Harbor Freight Trailer

[James]

Has anybody seen or used one of these trailers?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=66771

I have been thinking about getting one. Really would like to have an inexpensive trailer for camping. Would be nice to hook up and go and everything is already packed.

[Tom(North Alabama)]

Haven't towed or owned one of the trailers, but have seen them at the local Harbor Freight. Seem to be fairly sturdy. If you look around the web some, there are 20% coupons for any single item at Harbor Freight. No sense in paying more than you have to.

[Dion]

I have bought just the frame from there the $199.00 one and put on my own car top carrier that I paid $35.00 for worked just fine for throwing camping stuff but now have the full camper set up

[onegunguitar]

Has anybody seen or used one of these trailers?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=66771

I have been thinking about getting one. Really would like to have an inexpensive trailer for camping. Would be nice to hook up and go and everything is already packed.

I bought one of those,nice little trailer for the money. If you look on line there is some place that is selling these as a "Piggybacker" with a few extras for $720.00!!I bought mine with Pa. sales tax for $307.If you find a magazine such as Motor Trend,you can get a coupon for HF for 20 % off and if you're lucky maybe it'll be on sale,that's how I got mine that cheap. I pulled it briefly behind my Voyager empty and it pulls great,don't even know it's back there.I also took the topper off and put a piece of plywood down and used it to haul my snow thrower around this winter. Another good thing about these trailers is that they are no wider than the mirrors.

[MTN99]

Has anybody seen or used one of these trailers?

I bought one of those,nice little trailer for the money. If you look on line there is some place that is selling these as a "Piggybacker" with a few extras for $720.00!!

OneGun,

We got our PiggyBacker in 07 and have had great luck with it... PiggyBackers have been on the market for alot longer than Harbor Freight has had'em. Piggys come in two types, the one we have has the 8" wheels with Leaf springs & the other with 12" wheels & Torsion axles... both come with LED lights, a spare, cooler rack, tubeular bumper & a spare set of wheel bearings w/caps & another set of latches.
The company has GREAT customer service... I did notice the price has gone up since we got ours ....
The Harbor Freight is probably a good trailer, really looks the same minus the extras

I have no affilliation with PiggyBacker, all I know is they have a good product at a reasonable price for what you get with great customer service to boot.. Here's the site for the PiggyBacker:
http://www.piggybacker.com/

Good luck in what ever you get...

[onegunguitar]

I don't know whether or not HF came out after PiggyBacker,but if you really look at the PB(with the 8" wheels) minus a few extra's,I wouldn't be afraid to say they are the same trailer. I'm not putting down PB,but I couldn't see spending $400 plus more dollars to have a few extras that I don't need anyways. They claim to have better bearings or whatever,I can replace the stock HF ones with good ones just as easy myself. I almost bought The PB until I started looking closely at some pictures and figured the $400 I saved with the HF model looks better in my bank account.

[garry]

I brought the harbor freight for 180 cut it down so it now only 33" wide. tryed pulling it with stock width.Did not like that. there is enough to worry about while riding. dont need to watch for trailer wheels. I ride in city
down allys short cut thur parking lots.ect ect.
any way it stiill cost me 300 dollars to build.
this was a real shock. this is a platfold on wheels. for hauding yard tools or dirty odd shape thing.I have a car top carrier that I stap on for campping or grocery..

[ghostler]

Harbor Freight has 2 small trailer chassis to base a motorcycle trailer on. Comments indicate that motorcyclists have been successul in using both.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... 42708.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-ca ... 90153.html

The least expensive uses 8" tire rims. The more expensive one at $50 more uses 12" tire rims. These give a 16" and 20" tire diameter respectively. Is the cheaper one adequate, or should one opt for the larger rimmed one?

Also I noticed that the standard tires are rated for 65 mph max. Some have gone to radial tires for greater speed. I gather that traveling at speeds faster than 65 mph with trailer have degraded gas mileage. Would one be just as well to retain the ST rated 65 mph tires?

Reason why I ask is I am considering building my own trailer for my 2001 Yovager 1200.

[kjsett]

Harbor Freight has 2 small trailer chassis to base a motorcycle trailer on. Comments indicate that motorcyclists have been successul in using both.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... 42708.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-ca ... 90153.html

The least expensive uses 8" tire rims. The more expensive one at $50 more uses 12" tire rims. These give a 16" and 20" tire diameter respectively. Is the cheaper one adequate, or should one opt for the larger rimmed one?

Also I noticed that the standard tires are rated for 65 mph max. Some have gone to radial tires for greater speed. I gather that traveling at speeds faster than 65 mph with trailer have degraded gas mileage. Would one be just as well to retain the ST rated 65 mph tires?

Reason why I ask is I am considering building my own trailer for my 2001 Yovager 1200.

I would go with the 12" as you can get radial tires for those. I have a utility trailer that i have had 3 blow outs before I stopped using the "trailer tire" on them (12"). First two were before I learned of the speed issue (but heh, 1200 mile trips with limited time....).
My bike trailer has the 4x8" and I wish i could up them to the larger tire. I only put 1 year on them (about 8k miles) before they were wore out. Course, they go round about twice for every time the bike tire does. I limit my speed (except when passing) to about 70mph (ok, so i am pushing it). I understand it is the centrifugal force that eventually tears them apart at higher speeds, not just how much is loaded on them. As to mileage, depends on the load and whether you add more on top that creates additional drag. I usually figure a 10mpg drop, and then am pleasantly surprised if I get close to 40mph like I did on our last trip. But we stayed on the backroads more with the avg speed being closer to the 65 and even 55 at times on the coast.
Enjoy,
Ken

[ghostler]

My bike trailer has the 4x8" and I wish i could up them to the larger tire. I only put 1 year on them (about 8k miles) before they were wore out. Course, they go round about twice for every time the bike tire does. I limit my speed (except when passing) to about 70mph (ok, so i am pushing it). I understand it is the centrifugal force that eventually tears them apart at higher speeds, not just how much is loaded on them. As to mileage, depends on the load and whether you add more on top that creates additional drag. I usually figure a 10mpg drop, and then am pleasantly surprised if I get close to 40mph like I did on our last trip. But we stayed on the backroads more with the avg speed being closer to the 65 and even 55 at times on the coast. Enjoy, Ken

Thanks for the inputs, Ken. Then it sounds like I'd be better off with the larger tires since radials are available. One gets 20% more mileage out of the 12" rims, so would be 1,600 miles (close to 10k miles life) more over the 8" rim standard tires.

I'm wondering if the 12" rims use the same hub as the 8". If so, then one could mount 12" as long as they have sufficient fender clearance. However my comment is academic, never tried it, so could be erroneous. Certainly don't want to have any tire failures. Also, am thinking I should get a spare tire and mount just in case. Anyway, plan to drop by Harbor Freight to have a good look see before purchasing.

[Turbo4x4]

Great little trailer. I've had one now for 3 years and no problems whatsoever. Price was great with 20% off coupon. Can't do any better unless you're strictly into image.

[ghostler]

Great little trailer. I've had one now for 3 years and no problems whatsoever. Price was great with 20% off coupon. Can't do any better unless you're strictly into image.

Glad I came across this info. Two days ago I bought a streamlined XCargo cartop trunk from Sears. It was the last one on clearance, older gray one that is slightly taller than the new ones. It was the floor model, had some scuffs on the bottom (unseen and will clean up) but with all the hardware. Cost me all of $77 after 10% discount and taxes. It was light weight enough for me to easily pick it and maneuver it around. Although it doesn't have the hydraulic lid props, the spring ones work fine as the top lid is lightweight.

Looks like my best bet is to go with the 12" tire trailer, due to available higher speed radial tires. It is $220 at Lubbock or Amarillo, prior to discounting and taxes.

Are there any caveates I should be aware of? NM highways are 75 mph, nearby Texas has 80 mph speeds. Any tire recommendations to upgrade from trailer tires? Perhaps S or P rated scooter tires?

[kjsett]

Looks like my best bet is to go with the 12" tire trailer, due to available higher speed radial tires. It is $220 at Lubbock or Amarillo, prior to discounting and taxes.

Are there any caveates I should be aware of? NM highways are 75 mph, nearby Texas has 80 mph speeds. Any tire recommendations to upgrade from trailer tires? Perhaps S or P rated scooter tires?

Yes, definitely go with radials. I bought my trailer without thinking about tires and speeds. It has been a great trailer, but the fiberglass body creates the wheelwells so I can't change from the 8" to the preferred 12" tires. Limits my highway speeds (I push it to 70 to 72 for cruising) because I have had blowouts using a 12" trailer tire on my utility trailer. I went to radials and no problems till they age wore out (tread was still great) and I had trouble finding the radials again. Put on bias plys and 2 blow outs later (no, my truck can't seem to keep the speed down to under 65 those tires require) finally found radials that fit it (my wifes dad had built this trailer in 1962, so it is kinda in the family). When I finally give it up my son wants that old 4 x 5 1/2 foot utility box trailer.
Oh yes, California is one of those states that max speed for any vehicle pulling a trailer is 55mph still. I actually take the slower route up through Nevada just to avoid that when visiting the NW from Arizona. I wish they would get with the times.
Anyway, just sayin - enjoy.

[ghostler]

Thanks, Ken & Shelley for the inputs. I'm determined to go for the 12" wheel chassis. I'll post a photo when I'm done with my build.

[SgtSlag]

Check the Classifieds, on this site. ekap/Gene has a mono-wheel trailer for sale. It's a sharp unit, and mono-wheels track the bike's tires, so you have one tire path, to avoid obstacles with, not three. Just a friendly suggestion for your consideration. Cheers!

[ghostler]

Check the Classifieds, on this site. ekap/Gene has a mono-wheel trailer for sale. It's a sharp unit, and mono-wheels track the bike's tires, so you have one tire path, to avoid obstacles with, not three. Just a friendly suggestion for your consideration. Cheers!

Inasmuch as I might like to go with that, I have already purchased the travel trunk box. All I need is the trailer chassis to complete it.

[SgtSlag]

Check out Gene's response on that trailer listing. He says it is not a good match for a Voyager after all. All's well that ends well. Cheers!

[ghostler]

Thanks for further clarification, SgtSlag. I'm going for the 12" two wheel version. Then I'll be able to upgrade to high speed radials. Also, from what I gather so far, the larger rim standard tires, if inflated to maximum recommended PSI, do much better than the standard 8" tires.

Just curious, but have any others further experiences, good or bad with the Harbor Freight 12" wheeled trailer chassis, especially when exceeding their rated speed while being towed by their motorcycle?

[ghostler]

I went for the Harbor Freight Model No. 90153 trailer chassis with the 12" dia. wheels, cost me $172 after using the 25% discount coupon. Didn't think about it until I got it home. The 8" dia. wheel trailer chassis is 40" or 3.5 feet wide. The 90153 is 52" or 4.5 feet wide. Will this extra width be a problem towing behind my 2001 Voyager?

[Scott-(Altoona, PA)]

Not a problem as long as you don't over load it and remember that you'll need more room when taking turns. If you want 12" wheels and have issues, and have skills cut it down and make it narrower.