Thoughts on Harbor Freight 1720 lb 4X8 trailer

[be_a_jayhawk]

Upon researching trailers I seemed to be leaning toward the Harbor freight 1720 lb 4x8. I might prefer a 5X8 or 5X10 as I have to sleep 3-4 in my Tear, but it seems like the best deal on a new trailer if I can't find a used one. I am concerned about the tires and traveling highway speeds. Any thoughts? I would love to hear some pros and cons as the sale ends on the 28th.


http://www.harborfreight.com/1720-lb-ca ... Q%3D%3D%0D%0

[citylights]

That is a good deal for the HF trailer. I read quite a bit about them, and almost went with one myself. I ended up using a more expensive trailer that I already had. (Now, i am bumed beacuse I have no utility trailer and only a half built tear!)

Minimum recommended is to replace the nuts with nylocks. Some also recommend replacing all the bolts with quality ones. For $15 in hardware, how could you go wrong with that? Most "real world" reviews say everything on them holds up well except the bearings. The bearings take regular maintenance and they will last a few years. They need to be checked for heat, castle nut adjustment, and grease on just about every trip. Most recommend carrying a bearing rebuild kit and the tools to take care of it in the field because, eventually a set of bearings will fail on you. If you are prepared for all that (and once you learn it, it is really not that big a deal), then go for it!

[les45]

Northern Tool has their 5X8 on sale for $477 with free shipping. It is rated 2,000 lbs gvw. If you plan to build bigger I would recommend going with the 5X8 as you will probably spend the difference in adapting to a 4X8. I used the NT 5X8 for my build and have been very pleased with it. I've also owned HF trailers for years and I've never had a problem with the stock tires or bearings (I repack the bearings when assembling the trailers and about every year or so after that). I was concerned about the stiff 12" Chinese trailer tires on my (NT) weekender (partly because of the firm ride) so I changed out to 13" passenger car tires for a much smoother ride. There is plenty of room to upgrade your tires on all the DIY trailers (NT or HF). Many people on the forum have run the stock 12" tires and bearings for thousands of miles without problems. It becomes a matter of personal taste after you research all the facts about these trailers. Good luck with your build.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

If you do a search, there is a ton of information and opinions on the trailer kit. I've built three tears on them (one 4'x9' & two 5'x10') and would not hesitate to use it for my next build, whenever that may be.

[bobhenry]

Most "real world" reviews say everything on them holds up well except the bearings. The bearings take regular maintenance and they will last a few years. They need to be checked for heat, castle nut adjustment, and grease on just about every trip. Most recommend carrying a bearing rebuild kit and the tools to take care of it in the field because, eventually a set of bearings will fail on you. If you are prepared for all that (and once you learn it, it is really not that big a deal), then go for it!

Opinions DO vary.

I hear these horror stories and simply shake my head. Chubby weighs in at 1850 pounds and is on a standard HF axle on standard 12" tires. (I did ditch the Duro tires and went to carlisles ) I completely cleaned and repacked the bearings the day I got the used frame home in mid 2007 and have never touched it since. OK you will see in my album where I was doing a roadside repair but it was because some damn fool forgot to tighten the lug nuts and beat the studs out of the hub. That is not bearing failure just operator error. The bad press of HF bearings is simply because most folks run them with the rust preventative crap that the hub and bearings are filled with. THIS IS NOT good grade lubricant just a packing gel.

The only negative thing I can say is I did not trust the a frame tongue and chose to reinforce mine and added 18" to the stock length for better towing and backing up. Perhaps if the trailer weighed in at 1000 - 1200 pounds instead of bumping almost a ton it would have seemed sufficient. Just my opinion !

[Catherine+twins]

Northern Tool has their 5X8 on sale for $477 with free shipping. It is rated 2,000 lbs gvw. If you plan to build bigger I would recommend going with the 5X8 as you will probably spend the difference in adapting to a 4X8. I used the NT 5X8 for my build and have been very pleased with it. I've also owned HF trailers for years and I've never had a problem with the stock tires or bearings (I repack the bearings when assembling the trailers and about every year or so after that). I was concerned about the stiff 12" Chinese trailer tires on my (NT) weekender (partly because of the firm ride) so I changed out to 13" passenger car tires for a much smoother ride. There is plenty of room to upgrade your tires on all the DIY trailers (NT or HF). Many people on the forum have run the stock 12" tires and bearings for thousands of miles without problems. It becomes a matter of personal taste after you research all the facts about these trailers. Good luck with your build.

+1

Okay, I went with the HF the OP is looking at. I need to put 3 in my trailer, and my tweens aren't small enough even now to put in cross-wise bunks over the width of the cabin. I really regret not putting out the extra $100-150 for the 5x8 NT. Wider is better in this case.

Catherine

[les45]

Okay, I went with the HF the OP is looking at. I need to put 3 in my trailer, and my tweens aren't small enough even now to put in cross-wise bunks over the width of the cabin. I really regret not putting out the extra $100-150 for the 5x8 NT. Wider is better in this case.

Catherine

With the heavy duty HF trailer you can still build wider, you just have to build out over the tires. There are many examples of this on the forum.

[bobhenry]

yep ! Chubby is 10' long tip to tale without the tongue and 5' 7" wide so you can put a good sized body on the little 4x8 frame.

[be_a_jayhawk]

I am certainly leaning toward the HF over the NT, for the $177 savings I think can build over the frame. Although this time of year there is a lot of movement on trailers and pop-ups (might tear one down to the frame if I can snag for $200), so I'm tying to be patient and see if I can get a bargain. Any idea how often these go on sale (especially at the 299 price)?