Buy a trailer (instead of a pickup truck)

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by slowmover

The point is to keep the trailer for the convenience/cost-savings of high value loads.

At least for me, the point to keep a trailer is to haul stuff that I wouldn't want to put inside a car or in the back of a truck to not damage it. Regarding trailers, I don't really care for beauty, as long as they remain functional.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by slowmover

Anyone claiming that some of these little trailers are up to landscaping or roof tear-offs seems not to have done them. Jobs where the estimates are by the cubic yard. That would be with any single-family non-attached house.

A good trailer is perfectly up to that job - even the small ones - you'll just need to shuttle back & forth a couple more times in order not to overload it.
For the average Joe, landscaping his garden or tearing down the roof wouldn't be a frequent occurrence.

Plenty of landscaping companies here use trailers.
Often the heavier, twin or triple axle versions, but some use single axle trailers up to about 3000 lbs.
They can go where larger trailers (and tow vehicles) can't.

Does U-Haul rent dump trailers? No. Do they rent large open trailers? No? Why, because the uses to which they are put tear the hell out of them.

U-haul is not the be-all, end-all of rental corporations.
We can easily rent that kind of trailer over here.

The payload convenience of a pickup is high

So is the hefty price tag for this usually infrequently used convenience.

If people actually thought about it, they'd see the daily inconvenience of pick-ups for all but the very infrequent , very occasional heavylifting.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Even with a 60cu.in. 4-banger it was bolted to a small trailer, which might be able to handle 1000lbs. with an empty weight around 500lbs. Seems like even the folks with Metro-sized cars eventually wouldn't need a truck

I plan to have a light trailer for my upcoming errrr ... VW up!

The tiny up! is 2000 lbs. curbside. 1L engine.
Yet it can tow just over 1500 lbs (braked) !
VW doesn't approve of towing with the up, but there are EU-approved hitches that permit towing, and being EU-approved, they can be added to the car regardless of VW's intentions or objections.

[MetroMPG]

Oil pan: really great thread/post! Completely fits the ecomodding approach.

Flying Kurmaster: I too got a trailer a few years ago and, like you, don't know how I managed so long without one.

Mine was a freebie, and is super-light-duty, weighing in at just ~160 lbs "empty". It was custom made (probably home-built) to carry a small, ~150 lbs sailboat. It'll carry maybe 300 lbs before the tires rub the fenders. (Ask me how I know this.)

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Seems like even the folks with Metro-sized cars eventually wouldn't need a truck

I've made innumerable runs taking brush to the city compost yard because my trees keep falling apart/down.



Moving a couple of knocked-down tin garden sheds.



What summer looks like.

[flying kurmaster]

how do you know it will carry 300lbs before fenders rub????

ps.... take the fenders off!!! or have them on a quick release for the heavy days.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by flying kurmaster

how do you know it will carry 300lbs before fenders rub????

ps.... take the fenders off!!! or have them on a quick release for the heavy days.

Yeah I had to pull the fenders off my trailer for heavier loads. Now I know that the spring bolt holes were warn out, they had elongated up amost 1/4''. The spring eyelet was rubbing on the spring holder.
I welded 9/16'' fender washers to the spring holes, positioned the warshers at the lowest point of the hole, shrank the washer hole down with hard facing rod, rounded the weld back out with a dremal and installed grade 8 half inch bolts.
It should be good for a while.

If the fenders rub there might be another problem.

[MetroMPG]

Fender problem is an installation problem by whoever made it (too close to the tires). I have been thinking about a quick-release solution.

And I've already done some maintenance like you describe: using the welder to fill in some elongated suspension bolt holes, and drilling them out round again. It's safer, and doesn't sound like a rattle-trap going down the road now.

Trailers rule!

[IsaacCarlson]

Trailers are awesome. I remember burning through a ton of gas going to pick up friends trailers when I needed more than my truck bed and then burning up more gas to take them back. It got old fast. Then I got a 20 ft flatbed and I can carry whatever I want.

I use the truck for most of what I do, like hauling wood, rock, supplies....
The trailer only gets used if I need to carry something long or big. Anything that will fit in the truck, goes in the truck, regardless of weight. I can put 8,000 lbs in the truck, so I don't have to worry about overloading, and the trailer will carry about the same. I don't use it that often, but when I need it, I have it. It only cost me $400.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Today I saw a 1st-gen Chevrolet Tornado (known in Brazil as Chevrolet Montana and in South Africa as Opel Corsa Utility) with a trailer. Pics to come.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

It's still worth to damage a cheap ugly trailer instead of risking the unibody of an average Brazilian coupé-utility such as the Chevrolet Tornado. At least if the bed was separated like in a body-on-frame truck it would be easier to just replace it, but a trailer can often be cheaper than a new pickup bed...