[Brian Baker]

Posting here as I think this is the best place for the most traffic of people using trailers. Opinions on this one for a budget model open trailer? I know most budget steel trailers are flimsy but this one appears the use C-channel stock on the deck cross supports too and not just the main frame rails.

https://www.performance40east.com/20...mYg%7CpMf.html

[ponyakr]

Wow ! Trailer prices have really gone up, in recent years !

Wasn't many years ago, I could have bought a pretty nice metal deck trailer for around $3000 or a bit less. But, there are several trailer manufacturers not too far from me, in Northeast Texas.

At today's prices, you might wanna check with some good welders in your area. In some places, there are welders that will build a trailer, to make a few extra bucks.

Also might wanna check with the bracket racers in your area. A few of 'em still use open trailers. They may know of a better price, OR, may know someone who is switching to an enclosed trailer, & may have a good open trailer for sale.

But, if you want a new commercially built trailer, I suppose most of the prices will be similar.

Just out of curiosity, the trailer you linked has 6000lb axles & a 9900lb GVWR. Most cars weight less than 4000lbs. Are you planning to haul heavier loads, than just a car ?

[firechickenman]

I really like my tilt bed trailer. I can't remember ever wishing it had ramps instead. I've owned it since 2004. Mine just has 3500 lb axles and 205/75R15 tires and has been a great car hauler. Here's the link to the newer version...

https://www.hhtrailer.com/product/speedloader-tiltbed/

[Jim Zeek]

i don't like the trailers that the ramps sit in slots. i have a 20' big tex. diveley trailers are also good for the price. i know several that are in service over 20 years. http://www.econotrailer.com/index.html

[Jay S]

I am not really a fan of the 6000 lbs axles and 15” tires. If you have plans to come close to a decent payload I much prefer 7k axles and 16” tires. The tires are much much tougher. Less flats.

I prefer the tilt beds for cars. We have both right now. I have several cars that have trouble getting up the ramps because of low clearance on our dove tail. Loading up my T/A I have to find a ditch or the front spoiler hits. It is a 20ft with 7k axles. My favorite car hauler trailer was a 18 ft with a short dove tail and 5k axles. We have built a couple tilt beds, one was a 16ft the other was a 18ft straight bed. The 18ft trailers both had floor jacks to tilt them. They are pretty slick economical trailers. I have been around a couple 20’ trailers with the 12’ short tilt bend on the back and a 8ft platform on the front. They are great for skid steers, not great for a car. The tilt bed is to short.

[mysticmissle]

Doug chell is running around with the econo trailer I bought in the mid 90s! Pretty good piece for the money.
For towing a can am I think you should err on the heavy duty side. That’s won’t have any low trailer loading issues I would not suspect

[ponjohn]

My reservation for tilt trailer is, what if you need to load additional items, like a golf cart. What if the car is not forward enough to tilt it and too far forward to get the cart on?


I had a 20 ft deck Brimar 9990lb, full steel deck. Great trailer, very low at the dove tail. Ramps can be used anywhere on the dove tail.

[hp 400 dave]

I purchased a Cam trailer a few months ago. It is a 7 ton equipment trailer. They are very nicely built. Both structure and wiring is top notch. I highly recommend that brand.

[goatless]

I wouldn't call that a "budget trailer", and with the 7350lb. payload capacity no Pontiac is gonna get anywhere near that capacity. I bought a very similar Sure Trac (Sure Trac and Cam Superline are made by the same company) trailer last year for towing my small backhoe and my cars when I don't want to use the enclosed. Anyhow, been very happy with the quality. If you are only going to tow the CanAm you could get by with lighter trailer that would cost less. Before I bought the new one last year I had a Big Tex 70CH that had a 7000lb. GVWR (5000lb.payload) that I used and abused for 14 years and weighed about 500lbs less.

[Jay S]

This link is our 20’ dove tail we pull. Which looks similar to your link Brian. Only we have the 8 bolts axles, the link shows a 6 bolt pattern like the one your looking at Post 1 with 16” tires.. They are built heaven. We haul a 10800+ lbs Deere tracked skid loader around with it. IRC, it was just under $5000. We have the one the hidden ramps and not the flip downs. This is the one I can’t get my T/A up one without finding a ditch.

The car trailer that I prefer is a H&H speedloader. They have a nice web site. Trailer mfg is regional, some are owned by some nationwide companies. I think H&H might have some sister trailer companies. We have a enclose H&H too. The H&H 18’ tilt bed is a lot cheaper, mid $3000s.

https://buckdandy.net/big-buck-car-h...00-lbs-gvwr-2/

https://www.hhtrailer.com/

['ol Pinion head]

Trailer "need" all depends on what the range of intended use... I'll never need a tilt deck trailer, just ridiculously heavy for my own towing needs. Have pulled two different tilt beds, for the massive amt of extra weight, will stick with a high quality built treated wood deck trailer with rear slide in ramps.

5th wheels... A few years back, a good friend & I made a 10 hour round trip for a small 50 year old travel trailer & a LeMans parts car. Both were strapped down on his 36ft 5th wheel open trailer. Though I've hauled in multiple hundreds of parts cars & project cars over the years, its been a fairly rare occasion that I was picking up more than one at a time from the same seller & could actually use such a trailer. With the concerns of storage space and having to keep good tires on a rarely used 5th wheel trailer, just not a trailer I'd use much.

My own exp with 18ft open car trailers, have owned 4 different 18 ft open trailers over the last 32 years. First was an 18ft steel tread plate square front corner heavy POS from local trailer mfg (Terry's Trailers)... the biggest mistake I've ever made buying a car trailer. Had it for little over two years, then sold it. The second was a damaged in the right rear corner 1990 Featherlite that an old friend & I totally repaired & I sold the next Spring. In the end it was too nice a cartrailer for me to regularly use & in letting it go, was a good money maker.

Next open trailer I had built around '94. Local trailer builder took my notes & built the car trailer with mitered front corners & close to 5 ft of tongue structure in front of the deck. Bulldog hitch, fold up jack. Such design allowed getting in & out of tight spots where square front corner car trailers wouldn't go. With the mitered front corners, a dovetail, and open pit design the last 7 ft, & extra steel loops around the perimeter, it was easily the most functional trailer I've owned. The open pit feature made it easy to crawl up under the rear of a car & cutoff an errant exhaust pipe, remove a rearend, etc. This open trailer held up flawlessly, yes it was a C channel frame rail /angle iron frame design trailer. It's Wolmanized treated wood deck exhibited no rot in nearly 20 years of usage & outdoor storage. With extra stake pockets down both sides, angle iron crossmembers every 14-16" along the front 11 feet (wider spans further back), it made for a very sturdy trailer. New Years Eve of 2015, unfortunately it was stolen or id still be hauling with it. It's replacement, my current 18' open car trailer was bought used off FaceBook Marketplace in 2015. Though it was not the perfect 18 ft open cartrailer, right off the bat, with several mods, it has performed great, was hauling with it earlier today.

My own take.... the big trailer company's, many from down this way, build very similar 18ft open car trailers. The cheaper full deck open trailers around here are now either Big Tex's or entry level clones, not much for the money. Some niche car trailer companys will call attention to their rectangular tubing frames while putting down C channel/angle iron construction frames. Many mfg'ers will offer a steel tread plate deck with with wide spans between angle iron crossmembers. Such built steel deck trailers look real pretty when new, but are typically poorly constructed & it will show with continual use. Such treadplate steel deck will often have low spots within a few years of regular use. Another issue is the steel treadplate will burn your arms & unprotected legs in the summer. They also can be fairly heavy, considering their poor frame construction. From my experience, the best of both worlds for a working open style car trailer, it will have a treated wood floor with a steel tread plate covered dovetail, mitered front corners with a lockable receiver slide in & pit pin attachment winch. For a seldom used car show type usage trailer that's stored inside, most will never have a need for such a removable winch. Have also found there are times out in the sticks, that I need the ability to move the winch to slide into the HD receiver hitch on the back of my Cummins Dodge. That style winch mounting isn't a feature of a bought off a lot car trailer, but was not that hard to fabricate.

[77 TRASHCAN]

I’m no trailer expert. Reading different folks info about trailers was helpful and confusing... LOL.
Some things I’d think about as mentioned by several.

The trailer’s weight and weight capacity. It’s nice to have a heavier duty trailer than needed, but this affects your ability to tow it down the road. Your tow vehicle needs the proper power AND brakes to pull a heavier trailer...

Oiled axle bearings are the best, not sure if these are available on lighter duty trailers. I’d ask though. Going through trailer bearings, cleaning and packing bearings is a lot of work. Oiled bearings don’t require all this effort, just have to make sure the oil doesn’t leak out.

Bigger tires, are heavier duty tires. I’d stay away from 15 inch tires, also if possible. A trailer with 8 lug wheels will be a give away that the trailer is a heavy duty unit. May be heavier than you want to pull. 6 lug wheels will likely be 16 inch or larger tires, which is good.

Wood floors on trailers I’ve borrowed usually gets me in the trailer floor repair business when I borrow one of these. Not something I care to do..

Get the best hitch possible and trailer brakes !!!

[Brian Baker]

Not my first rodeo with trailers, it's just been 15 years since I've owned one.

I'll never be pulling anything larger/heavier than a car with it, with the largest car being (for example) a full size GM from '61-'76. Primarily it will be for the Can Am on any road trip that's more than about a 2 hour drive one-way, an for picking up any "strays" I might want to bring home as a project.

Speaking of prices, the last trailer I bought was a 20' Premier around 2000. I think I paid $2600 for it...brand new.

[Brian Baker]

Oh yea...no wood decks for me. I prefer the solid deck all the way across.

[Mr Anonymous]

I have a 16ft open with 14ft of flat and 2ft of dovetail. 3500lb axles, 205/15 tires. It hauls everything I need it to haul. I stay on top of maintenance, use good tires, and have brakes on BOTH axles. Most budget trailers have brakes on just one axle. Adding it to the other axle makes a significant improvement, it sure did in my case, and the time/money investment was minimal.

Regarding trailer length, its important to note where the car's center of gravity is in relation to the axles. We've all see the idiot with the trailer loaded so front heavy that the tow vehicle can hardly steer. In my experience, my 16ft trailer hauls best when the car on it has the rear axle just ahead of the dovetail. Any further front and excessive tongue weight makes it less pleasant. Now if you scale that situation up to an 18ft trailer with similar axle placement, you will find that you now have some unused space in front of the car.

Regardless of which one you get, put tape or paint marks on the trailer/ramps to know automatically if you have the item youre loading lined up correctly.

[Jay S]

Plus side of the steel deck is the resale stays higher longer.

We have both types of flooring. It always seemed like on our steel diamond type floor if your load shifts for some reason instead of sliding over the the next board, it slides off of the trailer, and has a tendency to test your riggings skills. The one I have always seemed to be slick any moisture at all on the trailer it is impossible to load. A cheap floor is bad enough in damp conditions. But trying to load the steel floor we find it is safer just to wait.

Also we have had to replace a couple boards on the wood floor trailer, versus a section of the floor and the floor joists on the solid steel. Not that it will happen to you. Our trailers see some serious abuse.

FWIW, The heavier axle trailers also rides terrible empty.

[chiefbigb]

You want a 18ft. I have had a few 16ft and the extra 2 feet is well worth it. Solid steel floor is the way to go. My current one is a down to earth which sits up higher than a standard car trailer. Removable fender wells are nice to have also. Bought this one in 05 new for 2500. Now they are about 3500.

[Sirrotica]

Not that anyone could afford one of these (starts at $13,999, base model), but they are the ultimate in car trailers:......

https://www.airbaggedtrailers.com/

[Transamric]

Great feedback guys. But not many comments regarding aluminum open trailers.
I'll soon be replacing my old Palavan Engineering open trailer and want to keep the scale weight reasonably low.

[69Goat1]

I have had a Maxey car hauler for many years that I haul many vehicles on including using it to haul my 09 Ram 2500 82 miles to a transmission shop once and I have hauled my GTO up to 300 miles at one time but hope to smash that by hauling it to Norwalk this year if we get the engine figured out. I use it a lot also in my self employment business and I haven’t seen anything tougher out there. It’s a solid deck 18’ with a Dovetail. I have the 5500 lb axles and I am using a 15” 10 ply on it and those fenders have no bends in them even though I have had to actually drive over them to load some of the stuff I have hauled. It’s been a great trailer since I bought it in 2003...



The trailer you pictured looks like a good one and the only thing I don’t like is the ramps on yours...my ramps are pretty wide and you can place them anywhere along the back...makes it easier for me because most of the time I load my car by myself in the dark so I like the wider ramp...


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