What type of Utility Trailer is best for hauling one ton of wood pellets?

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Don2222

Don2222

Minister of Fire
Feb 1, 2010
9,117
Salem NH

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I have seen many smaller trailers come in the yard for a ton of wood pellets. I can say that a trailer with a detaching tail gate or side rails works best when you are getting loaded by a forklift. The lift gate prevents the skid from being pushed forward enough to even the weight out on the trailer. I also suggest to get at least one nice heavy duty 2" ratchet strap they cost about $50 at tractor supply. One emergency stop or animal running in the road and pellets also end up on the road with out a good strap. http://www.tractorsupply.com/traile...hooks-10-000-lb-maximum-2-in-x-40-ft--3010509
 
i Have a 6.5x10 that I put a 36" side kit on... Its made in the USA (Not like HD, TSC, or Lowes) and only cost $1,00. Also has a 3,500 Payload. so after the weight of the trailer and the side kit. Its still good for well over a ton and it has a Landscapers gate on the back,
 

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DexterDay said:
i Have a 6.5x10 that I put a 36" side kit on... Its made in the USA (Not like HD, TSC, or Lowes) and only cost $1,00. Also has a 3,500 Payload. so after the weight of the trailer and the side kit. Its still good for well over a ton and it has a Landscapers gate on the back,
Click to expand...

That is a real nice one Dexter. How do you get the pellets loaded? Can you remove the Landscape gate?

Below is the 4x6' one I am using that belongs to a friend.

Notice the fancy old cut aluminum ladder for a gate. Also the real slick wheel fenders made from broken re-treads!! LOL


Do you think that will hold a ton??
 

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Your probably gonna need a trailer with a single 3500 pound axle. The trailer will way in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds (a little less probably) yielding about a 2500 pound payload. It seems like you can buy those for about $1000 bucks at a big box store. A small pickup or SUV will probably suffice for a tow vehicle with a trailer in this weight range.

I used these to put sides on mine:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330975_200330975
 
MarkinNC said:
Your probably gonna need a trailer with a single 3500 pound axle. The trailer will way in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds (a little less probably) yielding about a 2500 pound payload. It seems like you can buy those for about $1000 bucks at a big box store. A small pickup or SUV will probably suffice for a tow vehicle with a trailer in this weight range.

I used these to put sides on mine:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330975_200330975
Click to expand...

The hitch on my 1999 4 wheel drive Subaru Legacy Wagon says 3500 lbs. Would that work ok?
 
Yes Don, the Gate comes off the Back. Very easy to do. I had to do it several times. Easily done with 1 Man. But a cake walk with 2.
 
Way off subject here but, tell ur friend that I love the fenders on his trailer Don!!!! To the OP, I would buy used. Trailers these days like the one you posted are OUTRAGEOUSLY priced IMO.
 
I just looked at this trailer from a local dealer near my home in Post Falls, Idaho. The C&B Du-Tility trailer was set up with a 5200 lb axle, LED lights (standard) and is rated to hold 3200lbs of cargo. Its 6x10 and has a similar steel floor you see in most dump trailers. It is really well made and the hooks on the sides and front are all welded on and would be great for a cargo net. Pricing is $3500 for the heavier axle..... I liked the looks of this one and C&B seems to have a decent dealer network...

http://www.cbtrailers.com
 
Don2222 said:
MarkinNC said:
Your probably gonna need a trailer with a single 3500 pound axle. The trailer will way in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds (a little less probably) yielding about a 2500 pound payload. It seems like you can buy those for about $1000 bucks at a big box store. A small pickup or SUV will probably suffice for a tow vehicle with a trailer in this weight range.

I used these to put sides on mine:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330975_200330975
Click to expand...

The hitch on my 1999 4 wheel drive Subaru Legacy Wagon says 3500 lbs. Would that work ok?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not. What the hitch is rated for and what the car are rated for a 2 separate things. My wife has a 2002 Forester and it is either not recommended for towing or is less than 2000 pounds. I googled your car. The 1999 legacy is rated to tow 1000 pound with a manual transmission and 2000 pounds with an automatic. Link:

http://www.cars101.com/subaru_legacy_archive98_99.html

So towing a ton is out. You might be able to put 1/2 ton of pellets on a small trailer and make more trips. That dump trailer posted would probably weigh too much for your car almost by itself. Subaru's are great cars and we really happy with ours. But the drive line parts are not inexpensive.
 
Most trailers are going to handle a ton.
 
MarkinNC said:
Don2222 said:
MarkinNC said:
Your probably gonna need a trailer with a single 3500 pound axle. The trailer will way in the neighborhood of 1000 pounds (a little less probably) yielding about a 2500 pound payload. It seems like you can buy those for about $1000 bucks at a big box store. A small pickup or SUV will probably suffice for a tow vehicle with a trailer in this weight range.

I used these to put sides on mine:
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200330975_200330975
Click to expand...

The hitch on my 1999 4 wheel drive Subaru Legacy Wagon says 3500 lbs. Would that work ok?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not. What the hitch is rated for and what the car are rated for a 2 separate things. My wife has a 2002 Forester and it is either not recommended for towing or is less than 2000 pounds. I googled your car. The 1999 legacy is rated to tow 1000 pound with a manual transmission and 2000 pounds with an automatic. Link:

http://www.cars101.com/subaru_legacy_archive98_99.html

So towing a ton is out. You might be able to put 1/2 ton of pellets on a small trailer and make more trips. That dump trailer posted would probably weigh too much for your car almost by itself. Subaru's are great cars and we really happy with ours. But the drive line parts are not inexpensive.
Click to expand...

Wow, great info MarkinNC

Thank-you!
 
I'm surprised the hitch says 3500lbs on it since most hitch manufacturers downrate the hitch to match the vehicles max. tow capacity rating. Maybe it wasn't a "custom" hitch? Or perhaps Don found that rating on the ball/ball mount.
 
Often vehicles get a different tow rating in the US compaired to other parts of the world due to liability issues.

My brother has a manual mazda3, in the US do not tow.
Same car in Europe is rated to tow 2000 lbs.
 
MasterMech said:
I'm surprised the hitch says 3500lbs on it since most hitch manufacturers downrate the hitch to match the vehicles max. tow capacity rating.
Click to expand...

I've found the exact opposite to be true. Your standard pickup has a class three hitch and they "all" seem to have that standard 500/5000 or 1000/10,000 with a WDH rating regardless of the truck's tow rating. The hitch rating is like the ball rating, completely independent of the vehicles ratings.

It is also pretty dang tough to figure out what the actual GCWR is for a given truck. You can NOT use the manual's tow rating, those are bogus and make many assumptions. You need to call the manufacturer with the VIN # to get the actual GCWR, subtract the measured empty vehicle weight and then you are left with the real tow rating which will almost always be lower than the manual's tow rating. I've been down this road with a half ton chevy.

It might be easier to just load bags into the subaru and make trips. That or have the ton delivered.
 
A local trailer sales and service place near me often have used trailers that take in for trade.
Not as cheap as buying on CL but they wont sell crap either

It is amazing the price people want for their old junk trailers on CL. I have been looking for a while.

Like a good chainsaw they get bought up pretty quick if its a killer deal.
 
I've had a couple Subarus and towed a boat and utility trailers.

Various years have been rated 2000, 2400 and 2700, etc. The hitches themselves are rated up to 3500 (some of them), but I installed a 2500 LB on our 2008.

I'm not a gear head, but would think that a little cheating is OK when the conditions are right - that is, if only the driver and no other loads are in the car, the distance is relatively short, the driver is careful and the roads are not incredibly steep.

Meaning, as usual, to use your common sense!

I think a lot of the Subie limit is due to the somewhat skimpy engines....and transmissions. That is, you don't want to be hauling a car full of passengers along with a ton plus on a cross country trip.

The diesel Subie sold in other countries is rated for almost two tons!

Here is a ref chart- looks like our is 2700, so a trailer and ton of pellets are good to go...
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/towing/towing-capacity/vehicle/towing-capacity-chart34.htm
 
Webmaster said:
I've had a couple Subarus and towed a boat and utility trailers.

Various years have been rated 2000, 2400 and 2700, etc. The hitches themselves are rated up to 3500 (some of them), but I installed a 2500 LB on our 2008.

I'm not a gear head, but would think that a little cheating is OK when the conditions are right - that is, if only the driver and no other loads are in the car, the distance is relatively short, the driver is careful and the roads are not incredibly steep.

Meaning, as usual, to use your common sense!

I think a lot of the Subie limit is due to the somewhat skimpy engines....and transmissions. That is, you don't want to be hauling a car full of passengers along with a ton plus on a cross country trip.

The diesel Subie sold in other countries is rated for almost two tons!

Here is a ref chart- looks like our is 2700, so a trailer and ton of pellets are good to go...
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/towing/towing-capacity/vehicle/towing-capacity-chart34.htm
Click to expand...

Yes, Craig I quite agree.

To my surprise my 1999 Subaru has a nice Draw-Tite Hitch.
As you can see from the pic I just took, the hitch IS rated for 3500 lbs. Of course it even says on the Hitch that the limitation is the car in this case being rated for 2,000 lbs. In my case I would be going LESS than 2 miles to one of 3 stores that carries wood pellets on very good FLAT roads. In this case with the PROPER Trailer I should be fine. Thanks again for your comments.
 

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Tandem axle trailers will allow for some "cheating" since they help immensely to avoid excessive tongue weight on the vehicle. I suppose careful balancing on a single axle would help but they can be so sensitive I would hesitate to recomend it. I'd be concerned about the additional load on the vehicle's brakes too and there's been no mention of trailer brakes yet. Whatever you wind up doing, use your head and if your not comfortable, then STOP! It's not worth losing your trailer, pellets, car, or life over. Especially when pickup trucks can be rented inexpensively for a few hours.
 
All trailers whether single or tandem axle are loaded the same way for safety. 15-20% of total trailer weight is tongue weight. This means that you can not just slide weight back on teh trailer to lessen the weight on your hitch. That is an error and can/has resulted in trailer sway and wrecked cars.

I'm a big fan of trailers, real ones with brakes and two axles. There are several rules to respect for safety, performance, and legality. Simply sticking to the rated loads is the best way to keep yourself safe.
 
Highbeam said:
All trailers whether single or tandem axle are loaded the same way for safety. 15-20% of total trailer weight is tongue weight.
Click to expand...

FALSE. Putting 20% tongue weight is dangerous on some trailers because the tongue/coupler is not designed to support that weight. Different trailer designs call for different amount of tongue weights to be properly balanced and stable. Read your trailer owners manual to be sure but generally tongue weight should be something like -

5-7% on boat trailers
8-12% on utility trailers
10-15% on travel trailers
15-25% on fifthwheel & gooseneck trailers

This means that you can not just slide weight back on the trailer to lessen the weight on your hitch. That is an error and can/has resulted in trailer sway and wrecked cars.
Click to expand...

True. Those trailers you see swaying back and forth across multiple lanes of the interstate almost always do not have enough tongue weight.
 
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