5x8 Utility Trailer - YJ Pulling

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-04-2009, 12:35 PM

Hello all... I'm in the market to purchase a small utility trailer. Lowe's has a decently priced 5x8 Carry On brand trailer. It's going to be used for my bike trailer, yard work, and when we purchase things too big to fit in the Jeep.

My only concern is the height of my bumper and tounge height for the trailer... And ways to fix the issue.

The trailer:

Specs:
Width (Feet): 72.0
Length (Feet): 96.0
Load Capacity (lbs.): 1650.0
Tire Size: 12"
Axle (lbs.): 2000.0
Floor Material: Wire Mesh
Ramp Gate: Yes
Ball Size: 1-7/8"

My concern is the small size of the tires, in relation to the overall height of my bumper. When I rented a UHaul trailer a few weeks ago while I was moving into my new house, I measured the height of the ball as it comes off my bumper... I can't remember exactly, but it was in the neighborhood of 20-22" high. If I go that tall with this, I'm pretty sure I'll be dragging the back along the pavement.

Is the best solution just to get a bigger drop on my hitch? I've got a YJ, 2.5" RC lift, 1" shackles with 31's... The hitch is going in my AtoZ Fab rear bumper.

What other solutions do I have? Will I be able to swap bigger tires onto this little trailer? I read a review somewhere that someone did a SOA on his 4x6 trailer to give some extra clearance when he was loading it with firewood... Would that be a better fix?

Just looking for someone with some experience on these trailers and some suggestions...

Thanks!

ctown67 · 05-04-2009, 02:10 PM

you can get a 6" or 8" drop hitch for your receiver, if it has one. if it is a ball on a bumper, i beleive they make a drop that has a way to bolt onto your bumper. i have a purejeep bumper that goes over my receiver so i use a drop hitch. i have the exact same trailer, Lowes it think. i pull it with my jeep on 35s and even without a drop it pulls ok. i have had 1300lbs in it and have had no problems at the dump, but not really wheelin'

hope that helps.

i was told by a uhaul dealer that they wouldn't rent to a wrangler unless it had a hard top. sounds weird but i ended up getting the trailer in a buddies truck then swapping it to my jeep.

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-05-2009, 05:14 AM

Thanks for the info! I knew that drop hitches were available... I just wasn't sure if that was the best route.

What I'd love to see is having the trailer being slighly bigger from its stock form (ie. bigger tires with SOA?)... hah!

yellowford · 05-05-2009, 08:22 PM

I would just go with the drop hitch you will like it much better than having the trailer sit high in the air. I've got a 4x8 trailer that sits pretty high off the ground and it makes it a pain for loading four wheelers on, but it can be nice for sheets of plywood since you don't have to go low to the ground.

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-06-2009, 06:50 AM

I stopped by a local used car lot yesterday. I was dropping off some tires at the place next door to be mounted and balanced for my Festiva. Anyways, they sell a brand of trailers by Holmes. They're made in the USA, use all LED lighting, and they seem a LOT sturdier than the Carry On brand I saw at Lowe's. In addition, the rails were 18" instead of 12", they had bigger tires, the fenders were a lot sturdier (and were diamond plated), they are powdercoated black, come with a spare tire carrier, etc.

The guy said $990, plus taxes, tags, etc and it'd be like $1117 out the door. I think I'm going to check back to see if he'd do $1000 out the door and just eat some of the costs. I'm sure I can find another local Holmes dealer to compare prices against.

It's a little more than I want to pay, but the extra cost for a better, sturdier trailer would be worth that expense.

Stan99 · 05-06-2009, 11:06 AM

I would say keep shopping! A grand for a small trailer like that is crazy! I picked mine up about 5 years ago and its a 5x8 trailer with a 4' tall ramp for the rear gate and 30" sides for 650 brand new. I see these things all day long from 100 bucks to 500. Keep shopping and save your self some money!

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-06-2009, 12:22 PM

Remember though, the prices of steel has gone up a bit from 5 years ago... The one at Lowe's would be perfectly fine for me, I'm 100% sure of it. But when I compared it to the quality of the Holmes that I saw yesterday, I doubt myself. The Holmes was a much better built trailer, sturdier metal, powdercoat, LEDs, easy grease bearings, etc.

I could be out of Lowe's with their trailer for $540 + tax.

We'll see. I'm going to keep looking until my tax return gets here.

Stan99 · 05-06-2009, 04:07 PM

Why not try and find one off of craigslist. With the way the economy is right now you can pick up almost anything for close to nothing! I just picked up a 8'x20' shipping container in perfect shape for $200 bucks. They normally go for 1500 and up.

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-07-2009, 07:57 AM

I've been checking all the local Craigslists in and around Central PA (Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Williamsport, etc) with nothing yet. There are a couple listed, but nothing that I've found that are worth what is being asked or a condition that I want to bother with. For the cost of the Lowe's trailer, I'd rather just buy new.

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-11-2009, 02:46 PM

Well, I ended up going with the Lowe's trailer. It was hard to pass up at $540... At some point, I'll toss some plywood down to give it a solid floor vs. the steel mesh.

Also, I think I'm going to go SOA with the axle to give me a couple extra inches of clearance. I've got an 8" drop ball mount and it is still leaned back a bit. It'll do fine for now, but will need something done (like SOA) at some point.

**rustywrangler** · 05-12-2009, 05:13 AM

Very interested to see what you do with your trailer man. I need a small trailer for the YJ and my caravan. Have been looking at the lowes/hd versions. Interested to see your thoughts after using it for a bit.

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-12-2009, 06:28 AM

Sure thing, I'll let you know how it goes... For now, I am just going to use it as is, with the 8" drop ball mount. I had to go to Tractor Supply Co to find it though... Lowes, WalMart, etc only went up to 6~" drop and that wasn't enough (or well... It may have been usable, but... I wouldn't want to load anything on it and try). Even with the 8" drop, it's still angled pretty good. That's why I'm thinking if I'd go SOA with it, it would add enough height that it'd flatten out. I didn't want one of those adjustable mounts (they just look big, bulky, and another point that could fail or let go), so I went with the standard drop mount.

The first thing I did was move the plate up. It sat under the left tail light (similar to the OEM Jeep setup) and I could see it dragging with a little bit of weight added. I moved it to the gate. I'm not really worried about lighting it up or anything, I don't plan on hauling much at night or anything.

As for using it... I've got an old rose bush stump and a lilac bush (tree) that need to be loaded up and hauled over to camp to be dropped off. I'll post most after that trip.

(edit - I think maybe upgrading the tiny 12" wheels to something a little bigger would help too. It'd need to be SOA first as there's no clearance for bigger right now.)

**rustywrangler** · 05-12-2009, 09:41 PM

Care to snap a pic as to how it looks with the YJ???

Mediarocker · 05-13-2009, 12:48 AM

Its never too late to grab one of these

http://www.trailerhitches.com/ball-mounts/adjustable-height-ball-mounts/1033+1076+4294923923.cfm

**SimonTuffGuy** · 05-13-2009, 09:04 AM

Sure, I'll hook it up when I get off work and snap some pics. I towed a bunch of yard junk out to the cabin yesterday and should've done it then...

MR - Yeah... I had one of them from Lowe's to get the trailer home, but I didn't like it. It just looked too big and bulky for the back of the Jeep (And it seemed like another place that could possibly fail. If the pin let loose on the drop portion and let go, etc). So I decided to find a drop mount that would work with what I needed.

Granted, it still raises the front of the trailer a bit more than I'd like... But I have a feeling if I do go SOA with the trailer, it'll level it right up to where it needs to be. Plus, it'd allow me to swap on some larger wheels and tires if I wanted.