Do I want a trailer jack for my little trailer

[mm]

Do I want a trailer jack for my little trailer?

I'm buying a small trailer, only 4' x 8' bed, the one that folds in half sold by Harbor Freight and NorthernTools (I'm not saying they're the same, but similar). Buying it new, with new tires.

And they push accessories such as a trailer jack that holds the tongue up when it isn't resting on the trailer hitch. Do I want one, do I need one, for a trailer that weighs 200 pounds on which I'll put less than 100 pounds of furniture? After all, I'm supposed to put the load on so the tongue weight is no more than 50 pounds, right? And I can lift 50 pounds easily. OTOH, I love accesories and gadgets? OT3H, I will rarely if ever use it, but I will pay for gas to carry it around with me whereever I go.

In fact, I plan to use the trailer only once, to go from Dallas to Baltimore, and I don't expect to put the trailer on the hitch more than once, or take it off more than once. At the start and at the end. Since I have no place to keep the trailer, I'll have to sell it, cheap. So should I buy the jack?

Should I buy a spare wheel, tire, and spare tire carrier, for a total of 40 dollars? I'm not made of money. :)

[tsltrek]

I'll bite. Buy the spare tire and rim...long trip to get stuck on the road. Forget the carrier and jack.

[Pete C.]

Tongue weight should be about 10% of gross trailer weight, and both tongue and gross weights will be limited by your tow vehicle and hitch. A trailer of the type you indicate should pretty much never have a tongue weight over 120# so you can probably do just fine without a jack.

A spare wheel/tire assy. is a good idea if you expect to tow it a lot. A tire carrier isn't worthwhile since the tire is small and you should be able to just strap it down with the load or keep it in the two vehicle.

If you don't tow a lot, don't tow in remote areas and don't tow anything too valuable you can pretty readily skip the spare tire. If you do get a flat you just leave the trailer on the side of the road for an hour while you got to and Lowe's, Home Depot, Auto parts store, etc. and buy a tire/wheel assy. for $30.

[DerbyDad03]

I had one of those trailers for years. I carried around a cheap Harbor Freight jack stand to stick under the tongue when I unhitched. It served 2 purposes:

- Saved the back from lifting the tongue off the ground - Kept the bed more level

One problem is that if you stand on the rear of the trailer, the tongue will lift off the jack stand and if the trailer rolls left or right, the tongue will hit the ground rather harshly when you get off. With an attached jack stand (preferably with a wheel (~$40)) it may lift up, but it will return to it's original position a bit more calmly.

Once I upgraded to an enclosed trailer, I found the wheeled jack stand to be a must if I wanted to move the trailer by myself.

BTW I built a nice set of walls for my trailer from 1 x 6 douglas fir. I've seen cheap, fast plywood walls, but my walls made an inexpensive trailer look pretty nice. I got it on sale for under $200, put about $50 into the walls and sold it for $200 4 years later.

P.S. Never had a spare, never had flat.

mm wrote:

[Eric in North TX]

As the others have said, with the trailer empty it won't be that bad without a jack, but I would still want one. It just makes it more user friendly & saves always looking for something for under the hitch. Sooner or later you are going to want to unhitch it loaded, and that will be a task.

[Tater]

NO!

RENT!

[Lawrence]

I think not. My trailer which is much larger has has two different trailer jacks both of which I have managed to wreck don't ask me how. So now i just use my trusty floor jack if I need some help. you will need no jack for the tiny little trailer you describe since you will be able to lift it without a jack.

[Pete C.]

My trailer has a typical loaded tongue weight of about 960# and the jack on it does just fine. Not sure how you killed yours.

For the little trailer though the loaded tongue weight should never be over 120#, typically much less so it should be perfectly manageable without a jack.

[Colbyt]

The tire depends on how far from home you will be. Well maybe in your case. For the trip you are making consider the model with the larger 12-14" tires. Those little guys are fine for local hauls.

I have the smaller version of the same trailer. I have hauled 1180 pounds of rock and dirt to the landfill. Mine is now about 6 years old, abused a few times per year and going strong.

You won't need the trailer jack when it is empty and if you move it about when loaded and on the jack, the tongue will twist. BTDT (been there done that).

[mm]

Well, as I said, I like gadgets, but I'll control myself and skip this one.

Thanks. I feel better now. The dresser has been mine since I was 6 and it's beautiful, but it's not likely someone will steal it, even if I have to leave it**. I can even chain up the trailer if I have to leave it. So I'm going to order the trailer right now, and have it shipped to my brother in Dallas.

**Not likely that anyone will want it, but I'm going to put a switch under the dresser so that it sets off the car's burglar alarm if someone tries to take it while I'm in a motel or camping at night.

(Also very unlikely, but when one has had things stolen, he becomes touchy about it. My car once, though I went and found it, but everything in the trunk was missing. A roommate' subtenant stole my desk, deskchair, electric drill, and propane torch once when I was working out of town. And a second time everything in the trunk of my convertible. That was 24 years ago, but still. Oh, yeah, someone once stole 2 lawn mowers from behind my house, but I had spent hours trying to make either of them work and was only saving them for parts! I'll bet they were disappointed when they got them home and couldn't start them!)

[Harry K]

As tater said, why buy a trailer. Rent a U-haul, Penske or similar small trailer. Should be cheaper and you won't have to try selling it.

Harry K

[mm]

One can't rent a really small trailer, and I can't pull any trailer much bigger than this, because I have no frame. My car doesn't have a frame either. :(

[Pat]

You don't have to buy now! You can always buy later if you decide you need them.

[mm]

Good to hear.

You and lawrence, I think.

[mm]

He was probably using it in a gang fight.

At any rate, I'll bet it wasn't being used as desgined. :(

Derby Dad has given me pause, but if I were to want one, I realize I don't have to buy it at the same time or same place as the trailer.

I have realized that maybe I can squeeze the trailer in somewhere, maybe even build a shed in a way I hadn't thought of before, because it will be very hard for me to part with a trailer that is only two weeks old, even if it does have 1200 miles on it.

Of course if I could get 200 for a 250 trailer... Well, I'm going to try this spring to sell a trailer hitch cargo carrier that is better than new, because I put carpeting on the ends to protect the floor, and red and white striped reflective strips on 3 sides. Less demand for that then a trailer, so I expect to sell it for half or less of what I paid. I bought a lighter one, that uses a wood bottom I make myself. The old one is so heavy I can barely carry it to the car, and certainly can't carry it down the steps to the basement.

[mm]

Cool. I don't want my dresser falling off at 65 mph**, but I think I'll use rope. My brother's isn't the best place to make walls.

**Most of the way on small roads at 40 to 50.

It has short legs at the bottom, and a top that overhangs the rest of it, so I'll be able to get the rope on ok, even on top of the waterproof wrapping. Unless I crash the car, in which case the dresser, as much as I like it, will be less important to me than my own bones.

OK. No spare for me.

[DerbyDad03]

A friend once told me about the time the military was shipping him cross country from one station to another. They wouldn't pay to ship his girlfriend's stuff or pay her airfare, so he talked them into giving him the money that they would have paid for shipping his stuff and his travel expenses. He was going to drive his car and they were going to give him mileage.

He took the m> >

[mm]

Great story!

When I thought I was taking two dressers, the desk, and the nighttable, I looked into renting a truck. almost 1000 dollars to go one-way. (Now a truck trip I could have done in the winter, but if I'm taking my convertible, I want to wait until the weather is warmer.)

When I foudn out my nephew was using most of the furniture, I looked into a cargo van. It was only 240 dollars for the time they allotted for this distance (7 days I think) but they charged 480 for returning the van to Dallas, and another 180+ dollars for other charges, so more than 900. This will be about 100 dollars each way for gas, plus the

200 for the trailer, minus the 100 dollars I would have spent for a one-way flight. So it is only 200 more than flying there and back. As opposed to 800 dollars more. Plus I get ten days or more of tourism. Mammoth Caves, Memphis, Nashville, Elvis, Little Rock, Diamond State park (where you can look for your own diamonds. 6 dollars for the afternoon iirc, and keep what you find) and Hope Arkensas. Plus lots of other things I'll see.

Dang, I just remembered the book case! I don't think they're using that, so I guess I'll take it too. But it weighs little and will sit atop the dresser. Gas mileage will be lwow and may cost another ??50/100?? dollars. Maybe I should make a shroud like semis use above the cab. I wonder how.

[mm]

So I ordered the thing, and shouldn't have been, but was surprised by the shipping charges 62.00. That's 12 dollars for an order 130 dollars or more, and 50 dollars extra because it weighs 200 pounds and was marked " §Truck Item "

I could have picked it up in Fort Worth, but the store is an hour or more each way from where my brother lives, and probably 10 dollars gas and 10 dollars sales tax, and it was 40 dollars off what they laughingly call regular price (I think Harbor Freight marks things up just so they can mark them down most of the time, but they do sell everything at full price some of the time.) and the store might just be out of them when I need one, and I really have to start assembling the first day if I am to be done in 5 days, and still have time to go buy plywood, see my sister-in-law's restaurant 50 miles in the other direction, etc. It has 300 parts!

Thanks for all the very helpful advice.

[Jim Elbrecht]

I just put mine on the road a couple months ago. [It took me

*several* hours to put it all together- so I hope you have a long weekend planned with your brother.] I picked my jack up at garage sale for $5, but it is like the $20 HF one- Aside from keeping me from looking for a block every time I take the trailer off the car-- it always holds the tongue up-- and makes a fine handle to grab on to drag my (now 3 wheeled) trailer to the car. Then it adjusts up and down over the ball saving my back when it has a load. [not that the tongue is heavy-- but my back is old and has suffered a great deal of abuse over the years]

-snip-

If you've really got to sell it- then you'll probably not use the jack for a single trip. But if I was looking at a 'used once' trailer to buy- that extra gadget would be a good selling point. [If I were you I'd probably also use pressure treated lumber for the bed and rails- $30 more right now- but will make it stand out when you sell it.]

I'd save that $40 for a single trip.

BTW- what kind of car is towing this-- and are you buying a hitch?

What part of the world do you live in that doesn't have small trailers for rent? [at either end of the trip?]

Jim