Car Trailer - help wanted to buy a good one

[tonybmw]

Hope someone out there can help

My Friend Gordon and I are thinking about buying a car trailer, I thought it was going to be easy, but looking on Ebay there seem to be dozens of different types and sizes

Gordon wants to transport his Victor around, but I want something that will take a 5 series BMW, so it must be a 4 wheel job

After that I quite liked the idea of a trailer where the wheels are under the bed, as this makes them narrower, but when I posed the question to Oldbus, who must do the more trailer miles than all of us put together, he says that as they are higher off the ground they are less stable, so perhaps a one where the wheels are outside the bed would be better

What about a flat bed, this way it could be used for moving other stuff around, but I assume that these are heavier than framed units

So really what I want to know is, has anyone got any good or bad experiences, or advice that could help us make our minds up, and what about size, is bigger always better ;D

Any advice greatly received

and obviously anyone with a nice trailer for sale, please also get in touch

Tony

[surprisingskoda]

Wheels outside, as they are lower and easier to get onto, more stable etc as you said.

Watch for bent axles with a big trailer as no doubt someone has tried to put a transit tipper on it...

get a good big one (bit dearer though). avoid large lips as low bumpers wont clear them.
Make sure you have a long nose, otherwise tight corners and reversing will be fun - if you like repairing bumpers.
Make sure it has commercial tyres on it for VOSAs sake.
Lights on back of mudguards are good, as less likely to get smashed, always visible, mark the extremities and lightbars can fall off. I've never had this happen to me, nor have I had it happen more than once on the same journey*.
Flatbeds are better as you can move more things, perhaps get money back by using it for moving blocks or logs etc.
Buy ratchet straps and a BIG winch, and BIG bolts for your BIG winch.
Also, tippy trailers are best, but very dear. Fold-away, or removeable, ramps, are very useful for longer overhang cars.


*This is by no means accurate.

[popuptoaster]

Worth bearing in mind that if you are going to buy a really good car trailer you'll be getting into the sort of money where you could buy a flatbed truck that needs a little work, yes you have to tax and insure them, but not so easy to steal and you don't need a big tow car.

[10mpg]

I have a wheels outside Brian James 2.5ton job must be knocking on 20 years old now but still works great tows fine took my P38 Rangie on it fine when the cps went down (2.2 ton), so don't discount an oldie if it's been well looked after mine's had minimal use really.........

Mine's taken over 5 ton of scrap to the scrapyard on it before (didn't realise the weight till I went over the weighbride (though I thought the Rangie felt a bit sluggish pulling it) you can replace the board in the middle with steel or thick ally chequer plate if you want to carry stuff..

Auto reversing hubs are a bonus and fitted to most newer trailers though apparently the shoes are a bit dearer to buy, tiltbeds really make life easy and are great for one man loading but they really do ramp up the cost, and personally the ones I have used don't seem to tow as well as the fixed bed ones, no idea why just my gut feeling

Always overspec if you can bigger is better as long as your tow vehicle is up to the job, in my experience a big 4x4 or proper pick up is the only thing to have, I've had big Volvo's and big Mercs etc as tow cars and they just don't compare, My P38 Rangie, my mates Land cruiser 3.0TD and my old work L200 are the best tow cars I've used personally the only downsides are the Rangie's thirst and the L200's appalling steering lock, the Land Cruiser doesn't really have any downsides the damn thing's a proper grafter..

Buy proper wheel clamping ratchet straps trying to tie cars down any other way is a major ballache as you'll see from my pictures I often pick up the wrong box of straps and end up mucking around with normal ratchet straps over the axles..

I once managed to forget the ramps and only realised on the other side of the country as i went to load the car, luckily it was only a cinquecento sporting and between me the seller my missus and a couple of his mates we managed to lift it on wheel by wheel..!!!...







I have access to a little tilt bed Brain James one as well it's very nice for light work and uses less fuel to tow, but for serious work you cant beat the big old one..

[Mantasport]

What are you going to be towing with, and do you know the towing weight limit for it?

It is worth noting that for VOSA checks if the trailers gross weight (max laden weight of load and trailer) is more than the towing capacity of the tow vehicle you will be in trouble.

Even if the trailer is empty they still class it as being loaded to the maximum limit.

Thats why i like my old trailer, doesn't have a weight plate on it so i can't get in trouble unless i go over my vans towing weight limit ;D

[Dez]

the triple axle brian james or indespension flatbeds or tilt beds are the best on the marked, period. they use 195/50r13 commerical rated tyres, so they still sit quite low, so are still stable enough.

[datman]

I had an Ifor Williams flat trailer (14 x 6) takes abuse , good for building work but clattery, bouncy, heavy and lack of lashing points for putting cars on it.
Next had an Ifor 14 x 6 beavertail. Much easier for loading cars on but heavy , clattery (due to the weird design of the cart springs) and still no lashings (!)

What I found out is new trailers aren't really THAT much more than used ones. Even manky used ones cost like.. a grand. So I started buying new ones.



Brian James TT30 tiltbed. Excellent, especially the lashings and lighting, lovely lighteweight ramps, silent to tow, but found it too long, and never used the tilt facility so I felt that was a waste of the extra weight , size, and money. If you really need to angle a trailer slightly, you can usually just use the jockey wheel carefully. Sold it (not much under what I paid for it)

Brian James Car-Go. This I brought direct from the Brian James factory, it's only 12 foot long but can carry pretty much anything. (Long wheelbase Patrol fits on it just, I even transported my Plymouth bodyshell on it.) The wheels are wide low profile 10 inch diameter ones (95PSI) so the trailer is incredibly low. It has good lashing points, and the bed is totally flat, so you can forkift things on and off (can't do that with mudguard trailers)

This trailer is only £1,695+vat. Think about it, a 15 year old dented thing with buckled rims, wrong tyres, dodgy brakes, worn hitch, dodgy electrics is going to cost what £1000-1200?

I also bought the ramps, headboard, sides and tailgate. And put on a winch. Had it 3 years now. Weight is only 650KG. Gross is 3000kg 10/10.

[Oldbus]

Lots of sound advice come up Tony,

As trailers are not MOT´d in the UK you´ll find a lot of DIY selfmade ones out there - most of the ones that i´ve seen are deathtraps or accidents just waiting to happen. Lots of them have been made out of caravan chassis and are just not up to the job.

So unless you´re really happy with the way the frame has been designed and the axles are up to the job stay clear and buy one that´s been built by a professional.

There are basically two types of car trailer - either a fixed bed with ramps or one where the flatbed tips, like mine. Personally I´d go for a tipper but they´re a bit more expensive.

Then you´ve got two different types of wheel axle combination- one type has the wheels underneath the bed and the other has the wheels on the side.

Each set up has it´s own advantages - the ones with the wheels underneath i´m personally not keen on as they normally have very small, expensive and difficult to find in an emergency wheels/ tyres, if they have normal sized wheels then the load is normally very high up off the ground and are the first ones to become instable at speeds on the motorway - their advantage is that they´re not as wide as the other sort.

These are the ones to go for if you ask me, the flatbed is inbetween the wheels and therefor the centre of gravity is as low as possible- diadvantage is they´re a bit wider than the other ones.


As far as size goes buy as big as one as you can afford mate, i´ll take some measurements of mine when i get home but a 750 BMW or an S class Merc have been on mine and i wouldn´t fancy having a trailer that might be a bit too small as you´ll probably only find out when your loading it up.

You can actually build them yourself but by the time you´ve got all the bits together it´ll be more expensive than just buying a new one.

I didn´t buy my own one until a couple of years ago and don´t know how i managed without all those years, no matter which one you get try and keep it out of the weather when you get it home.

The most important points to watch for when buying second hand are Tyre age, condition, weight rating and availability and
Axle and brake condition.

As daft as it sounds take the potentional buy out for a test drive, i´ve borrowed trailers over the years that were lousy to tow but looked alright parked up!!

[rob0r]

Our Ifor:


Mostly tows a variety of BMWs but has taken many a Land Rover. We got fed up of borrowing substandard trailers to fetch my tat so we got this one new. It is heavy but it tows well, we had to get a reasonably heavy duty one as it does farm duties too.

[DutyFreeSaviour]

I've dragged the odd carcass around too - and also would vouch for the wheels outside models
A quick look at the Ifor on Robors' shows the wheels impeding into the bed a little - you only need this to cause grief once for it to be more than enough - trust me on that
The tilt beds are great for single man jobs - so weigh up if you really are gonna be on your todd for most of the runs but most of all - and it's a recent addition to OB's trailer - get a good electric winch.
Cna't tell you how easy it was dragging a GT6 without any front end onto it - or unloading single handed with the 'remote control' - flash eh!

As already mentioned - check tow weights of vehicle and buy the biggest you can find - my Pajero pulls like the tank carrying OB's trailer isn't even there and is solid as a rock.

Like a car purchase - Take your time and look around, get some hands on before you jump in.

Good luck!

John

[Adam]

As said, spend as much as your pocket will allow really, you will get most of it back should you need to sell! We had a homebrew for a few years and it was okay for going to pick up tat every few months, but as soon as we got into regular towing we found it was far from ideal in many ways. Ended up buying a year old Brian James for £1200 (about £600 off list price) which we get serviced every year and should keep going for many years to come!

[tonybmw]

Thanks Guys, lots of good advice, I will keep you posted

[Graham]

Have a look on pistonheads there's always a few on there

[tonybmw]

Got a trailer, A nice lightweight Brain James A Series, following all your advice reckoned it was worth spending the full budget on something named, that would be easy to resell if needed in the future, I cant believe how many trailers there are out there on Ebay, and most going for silly money

needs a little attention to a number plate light and the mudguards, but otherwise tows really nice and only weighs in at 500kg

[rob0r]

Good to hear Tony

Jan 26, 2010 9:56:19 GMT DutyFreeSaviour said:

A quick look at the Ifor on Robors' shows the wheels impeding into the bed a little - you only need this to cause grief once for it to be more than enough - trust me on that

Missed this at the time! I've never thought of it like that before, our Ifor is plenty wide and if the wheels were on the outside of a trailer like this, surely the bed would be thinner along the whole length instead? This has taken wide E34s, big range rovers with massive tyres, personally I've not found this clearance to be a problem.

[cecotto479]

At last a trailer thread. Woohoo.

I've had two of the Ifor CT177s and I thought they were brilliant.

Here's my M635 on one:-



I recently moved to Brian James trailers and there is nothing better. I'm amazed at how much better it is than the Ifor and Brian James are a great company to deal with.

The Hi-Max has had everything from a Suzuki GC100



through an Overfinch



via a Mustang



A real Mustang



A J4 van



to a genuine (ish) D-Type



and a Silver Spirit



Along with many others and literally dozens of E24/28 and 30s. Get a Brian James. You may be able to see the very one. I think I'm bringing Tris's E12 to you on it.

I have an Ifor to sell in a few weeks - a 2005 CT177G - lots of miles, but good order and well maintained. Looking for £2000. It's being replaced by a Brian James - a Motor Shuttle for the ultimate in covered trailers -





Many of these photos and many more of interesting stuff what we have moved are on our website www.classicalmovement.co.uk

[cecotto479]

Feb 10, 2010 21:19:42 GMT rob0r said:

Missed this at the time! I've never thought of it like that before, our Ifor is plenty wide and if the wheels were on the outside of a trailer like this, surely the bed would be thinner along the whole length instead? This has taken wide E34s, big range rovers with massive tyres, personally I've not found this clearance to be a problem.

The CT177 is designed so that you can drive over that Wheel well. I have only had to do it once with an LDV 17 seat minibus. The CT177 is the widest underslung tranporter on the market by about 4 inches.

[tonybmw]

cecotto479 - Glad to hear we have made the right decision with the Brian James, look forward to seeing you