Car trailer advice:
 

What do you know now, that you wish you knew then (before you purchased)?

I will be hauling various cars on few hour trips.
Some of them will be quite low(rider) cars.
Weights will range between 2500 and 6000 lbs.

Steel?
Aluminum?
Metal deck?
Wood deck?
Metal AND wood deck?

I'm not worried about wheels/tires; I have plenty of experience there, and will likely supply my own.

I just want a trailer that can sit 98% of the time, but we worry free and trusted when I do want to use it.

Many thanks.

I always liked my wood deck, if anything leaked on it it soaked in instead of leaving a slick surface to toss me on my assignment. Had mine when I was younger and 9 out of 10 vehicles going on it were shot boxes. Lol

i used a 22' tilt deck car trailer, recently. Makes getting the cars on a breeze. Lowest one was a gen1 viper. No brand was obvious, hydraulic tilt and regular winch.

If I could do it over again I would have saved all my pennies and bought an aluminum one. Obviously the most expensive choice, but they are light and pull well. I had a wood dove tail that I traded over to a steel deck. Replacing busted boards got old. Also really like the electric trailer brakes, make sure you spring for that option no matter what trailer you get.

Looooong ramps........enclosed or open

best car trailer I ever bought. no rattling ramps, tows straight, easy loading.... http://www.kwikload.com/products/car-hauler.html

Oil bath axles and self adjusting electric brakes. I prefer spring axles but torsion are fine if your not going off road. (fields, jobsites, ect)

I am guessing you are asking about open trailers. That being said, there is a few questions, 1) Will it be exclusive to vehicles or are you looking at hauling other things, like tractors, equipment, etc? 2) What budget do you want to be in and finally,3) What length?

For question number one, this will make a world of difference when looking, if it is exclusive to vehicles, I recommend a full steel w/dove tail, it will be designed with the tie downs where you need them and the ramps will be less aggressive and longer for a better angle. I also recommend purchasing a set of the ramp extenders for when the car is really low. (they are cheep and basically made of composite plastic so they are light and easy to carry).

I would also recommend getting a 20'-22' Trailer, not the standard 18' that most people sell. You get the bigger axles, more flexibility when loading vehicles, in other words, should you want to haul a Pickup or suburban, you would have that option for just a few hundred dollars more.

I personally own numerous trailers for different things, the "wood bottom" trailers are more designed for "utility" they will work for basically everything, but... The upkeep is greater, your tie downs are on the sides, not bed and the dove tail/ramps are steeper, my car trailers are much more user friendly for hauling cars, but limit you to basically just vehicles. and then, there are the enclosed....

On an open trailer, I also don't feel a big difference on Torsion or Spring Axles, torsion do pull a bit easier, but.... on an open trailer it is less noticeable because there is less weight. All will have electric brakes.

Personally I have never understood why anyone would buy an open aluminum car trailer? For the cost you can get a nice enclosed trailer and that takes it to a complete new level...

Like I said, budget is and will always be in the picture.... In trailers, you do get more for what you pay.....

Thanks everyone, great info.

Yes, open trailer. But I am not looking to spend a fortune on it.
But I also don't want cheap Chinese running gear under it.

These folks make a great trailer, several friends have owned them

http://haulmark.com/trailers/car-tra...rs/open-haco79

Order your own torsion axles that are larger with a de-rated suspension.

Bigger bearings, bigger breaks, same ride!

I've had a couple of enclosed trailers (and still do). My suggestion is to spec (at least) one size up axle spring package than you are planning to haul. Overbuild it so-to speak. If 3500 lb axles will do, I'd spec 5000 lb axles.

everything he said is the truth. i have an all steel 18ft and i really wish i would have spent the extra on an aluminum. the paint fades very fast on all of them and drives me nuts. and definitely get the electric brakes. so nice

I Have a 22' Featherlite It is a great Aluminum Trailer. I decided to get a longer trailer so I could put just about anything on it.

I recently bought a 24 foot featherlite aluminum open trailer. I have owned a ton of trailers. Finally spent the extra money and got aluminum. No longer have to worry about the trailer rotting away or having to paint it every few years. One thing to know about the featherlite trailers is that they do not have a dove tail and they require removing the fender to open the car door. Nothing holds their value like a featherlite. I have had hallmark enclosed trailers in the past that fell apart in no time. Many quality issues from day one with hallmark. Jeff wurl

Yeah I've seen that done but IMO it's better to just go with larger axles then required, and if leaf spring than yes you can also run the heavier rated leafs.

But torsion axles are different and are designed to run at 70-100% capacity, so going with a heavier suspension capacity will ruin the ride quality. That's why I recommend ordering larger capacity axles which, depending on size, come with larger bearings and brakes, and lowering the torsion suspension back to the correct capacity the trailer will carry.

Sydwayz already knows this but Electric Over Hydraulic brakes are the best.

Try to get some type of E-Track under the tires to ease strapping the wheels/tires directly to the trailer.

Figure out how you get in/out of car on the trailer due to fenders etc. Or, will you strictly winch it on off the trailer.

If you go with wood, quick as possible replace the boards with tongue and groove retaining wall lumber, and squeeze that in. It will tighten up Your trailer very nicely. You can even screw these to the metal cross members for extra integrity. I also like wood for the ability to nail/screw blocks down as needed when needed.

Longer than you think you'll need is good, for most all trailers. Tool box is also nice. Even if you don't have a dedicated winch on the trailer, some way to temp use a winch on the front of the trailer is a very good thing.

www.tommystrailers.com I have an 89, looks just like the new ones.

It was only briefly mentioned, but removable fenders is also an option I have and love. Most of the time I keep the fenders off unless I'm hauling something nice. Having removable fenders also allows you get wider track vehicles (IE trucks, jeeps, etc) on without buggering up the fenders. Also greatly helps on super low cars so that you can get the driver door open. First trailer I had didn't have that and I got sick of dukes of hazarding out of the window.

^what he said! Measure your door height of the bottom of the door on your car and make sure it'll clear the fenders. Some trailers are built more as utility trailers with bigger tires and taller fenders.

Also try to get a longer dovetail if the cars are low. Most I think are 2' try to fine one that's 4' and that'll help load the cars.

atc makes a real nice enclosed trailer good size dealer in conn called trailer depot good people large selection to chose from

Try to find trailer with 81 inches between the fenders, there are a lot with 77 inches. When i load my race car ride height is 3 1/2 inches. I attach trailer to truck and jack as far as it will go up then lay down some boards to extend ramps. I have a steel trailer and i cut fender in half and pinned to remove. Steel trailers require more upkeep then aluminum but is way more expensive. In my view it's just a trailer to get my toy a to b i rather spend money to go faster then have a fancy trailer.

Timely.

been shopping myself. Very competitive. Easy to +50-100% what you want to spend. Gotta be realistic.

What I need is a do everything open trailer to keep and use for many years

. I have a 27' aluminum enclosed for sleds but it is finished inside to the max and don't want to trash it with junk and mud ect.
Plus there are everyday tasks that are absolutely suited for an open trailer and the ease of loading/unloading.

I need to get around a couple commercial zero-turns, four 4-wheelers, lumber, pallets, dump/junk runs, and last of all use it for a car/small tractor ect. in the future as I will be messing with other stuff as I semi-retire/retire.

18 or 20' is all I foresee needing and I believe for me a car trailer is the best all-around use trailer to buy to keep.
The landscape type is out as Ideally I don't want rails. The only convenience are the swing gate ramps for 80% of my use.
I want to be able to get whatever onto the trailer easily virtually 360*

The spread in a steel 7K wood deck is $7-800 depending on quality, features ect. Once you get into the low 3's in steel, you might as well shop alum. The only thing I hear about alum is @7 or 10K the trailer is so light they bounce around pretty good with a light or no load.

So as a value-for-occasional use to me, it appears a 7K steel wood deck 18' or 20'under $2500 is where I look to be.
The down sides are:
unloaded weight to move it around
Being here in NNY I wouldn't want to use it in the winter, unless I had to, and have both the finish and structure last indefinitely.

There are dozens to choose from! The SureTrac seems to be higher end readily available and priced accordingly.

Is the powder-coat really that much more durable than paint on them?

I know my story is different but for the reasons above an open car trailer would be ideal so I am interested in anyone's experiences as much as Sydwayz

I'd go with 5k axles over 3500, price isn't much different and if you plan on keeping it for awhile you will end up using the extra capacity sooner or later. gets you bigger tires also.

I'll throw my 2 cents in. I have a 20 ft steel floor car hauler with dove tail and Does everything I need. Haul 4 wheelers, CJ 7,and an early camaro perfectly. Heck we even use it every year at Halloween for hay rides with the kids. It's heavy like 2 k plus but can drag at 75 unload no prob even with my half ton (use bags and weight dist hitch for cars and heavy loads). I didn't want to replace wood every few years so the metal floor is great. You can find mine @ sub $4k, it's aTexas Bragg Classic Car carrier I believe their are dealers all over the US. I plan keeping it a long time as it does everything we need. Another to note is how the ramps slide out from the rear and are wide with expanded metal works great when wet. I've have bad experiences with other style slick ramps and wet tires/ slicks.

http://www.texasbraggtrailers.com/pr...c-car-carrier/

I had a Texas Bragg classic car carrier with a 20 foot deck and all the options. It was a nice trailer. Started rusting in a few years and I had it blasted and then I painted it in epoxy primer and standox single stage. I sold it on eBay for more than what I paid for it in the end but it was done right. I recently bought my featherlite 24 footer as a two year old new left over and they took almost 4K off the price. Take a look at their locator and see if you can find one that been sitting around awhile. Jeff wurl

less expensive aluminums make me nervous.
There's an even bigger price spread in aluminum- there has to be a reason.

Wolverine is an example. Attractive price but still ur into 3500-4K for an 7K 18'. Kissing close to twice the price of steel.

Where do you draw the line? The one thing I will say is that even modestly cared for used steel that are ready-to-work appear to bring a lot of your $ back on resale.
Surprising.

Well have had several, waiting on another now but being jerked off by dealer, another story, but for your question, couple of things, beavertail w/long ramps, some sort of tool box with WINCH & battery inside(nothing worse than trying to push a 4000lb non running whatever up a freakin hill ! Install a onboard charger with a shorepower connecter for std ext cord(marinco makes a great one) to keep battery charged when you do need it, and last DONT buy a trailer from Chad Edwards @ LKN trailer sales...