Harbor Freight vs Northern Tool trailers

[jloehle]

I am started my planning phase of building a teardrop. Trying to figure out costs, etc. I am wondering about the trailer itself.

When I was working on my house, I bought a Harbor Freight trailer. It was one of the small ones that folded up. We got it, put it together, built a wooden "tub" for it to haul junk to the dump.

What I noticed about that trailer is that it seemed poorly made. The rusting began on it pretty quickly. The powder coating seemed very poor and was peeling off within a year.

So, have they gotten better? Is this less of a problem since there is something covering most of it? Do you do something else to them to stop them from rusting out?

and finally, is the Northern Tool version any better?

I would be keeping my trailer outside as I don't have garage space for it. I live in a very humid area on the coast (so there is also salt in the air but not on the roads).

Joe

[bobhenry]

I have used this on a couple of my builds. Coated frame then the underside and sub floor. Anywhere water might invade.



I think it was in the 7 to 9 dollar a gallon range.

[woodywrkng]

I used a 5x8 Northern Trailer bolt together kit, and was quite impressed with every aspect of it. Decent hardware, heavy gauge steel, good paint. It's been outside for three winters now and it still looks new.

[flbikejunkie]

I agree I built my teardrop on a northern tools trailer and I also have a 4x8 HF as a utility trailer. The NT is far superior in quality. It's worth the extra money in my mind.

[rowerwet]

I went with a welded angle iron trailer from Tractor supply, much better made than any bolt together, stamped steel trailer. However, if you are just building a tear on it, it realy doesn't matter. the body of the tear is all the strength you need, as long as the tongue is stuck on well and won't fail, and the axle won't come off, the material used in the trailer is just excess weight. (there is even a trailer plan that just uses a 1" sheet of Marine plywood as the floor, and where the tongue and axle are anchored, no other frame rails needed)
Rust will be an issue, any trailer you buy will have rust issues, some faster than others. Coat the trailer with a good underbody coating before you build.
Save money and find an old pop up trailer to tear down, if you already have a cheap stamped trailer, coat it, repack the bearings, and build. Don't over spend or over think the trailer.
I plan on making one of my free pop ups into the tear trailer, and the expensive Tractor supply trailer into a utility trailer.