Open Utility Trailers

Rack

Rack

cleonard:
To start off with I'd like to say that you made a pretty good choice there James.

OK now for some analysis.

It all starts with the tow vehicle and James has a somewhat marginal tow vehicle. I don't know all the numbers, but I feel that the first limitation that he will hit has to do with the tongue weight. Let's look at some of the numbers. His vehicle has a max trailer weight of 3500 pounds. With that trailer being a single axle that I'm guessing is without brakes the max rating on the trailer is likely 2990. Why? Well the single axle is usually 3500 pounds, but over 3000 and you must have trailer brakes. The empty weight should be right around 1000.

Those numbers look pretty good. You could put 4 bikes on the trailer and the trailer weight would only be about 2000 pounds. Hey that's great you think. It's 1500 pounds under the max, right. Well not exactly. You have to keep looking at the the numbers. I'll make the assumption that 4 people will be going along with the four bikes. Now things get ugly.

It's not just the bike. I'll start with James sized numbers the numbers get really bad for people of my kind of weight.. I will allocate 500 pounds per rider. That's 250 for the bike on the trailer and 250 for the rider plus his gear. We can break this up as 175 for the rider and 75 of stuff. So now we can add it up. The tow vehicle gets four people @175 each for a total of 700 pounds. I believe that the max payload is only 975 for James's tow vehicle. That leaves only 275 for the tongue weight. This might be achievable if you are very very careful with loading the trailer. This also means absolutely nothing but people in the vehicle and everything else in the trailer.

With three people it's a lot better. There is now 450 pounds of excess capacity for tongue weight any payload. Hey you might even be able to put a some stuff, like gear bags, in the vehicle. However, you still need to watch the weights even with three. With only two things become a lot easier.

One of my friends has a similar trailer. He found that putting the bikes all the way forward made for a lot of tongue weight. He ended up placing a wood beam across just behind the first vertical rail brace. That made for a nice front spot for gas cans and other stuff. You might need to push the bikes further aft if you ever plan on three riders. You really will need the bikes relatively close to centered over the axle.

Why are trailers always so darn complicated...
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After reading Carl's post maybe you should consider getting a 1/2 ton pick up :smirk:
 
rezrider

rezrider

James:
Exactly, plus it gets hooked up before it's loaded up. :thumb:


Hey actually agree with Ryan for once. :lol:
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140rider:
Come on people, it's a open utility trailer that will have what, 2 or 3 bikes on it? not that much weight :lol: easy lifting. Especially if he puts a box on back(counter balance).
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I know you're probably no serious about this however IF YOU ARE, it might make loadign the trailer a little difficult :prof:

No need to take the issue of some of us being a little concerned for his well-being any further... it was just a comment! :rolleyes:
 
530ktm

530ktm

This thread has way too many pages to read. Enclosed trailers are very nice but lack room and are heavy and $. Your vehicle is not a very big or strong vehicle to be towing a big trailer with 1,000lbs of bikes and then extra weight with tools, gas cans, etc. A decent 10 foot single axle trailer would not be too much for your rig with 2 or 3 bikes. Somewhere in the beginning pages I saw one that was posted and that is the way I would go, and not aluminum either.

Just looked and it was your post that had the picture of the trailer. :thumb: Never seen one like that made in aluminum but it could be good. How much though?
 
LeadHead

LeadHead

I forgot to mention... we always pulled our open utility with 2 ATVS and a bike (sometimes two) and then gear and nearly 5 people. My Dad always pulled it for a while in a 97 Jeep Wrangler and I dont remember him ever complaining about it driving. It did blow the rear axle the day of trading it for a 79 Chevy K10. After that was gone, we used our 05 Trailblazer to haul the load and that little wrecker is still running, given it's had a check engine light for the last 50,000 miles.

That's my expirence in the SUV and trailer. The funny thing is, that Trailblazer and James' soccer van most likely has a higher tow capacity than any of my trucks (1979 half-ton shortbed Chevy K10 and 1985 CUCV M1009 with a 3/4 ton rating)
 
Travace

Travace

LeadHead:
I've always lifted my trailer. Besides, none of us are good enough drivers to get the ball anywhere close to the hitch. :smirk:

Lift and pull, my friends. We did use 2-3 people when we had to lift it loaded down with 2 ATVs and 2 dirt bikes.
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slanted driveway and alone makes this suck really bad. with stregas utility trailer i coudnt even get the hitch to latch down all the way till i pulled out to the street where it was flat :(
 
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