Love--LOVE--LoveSquared--Oh Man...{love}E23

I LOVE my little trailer...AND....my standard transmission Toyota Corolla...

Love
    Love
        Love

SO MUCH BETTER than my old Astro Van......

You put a nifty little trailer on a Corolla...and man....you've GOT the functional utility of a van and a pickup.   You can haul your boats.   If you put a contractors lock-box on it, you have secure storage.   As a homeowner you can haul all kinds of lumber.   You can mount the contractors lock-box in such a way that it's a quick-dismount....and then put up sideboards and you can haul trash.......firewood......

Yes, a trailer limits your highway vehicle speed to a posted 55 mph.......but the CHP does not issue trailer speed tickets until 65mph.....and if you cruise at a steady 64 mph with 400 pounds of VACATION TOYS festooned to your trailer....a standard transmission will deliver 35 mpg.

Love my Corolla
Love my trailer (Hong Kong kit....comes with all the Federal DOT compliance certifications necessary to get it licensed without DMV hangups....Note:  The longer tongue on my trailer, I had to supply.   The supplied one is WAY too short).

Judd

Good stuff, Judd.  I'd guess many of us will go that direction in the future.  Nice setup - thanks for getting me thinking about it.   

Eric

Nice Judd I'm using the same trailer but the 4x8 thinking of buying the smaller one how did you extend the tongue.

Hi Mickfish....

Off-the-shelf "Trailer Ball Couplers" are designed to fit over and be coupled by bolts to a tongue measuring 2.5 x 2.5 inches.

Just so happens, that there is a rectanglular off-the-shelf aluminum extrusion that measures 2.5 x 2.5.

The place to go (and an important place for a guy who "builds stuff" to know about) is a really neat scrap metals dealer in San Leandro called Alcon Metals.    Take the westbound Davis Street exit from I-880 and go about 3/4ths mile to Doolittle Drive where you will go Right.....and then Immediately move into the left lane....so that at the end of the traffic divider at that point, you can turn left across the two oncoming lanes directly into the Alcon Metals lot.

I built my trailer 4-6 years ago.  At the time they had a Very Large stock of this shape, which they sell by the pound, and which comes in stock length of about 25 or 30 feet.  I think I paid $30.

OK---Here are some important thoughts about applying this aluminum extrusion to the particular duty-service of a trailer-tongue.    Where the trailer is to be used to carry light loads, as typified by kayaks ......there are NO restraining considerations.   The aluminum extrusion is fine for that service.

Where the trailer will also be used for quite-heavy loads of 600, 800, and 1,000 pounds.......the user has to be Extremely Aware that a mechanical engineer would NEVER approve an aluminum shape for that service.....and that for a user to press his trailer into THAT heavy-duty service AND STILL REMAIN SAFE....the user must load his trailer accordingly:   All Loads Must Be Loaded Tongue-Heavy...!!!....(to 100-150 pounds on the tongue).....and that the User-As-Vehicle-Driver must be extremely cautious of any roadway (bumps & especially repeated equally-spaced bumps) that can be expected to produce "trailer oscillation."     Single-axle trailers are quite subject to "oscillation" where (to visualize it) an imaginary point 8-feet directly above the axle, swings forward of that point, and back of that point.   Such motion can, depending on the  total weight sitting on the trailer-bed, place great strain on all the mechanical components of the trailer tongue AND vehicle hitch connections.......and can cause fatigue cracking within these components.

It's my judgment that the aluminum is a just-fine tongue....but ONLY because I am very aware of its limitations and drive accordingly, and also because I regularly visually inspect the tongue at particularly the point of coupler-connection, for fatigue cracking.

Judd

PS....one final thought.    My particular trailer is designed with three horizontal members that support whatever bed will be placed on the trailer.    The steel tongue that is supplied with the trailer.....only couples to the front-two of these.    If you install a longer aluminum tongue, cut your tongue with enough length that you can through-bolt all three of the horizontal members, to the aluminum tongue.

I love my weasely little Tacoma too.  Very good on gas and gets it done.