Got a new goat hauler

[Teckelhut]

I bought a horse trailer from a neighbor for 1K. She borrowed it a few months ago-- It hadn't been on the road for a while so I warned that the tires were getting old, its plates had expired and the lights were iffy. She went to pick up a couple horses and didnt come back till after midnight... so I knew something was wrong.

First, one horse took 6 hours to get into the trailer, while the other walked right in. In his struggles, one of the back door sections was knocked off. Another section up high was bent and had a tuft of horse hair on the corner. Then they got a flat and it whipped around and beat the crap out of the fiberglass fender.

So inspecting the trailer afterwards, I noticed the ramp had totally rusted out and was hanging on by scraps. The mate to the missing door panel was also rusted out. Circle J had made a bad design that caught water, it seems. I've been slowly rebuilding the thing, and I just finished the replacement ramp. Mine is a bit heavier and a thousand times better. Waterproof for one thing. I'm hoping to finish the trailer in a couple months. It'll be really nice, I think, but new tires are going to be expensive And then there's the fact that I dont own a truck that'll pull it... I use my Dad's Suburban which doesnt have the brake and lighting set up for that trailer. I'd love to get an older Dodge diesel, but alas, no funds. Ah well. Finishing the trailer will turn it from useless to an asset.

The neighbor never really showed up with any helpful money or anything... Its true most of the problems were due to rust and sun rotted rubber, but sheesh.

I'll take a picture when the project is done!

Yes. Circle J got in the hot seat for a while as trailers you avoided due to that design. Even had a problem with bad floors. A friend of mine lost a horse due to the bad flooring. The floor fell through while she was traveling down the road and tore the horse's front feet off. I have a Circle J Stock/Combo but its a 1997. The ones that were bad were the ones made in the 70's.

Trailer tires really are not that much. I told Schwab to put on the best they had and they were only $517 for all four.

By the way I tow with a Suburban. A 1985. Still runs like a champ.

My new mini trailer is made by Hale. Its a 67. If I can remember right, Charmac bought them out some time ago. My other horse trailer is a 69 McQuerry. They were a company in Texas that did not last long but man oh man did they make a good trailer!