spectastic

I'll be moving in a week or so. Even though I'm single and don't have a ton of stuff, I'm going to have to either get a u-haul or a trailer. I'm leaning towards the trailer, because the u-haul is $1/mile, and it's a 30 mile trip. In addition, I'm planning to move to grad school (hopefully) next year, which will likely be far away. So with that in consideraiton, I 'm leaning towards a trailer. However, I will need to get a hitch installed. Even so, I'm not sure if that will be sturdy enough to hold a trailer.

Any experience in this?


P.S. I'm thinking of a 4'x8' or a 5'x8' trailer like this http://www.uhaul.com/reservations/im...ed4x8Large.png

cafrog

What chassis? CRV? ELEMENT? Truck?

If its a civic or accord....no way IMO

It's not really about power or torque (not my biggest concern) but tongue weight. You'd bottom out the rears in a minute.

They charge by the mile for their trucks? I've rented them for a flat fee and gas filled back to where I got it.

spectastic

what if I put the light stuff in the front of the trailer, and the heavier stuff in the back? That'll bring the center of gravity closer over the trailer wheel, and take some force off of the car. But I mean, my car is going to be filled with stuff too.

If tongue weight is the problem, do I have to worry about the hitch mount's security on the chassis?

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Assuming you have a 2001-2005 Civic, your car will not have the towing capacity to support that size trailer safely. Your max towing capacity is 1100lbs with a trailer that has no brakes, and 2600lbs on one that does.

spectastic

what would you suggest I do then? get the uhaul for $1/mile? I'm thinking long term too. Long term like possibly moving 1000+ miles this time next year to grad school

toyomatt84

iTrader: (1)

Either replacing the vehicle, or renting a uhaul.

darcane

This would be very bad. Tongue weight should be about 10% of trailer weight. If you put heavy items in the rear of the trailer to keep tongue weight down the trailer will wander badly behind the tow vehicle. Don't do this.

The trailers you picked are too large for your Civic. You could try U-Haul's "Sport Trailer":
http://www.uhaul.com/Reservations/Eq....aspx?model=ST

But you'll still want to keep the weight down. The total weight (car, trailer, all passengers, and all the other stuff you have packed in there) should be less than your GCVW (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight). You should be able to find this rating on the sticker in your driver's side door jamb, although I haven't checked my car to verify it is on there.

DNOVE214

I suggest that you don't do that do to not enough torque or possibly twisting to bending or stretching your frame...but it all depends on what you will be hauling.
by the way its my 2nd day here

civicuser6

so you want to save 30 bucks, at the cost of damaging your car, or worse yet, be in an accident because its dangerous to tow with your civic?

spectastic

did you read the whole thing? It says I'm considering the long term, when I'm planning to move to grad school. And where did I ever say that I'm willing to take damage to my car?

RocKKer

You didn't respond with what Honda your using as a tow vehicle. IMHO it becomes economics. If you install a hitch, cheapest hitch I found for my car (2002 civic) is $153, not sure if that includes installation or not, let's assume best case that it does. Also assume your Honda is in good shape, you do know these year Honda's are notorious for head gasket issues as well transmission failures. But let's move on with the scenario, rent a trailer, cheapest u-haul I found for 600 miles within CA is $63, assuming they will even let u hook up to your car there are weight limits (even if you have a hitch). At the very least this will cost you is $216. Granted my example is best case, many bad things can happen on your trip, how much risk you want to take.

Options off the top of my head are:
- Shipping some of your items to your new destination (UPS, Fedex or USPS).
- Sell the bigger things and buy new, IKEA furniture is cheap or buy used when you get to grad school.
- buy a roof rack, keep in mind the max GV weight of your vehicle, sell it when your done.
- Store some more important things at parents or friends until you get out of school.

Some combination of the above might work out better as well.

My opinion is we attach to much value to our "things" (notice the proliferation of storage business) ie: spending $75-$100 a month to store a $500 dollar bed for longer than a few months is not very economically sound.