Will A 7ft Wide Enclosed Trailer Work?

FastDriver · Mar 1, 2016

I'm getting a trailer. If things work out well, I'm going to buy this trailer, this weekend. It's a 1996 Wells Cargo. 7' wide, not sure how tall, 24' long. Comes with Generator, Winch, A/C, stereo, TV, interior/exterior lights, E-Trac walls, D-rings on the floor, a generator, mounted 110 plugs, exterior canopy, 6,500lbs dexter(?) axles, with a GVWR of 13k lbs, which is absolutely perfect for the tow rating of my new-old truck.

My biggest concern is that it's a 7' trailer, not an 8.5 like most car haulers. The guy says he hauled his '67 Camaro in it for years. The dimensions of the foxbody are apparently just under 6' wide. I know I'm not opening any doors, but I'll crawl out of the hatch if I have to. So my question is: Can I get it onto the trailer?

I think the trailer is beautiful, Wells Cargo is one of the top names out there, and I can pick it up at a fair price. I think this may be the perfect trailer for me. I'll be hauling my household goods across the country every few years, and mostly using it taking the car to the track, storing stuff, and finding other things to do. I just need to know it'll work with the car.

Thanks for any feedback.

Chris

A5literMan · Mar 2, 2016

Looks like a nice setup! But like you said getting in and out of the car is going to be "difficult". I never had an enclosed so no real "insight" on my part. Good luck!

skyline247 · Mar 2, 2016

That is a sweet trailer. I didn't know trailers like this were made. Unfortunately I do not know if that will be wide enough for you or not.

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Boosted92LX · Mar 2, 2016

I can tell you this, Chris. My father in law has a 16 ft trailer with rails i used to haul my car to the tuner. It is such a pita to crawl in and out of that hatch i went out and bought my own car hauler so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Just me, I'd pass on that alone.

hoopty5.0 · Mar 2, 2016

Why would you need to be in the car if you have a winch? drag it in, strap it down, get on down the road.

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 2, 2016

Pass. If you're hauling your car often it will get old real quick not being able to enter/exit your vehicle using the door.

90lxcoupe · Mar 2, 2016

Could you get out of a car with a cage and a 8.5' wide trailer is the question? If no, then the 7' would be no different

CarMichael Angelo · Mar 2, 2016

As long as you have a winch, I'd think it'd be fine, even with the enclosed trailer I had, trying to skink in past an x braced door, with a Funny car cage made getting out a real pita. I rarely even tried to drive the car, I'd just follow the thing with my hand on the steering wheel while I winched it in with the remote.

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 2, 2016

90lxcoupe said:
Could you get out of a car with a cage and a 8.5' wide trailer is the question? If no, then the 7' would be no different

I think with an 8.5' wide trailer you could park the car off to the side a little to increase driver door clearance. I don't think the extra 6" off center when loading is going to mess up weight transfer of the trailer from side to side much.

edit: I'm sure there may even be times when you wish you could walk past your vehicle inside the trailer with out getting out and walking around too.

84Ttop · Mar 2, 2016

what is the dimensions between the wheel wells? That's the biggest question in my book

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 2, 2016

84Ttop said:
what is the dimensions between the wheel wells? That's the biggest question in my book

Very good question.
I'm thinking with a 7' wide box there may be no wheel wells inside. Possibly the wheels are located outside of the box with fenders?

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 2, 2016

Me thinks it looks like this inside

FastDriver · Mar 2, 2016

Wow. You guys are wonderful. I will go see it as soon as possible, maybe today to confirm the measurements inside (door, wheel wells if applicable). Hoopty is right. I would not have to drive it in with a winch. I know I'd get out through the hatch if needed, but for the most part, I wouldn't have to.

If it'll fit, I'm buying the trailer. I can't touch a new Wells Cargo for this. I love all of the extras. Hard to find a trailer with the perfect weight capacities for my truck. The cheapest new 8.5 trailers are this price, and the new ones are either built cheaply or twice the price. There's just too much right with it. If the car doesn't veto it by not fitting, I'm going to get it. So, has anyone towed in a 7' trailer?

A5literMan · Mar 2, 2016

I've towed a 7' long trailer. Does that count?

I say if the car fits...buy it. But that price may be indictive of the pita it represents. I couldn't/wouldn't climb around through the hatch/etc. I'm to old and fat. You have other motivations for purchase also(the constant planned moves etc and seems reasonable to me). Good luck!

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 2, 2016

FastDriver said:
Wow. You guys are wonderful. I will go see it as soon as possible, maybe today to confirm the measurements inside (door, wheel wells if applicable). Hoopty is right. I would not have to drive it in with a winch. I know I'd get out through the hatch if needed, but for the most part, I wouldn't have to.

If it'll fit, I'm buying the trailer. I can't touch a new Wells Cargo for this. I love all of the extras. Hard to find a trailer with the perfect weight capacities for my truck. The cheapest new 8.5 trailers are this price, and the new ones are either built cheaply or twice the price. There's just too much right with it. If the car doesn't veto it by not fitting, I'm going to get it. So, has anyone towed in a 7' trailer?

I've towed a loaded trailer about that size full of dirt bikes and a sand rail without electric brakes with my lifted Z71 through twisty mountains for 200 miles without a problem. I think the GMC Z71 came standard with a 2" receiver type hitch.

FastDriver · Mar 2, 2016

First, I really appreciate you guys. I've started posting on a powerstroke forum thinking that those guys would be all about towing trailers and talking Trucks, but I've gotten so much more from you on each subject than I got on that forum on the two subjects combined.

Well, I went to look at the trailer, and I'm disappointed to report that the 6,500 lbs axles were really 5200 lbs axles. I don't think the guy was pulling a fast one, and I'm not sure I'd actually exceed that weight, but 13k lbs sure sounded nice to me. With only a 10k lbs GVWR, I'd only be able to get about 5,500# worth of stuff into it. I think I've got about that much stuff in my household goods, but I can't find the last weight tickets. If I'm right, that leaves no room to grow, get more furniture, etc...

All the said, the trailer is beautiful, has been stored in doors, and seems in excellent shape. Everything else on it checked out. The axles are dexters as suspected, and the trailer is a legitimate Wells Cargo. The wheel wells are 6'7" apart. The door is 7'1" wide. That means the walls are slightly wider at maybe 7'3". I think that's fine So, it seems like a great trailer, but I just wish it had some extra weight capacity. I'm a little bummed about the axles being lower rated, but I'm really thinking about getting it anyway. I guess a slightly nice side-effect is that the F250's, aka Garfield's, stock hitch is already rated at 10k so no need for an upgrade.

Chris

FastDriver · Mar 3, 2016

A bit more info: Apparently the only difference between dexter's 5,200 lbs axles and 6k lbs axles are the outer bearings, which sounds like a straightforward swap. I don't guess this would legally change my GVWR for the trailer, but it does make me feel better about towing it at up to 12k lbs. With 7,500 lbs, assuming their claimed empty weight is correct, I'm confident I'd be able to move everything I'd need to. I might be surprised at how quickly one of them fills up, but I think 7,500 lbs is plenty of capacity for a 7x24.

FoxMustangLvr · Mar 3, 2016

Put a canopy on your truck and put some heavy stuff back there to lighten up the trailer on long hauls. Maybe with proof of axle bearing upgrades you could get the trailer inspected for re-certification of GVWR?

Noobz347 · Mar 3, 2016

FastDriver said:
A bit more info: Apparently the only difference between dexter's 5,200 lbs axles and 6k lbs axles are the outer bearings, which sounds like a straightforward swap. I don't guess this would legally change my GVWR for the trailer, but it does make me feel better about towing it at up to 12k lbs. With 7,500 lbs, assuming their claimed empty weight is correct, I'm confident I'd be able to move everything I'd need to. I might be surprised at how quickly one of them fills up, but I think 7,500 lbs is plenty of capacity for a 7x24.

...and airbags if coil springs. WORLD of difference.

FastDriver · Mar 3, 2016

I've heard of leaf springs and torsion springs on trailers. This particular one has torsion springs. My truck has leaf springs, but there are still airbag kits for it, if that's what you mean.

Will A 7ft Wide Enclosed Trailer Work?

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