[OT] Harbor Freight Trailers

[Jon Pennington]

I got one of the 48*40" trailers this weekend for $159.99 (sale price,
lot #90153).  That's the one with 12" tires instead of 8" tires.  It's
a neat little trailer, but there were some problems.

First, you need a 2" hitch if you're ever going to tow it with
something bigger than a Sentra.  The 2" hitch will work on a 1-7/8"
ball, but the 1-7/8" hitch it comes with won't fit on a 2" ball!  One
day, I'm going to get a 6' long piece of 2-1/8" tubing to run from the
tail to the current hitch (for rigidity), and another 6' length of 2"
tubing to make a 2' telescoping tongue.

Second, the bearings need packed with a copious amount of grease.
They only come with enough grease to keep them from rusting in
shipping.

Third, the springs are overkill.  The trailer is rated at well over
1000lbs, which is too much for a hobby trailer.  If I knew somebody
that could make spring clamps, I'd have them remove the middle leaf
from the springs.  I'd also like to use some washers between the edges
of the springs and the shackles, maybe something really slippery to
cut down on noise.  It also needs a coating on the springs' rear
slipper tabs for the same reason.

If I had it to do over again, I'd use an assortment of 1, 2, and 3mm
washers in the assembly stage, too.  The cross members are stamped in
such a way that there are gaps between the member and the rail when
you go to bolt it together.  Rather than twisting the stampings all to
hell, I'd put washers in all of the gaps.  The bolts are quite long,
and come with Nyloc nuts all around.  I'm sure that simply tightening
them with as much torque as *I* can apply with a 17mm combo wrench and
a 16mm, 3/8" drive ratchet will be more than sufficient to keep it all
together for a few years.  I also used half a can of Rustoleum to fix
all of the scratches the factory paint got during shipping and
assembly.

This trailer's first job is to hold the engine and transmission from
my wrecked Sentra until I can find a suitable body for same to go
into.  After that, it'll be used for a generator, an air compressor,
and a medium tool box for going to club events.  I'm sure it'll do
nicely.

--
-=|JP|=-   "Here; Let me show you how squeeze de fish..." <//><