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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
I have a need for a small utility trailer to haul around our property (not on roads). I'd like it to do things like haul firewood around, move equipment between buildings, haul fenceposts and barbed wire, etc. It would need to have decent tires and (I think) some minimal suspension for rolling over rough ground. What do you guys use for a trailer like this? Northern has some two and four-wheeled agri-fab trailers that looks like they'd work. Anyone have one of these? How does it work?
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
I have fooled around extensively with 2 wheel agrifab and similar trailers. They are fine and quite sturdy if you stay away from the $100 loss leader model.
The light duty cheapo will have a 3/4 inch axle, thinner sheet metal and believe it or not, plastic wheels with pneumatic tires.
The one you want will have a 1" axle, heavier sheet metal and metal wheels. An assessment of the various listed shipping weights will give you a clue as to the quality.
I would stay away from the imported from china model for that reason. Northern charges a bunch of money for shipping, and sometimes better deals can be found at Lowes, Home Depot and even Sears. I have a Craftsman cart that is very well made and the pricing was quite competitive when I added shipping to a Northern product.
BTW... none of them have any sort of suspension. I have one that I have modified with larger wheels that I use in really rough conditions and to haul a 125 gallon water tank.
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
I saw one the other dat at the tractor supply company that looked pretty slick. I think it was $200
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
A friend gave me an old utility trailer. It had an old spindles and drop front axle from the 20's which were welded and the rims from the 30's were welded on. I bought a new axle and had the pads moved in to fit the narrow frame. The box and frame is off a 20's pickup with tail gate and sides. It has a live stock ring in the center and wooded boards on the sides.
It will carry about 1/2 a cord of wood.
After repainting and replacing the top boards I probably had $200 in it. But if it lasts another 70 years I guess it will be worth it.
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
KWS... Can you do any fabrication? If so you have many options. Heck I have 3 or 4 axles and no telling how many wheels that will fit what and enought scrap angle iron to make a couple of nice carts and you can have what you want.
I don't have much free time this time of year but can point ya in the right direction.
I've got a pile of 6" channel picked out down at work to build a frame for my found in a hedge row 4 wheel wagon. Use this to haul logs and lumber and stuff home from the scrap bin at work.
Lots of old mobile home axles floating around some cutting a few scraps of angle iron, lots of welding shops will sell you their scraps for scrape prices per pound.
Enjoy today is the 2nd sunny day in a row we have had in 2 weeks. Boss has me at the design computer working on a design she has to start sewing today. ( Shhhhh I sneaked a peak here...)
Harvey
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
Harvey, I haven't done much metal fabrication since high school. I had one semester of metal shop nearly 30 years ago and even then we didn't do much welding or cutting. Mostly lathe, brake, and milling work. It would be fun to start building some of this stuff myself but don't have the tools. My wife would probably want to divorce me if I built a shop and then stocked it with tools after buying a tractor. She has been great but I don't want to push it! I will probably get a welder of some sort but need to study up on it first.
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
KWS... I'm not a welder either. I have a small ac/dc buzz box. I have a good warranty on my work: 30 feet or 30 minutes... I can get most stuff stuck together. (Well I'm not bad at it either). I looked at your address and see we are on opposite sides of the planet. But your freebie offer still stands... If you have some free time this winter...
I was out mowing and spotted a forgotten treasure. (wife calls it junk) A little frame from a popup camper. It was/is gonna be a light weight trailer for something some day. A little cutting and a little welding.
Watch your auctions many times you can get stuff you can use. I remember a cart like Peters is talking about a few years ago that went for $25. The wood wagon in my pics is to big for what you want but I bought that for $35 and it was still full. All rotted down even.
lots of treasures out there
Have FUN Harvey
PS if she let you get away with a little you can probably get away with a lot.
Of course you can always say: If we had this imolement I'd be able to do this for you...
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
Harvey, I really appreciate the offer. If you were closer I'd take you up on it - I'm sure I could find a deal on a welder somewhere. It would sure be a useful skill to have - it seems tractoring and welding go hand in hand.
I've already told my wife that "if I only had a tractor I could cut all the brush and build your retaining wall." So those are the first projects
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
I have a light duty trailer, but if I could make the decision over, I'd go with front quick-tach forks. I'm hoping to have front forks as my next attachment, and the trailer will quickly be history.
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Small utility trailor for use with tractor
We needed several small sturdy trailers for a special project we were doing for a really good customer, anybody else we would have told to bugger off, it was a real pain to do.
After fiddling around repairing, reinforcing and rebuilding the typical generic 'garden cart' type trailers my maintenance man & I decided there had to be something better. Since we were strictly controlled in width, by existing trees which were close together and HAD to stay, we decided a conventional box trailer wouldn't do, even though it would have been perfect other than being too wide.
What we ended up with worked fantastic, and still does, the employees took them home for yard duty. We started with the largest wheelbarrow pan we could find, a 10 cu. ft. polyethylene job from a heavy duty contractor's wheelbarrow. We mounted this on an axle made out of heavy wall steel pipe with axle stubs with 4 bolt hubs welded into the ends. We then welded a tongue to this and used the 'tipper' mechanism off a snowmobile trailer to allow the pan to dump. We used ATV type turf tires which gave us the necessary bit of suspension to stop breakage on tough ground.
Total cost per unit was $75 for the wheelbarrow pan, $100 for two wheels, $75 for two stubs with hubs, $50 for misc. parts for a total of $300 bucks plus welding time, etc.
Could I have bought something for that much, sure, would it have worked as well or lasted as long, I doubt it.
Best of luck.
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