Help me design a trailer

[ruger35]

Looking for ideas out there to help me come up with the best trailer design this go round, not competition or food truck but I do cook at work and friends/family's houses. Will be going with Backline again for a 250 gallon smoker on golf cart wheels. Looking at a total length of around 10.5 feet. Current thoughts are either a 14' drop axle trailer, or 14-16' with a 2' dovetail. Will be putting a winch on the front again. My uncle has mentioned going with an enclosed trailer but that would likely be double the price of an utility trailer fit to my liking. Also considering a car hauler style, just not sure about no side rails.

Included my current trailer which I have sold, the picture is pre-winch/toolbox. Just looking to get away from hauling the 250 up a 4 foot gate. The trailer will be used for normal things around the house aside from pulling the smoker. Just looking for opinions and ideas from folks as I plan on this trailer/smoker combo being the last I purchase for quite a while. Or so I tell the wife.

 

[ruger35]

Bump up, hoping for some input. I think I have it narrowed down to utility style with rails, just comparing a 4 inch drop axle to dovetail. Hoping to hear from people who may have experience with both.

 

[pharp]

Just a quick observation...why have a trailer at all with that setup and just get a smoker on a trailer.

I have owned two trailers and a food truck, so feel free to shoot me any questions.

 

[ruger35]

Just a quick observation...why have a trailer at all with that setup and just get a smoker on a trailer.

I have owned two trailers and a food truck, so feel free to shoot me any questions.

Storage is one, plan on keeping the smoker in the garage with the wifes vehicle. Second is ease of use, don't have to hook up the truck to a trailer every time I want to cook at home. Also, I need a trailer around the house anyway, may as well have a do it all trailer.

 

[Sid Post]

I have a lot of trailer experience so, lessons learned the hard way make me a bit biased. :boxing:

Drop axles and tires with insufficient diameter typically mean 'drags' at gas pumps in unexpected places. Drop axles have restrictions that might work in a retirement community or better roads than I travel. A 235/85R16 will gently roll over curbs, through potholes, etc. much easier than a 205/75R15! A load range E tire will reject more things that cause flats than a load range C tire!

The difference between a 4' load ramp and a 5' load ramp is significant to me. Fewer 'breakover drags' and a whole lot easier to push, pull or, winch something onto the trailer. The longer ramp also makes loading my tractor a lot easier too even when I don't have to put my shoulder into it!

An equipment tilt deck trailer will load your smoker easiest!

For cars and equipment, side rails are a PIA and don't provide much benefit beyond some extra basic structure for trailer flex with a lighter trailer frame. What the rails do is help to keep ice chests and similar things inside the trailer but, they can still be a challenge to lash down properly.

A landscape trailer with the 'cages' is best for keeping things from blowing off your utility trailer. The negative is your Home Depot runs give up space to load bulky stuff but, you can throw a padlock on the cage so your stuff doesn't get stolen.

However, all that being said and being at your house previously, I'd recommend a trailer smoker to you with a removable or foldable hitch to cut overall length. With a shelf on the 'door' side of the smoker, your width really doesn't change so, you only give up the space the off-side wheel takes up.

Properly balanced with a trailer 'hand dolly', you can easily move your smoker out of your garage to to your driveway. It will roll easier than a similar size and weight 'golf car tire' cart. Rolling resistance in my experience is less. The thing that will make or break this is tonge weight. A tow dolly negates this some but, I have hand moved single axle trailers by myself with a similar weight on concrete so, it is not as far out of reality to hand move a smoker like this 'at your place' than you might think.

Shoot me an email or give me a call and we can discuss further. :wink:

 

[ruger35]

Appreciate the input Sid, I don't disagree with your points especially regarding a well built trailer dolly. Guess my main thought is for what it will cost me to get the smoker put on a trailer solely for it, I can get a utility trailer setup for it but also use for other purposes built here locally. Let's just say I am getting a deal on the golf cart setup. I want to store it in my garage, even if left raw, so not sure with the extra width being mounted on the trailer it would fit. I thought about tilt deck but that would limit me to loading pretty much just the smoker without it tilting down and I would then need a set of ramps.

From your experiences, would you recommend a dovetail and extended ramp over the drop axle? Thanks for the help!

 

[ruger35]

Found this trailer in Texas, thinking of having a local builder go this style possible but with rails. Not a car hauler since I really have no plans of ever hauling a tractor/cars.

 

[Sid Post]

Hard to tell from the picture but the axle looks pretty far back so tongue weight is apt to be high.

It also lacks a central steel beam from the hitch back to the trailer crossmembers.

24" crossmember spacing is too wide. We had a 2,000# tractor bow the floor on that spacing. You will have more pressure from your smoker on the floor than our tractor tires in this case.

At $3700, pretty expensive IMHO for what you get. A straight utility trailer will cost less and work better. Longer ramps will offset any perceived floor height savings by using dropped axles. With those axles moved forward to give you a proper 'trail' while turning will likely need carriage wheels in the ramp to avoid drags. Been there, done that, not again.

I still shake my head and smile when I see a drop axle trailer with a tractor on it with the axles at the rear being towed by a 1-ton dualie. Putting a ~3K pound tongue weight on the tow vehicle to use drop axles at the rear of the trailer MAKES NO SENSE to me. Yes, it drops the CG but, the trail in a turn is horrible. My gate post and driveway were damage from a trailer like this because they had to turn so wide to keep the trailer out of the ditch.

 

[Sid Post]

With drop axles, don't forget the see-saw effect. If the axles are put farther back to avoid drags on the ground, the trail in a turn will be horrible. :doh:

What this means in practical terms is making really wide turns or running over curbs and hitting things like mailboxes and stop signs.

 

[Pife]

I have a 12' x 6' dual axel flatbed trailer that I bolted all my cooking equipment on. Pretty much all around the perimeter on 4 sides. It was barely big enough.

I am only a backyarder...but I like to haul all my stuff to other peoples back yards!

I'd post some pics, but it's under my porch and hard to get a good shot.

 

[Pife]

test pic

trying to add pic

 

[robertm]

Here's a completely different idea. Have you considered a single axle fold up trailer? I'm not talking about the crap harbor freight models but a well built unit.

There's a company out of Canada that builds and ships them south. I bought one for my golf cart as well as trips to the ranch. It's rated to go 80 mph down the highway and I routinely set cruise at 83. It weights about 500 lbs so it's well built and can hold around 1500 lbs. You might have to adjust your axle spacing a bit. It comes with a 4ft ramp as an option. Best part is it folds up and you can keep it in the garage against a wall.

May be a terrible idea but thought I'd throw it out there. I absolutely love mine.

https://www.stingertrailer.com/product/foldnstore-trailer/