Our Harbor Freight Trailer
For what it is worth, we have a 4x8 Harbor Freight Trailer that we have used for three years without issue. Don't pay full price, or even the sale price. Make sure to use the 20% off coupon on top of the sale price.
1720 lb. Capacity 48 in. x 96 in. Super Duty Folding Trailer
These trailers are decent for the cost, but require a few modifications. First of all, make sure you remove all the grease from the wheel bearings, and replace it with quality grease. This is the single largest point of failure on these trailers. The grease that comes on it is simply a shipping coating to prevent the bearings from rusting.
Here's a list of things we did:
-Welded the frame together
-painted it black to make it look less like a HF trailer :mrgreen:
-Replaced the tires with new tires meant for a geo metro - $36 each on amazon, mounted ourselves with a lot of groaning and lighter fluid.
-Built a 7x8 frame out of pressure treated 4x4s
-Decked it with 1/2 plywood, sealed with some outdoor coating.
-Added a spare wheel/tire
In total, we have about $500 into it, and we built it in three days before a trip we hauled it on a 1200 mile round trip loaded with raft gear.
Since we built it three years ago, we have put over 5000 miles on it, and the only issue we had was one of the bearing covers fell off, and it is a weird size, so none of the auto parts stores had the right cover. We ended up using a slightly smaller one with grocery bags zip tied around it until we could get home and order a replacement. I recommend ordering a spare hub assembly and these covers to have some spares just in case.
Here are some photos of it loaded. You can see our rudimentary panels we made with plywood and pool noodles to contain gear stored under the cat.
Is it the best trailer out there? No. Was it cheap and got us by? Yes. Do we plan to buy a nice one this year? Yes- we need a second trailer. This one will stay in service, though I may build a nicer deck for it.
