Hi I'm looking at buying a secondhand trailer and could do with some advice. A lot of the trailers I can find are wooden but looking online at new trailers they all seem to be metal. Most of the metal secondhand ones seem to be Erde or similar but the metal looks very thin. We will be housing it in a garage when not in use. We also want a high sided one and most of the cheaper ones have home made sides added on but I'm not sure if they are safe/would leak. Don't really want to spend more than £150 so any help would be appreciated. I know you get what you pay for and in future may buy new but at the moment we are quite limited on price.
£150 is a little optimistic, you may get lucky and find one of the small Erde or Daxara Trailers for that kind of money, only to find that it is way to small.
OK this may blow your budget, but when looking for a Trailer, I would go for the following.
750kg Gross spec.
"A" Frame chassis.
13" Wheels.
Side Extentions are available for most of the current crop of Trailers, would have definatley added some to my a Trailer, but they don't do them for the older Lider Trailers.
Just my thoughts, let us know what you end up with.
Personally, I would invest in a good quality trailer as Francais said above. We used to tent and had an Anssems trailer on 13" wheels, it held all our stuff and can get extension and roof bars to put a box/bikes on top. They are way over your price tho even 2nd hand, but would be well worth the investment as aluminium and would last ages. You need something solid and reliable that is going to get from A to B, without breaking down.
I built one about 30 years ago and it's still going strong and looking good.
Bought chassis parts from Honeyfield Trilers and got step dad to weld the uprights on.
Indespension suspension units 250kg (5cwt then)
Mini wheels from a scrap yard. I went with 250kg because I would not be loading it with heavy items and didn't want it bouncing about too much. I could have used 500kg just as easily.
Timber cladding and a PVC cover. The cover protects the wood well.
Since have only replaced cover once and replaced the wood and replaced wheels including tyres. Also added safety chain.
I originally fitted the lights etc to it but later changed over to a removable lighting board which can be kept indoors. The lights didn't stand up well to storing outside.
Originally built for camping 5foot x 3 foot by 18 inch high sides, it's been used for allsorts including building work since.
For me, it was right. Big enough, good big 10 inch mini wheels and quality suspension and hubs etc.
I wouldn't fancy one of the flimsy things they sell these days with little 8 inch wheels.
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Topic: Tips on buying secondhand trailer
