HF trailer Review/Advise. | GTAMotorcycle.com

HF trailer Review/Advise.

frekeyguy

Well-known member
So I am going tomorrow to buffalo to pick up a trailer from harbour freight.

I am picking up the following things....looking for your advise/reviews.



#1 : trailer

$299.99
1195 Lb. Capacity 48" x 96" Heavy Duty Foldable Utility Trailer with 12" Wheels

http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...tility-trailer-with-12-inch-wheels-90154.html

#2: Wheel chokes (2pcs)

http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-wheel-chock-96349.html


Picking up a tire changer as well (* i dont know if I should, i've gotten by using tire irons and rim savers for 2 yrs, this seems like a splurge)

#1: http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-tire-changer-34542.html

#2: http://www.harborfreight.com/motorcycle-tire-changer-attachment-42927.html
 
Ive got that motorcycle chock, and it sits in the back of my truck year round.

It has been used and abused, more times that most people here would use it.
Holds up any bike without someone holding onto it, and secures the front wheel.

The downside to it, is it doesnt fit the Honda 125 or Ninja 250 front wheels all that well.

Other than a shot of spray paint, mine works great.
 
That wheel chock works well but it does pinch the tire a bit. You'll sometimes have to rock the bike right to left a few times to free the front tire before you can pull it out.

I've played with those tire changers before, they're not great. I spent some extra and got a NoMar
 
That wheel chock works well but it does pinch the tire a bit. You'll sometimes have to rock the bike right to left a few times to free the front tire before you can pull it out.

I've played with those tire changers before, they're not great. I spent some extra and got a NoMar

ive gotten by for 2 yrs doing my own tire and other ppls' tire with rim savers and tire irons and a lot of sweat.

I was hoping this would help me out
 
That wheel chock works well but it does pinch the tire a bit. You'll sometimes have to rock the bike right to left a few times to free the front tire before you can pull it out.

I've played with those tire changers before, they're not great. I spent some extra and got a NoMar

Yeah i do agree with Tim. It does take a little muscle sometimes to remove the bike from the chock at times.
I end up bouncing the suspension down, and on the upswing pulling it out of the chock.
 
Yup! I am NOT picking up a trailer. Its 'trailer parts'.

I'd like to hear how the pickup and import goes, towing 'parts' across the border and all that. Looks like just the sort of trailer I have been looking for.

Do you then have to register it as home-built for a plate?

Group Buy?
 
DVS and Metastable both picked up the trailers last year. PM them to get a hint on bringing it back. It'll save you a bundle.
Myself and DVS have the chocks and tire changer. Both are worth it. I mounted the changer to my garage floor and it has saved my many a fee for changes. Life is easy. Breaks the bead too.

Again. PM DVS on a hint on bringing the trailer over. The border sees it as a kit regardless. This means it can be streetable. There is a solution though.
 
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The tire changer is kinda junk. But it's cheap enough as a starting point.

The base needs to be reinforced. You'll understand the first time you use it. A little time with a mig and chop saw will sort that out.

Wrap a bungy cord around the bead breaker so it'll spring back.

And the little triangle at the base to hold the rim? Cut it right off. Make a square of 2 layers of 2x4's so your sprocket or disc is off the ground. It'll make sense once you see it.

I also converted the 2 non threaded rim grabbers to threaded adjustment using 5/8 threaded rod.

Where the center pivot rod flops around I welded in big washers so that the rod sits perfectly on center.

The 3 little rim grabber hooks: I just peel off 1/4 inch duct tape (tape tears off the roll nice in partial widths) and wrap around for scratch protector.

Other than those simple mods it's a good machine:rolleyes:
 
No need for a PM, just saw this thread.

OK, as stated this is not a "Trailer Kit" and is "Trailer Parts". If it's a trailer kit you will be required to register the "vehicle" with the RIV for $200 (back then at least). Additionally, you will have some "discussion" as "kits" are NOT legal to be placed on the road within Canada.

This is very important as once the customs form is filled out indicating that it is a vehicle, you will then be caught between Canada Customs and the Ministry of Transportation. Believe me, the hassle to trying to reverse the declaration that it's a vehicle is near impossible with the governmental robots.

One question you will be asked is "If you put all these parts together, will it be a full vehicle?", if you answer "Yes", you'll start the Custom officers down the road of determining that it's a vehicle. The answer is "No", these are parts that you will be using to combine with other parts that you have in order to build a home built trailer.


OK, once it's in Canada, then it's easy. Rip off the VIN number plate and declare it as a home built trailer. After dishing out $35, you're golden.
 
picked up the trailer parts. had no troubles at the border.

will build it soon. :DD

I really appreciate all you guy's advise.

see you at the track soon!
 
Yes provided that you remove the tailgate. Those mesh tailgates may look like they let the air through ... but the drag will feel like a parachute. Take the tailgate off, use a normal ramp, it will be OK.

What you need to do, is have a hitch installed on the car and a wiring module installed in the car. First things first, the hitch.

http://www.hiddenhitch.com/ - If you go through the vehicle model selection process, you will find that a Class 1 hitch is available for your car. A Class 1 hitch has 2000 lb towing capacity and 200 lb tongue weight capacity. That doesn't mean your car is officially rated to tow that much - that's in your owner's manual - although it's not uncommon for cars sold in North America to simply say "not recommended". For now, assume that it is OK. My experience has been that if you get pulled over for inspection, all they'll look at is the capacity of the hitch anyway.

Since you are in Mississauga, good place to buy a hitch and have it installed is Hitch City, which is on Dixie just south of 401 on the west side. It will cost a couple hundred bucks.

The second thing is the wiring adapter for the vehicle. Your car has separate turn and brake lamp bulbs. Trailers use combined turn/brake lamps. There is a little module for converting the car's signals to those necessary for the trailer wiring. Hitch City can do this for you, also, although it's not that bad to do it yourself - I did mine myself because I wanted soldered and shrink-wrapped connectors, not spliced-in T's.

With the car set up, get the trailer and put it together and you are all set.

Few random thoughts.

When you buy a trailer, get 12" wheels at a minimum. DON'T get 8" wheels. When the car is going 100 km/h, those little wheels think they're going 200 km/h and the tires blow or the bearings wear out in no time.

If you have 12" trailer wheels, there are two different widths and several different load ranges. The 4.80x12 is probably what that trailer comes with. There are also 5.30x12 in at least two different load ranges (it's printed on the sidewall). Make sure you have enough load rating for your load. Make sure the tire pressure is right! Trailer tires use very high pressures. Check trailer tire pressures before every trip.

You need to load the trailer so that approx 10% of the total trailer weight is on the tongue. Not enough tongue weight will make the trailer sway and be unstable. Too much will overload your hitch.

You need to hook up safety chains crossed under the tongue. The hitch has hooks for attaching these and the trailer will probably come with chains for doing this. I also pin the latch for the tow ball so that it doesn't accidentally come undone.

Trailers less than 3000 lbs ordinarily don't have trailer brakes. Anything that will go on a Class 1 hitch won't have trailer brakes. BUT, read the owner's manual for your car (you may have to look up the European owner's manual to find the real deal). The European version of my car (Jetta TDI) is rated 600 kg towing capacity without trailer brakes and 1200 kg with trailer brakes. 600 kg = 1320 lbs, this is within the Class 1 limit ... European trailers ALL have trailer brakes as far as I can tell.

Beyond that it's just a matter of driving properly. Make allowance for slower acceleration, turning more gently, and particularly, longer stopping distances. With my car, the trailer increases fuel consumption (and stress on the engine/transmission) by 50%. All this means ... slow down!

And then there's the next thing you'll eventually experience ... Backing up with a trailer!
 
Yes provided that you remove the tailgate. Those mesh tailgates may look like they let the air through ... but the drag will feel like a parachute. Take the tailgate off, use a normal ramp, it will be OK.

What you need to do, is have a hitch installed on the car and a wiring module installed in the car. First things first, the hitch.

http://www.hiddenhitch.com/ - If you go through the vehicle model selection process, you will find that a Class 1 hitch is available for your car. A Class 1 hitch has 2000 lb towing capacity and 200 lb tongue weight capacity. That doesn't mean your car is officially rated to tow that much - that's in your owner's manual - although it's not uncommon for cars sold in North America to simply say "not recommended". For now, assume that it is OK. My experience has been that if you get pulled over for inspection, all they'll look at is the capacity of the hitch anyway.

Since you are in Mississauga, good place to buy a hitch and have it installed is Hitch City, which is on Dixie just south of 401 on the west side. It will cost a couple hundred bucks.

The second thing is the wiring adapter for the vehicle. Your car has separate turn and brake lamp bulbs. Trailers use combined turn/brake lamps. There is a little module for converting the car's signals to those necessary for the trailer wiring. Hitch City can do this for you, also, although it's not that bad to do it yourself - I did mine myself because I wanted soldered and shrink-wrapped connectors, not spliced-in T's.

With the car set up, get the trailer and put it together and you are all set.

Few random thoughts.

When you buy a trailer, get 12" wheels at a minimum. DON'T get 8" wheels. When the car is going 100 km/h, those little wheels think they're going 200 km/h and the tires blow or the bearings wear out in no time.

If you have 12" trailer wheels, there are two different widths and several different load ranges. The 4.80x12 is probably what that trailer comes with. There are also 5.30x12 in at least two different load ranges (it's printed on the sidewall). Make sure you have enough load rating for your load. Make sure the tire pressure is right! Trailer tires use very high pressures. Check trailer tire pressures before every trip.

You need to load the trailer so that approx 10% of the total trailer weight is on the tongue. Not enough tongue weight will make the trailer sway and be unstable. Too much will overload your hitch.

You need to hook up safety chains crossed under the tongue. The hitch has hooks for attaching these and the trailer will probably come with chains for doing this. I also pin the latch for the tow ball so that it doesn't accidentally come undone.

Trailers less than 3000 lbs ordinarily don't have trailer brakes. Anything that will go on a Class 1 hitch won't have trailer brakes. BUT, read the owner's manual for your car (you may have to look up the European owner's manual to find the real deal). The European version of my car (Jetta TDI) is rated 600 kg towing capacity without trailer brakes and 1200 kg with trailer brakes. 600 kg = 1320 lbs, this is within the Class 1 limit ... European trailers ALL have trailer brakes as far as I can tell.

Beyond that it's just a matter of driving properly. Make allowance for slower acceleration, turning more gently, and particularly, longer stopping distances. With my car, the trailer increases fuel consumption (and stress on the engine/transmission) by 50%. All this means ... slow down!

And then there's the next thing you'll eventually experience ... Backing up with a trailer!

You sir are a prince among men...:lol: Thanks!
 
I think I'm going to go frekeyguy's route with the same foldable trailer and chock.

Few questions:

- the site says that it can hook up to a vehicle with a 1-7/8" ball hitch. I just picked up a hitch city hitch for my 05 civic this afternoon. Do I just buy a tongue w/ the same size ball and I'm good to go?

- After you buy the trailer from HF in buffalo how do you transport it back? Just hook it up to the hitch and drive it over the border? Wouldn't doing that require trailer lights and for it to be licensed? Me thinks I'm missing something here....
 
I think I'm going to go frekeyguy's route with the same foldable trailer and chock.

Few questions:

- the site says that it can hook up to a vehicle with a 1-7/8" ball hitch. I just picked up a hitch city hitch for my 05 civic this afternoon. Do I just buy a tongue w/ the same size ball and I'm good to go?

- After you buy the trailer from HF in buffalo how do you transport it back? Just hook it up to the hitch and drive it over the border? Wouldn't doing that require trailer lights and for it to be licensed? Me thinks I'm missing something here....

I'm guessing that hitch for your Civic would be a Class II. Just get the right receiver for the hitch (Princess Auto or Canadian Tire) then match it with a 1 7/8" ball. Make sure you get the right diameter shank to match the ball to the receiver.

The trailer from HF comes in a few boxes. If you fold the seats down you could probably fit them in the Civic.
 
I'm guessing that hitch for your Civic would be a Class II. Just get the right receiver for the hitch (Princess Auto or Canadian Tire) then match it with a 1 7/8" ball. Make sure you get the right diameter shank to match the ball to the receiver.

The trailer from HF comes in a few boxes. If you fold the seats down you could probably fit them in the Civic.

Gotcha. Thanks!
 
Read the entire thread. You are importing trailer PARTS not a full trailer.... which to be honest is kinda true. Often you will end up different hitches, having to change a little this and a little that and at the end of the day you really just picked up parts.
 

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