Speedway Bought Me a Trailer Hitch

RJM62

RJM62

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Geek on the Hill
Or at least most of one. It was largely paid for by Amazon gift cards I got from using Speedway gas. My cost was $89.10, including the isolated circuit lighting kit (good to prevent your car wiring from frying if the trailer lights short). Woo-hoo!

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I mainly wanted the cargo carrier for things like shlepping gasoline and such around. I don't even own a trailer. But I installed the lighting kit and ball because it seemed silly not to.

Rich
 
Where's the wiring connection? My hitch has a covered socket the trailer harness plugs into.

Cheers
 
Well, there's not much I'd tow with a 1-1/4" hitch, but the cargo tray looks pretty handy.
 
RJM62 said:
Or at least most of one. It was largely paid for by Amazon gift cards I got from using Speedway gas. My cost was $89.10, including the isolated circuit lighting kit (good to prevent your car wiring from frying if the trailer lights short). Woo-hoo!

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I mainly wanted the cargo carrier for things like shlepping gasoline and such around. I don't even own a trailer. But I installed the lighting kit and ball because it seemed silly not to.

Rich
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Rich - just a thought - about 20 years ago I bought the Harbor Freight 4x8 utility trailer. This was before Harbor Frieght had stores and was a mail order catalog. I was skeptical about the quality but a friend had one and it was work the a try. I was putting an addition on the house at the time and all I had was an SUV. I have hauled half a house worth of lumber and drywall over the years. I still have it and use it regularly. It just fold it over for storage but you can also stand it on end to take up even less space. It has been a $200 pickup truck that has lasted 20 years. You may may want to pick something like that up for things that are bigger than your carrier can handle. Definitely not contractor worthy but works well for the occasional construction project.
 
Jim_CAK said:
Rich - just a thought - about 20 years ago I bought the Harbor Freight 4x8 utility trailer. This was before Harbor Frieght had stores and was a mail order catalog. I was skeptical about the quality but a friend had one and it was work the a try. I was putting an addition on the house at the time and all I had was an SUV. I have hauled half a house worth of lumber and drywall over the years. I still have it and use it regularly. It just fold it over for storage but you can also stand it on end to take up even less space. It has been a $200 pickup truck that has lasted 20 years. You may may want to pick something like that up for things that are bigger than your carrier can handle. Definitely not contractor worthy but works well for the occasional construction project.
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Actually, I bought a utility trailer today because of a convergence of three factors:

1. A 10 percent discount coupon from Tractor Supply that would expire on June 30th;
2. 5 percent cash back from Discover for purchases from "home improvement" stores (which does include Tractor Supply, according to Discover) that also expires on June 30th; and
3. The fact that my Discover card is relatively new, so they'll be matching the cash back at the end of my first year (in September).

In effect, that made for a 20 percent discount, bringing the effective cost for the $750.00 trailer down to $600.00. I can live with that. I usually shoot for 33 percent, but a 20 percent discount is passable. Barely.

Here are some shots from the trailer's first mission: Picking up a freezer from Sam's Club (5 percent cash back for being a Sam's Club "Plus" member, plus the 5 + 5 from Discover, for an effective 15 percent discount).

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I also got a 20 percent discount on the tie-down straps and some other stuff that's not in the picture using another coupon (plus the 5 plus 5 from Discover), making the effective discount 30 percent on those items. Not a bad day for my tightwad self.

I could not, unfortunately, negotiate a discount from DMV on the registration ($23.75), nor from the mechanic for the state inspection ($6.00). :(

The Soul pulls the trailer surprisingly well when lightly loaded like that. I had to take some of the sustained hills a gear or two lower than usual, but that was about it. I didn't weigh the freezer, but it felt like about a bit over a hundred pounds when I lifted it. The trailer plus the spare tire is about 530 pounds. The MGW for the trailer is 2000 pounds, but I wouldn't put anything anywhere near the max payload on the trailer with such a small tow vehicle.

I think the drag from the ramp gate actually creates more of a load than the weight. Had I thought about it I'd have removed it before the trip. It's like a sail, and I didn't need it to onload or offload the freezer.

I actually had no intention of buying a trailer until I got the 10 percent coupon from TSC. When I found out that Discover considers Tractor Supply a "home improvement" store, that convinced me to go ahead and buy it now while the effective discount was 20 percent. It's not a "high-end" trailer by any means. But for what I plan to use it for, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Rich
 
That trailer looks identical to the HF one the other poster was mentioning. Probably made in the same plant.

They work quite well for what most folks need a little cargo trailer for.
 
Nice setup. We used a carrier like the one in your pictures for the cooler and extra gear when family camping. This was on the back of a 2000 Mazda MPV. One word of warning: the extra load that far back cause the MPV (which had 6 of us in it) to wear out tires at an alarming rate. It just caused the back tires to take a huge amount of the effective load.

But it sure was handy!
John
 
I've got that same carrier for my Corolla, which we use for extra gear when traveling like jsstevens. And I pull my jet ski, which is 600 lbs plus the weight of the trailer, whatever that is. I've been surprised at how easily my little sedan handles those things.
 
I used the trailer again today to buy another long-delayed purchase: a new washing machine. My old one has been on its last leg for about five years. I've fixed it many times, but now the pump is on its way out, and I'm tired of fixing it.

Lowes had a GE 3.8 cubic foot top-loader (I hate front-loaders) on sale for $359.00, which seems to be about what they actually sell for, give or take a few bucks. The machine gets good reviews and seems like a nice enough machine. MSRP is $499.00. So I decided to buy one. Lowes gave me 10 percent veteran's discount -- that's one of the reasons I shop there -- so that knocked it down to $323.10. Plus I get the 5 + 5 from Discover, so the final cost will be $290.80 (excluding taxes). Not bad. I also needed a long discharge hose and a tarp because it was pouring out. I walked out paying $377.09 for everything, including the taxes.

The machine weighed 145 pounds packaged. The trailer weighs about 530 with the spare, so the total weight was about 675 pounds. I bought the washing machine in Oneonta, which is up in the mountains in Otsego County. The roads leading there are long and steep. The Soul handled them quite well at one or two gears lower than usual. On the lower turns I needed to drop two gears. On the faster straight runs, I needed to drop one gear.

I'm sure it's the drag from the ramp that's eating up the MPGs. I've carried almost that weight in people in the Soul with only a few MPG loss. I think I may fabricate another door that only goes up to the rail level and use it when I don't need the ramp. It's an easy enough welding job.

Rich
 
RJM62 said:
I used the trailer again today to buy another long-delayed purchase: a new washing machine. My old one has been on its last leg for about five years. I've fixed it many times, but now the pump is on its way out, and I'm tired of fixing it.

Lowes had a GE 3.8 cubic foot top-loader (I hate front-loaders) on sale for $359.00, which seems to be about what they actually sell for, give or take a few bucks. The machine gets good reviews and seems like a nice enough machine. MSRP is $499.00. So I decided to buy one. Lowes gave me 10 percent veteran's discount -- that's one of the reasons I shop there -- so that knocked it down to $323.10. Plus I get the 5 + 5 from Discover, so the final cost will be $290.80 (excluding taxes). Not bad. I also needed a long discharge hose and a tarp because it was pouring out. I walked out paying $377.09 for everything, including the taxes.

The machine weighed 145 pounds packaged. The trailer weighs about 530 with the spare, so the total weight was about 675 pounds. I bought the washing machine in Oneonta, which is up in the mountains in Otsego County. The roads leading there are long and steep. The Soul handled them quite well at one or two gears lower than usual. On the lower turns I needed to drop two gears. On the faster straight runs, I needed to drop one gear.

I'm sure it's the drag from the ramp that's eating up the MPGs. I've carried almost that weight in people in the Soul with only a few MPG loss. I think I may fabricate another door that only goes up to the rail level and use it when I don't need the ramp. It's an easy enough welding job.

Rich
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Or just remove the ramp...use another strap if you want a back-up safety stop.
 
denverpilot said:
That trailer looks identical to the HF one the other poster was mentioning. Probably made in the same plant.

They work quite well for what most folks need a little cargo trailer for.
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The one Rich has is a little nicer trailer than I have. That type is more heavy duty than the folding one I have. I think mine only carrys 900 pounds. I bought the folding trailer to save space. It basically fits in front of my boat trailer in the garage.
If anyone looks at the Harbor freight trailers - make sure you get the one with larger tires. If you do any towing at highway speeds you want larger wheels to keep the RPM down on the axis bearings.
For those of us that only need to do occasinal hauling, utility trailers are a good option.
 
Jim_CAK said:
The one Rich has is a little nicer trailer than I have. That type is more heavy duty than the folding one I have. I think mine only carrys 900 pounds. I bought the folding trailer to save space. It basically fits in front of my boat trailer in the garage.
If anyone looks at the Harbor freight trailers - make sure you get the one with larger tires. If you do any towing at highway speeds you want larger wheels to keep the RPM down on the axis bearings.
For those of us that only need to do occasinal hauling, utility trailers are a good option.
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I know the one from Harbor Freight that you're referring to. They seem to be really well-made. My purchase from Tractor Supply was more of an opportunistic one because of the convergence of the various discounts and because I'm already enrolled in their rewards program.

I have the trailer parked behind a big pine tree by the shed now. I'm debating what kind of weather protection I can use to delay rusting. I actually could park it in the basement if I moved some of the junk around. I have double doors into the basement. It might be worth doing to avoid the rust and the electrical problems from being exposed to the elements.

It definitely seems like the kind of thing that will find uses for itself. Previously I'd drive to my dad's and borrow his pickup and/or trailer, or rent a truck from the local U-Haul, when I needed to schlep something bulky. But dad lives 35 miles away and U-Haul gets pricey with the mileage. This is a lot more convenient and, in the not very long run, more economical (especially because New York doesn't require insurance on personal-use trailers).

Rich
 
Nice. I would have probably just went with smaller LED running lights instead of full stop lights, but it's functional nonetheless.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Nice. I would have probably just went with smaller LED running lights instead of full stop lights, but it's functional nonetheless.
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Thanks.

I really needed the license plate mount more than I needed the taillights because it's the plate, not the lights, that's blocked when the rack is loaded. But to satisfy the State, the plate needs to be lit if I use the carrier at night (which I do). So it was just as easy to buy the trailer lighting kit at Lowes while I was there buying something else. After the veteran's discount, it was about $20.00, and it included everything I needed.

Rich
 
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