12ft car trailer for jeep..should work?

marty79

marty79

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Location
Newton, NC
Looking at a 7.5'x12' trailer. Made from 6" C-channel all the way down with 4"angle braces, dual mobile home axles. Guy says its beefy and he's hauled several jeeps on it. So I figured should work great for my crawler.
Any input as to why a 12ft would be not so good other than no extra room for other stuff? Thanks, and Merry Christmas to all!!
 
So MANY reasons, but I'll just list 1

Think about anchor points for straps. At 12ft you have NO room to properly tie down that load (unless you use auto transport type tire straps)
 
Mobile home axles and tires suck. 14.5" rims, the tires are bias ply, and the mounting tabs are a pain.

It doesn't sound like it's long enough to get decent weight distribution and good tongue weight. I could be wrong since I've never seen the trailer. If I'm right then that would lead to a "tail wagging the dog" situation and that never ends well.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Mobile home axles and tires suck. 14.5" rims, the tires are bias ply, and the mounting tabs are a pain.

It doesn't sound like it's long enough to get decent weight distribution and good tongue weight. I could be wrong since I've never seen the trailer. If I'm right then that would lead to a "tail wagging the dog" situation and that never ends well.
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That was my main concern is weight distribution. Tie downs easy fix but the placement of jeep ....hmmm

Ok stupid ? But can you add couple feet to a trailer? I have access to big welders and stuff
 
It's hard to add length to a trailer in the proper place without basically rebuilding the trailer. At that point, I'd just look for a longer trailer to start with.
 
CasterTroy said:
So MANY reasons, but I'll just list 1

Think about anchor points for straps. At 12ft you have NO room to properly tie down that load (unless you use auto transport type tire straps)
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IMHO, I disagree with this statement. I strap to the axles and you can always run the straps in to a tie down point between the front and rear axles. X’d of course.
 
Jody Treadway said:
IMO, that's not a suitable trailer for towing a rig around. I feel it is too short and not built to carry 5k# around safely.
In all seriousness, the cost of even a new or gently used CAR hauler or equipment trailer is a wise investment to keep you and your cargo (both in the cab and on the trailer) safe.
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Figured. Looking elsewhere already. Thanks everyone. Merry Christmas and blessed new year!
 
Along with all the above info, I believe the mobile home axles or at least the rims, are illegal for trailer use. And being that is what he seemed to use, along with home built, is their a Title? Weight distribution can be a problem, & is your Crawler Really only 12'? I haven't kept up with your build. The Only similar situation I recall, is a Club member that could haul his near stock Samy, on a 12 or 14' single axle trailer, Safety.
 
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I built a 12’ trailer to haul my yota. Crossed the straps towards the center of the trailer. It pulled great and the yota (110” wb) fit perfectly. I did the weight calculations and used dual 3500lb braking axles that I got from Kaufman. I’m also not a fan of the mobile home/Hudson trailer type rims.

Edited to add that IMO a 12’ trailer will work, just not THAT 12’ trailer. Between the MH axles and the sellers admittance of instability - stay away (as you said you will do).
 
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All good, I found a 21ft dual 3500lb break axles 15"rims open floor trailer picking up today. It was a travel trailer stripped and very good shape. I get plenty of room to make it my own, both axles have breaks, no floor yet so I get to customize it. Woohoo. Plenty of room for jeep and storage up front.
 
Problem with MH axles is the tires. 14.5" tires that are DOT rated are somewhat difficult and expensive to get. Standard MH tires are only rated for some short mileage and low speed.
 
And all 14.5" tires suck whether they are DOT rated or not.
 
DSM Turbos said:
I am just impressed you might have listened and not already bought it. :D
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As Jody said, I don't want to take chances on this trailer stuff. For everyone's safety!
 
a_kelley said:
Problem with MH axles is the tires. 14.5" tires that are DOT rated are somewhat difficult and expensive to get. Standard MH tires are only rated for some short mileage and low speed.
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Question would be how do they travel multi state on the interstate and such at 55+ mph ??!! I have passed several traveling back and forth between Louisiana and any other state that doesn’t suck as much.
 
I'm not sure about 55+. Guy I worked for had a stock trailer that had them, that's howi found that out. We never really did over 45-56 with stock in the trailer and it was set up as a rocker twin axle. Very much vertical movement of f150 suspension over bumps. Everything else with MH axles has mostly been farm trailers, and usually towed with a tractor so mh take off tires were fine lol
 
My buddy has mh axles on his trailer and has for yeas the main issue he has with them is the tires are just not rated for speed and they get hot and ware very fast never had any blow outs but putting tirea on every 4 trips gets old even if they are 30 buck

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In all honesty, the Chinese Ebay MH style tires that are on my trailer now seem to run true and smooth, and have been load tested up to 80+mph, but they have been the exception. Also, they still have less than 1000 miles on them. I plan for them to last 5-10k miles.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Question would be how do they travel multi state on the interstate and such at 55+ mph ??!! I have passed several traveling back and forth between Louisiana and any other state that doesn’t suck as much.
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When the crew was putting my house together...I asked them about that. They said if they last one trip, they're happy. It was a little over 300 miles from the factory to my land. They treat them as consumables. I know the halves of my house had four axles each, so 8 tires, and on the bigger houses I've seen 5 or 6 axles. The haulers are lucky if the axles are even remotely square under the house. They said that was one of the main reasons they wear tires so fast aside from under inflation.

On a home made trailer it'd be one thing, but they never really get subjected to higher speeds or extremely long trips when they're under a house.
 
Hey y'all, my son is going to give me a set of 30x9.50x15 6ply tires, very good shape, 2 like new, 2 half worn. Any reason these won't work for my new trailer tires? Rated at 2100lbs each at 50psi. For starter set will they work ok? Thanks
 
marty79 said:
Hey y'all, my son is going to give me a set of 30x9.50x15 6ply tires, very good shape, 2 like new, 2 half worn. Any reason these won't work for my new trailer tires? Rated at 2100lbs each at 50psi. For starter set will they work ok? Thanks
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Most likely they won’t fit on any trailer with out moving the axles apart.


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