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This 20 year old trailer I had was a CarMate if you need a testament to their durability.
Carmate now makes 3 different cargo trailers. The Carmate Sportster Cargo is their economy cargo trailer with leaf springs. The SuperDuty is similar to the Sportster but with heavier-duty suspension and GVWR. The Custom Cargo is their "premium" line with Dexter TorFlex axles instead of leaf springs. LED lights including tail lights are optional on the Custom Cargo. Mine is the Custom Cargo with optional LED tail lights and I've been very pleased with it. The TorFlex axles cost more, but I think they're worth it.
caveat: Some v-nose and u-nose cargo trailers do not have enough frame of the tongue available to install a good wd hitch. So i would first choose the hitch, then choose a trailer with enough of the tongue frame accessable so that hitch can be installed without major surgery to the front of the trailer. My carmate motorcycle trailer has an almost flat front end, so no problem installing my strait-line hitch. But on my granddaughter's 2-horse u-nose trailer she cannot install a strait-line hitch.
Carmate cargo trailers now have an optional extended tongue, so you can install a wd hitch even on the models with v-nose. But that extended tongue is an option, so be sure yours has it before you turn over the money. Other brands of cargo trailers may also have an extended tongue option, so make sure before you finalize the order.
There's a work-around for V-nose and other trailers with short tongues.
Thanks everyone for the information. I'll have to take a look at what's out there and measure the trailer tongue in case I do want to add a WDH in the future. I think I'm leaning towards a tandem axle just for the extra weight carrying capacity and better stability on the highway.
Honestly for now a smaller trailer would be plenty, but I know that eventually I'll want to buy an ATV for myself once I see the kids having fun so I'll probably be towing it half empty for the first year or so.
The larger trailer will be marginally more expensive than buying a small one, realizing it's too small and selling it to upgrade later.
Thanks again for all the input! I pulled the trigger last weekend and picked up a 7x12 tandem axle trailer. This weekend I got the trailer set up with my truck (pro trailer backup, trailer brake gain, etc). Then I installed some e-track style mounts for strapping down the two youth ATV's (I don't own an adult size ATV yet) and built a holder for gas cans. I haven't been to a scale yet to weigh the actual trailer weight but the specified weights of the trailer, ATV's, and 12 gallons of gas should be about 2,500lbs. With both ATV's and gas cans in the forward most position my trailer tongue weight started to exceed my 300lb scale, so I adjusted the positioning of the ATV's in their mounts and now I'm at about 230-240lbs of tongue weight. Note: the hitch in the picture was a 3" drop and the trailer was still sitting nose high so I switched over to a 5-1/4" drop and it's closer to level now.
Eventually I'll buy an ATV for myself (around 500lbs) and we'll end up with spare tires, parts, and camping gear in the trailer so I still plan to look into weight distributing hitches.
Here are some pictures from getting the ATV e-tracks mounted. So far I'm very happy with this Erickson wheel chock system. It's a little tough getting the straps on the small tires but overall it seems like a very secure way of strapping down an ATV.
02-10-2019, 07:44 PM
