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Harbor freight trailer, anyone actually have one?

hitman5532

hitman5532

The Anti-Squid
Joined
Mar 6, 2003
Location
At the racetrack
Moto(s)
Got a few....
Name
Dan
Looking at getting a fold up, with 12" wheels. Don't have a lot to spend so I was thinking of getting a HF trailer for a year or so. Anyone actually have one, or had one, and have some feedback.

Thanks
 
Yep, it works fine. Its so small and light, you can barely tell its there when towing

I dont fold mine, but I pick it up and put it on its side and store it against the wall in my garage
 
12" wheels, 1400lb capacity?

This is it. 3/4" plywood with 1/8" thick aluminum diamond plate over it. 2 cheapy chocks for towing 2 bikes and I throw my baxley in the middle for 1. Added some unistrut extensions on the front for tie-downs and some 10" eye-bolts off the sides in the rear as well, along with a few eye bolts down the center

15848_866936215723_1200374_48661437_3283141_n.jpg
 
Take a look at the load capacity of 12" tires first. By the time you add one bike (assuming its a street bike) fuel and anything else you want to load on there, want to make sure the tires will hold up. For me, the only thing i'll buy at HF is tie straps. Just be aware of the quality of trailer. Look at the welds and overall structure of it.
Edit... oooo just saw ucb's post. Looks like a good trailer worth looking at from what I can see.
 
The trailers capacity is 1400lbs. So 2 sport bikes and 2 fuel cans is no big deal
 
Check wheel bearings regularly. My friend's HF trailer bearing went out at T-Hill after 3-4 trips. Maybe he forgot to repack the bearings.

If you do decide to get one, don't forget to use 20% off coupon:thumbup
 
I have one, works great. I get 26 - 22 mpg towing it depending on 1 or 2 bikes. Since I got it I added some tie down hook extensions (like UCB's). Its been quite a few places now... 1 thing I would add still is a gas jug holder.
 
Thanks for the thread.

I was also looking at these.

Do you guys have to weld on the tie down hooks?

Will this work for dirt bikes?
 
I had one of those and sold it because it was rickity and bounced around way too much on the road. It also had a habit of destroying its own wiring harness when it was folded. After a couple trips one of the wheels started wobbling and I called it a day, got a Kendon trailer.
 
Best bang for the buck. We had one for almost three years without one problem. We put on it about 30,000 miles and only repacked the bearings once.


Ivan
 
ucb said:
I dont fold mine, but I pick it up and put it on its side and store it against the wall in my garage
Click to expand...

Is there a reason you don't fold yours? I was considering one of these, but if it's a pain in the ass to fold or whatever maybe I'll save myself the pain and pony up for a kendon.
 
What is this repacking the bairings talk?

I'm new to this

Is it hard or is it a D-I-Y maintnace?
 
jrbruin said:
Is there a reason you don't fold yours? I was considering one of these, but if it's a pain in the ass to fold or whatever maybe I'll save myself the pain and pony up for a kendon.
Click to expand...

Because of the 2 chocks that are bolted on. That and its a pain in the ass. Its easier to just put it on its side. It's only like 275lbs so I can pick it up onto its side by myself

You can see it tucked up against the way in the background of this pic

15848_868403580113_1200374_48720557_3770602_n.jpg
 
I had one of those...$299 with shipping and the cost of two sheets of plywood. Even a total retard (like me) can put it together in an afternoon and though it needed maintenance, it lasted for several years and would haul 2 bikes fine. I used pop chocks on it so I could take the chocks off and fold it up against the wall of my garage. Great alternative to owning a pickup truck, especially if you don't have a lot of room to store a trailer. My only beef is that it's rattly unladen and the lights/brackets/wiring are pretty shoddy.

When I sold it, it was trashed (I probably put 20,000 miles on it on the original bearings and tires) and two Craigslist surfers were actually fighting over who got to buy it for $175 dollars. I'd totally do it again.
 
If I had any nice bikes, I would not haul them around on a shitty HF trailer. As mentioned earlier, they have wheel bearing problems in addition to being rickity. The bearing problems stem from cheapo hubs. Instead of machined steps that the races are pressed against, these hubs have punched dimples which allow the bearings to loosen up in short order. It doesn't help either that the tires are so small, the wheels are probably spinning at 10000 RPM at freeway speed until the bearing turns red hot and locks up.

I bought a super awesome race car trailer at FJM Truck Center in San Jose. They also sell nice small utility trailers that would work great for motos. Don't go to Orlandi...that place has a well deserved reputation for having a bunch of weirdos working in there.
 
When you assemble it, do as little as possible to make it legal then pimp it out. If you go to DMV with a chromed out, hard wood planked pimped trailer, you may have a hard time convincing them that it is a $150 trailer. Those chinese bolts are pretty sloppy too. Tack welding the frame after assembly goes a long way to stiffen it up.I used to haul a small airplane on a modified version of that trailer. Up and down the west coast.
 
DrSwade said:
When you assemble it, do as little as possible to make it legal then pimp it out. If you go to DMV with a chromed out, hard wood planked pimped trailer, you may have a hard time convincing them that it is a $150 trailer. Those chinese bolts are pretty sloppy too. Tack welding the frame after assembly goes a long way to stiffen it up.I used to haul a small airplane on a modified version of that trailer. Up and down the west coast.
Click to expand...

No, no, much more sensible to spend $4500 on a custom-made race-car trailer that you can store in the extra space in your 4000 square-foot 8-car garage. :rolleyes
 
To add another few cents to the post made earlier...as someone who has owned both the HF and the Kendon there is absolutely no f'n way I'd use an HF again.

The HF deck is twice as high but the trailer has no more ground clearance because of the solid axle. The suspension uses leaf springs which go nuts when you hit a pothole on one side of the trailer. Even towing to Infineon was a game of looking back every 2 minutes to see if the bike was still there. Never mind Pacheco Pass, guh! The independent torsion bar suspension on the Kendon is far better.

That extra foot of height and higher COG is wonderful when taking a corner in the HF :rolleyes

If you're going to have a trailer for a while spoil yourself and buy something nice you'll feel good about using instead of angry and frustrated and worried all the time. Maybe if you're a real DIY kind of guy you'll enjoy all the additional work required to make the HF somewhat usable.
 
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