Harbor Freight Folding Trailer Learning Lessons

17 Jun 22:

We are going to try out the Harbor Freight Folding Trailer...some assembly required.

It pays to watch a video on the assembly and read ALL of the instructions before assembly, there are 2 loner machine screws hiding in the bag of 8- screws.

 

Also essential to note that the top recommended speed is 45 mph. Seems low, we'll reach out to the manufacturer to see if that is indeed the case. But it will work for short local trips.

27 Jun 22:

Spoiler Alert: While this trailer has been a good trailer for some in the past, with modifications, we determined it would not work for our Armada. So back to Harbor Freight it went. They gave us a 100% refund. 

45 mph speed limit. Strike 1. When we got to this stage of assembly, when the instructions said to bolt together the two frame halves....Hmm, how does it fold if the two halve are bolted together? I fast forwarded to the folding instructions, and in addition to having to unbolt the frame halves, there are 4 bolts that need to be removed from the leaf spring brackets. In the time frame of what how long it takes to circle the Sun each year that wouldn't take long, but the idea of crawling under the trailer to bolt/unbolt  to fold/unfold did not appeal to us, so Strike 2.

The trailer components had been outside for a week and it had rained. The nylock nuts had turned chalky from surface corrosion, which is NOT what we experienced with the previous Harbor Freight Small Boat trailer that we owned, and that trailer was in a saltwater environment.

Leaf springs joined the rust party. Strike 3. But in all fairness I must mention that the instructions said to store the trailer in a dry location when not in use...and I suppose to only use on sunny, dry days?

The leaf spring bracket fastener holes did not line up. Strike 4.

There are a lot of these trailer on the road, the few that we have researched have modifications done by their owners. Some made reinforcing plates to hold the two frame halves together, some folks have replaced hardware and leaf springs, sprayed rust with cold galvanizing compound, some have left the 4x8 plywood deck as one piece vs two, some still use the original 8 inch wheels and report highway speeds of 75 mph....well we hope they were on the highway. So this may be a trailer for some if they like the Theseus' Ship approach to things, but this was not the trailer for us. 

Spoiler Alert #2...We have found the trailer that is for us...news to follow...