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Trailers - Recommendations for Area Dealers or Rentals?


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As we put together our new autocross car, we're going to eventually be picking up a new trailer to tow to travel events - the first one probably being Nationals unless we're silly enough to go to Packwood. Are there any good trailer dealers/manufacturers near-ish to Phoenix? Reasonable rentals could be a consideration too, but at the cost of rentals, it's probably better to just buy. 

Ideally looking for a smaller aluminum trailer as we'll be towing mostly with a '23 Honda Ridgeline and towing a STR ND Miata or the Lotus. A small steel is probably fine too - and better on the wallet. 

Anyone planning to offload a trailer any time soon? Anyone own a Primo? 

 

Edited by Mark111R
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I've been looking at the Primo trailers online as I want a lighter trailer than my all steel one.     Let me know what you find, but for the price the Primo's appear good and I believe are made in downtown Phoenix right off of 7th street.   I plan to check them out in the next couple of weeks.

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I bought a Primo about 2 years ago. I wanted a lightweight, aluminum trailer that can tow my Honda UTV, or CRX. I went with a single axle 12'. It's short but works well. I picked it up at the factory, they had just advertised some blems they were discounting, and they threw in alloy wheels, spare with another alloy. They were great to deal with. I had some Alum ramps already and had slides welded in under the trailer, for rear ramp storage. Put car tie down rings front and rear. Small one with trailer not to beefy.

Weight is 675lbs, tow capacity is 2400lbs, 3500lb axle. Primo also makes tandem axle trailers of all sizes. Neat assembly facility.  Trailer tows great and no issues with anything. Worth checking out. Normally have to go thru dealer, but you can see what these look like by stopping by facility. Maybe get lucky and find a deal. 

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Thanks! I was intrigued by the Future tilt single axle trailer because it's 660 pounds and $8k for a tilt deck trailer... but I think I'll go opt for a dual axle instead. We'll be towing multiple 10+ hour tows a year so I'd rather not risk a blowout on a single axle. 

Primo might be the best bang for the buck in aluminum for us in AZ. 

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I really thought long and hard about single axle, never really considered one. I even looked at adding a second axle to this trailer, but everyone I talked with saw no reason for it, since I well under tow capacity. So far so good, but if I had a lot of long tows, I'd do dual axle as well. Bu my new trailer was 3200, so I could not pass that up.   

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just buy GOOD quality very high load rated trailer tires, keep an eye on them, and don't worry about having a single axle. Started doing this while I was in the Army- every time I stop, I walk around the tow vehicle and trailer and look at the tires and feel them and the bearing caps. Same thing again ('cept bearing caps) before resuming driving if it's been a long stop.

Been using single axle trailers since about 1994. This is my heaviest car yet, but only weighs about 840 lbs. and all the equipment including which has about 16 ft of alum ramp, bring the load to about 1000 lbs. in a 900 lbs. V-nosed box single axle trailer with a ramp door in back.  

Before I got too old, I used to go to Topeka for the SCCA Pro Finale and Solo National each year from here. Never had a second thought about single axle. Never ever had an issue. About a 23 hour tow, and in hot weather too.

Finally, I did have a humdinger of a blow out that threw the tread about 3 years ago on way to Marana Airport from Prescott. I left at 3:30 am and it was so dark I didn't notice the tire had gone soft.   I replaced it in Anthem and still made the event. No different than having a tire blow out on a dual axle.  The tire really came apart.  It wasn't a "soft" failure. The flap flap flap noise of the tread leaving is really what alerted me- the trailer didn't do anything really funny that I felt in the tow vehicle.

Another tactic to make any trailer towing more reliable is to use remote tire temperature and pressure senders (screw on) and stand alone programmable alarm display in the cab. Tire-minder is one brand  I have one now and it has enough channels so when I start using my little (single rear tire, no dually) motorhome to tow with, I can monitor its tires too.

Edited by Chuck
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