A new addition to the fleet

Hi all;
When you live rurally and have the land it seems you eventually collect a fleet of vehicles...  at least I do.
Currently, we have)
The Black car  2000 Subaru Outback
The Blue car 2003 Subaru Outback
The other Blue car 2000 Subaru Outback
The 1973 Ford F-250 4x4 high boy pick up
Those are the registered and running vehicles.
Next, we have the not currently running but could be fleet
A 1939 Chevy 1.5-ton dump truck
A 1953 Chevy 1-ton long bed pickup
A 1996 Subaru Outback
A 1968 Chevy Impala SS

We also have a small covered trailer 4x6 to take to Liz's art shows.

And finally, we have the newest addition.
An older homemade 4.5x8' flatbed trailer!
I picked this up last week in Libby, Mt for $750 (I did not even need to hold a gun on the guy!)
I built a tailgate for it and got it legally registered  (apparently it has not had plates in years)
It came equipped with new wiring and LED lighting.
Brand new tires and new wheel bearings.
The tongue is an older style so the seller supplied me with a brand new modern style that I need to weld on.
I ordered a new trailer jack with a drop foot to be installed at the same time.
A #7000 axle with full-size 15" tires.
The county tagged it for #3500
Subaru says I can tow #2000
Without trailer brakes, they say to deduct #400  so #1600 Capacity.


Finally, I can stop strapping 4x8 sheets and other lumber on the roof rack of a Subi.
On trips to Pacific Steel, I can get much larger pieces of metal and easily bring them home.
Hauling home piles of brick for RMH Construction.
Sometimes it may even be a garbage scow to haul trash over to the dump.
All in All, a welcome addition to our fleet!

Those are a nice collection of classic vehicles.

I wonder what it says about me, that the two vehicles I'm swooning over are the 2 trucks that don't run... 🤣

We need to grow our collection, in a big way. We have nada, for hauling.

For Carla;  
Shame I do not have a vintage Harley as well

No question, the old Chevy trucks really were quite gorgeous. A friend had a '46 and we made wonderful, slow trips for wood, coal, and antique Chev parts. Backroads all the way. The journey was the destination. Beautiful.

Re the trailer: I've been running a 5-speed 4-banger with a trailer since forever. It covers 95% of what I would use a pickup truck for. Don't get me wrong, I love pickup trucks and I have owned them but I don't like the waste (and cost) of running them empty. I only need a genuine heavy duty pickup truck about once a month.

We have a similar trailer to Thomas' new addition and it gets used and used and used for just about everything. It's light enough that our 20 year old Pontiac Vibe can pull it with a decent load.

I agree with Douglas - why use a pick-up truck if a car and trailer will do the job!

Jay Angler wrote:It's light enough that our 20 year old Pontiac Vibe can pull it with a decent load.

OT: Good choice on the Pontiac Vibe. Indestructible Japanese drivetrain like the old Corollas that roll over 500,000 clicks and still have resale value. I only wish I fit in the damn things. I'm a little too long on one end.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:It's light enough that our 20 year old Pontiac Vibe can pull it with a decent load.

OT: Good choice on the Pontiac Vibe. Indestructible Japanese drivetrain like the old Corollas that roll over 500,000 clicks and still have resale value. I only wish I fit in the damn things. I'm a little too long on one end.

It's a standard and the transmission started making bad noises just past a known fault spot. We got it fixed despite the cost because that car is just soooo... versatile as a small farm vehicle! Other than regular maintenance type stuff, this was the only thing that's given us grief. Even the upholstery is in good shape!

Awww, yeeeaaaaahh!!! THOMAS!!! DATS what I'm TALKIN' 'bout!!! Nice!!!

That's a nice little trailer, and vehicle collection!

Does it have mounting flanges for brakes on the axle? Trailer brakes are a glorious thing, when you suddenly need them!



I would guess it probly has a 3500 or 4500lb axle; I'm basing this on what look, from an angle, to be 5 lug wheels. In my experience all of the modern style 7k trailer axles I have seen have been 8 lug..

5000lb axles have been generally 6 lug.

3500lb and 4500 axles have all been 5 lug; 3500 are far more common, seems like most heavier applications go to 5k axles rather than 4500s..

Hi D;
I did not look myself, but the seller instantly said it was a #7000 axle, it is indeed a 5 lug.
As this is an older trailer it may be they made #7000 with 5 lug wheels back when.
No matter as Subaru says #1600 max without trailer brakes. So the county rating it a #3500 is plenty.

I have not looked to see if I could put brakes on this.
It is small enough that I will not be putting 1.5 tons in it.
I have an F-250 if I need weight hauling.

That trailer is a beaut!!

I'd agree that brakes are a good idea. I'm much more used to overrun brakes, for this size, are ebrakes standard on this size trailer?

The trucks are really nice, are you planning to restore them?
I be tempted to move those trucks on to someone with more time and energy to restore them.  

James Alun wrote:

I'd agree that brakes are a good idea. I'm much more used to overrun brakes, for this size, are ebrakes standard on this size trailer?

Most of the utility sized trailers I have seen lack brakes.. but effectively the same 3500lb axles are under ziĺlions of RV trailers and those pretty well all have electric brakes...

So all of this is from a UK perspective (I'll add the conversions in later).

Most cars here are limited to either 400KG (900lbs) unbraked trailers or for larger cars, 750KG (1650lbs). All caravans are pretty much at or over that so I'd expect to see brakes on all of them.

The above trailer is definitely on the limit of what most cars here can tow, given its fairly beefy construction. Put some brakes on the trailer and I would expect that you could put 750KG (1650lbs) to 1250KG (2750lbs) on to reach the legal limit of most cars. Overall, I'd agree with your county's limit for that trailer.

Bear in mind that anyone who got a licence to drive from 1997 had a gross train weight limit of 3500KG (7700lbs) (that's the max permissible weight of the car and the max weight of the trailer), it didn't matter if the actual weight was under that. Dad had to pick his cars carefully for me to tow the caravan on holidays!

On overrun brakes vs electric brakes. Are electric brakes just on or off? The overrun brakes will apply more braking force the harder the towing vehicle is braking.

James Alun wrote:

On overrun brakes vs electric brakes. Are electric brakes just on or off? The overrun brakes will apply more braking force the harder the towing vehicle is braking.

Nope, electric brakes require the tow vehicle to have a brake controller; this modulates the braking force based on the brake pedal position, simplying by varying the voltage applied to the brakes. There is an adjustment wheel or slider so that you can adjust this, very important. The correct setting for my dump trailer empty, will be grossly inadequate with ~5 tons in it... but running it at the fully loaded setting while empty, would see the trailer brakes locking up and tires skidding every time I so much as touch the brake pedal..

Oddly enough this controller has been an aftermarket thing in every truck/van I have ever owned, but not expensive or difficult as long as the vehicle already has the wiring and 7-pin trailer connector to support it.

One really nice aspect of electric brakes is that the controller will have a button to allow manual application of the trailer brakes alone. In a situation where the trailer is getting out of control and weaving side to side behind you, you may be able to recover by applying a bit of trailer braking, or by maxing out the trailer brakes in combination with more moderate braking from the tow vehicle.  I am confident this saved my life on one occasion, coming down a steep hill with a very heavy load..


With that experience still a vivid memory after some years, I would never use overtaking brakes unless the trailer and load was very moderately sized relative to the tow vehicle..

That makes more sense, could have some funky results with corrosion on the connectors (the 7 pin we use for this is rubbish for this).

While the legal limit on towing is a 1:1 weight ratio, the highly recommended ratio is 1:0.85, so the maximum weight of the trailer is 85% of the car. Also the maximum speed for towing anything anywhere in the UK is 60mph, above 30mph it's usually 10mph less than the posted speed limit.

Took time yesterday to cut off the old trailer tongue and jack.
Quite the job as the old one was severely over-welded.
A couple of hours later the new hitch and jack are in place.
It tows even nicer than before!