer than this one if your primary purpose is to haul firewood with it. If you were carting around a motorcycle, lawn mowers, leaves from the yard, etc. this would be fine . . . but green firewood can be very heavy and would quickly put this trailer overweight.


you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT Jake!!


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## seeyal8r (Feb 7, 2012)

Everyone has already stated how fast you'll get to capacity on one of those trailers. I'd highly recommend doing what I've done on several buys and that is splitting it with several people. 3 guys going in on a trailer can make it very affordable and chances are somebody will have a good storage spot. I own half of my splitter and half of my yard sprayer. Makes it much more affordable.

I have a 16' flatbed trailer with sides and I have no problem scrounging a full weight load on my 2 3500 axles. Plus a bigger/better trailer has so many more uses.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

seeyal8r said:
			
		

> Everyone has already stated how fast you'll get to capacity on one of those trailers. I'd highly recommend doing what I've done on several buys and that is splitting it with several people. 3 guys going in on a trailer can make it very affordable and chances are somebody will have a good storage spot. I own half of my splitter and half of my yard sprayer. Makes it much more affordable.
> 
> I have a 16' flatbed trailer with sides and I have no problem scrounging a full weight load on my 2 3500 axles. Plus a bigger/better trailer has so many more uses.


that is another great idea..........beats that cheesy trailer!


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## KarlP (Feb 7, 2012)

Scotty Overkill said:
			
		

> yeah put a cord of wood in that cheap trailer and let me know what happens when you wreck an oncoming car with it.  You can't haul crap in those cheap junk trailers



I know my cheap junk trailer has moved more than 15 cords of wood 230 miles and 2 cords about 60 miles on the highway at 60-70mph.  Its moved a bunch more locally.  Its hauled 100 loads of brush to the dump. Its picked up both my stove and my insert.  Not to mention stove, hot water heater, lumber, sheetrock, plywood, etc.  Its done it for $250 + $20 year in registration. 

How much have you used one of these cheap junk trailers?

Yeah the axle got tweaked a tiny bit when my parents both overloaded it AND hit a soccerball sized pothole on the interstate, but even then it was still perfectly usable.  I just figured I'd upgrade to a stronger one for short money so I didn't have to worry about it.

Yeah the wood hauling was done a face cord (4x8 standing on end) at a time.  But since we were driving back and forth with a Corolla, Vibe, or Odyssey anyway and the little trailer makes very little difference in fuel economy.  Why not get the free wood?

If I'm getting a cord at a time I now use a Tacoma and my dad's tandem axle cargo trailer.  But that combination gets 1/3 the gas mileage of my Corolla with 1/3 of a cord, so economically it makes no difference.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

KarlP said:
			
		

> Scotty Overkill said:
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If I can't haul ( at the very least) a half cord at one time SAFELY, the trailer isn't worth having.  If you are bending axles and blowing tires hauling firewood on a chinsy trailer you are rolling the dice with other peoples lives out on the road.  Is that worth a face cord of free firewood?  That's your conscience not mine.


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## KarlP (Feb 7, 2012)

Scotty Overkill said:
			
		

> If I can't haul ( at the very least) a half cord at one time SAFELY, the trailer isn't worth having.  If you are bending axles and blowing tires hauling firewood on a chinsy trailer you are rolling the dice with other peoples lives out on the road.  Is that worth a face cord of free firewood?  That's your conscience not mine.



My only vehicle with a hitch when I got the trailer was a Corolla.  Towing 1/2 a cord couldn't be done safely, so no trailer was worth having?

I have never blown at trailer tire or had a trailer bearing failure.  I put 6000 miles on single axle/8" trailer tires and 2000 miles on tandem axle/15" trailer tires last year, so its not like I don't tow.

As for the bent axle, it was structually solid, the tire was just no longer in perfect alignment.  Rather than wear out the tire I replaced the axle.  Judging by what I see on the road, a lot of people with heavy duty trailers continue to ride around on their bent axles and wear out their tires.

In 12 years of ownership I became part of the $50+ BILLION dollars motorists spent on pot hole damage over that time.  http://www2.wsls.com/business/2010/..._spend_nearly_5_billion_per_year_i-ar-369804/  My share was ~$100 averaged out to $8.50/year. 

Around here most people scrounging firewood are using older 1/2 ton pickup trucks with less than 1500lbs of payload.  Not brand new 3/4 tons. that are rated for half a cord of green wood.

Most of you are right.  These trailers are cheap junk.  But most of you are wrong.  They are VERY useful and FAR more capable than most people give them credit for.  A "good" trailer is four times the price of the Harbor Freight ones and doesn't provide much more functionality.


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## fran35 (Feb 7, 2012)

I was in the same predicament. Check this out:

http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=5060243&convertTo=USD

I realize this is in Maryland, but there are always new listing popping up each week, and some in Fort Drum, NY. I picked up one of these last year for $300 and it will haul whatever I can throw in there. The suspension on these things are amazing and will last forever. They almost all have the dump feature, although I have not sued it myself. The only downside is that the trailer has such a high clearance that lifting rounds into the back can be a chore. In any case, check it out. I can haul a whole cord easily with my SUV.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

fran35 said:
			
		

> I was in the same predicament. Check this out:
> 
> http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=5060243&convertTo=USD
> 
> I realize this is in Maryland, but there are always new listing popping up each week, and some in Fort Drum, NY. I picked up one of these last year for $300 and it will haul whatever I can throw in there. The suspension on these things are amazing and will last forever. They almost all have the dump feature, although I have not sued it myself. The only downside is that the trailer has such a high clearance that lifting rounds into the back can be a chore. In any case, check it out. I can haul a whole cord easily with my SUV.


now that is a sensible trailer.  Where can I place a bid on/or buy one?  Maryland isn't that far from me, I'd buy one for the that price in a heartbeat!


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## richg (Feb 7, 2012)

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten. This applies to the original post, not the government surplus version.


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## fran35 (Feb 7, 2012)

Just check out that website and register. Maryland always has a bunch for sale. If you get really froggy, you could decide to pick up one of those diesel CUC V pickups or 5 tons that go for under $500


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## artmos (Feb 7, 2012)

+ 1  Jake!


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

fran35 said:
			
		

> Just check out that website and register. Maryland always has a bunch for sale. If you get really froggy, you could decide to pick up one of those diesel CUC V pickups or 5 tons that go for under $500


Thanks Fran!  I will keep an eye on that site!


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## Flatbedford (Feb 7, 2012)

fran35 said:
			
		

> I was in the same predicament. Check this out:
> 
> http://www.govliquidation.com/auction/view?id=5060243&convertTo=USD
> 
> I realize this is in Maryland, but there are always new listing popping up each week, and some in Fort Drum, NY. I picked up one of these last year for $300 and it will haul whatever I can throw in there. The suspension on these things are amazing and will last forever. They almost all have the dump feature, although I have not sued it myself. The only downside is that the trailer has such a high clearance that lifting rounds into the back can be a chore. In any case, check it out. I can haul a whole cord easily with my SUV.



I wonder what we the people paid for that trailer new? I'm guessing about 10 times what they sell for now.


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## ScotO (Feb 7, 2012)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

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I'll GUARANTEE at LEAST ten times.......probably more!


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## Dano5509 (Feb 8, 2012)

http://www.codytrailers.com/10_Ft_Big_Tex_Vanguard_Utility_Trailer_p/35sv-10.htm

This one is the 6.5' x 10' and if you did a little garage "re-org" or could get it through a fence into your backyard you would have a decent wood hauler.  This one has the 3500lb axle and the Big Tex site says it weighs in around 1000lbs so it should give you the hauling safety you need as long as you don't stack it too high.  I kicked myself for a couple years after building my Red Trailer up with the rails and mesh ramp because it was flimsy and I never felt comfortable with our 700lb Kawasaki ATV on it.  This one would make my drive a lot less stressful!!


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## Dano5509 (Feb 8, 2012)

http://www.codytrailers.com/Big_Tex_70TV_14_Tandem_Axle_Vanguard_Utility_Tra_p/70tv-14.htm

I really like the looks of this one but I would go with the 12' model.  Add brakes on both axles and LED lights and this would be great!!


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## MasterMech (Feb 8, 2012)

fran35 said:
			
		

> Just check out that website and register. Maryland always has a bunch for sale. If you get really froggy, you could decide to pick up one of those diesel CUC V pickups or 5 tons that go for under $500



Met a guy once who bought a full-size miltary Blazer with a diesel (6.5L or 6.2L, can't remember).  Heard it idling and had to ask him where the hell he found that.  Sure enough he had gone to one of these auctions and picked it up.


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## nate379 (Feb 9, 2012)

Says ~$3900 at the bottom of the page.  Sure is better to sell for a few hundred $$s vs just having it sit unused or just crush it for scrap price.



			
				Flatbedford said:
			
		

> fran35 said:
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## bubba3228 (Feb 9, 2012)

Trailers are cheaper, Trucks are handier IMHO.

http://www.allofcraigs.com/2011/01/...h&as;_nlo=&as;_nhi=&as_qdr=a&as;_epq=&as;_eq=

Look around you would be suprised how many solid trucks can be had, check'm out careful. Most good auto repair shops will do a used vehicle inspection and give you an idea of the repairs needed, if any.


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