Car trailer questions

I'm in the market for a new car trailer. I sold my last one due to lack of brakes, I would like one with a dovetail, and I sold it for what I paid. I found one in Boise that looks nice and all but only has brakes on one axle. Obviously one set of brakes is better than nothing but is that enough or should I go with something with brakes on both axles? Going over the Mountain passes to get to the events in Oregon means I will be using the brakes for sure(pulling with an automatic dodge 1500). The thing I like about the trailer with only 1 set of brakes is it has the bulldog style hitch which I know I like better. All the trailers I've seen locally with brakes on both axles have the standard style hitch.

If you like it, and the price is right, it shouldn't be all that hard to add brakes on the 2nd axle.

Just need to price it out to see if its cost effective.

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This isn't floor mat anarchy

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alosix
If you like it, and the price is right, it shouldn't be all that hard to add brakes on the 2nd axle.

Just need to price it out to see if its cost effective.

It would be quite a bit more expensive to add another set of brakes then it would to just buy one with brakes on both axles. Will I need brakes on both axles though or is one set good enough?

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shiza

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alosix
If you like it, and the price is right, it shouldn't be all that hard to add brakes on the 2nd axle.

Just need to price it out to see if its cost effective.

It would be quite a bit more expensive to add another set of brakes then it would to just buy one with brakes on both axles. Will I need brakes on both axles though or is one set good enough?

Since it's a Festivus Miracle to have all your brakes functioning at once on a ghetto tow rig, you probably want two axles worth of trailer brakes for when you lose all brakes on the tow vehicle. Not that anybody I know (Mike White) has ever driven the last 100 miles to a rally on just trailer brakes...

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

The main question is what kind of trailer brakes are they? The inertia type that are hydraulic or the electronic type? Electric brakes are cheap, and super easy to install. etrailer.com sells all sorts of stuff (looks like a $100/wheel for electronic).
Also, what price range are you looking at? Is there a circle track near where you live? Those guys sell stuff way cheap, but it can sometimes be under-built and under-maintained.

There's also a few guys in Portland that are doing custom trailers for $2500 new with brakes on both axles. So if that's in your price range, just rent a uhual trailer from Idaho to P-town and pick one up when your over here for Mt.Hood!
There, problem solved!

I added brakes to my second axle on my trailer (2 3500# axles). It cost less than 200. With a load on it, the trailer will really drag the tow rig to a stop. We worth the investment and it was as easy as splicing in some wire and bolting on the new hubs/drums.

Washington requires any trailer that meets the weight and use you are requiring have brakes on all wheels. At 3000 lbs gross it needs brakes . One axle is ok if the rating is appropriate but if it happens to have 2 axles they both need brakes (unless you are towing a Formula Ford with a semi (truck, semi truck)...the law applies to trailers using the roadway, not just licensed in Washington btw.

So you need brakes on both axles and don't rely on those shitty ez lube hubs either. I see overpacked brakes all the time. Too much grease, leaks thru rear seal when hot, brakes get covered in grease. They never rust tho..

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Robert Culbertson
The main question is what kind of trailer brakes are they? The inertia type that are hydraulic or the electronic type? Electric brakes are cheap, and super easy to install. etrailer.com sells all sorts of stuff (looks like a $100/wheel for electronic).
Also, what price range are you looking at? Is there a circle track near where you live? Those guys sell stuff way cheap, but it can sometimes be under-built and under-maintained.

There's also a few guys in Portland that are doing custom trailers for $2500 new with brakes on both axles. So if that's in your price range, just rent a uhual trailer from Idaho to P-town and pick one up when your over here for Mt.Hood!
There, problem solved!

The brakes are electric. The trailer that I like that only has 1 set of brakes is actually more then another new trailer sold in Boise. So I don't really want to buy it and add brakes to make it even more $. I do like it better but with brakes added on top of the price it would be $600 more then the other one. My max budget is $3k though. Although if I max out my budget it better have pretty much everything I want.

I will take a look and see what I can find in Portland too. If I'm going to spend the money I might as well get what I want.

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heymagic
Washington requires any trailer that meets the weight and use you are requiring have brakes on all wheels. At 3000 lbs gross it needs brakes . One axle is ok if the rating is appropriate but if it happens to have 2 axles they both need brakes (unless you are towing a Formula Ford with a semi (truck, semi truck)...the law applies to trailers using the roadway, not just licensed in Washington btw.

So you need brakes on both axles and don't rely on those shitty ez lube hubs either. I see overpacked brakes all the time. Too much grease, leaks thru rear seal when hot, brakes get covered in grease. They never rust tho..

Good info, thanks Gene

This here one is kinda close by. looks like a nicely equipped trailer.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4033452893.html

Anything close like that we can help with. Olympic trailers in Oly are pretty good guys as is Trailer Town in Oly. Bought trailers from both of them.

This should be Trailers Towns second lot, 30 minutes from me. Good pricing.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/ctd/4039617576.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2013 09:56PM by heymagic.

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heymagic
This here one is kinda close by. looks like a nicely equipped trailer.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4033452893.html

Anything close like that we can help with. Olympic trailers in Oly are pretty good guys as is Trailer Town in Oly. Bought trailers from both of them.

This should be Trailers Towns second lot, 30 minutes from me. Good pricing.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/ctd/4039617576.html

That is a screaming deal.

I'm going to call about those tilt beds tomorrow.

I bought my trailer in 2005 and it only had brakes on one axle. I towed all over the country with it and it was more or less just fine.

That being said, in 2009, I put brakes on the second axle. I did that for two reasons: one is that a few states require brakes on all axles, and the other is that I had a few sketchy incidents where the van brakes locked up and the trailer brakes didn't, and the trailer ended up pushing the van. Both times it was on a slippery road where something sudden happened - in once case a deer leaped out in front of me on a frosty road in Wyoming, and in the other I was rolling gently up to a stoplight on a rainy night in Washington and a car pulled into my lane at the last second and slammed on its brakes.

Both incidents could have probably been solved with an alternate brake-controller bias, but adding the brakes to the second axle seemed like cheap insurance.


And, yeah, repacking trailer wheelbearings is pretty easy. It's also a good time to check the shackles and so on.

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Self-righteous douche canoe