csramsey640

I came across this link for a car hauler, and I cant say I have ever seen 1, but they do look nice

http://www.appalachianmfg.com/4%20CAR%20HAULER.htm

0425004x4

Nice looking trailer. We had two F-450's with custom car hauler beds that haul one on the bed and one pulled behind. Man that would be a lot of weight behind even a 3500 dually, 20,000 pounds of cars if they average 5,000 per car so probably more at time, and that trailer probably weighs 5,000.

Edit: Ok so we own two fords I know I know, but dodge won't make a real heavy duty so its Fords for now, by the way we have not had one problem with our 03 7.3l in 150,000 miles, never even been to the dealer and not one proble with our 05 6.0l with 60,000 (fingers crossed on this one).

24valvepuller

Those trailers are really cheaply made, I would not want to pull one around everyday

Ripper406

Seems like it should atleast have 10" or preferably a 12" I beam frame with 3 8000lb axles or tandems with a deck over. The regular 3 car hauler uses 3 7klb axles, and this one can carry 4, so it should have heavier axles.

Bad Ramer Jamer

That's what I wanted when I first was looking. Then I talked to a guy that had one. He said it was absolutly a piece of junk. He was in a big fight with the company who made it.

Haulin_in_Dixie

Why is that???? Mine pulls six cars on three 7000 pound Dexters. It runs 14 ply tires, not a problem.

Ripper406

So if you happen to get heavier cars or Small suv's/vans you wont have to worry about overloading the axles/tires. Unless your using a semi and have half the weight on the Semi then I dont see a problem with 3x7klb axles. But if your running a 3500+ dually then I think bigger axles would be a good thing.

Magnumstocker

I had 3 Appalachain open trailers over the years. I hauled over 15,000 miles a year on each one. They were just fine. My first one I bought off the lot. Used it one year and sold it for what I paid for it new!! Second one I had custom built,used it for two years,sold it to my friend who had his stolen. Third one was another custom,used it for one year and decided it was time to move up to an enclosed trailer. Another friend of mine had a fifth wheel custom built for him by them and hauls his farm tractor(s),16,000 lbs!! on it.
If your a hard core "buy American" they do use Canadian steel in their construction.

24valvepuller

You just didn't own them long enough. My Father in law bought a 20k GN in 2000 from them 2 months before I bought a home made 20k from a guy who owns amachine shop and has built every trailer he has ever had. I've got prolly 50k mi on mine, most of those miles were hauling 12 ton of bagged fertilizer and it looks better now than his ever has and his only prolly has 5k mi on it. The fold up beaver tail is cheap and is a finger smasher, the lights are junk, paint is so cheap I can't even begin to explain it, can't air the inside tires without taking the outside tires off because the holes in the rims are too small, when you crank the jack handle it hits the rub rail, all the structural steel is alot smaller than the corn-pro my trailer was fabbed from. The only good things about the trailer is they used a decent tire that will handle some weight and they used dexter axles. Yes I have used this trailer before and my F-I-L uses it around his farm and it does the job, but to use it everyday and have to look at it all the time, not me

Ripper406

How big of a frame did they use?

Haulin_in_Dixie

Ihave posted this before but will again. Most of this discussion is rather moot. I pulled my three car trailer for over 300,000 miles, used E rated tires with three Dexter 7000 axles. I pulled three diesel pickups, three Custom Southern Comfort Vans, grossed up to 32,000 with 8,000 drive axle weight. And this as a regular diet day in and day out. Other than flats (normal) and some Dayton tires that would not stay together, never had a problem. No bearing problems, handling problems, etc.

The amount of weight on the trailer tires is set by the distance from the kingpin that the axles center at. Has nothing to do with the pulling vehicle. Now I am pulling six cars on a trailer with the same 7000 pound torsen axles. Generally a heavy load is three or four suv's and two or three smaller cars. Many use the e rated tires and have problems, so far, using the G rated tires, no problems except a couple of flats from screws and nails. The six car does have the axles further back than the three car so more is on the pulling vehicle.

Your trailer should be able to carry 21000 pounds on the trailer axles, plus the hitch weight of 25% which is 5250. That adds to 26250 total trailer weight. The trailer should weight near or less than 7000 pounds which leaves you with 19 something cargo weight without overloading the trailer. It takes vehicles near 7000 pounds to max the trailer, like three diesel pickups or heavy vans. I never ran into a problem pulling anything that would fit on the trailer as the larger vehicles get too long.

The brakes will be designed to stop 21000 pounds and your truck should be braked enough to handle the hitch weight for safety. There is not much way you can get three vehicles on a three car trailer and be overloaded. Longer vans and you can only get two on it, a big limo only goes for one, darn near takes the whole trailer.

Only problem that I had with my 2 x 4 tubing built trailer was the rear car set completely past the axles and I had frame cracking problems over the rear axle. A couple of 2 x 2 tubing cross braces fixed that problem. Any tube trailer is destined for fret cracks and stress crackes and now and then needs some welding to keep it together.

In practice you will find that one vehicle sits on top of the truck, and then the two remaining vehicles are pretty much centered on the trailer axles, one in front and one behind. So the trailer only carries two vehicles, the truck one. It is a sight to see a high top van on the front of the trailer with the whole thing centered over the pickup bed. The theory of a wedge three car trailer is pretty well though out and works well.

The dual wheel trailers are generally not quite as strong as the single wheel trailer. the frame is narrower, the axles are two 10,000 pound axles and only two brakes. The newer Kofmann six car trailers now use two 10,000 pound axles with 17.5 lowboy tires.

In essence, the three axle trailer will carry more than your Dodge will carry. They are not a problem.