I dont do business with H.F. or other companies like it. Their stuff is all cheap imported junk not worth buying. I dont always buy the best tools, but I'll buy a low end name brand item, like Skil or Black and Decker, before I buy any H.F. junk. And aside from sale items, H.F. prices are not all that great for what you get. For 10% to 30% more, you can get much better quality elsewhere. I'd particularly not buy their power tools. I think the last thing I bought from them was some electrical tape, and it was horrid, very stiff, and did not stick well.
I've got the same trailer with the same shortcoming- and I'm not disappointed. [I've also been pondering for years where I'll move that license holder to]
If I had paid $1000 for it, or if it had major mechanical problems, I'd be disappointed. But for $250- it is the cat's nuts.
Low end brand name tools such as the ones you mentioned are no different at all from what Harbor Freight sells except for the price. You are kidding yourself if you think they have any advantage other than prettier packaging.
How much do those reviews really matter? I'd say not much. If someone raves about a product, how do you know THAT is a reliable review?
I look at the overall body of reviews to see which way they trend, and if several reviews mention a particular point. A product with less than 20-30 reviews may as well not have any.
I bought a very similar trailer from Wal-Mart many, many years ago. It was the last one they had, the box was all beat up, so I negotiated a bit and got it for under $200. I added some nice wooden walls and sold it for $250 after a *lot* of use over a 5 year period.
If your plate holder is the same as mine was - a cheap piece of plastic attached to the brake light - here's what I did:
I screwed the plate directly to the back wall. Since I always used the trailer with the "box" on, the plate was always with the trailer.
As far as "disappointed" with the wiring, yes, I was. It's easy to rationalize it based on the cost, but I was still "disappointed" when the wiring failed soon after I started using the trailer. I rewired it and put the wires in plastic tubing tie-wraped to the frame and never had another problem.
I use one of these so I can move my trailer around wherever I am.
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I participate in activities where small enclosed trailers are the norm. I always wonder why everyone doesn't replace their flat bottomed tongue supports with the wheeled kind like the one above. They're always struggling to move their trailers and are always asking for help lifting the tongue, while I just roll mine around with ease.
Of course, I also wonder why everyone doesn't have an E-ZPass. Did you know that some states have 65MPH E-ZPass lanes? Man, those are sweet!
I use it all the time to move my 5' X 10' utility trailer and my 17' boat trailer. It's been extremely useful for me.
And like that other reviewer noted, I have seepage from the tires. You just have to remember to give the tires a squeeze every now and then and pump them back up if they've gotten soft. But, hey... I have the same situation with my hand truck (dolly) that I use for moving furniture and boxes. Not a big deal.
I actually have one of those on my boat trailer. While it works pretty well on pavement and concrete, it's not so hot on gravel, which is what my driveway is. The problem is the wheel digs in.
The larger wheels on the trailer dolly don't have that problem.
I tend to differ, based on personal experience. However, there are exceptions. I will mention that I have purchased one of the Menards generic brand power tools, which they call "Tool Shop". It was an angle grinder. I only bought it because I already had a quality grinder, and just wanted a second one so I did not have to change the wheels all the time from cutting wheels to grinding wheels, and Menards had it on sale for an excellent price (like about $10). I've been very pleased with it, and I since bought a second one of them, because my quality grinder is at least 25 years old and it seems like the bearings are getting sloppy, and slightly wobbles. Since then, I also bought a "Tool Shop" hammer drill and that too seems to be good, although I dont need to use a hammer drill very often.
Now, before I bought this second grinder from Menards, I had purchased another generic brand grinder from one of these ripoff places that goes from town to town, sets up a tent, and sells tools. When I used that grinder the first time, it lasted a total of about 10 minutes before the smoke began pouring out of it, and it just burned out and died. I was not working it very hard either. Now that was a waste of money, and there was no place to return the piece of shit.
I use one of these so I can move my trailer around wherever I am.
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I participate in activities where small enclosed trailers are the norm. I always wonder why everyone doesn't replace their flat bottomed tongue supports with the wheeled kind like the one above. They're always struggling to move their trailers and are always asking for help lifting the tongue, while I just roll mine around with ease.
Of course, I also wonder why everyone doesn't have an E-ZPass. Did you know that some states have 65MPH E-ZPass lanes? Man, those are sweet!
I put an ATV reciever hitch on my lawn tractor to move trailers around with. It workd great for moving package units and condensers around customers homes and not have to worry about falling through the top of a septic tank. Also works great for manuvering trailers around in tight spaces. I also had one of my utility trailers fitted with a 2000lb hand crank winch for pulling some of the larger units up on the trailer.
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