In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Love it.
Their concern was genuine, though. Not for you, but for their legal department. If you had stuffed it in a trunk and it fell out and killed someone's cat, they would sue in civil court. They never lose in court, but it costs a lot of money not to lose.
Having been on the flipside, I have seen a couple leaving with three sheets of 3/4 plywood on the roof of a Hyundai that they were just holding with their hands out the window, a guy determined to tow our excavator with a Prius, and another guy who wanted a discount to rent just the tractor without the trailer because he could just drive the tractor home... on a 6-lane, inner-city highway.
I got a call from a lawyer a few years ago, many moons after I quit HD. A customer brought in a completely wasted push mower that was three days away from being out of warranty. He had done this every year for the last three years. Our assumption was that he had a lawn business and his mowers saw constant use all day, every day. He abused the equipment and just got a new one every year by claiming it was faulty. I finally was able to deny the warranty by googling his name and finding out that he was operating a home-brew lawn care business. He repaired the rear flap on his mower with duct tape. The mower shot something out the back and caused an injury to his leg and he sued HD because "CAM1157" (my associate ID on the receipt) suggested to use duct tape. He lost, but that is the kind of legal BS we had to deal with.
In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :
I have stored trailers in the rafters of a 1 car garage. Well not in the rafters, under the rafters. Position it correctly the fenders can go up between the rafters so it's one less thing to remove.
But you need to put lights on extension cords. So you can zip tie them up out of the way.
Shop carefully for hubs that match your cars lug bolt pattern. That way you don't have to carry 2 different spares that in all probability won't be used.
I have a big enough welder so I can weld aluminum. Steel can actually be lighter than the same strength in Aluminum. But rust!!! I hate it and sanding a trailer every few years to get rid of rust?!!!!!!
When designing the trailer the math is really simple. I use 120% as my minimum number. Don't forget to add the bending strength of the plywood deck.
Diamond plate gives as good a traction but doesn't have the bending strength. Use the fenders to gain strength. If you simply cantilever the fenders off the side rails they will flex till they break. But if you run a sheet of aluminum or tubing up at an angle and meet at the top of the fender you eliminate the flexing and add tremendously to the overall stiffness of the deck.
Just make sure your cross deck tubes land directly under the tires of the car.
Use square tube. All of your loads will work and cutting and welding square tube is massively simpler than round tube.
Put the load as low as possible. I like independent torsion mounts over axles. But make sure they are aligned. simple way is with tight fishing line and the bare rim just kissing the fishing line. I bolt on rather than weld the mounts. While I've never had to straighten a trailer bolted on gives you options welded doesn't. ( yes with nylocks ).
