More toys :)

[ididntdoit99]

Had to pick this up last weekend, I've been toying with the idea of buying another truck for almost a year, I had a 97 f-150 that I had dumped my time and energy into making mine, (6 inch lift, 36 inch tires, beefier suspension, tons of LIGHTS to help me see in the dark.

But unfortunately when my fiancé got pregnant with our second child… a three door truck that sat about 10 inches higher than stock was pretty impractical, very hard to load one kid over other when you can barely reach that high in the first place. And being as I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of out of pocket money with a child on the way, I had to trade the truck in to buy myself a family sedan.

So I got rid of my beautiful truck and bought a dodge stratus, which I immediately regretted when summer rolled around and there was rocks to be hauled, 12 foot long boards to be brought home from Menards, and a myriad of other things my beast could do that my little sedan could not. I sure got tired of asking my grandfather or my dad to borrow their trucks to do the normal weekend running that I was used to with my truck before.

So it came down to two choices, buy me a beater truck, which I would have to pay insurance, and tags and gas and maintenance every month, or get myself a small trailer that I could hook up to the car to do the normal everyday work that I need to do. And of course, if I need to do some heavy work, I can still borrow a truck no problem, just not every other weekend like I need to do now.

So last week I am pursuing the local craigslist ads and BAM… there she is! a little 4x8 foot trailer for $150, the same one they sell at harbor fright for $almost 300. 950# capacity, and even folds up to store for the winter pefect little trailer to tow behind my car.




So it was mine J spent $40 and all day Saturday installing the hitch I bought on amazon for my car, installing the lighting adapter, and then putting a floor on and building some sides on the trailer, sides are easily removed and I can leave the floor on it to fold it up.



Nice little trailer for under $200, I still need to make some brackets to hold the sides together up towards the top and of course make them easily removable so I can take them off and on quickly when needed.

Between the new bike, the new trailer, and the new pond…. I’ve got myself a busy spring ahead of me.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Oh yes.. another great use for it.. Last summer i carried my canoe on the top of my car all summer, and i managed to scratch that thing in a few different places, the straps rubbed against my paint and dulled it, the anchor came unstrapped one day going down the highway and hit the top of my roof and dented it. this thing will make hauling my canoe much easier

 

[sissy]

red neck trailer as we have a lot of them and as a ford retiree i appreciate some one who loved his truck and yes not very practical for kids .Make sure the weight on that trailer will not burn up the engine on a stratus .My son had a used one and when he moved to go to college and hauled some of his stuff as my truck was loaded ,it blew the engine and it was a 2002 and only reason he got that was because i only paid 50 dollars for it at a repo auction .It had a 100 thousand miles on it but it did last for almost 7 years and I don't think that was to bad .I liked it even though i'm a ford person because it was comfy to just zip around in .Good on gas .My truck is a 2001 and finally hit 34 thousand miles on it and the explorer 2001 V8 hit 70 thousand miles .And boy is that thing great on gas for a V8 ,I can go from here to the NJ turnpike on a tank of gas

 

[ididntdoit99]

Oh yeah this car should easily be able to handle the weight of that trailer. I do like it, its the newest car I've ever had (well not new as in year, but it only had 30k on it when I bought it, so newest as in use) its a 2004 though. I've never really been partial an any brand of vehicle, Everything I've owned has treated me well, even though I beat the heck outta some of them, I can still name every single one of them too, I love my cars.

Plymoth Duster
Chevy nova
Chevy S-10
Chevy berretta
Ford f-150
suzuki x-90
ford f-150
chevy caprice
dodge intrepid
chevy camaro
dodge stratus

I'm only 27, so the list isnt long yet, but I swear when I'm 90, I'll still be able to remember them all. .... and I guess it kinda looks like chevy is winning the race right now

but yes, I loved my f-150 so much.. i still have picture of it on my phone.

 

[sissy]

only owned a maverick ,a taurus new ,ford escort new,ranger truck a T-bird new and the the truck and explorer new .The stratus was the first preowned I have ever bought .My older son owns a 350 diesel dully with the pipes and 4 doors but gosh those things are not easy to get into either .Some trucks are just not baby easy or child friendly I wish the U.S. had not decided to stop building the ranger in the states as it was a nice little truck and had some get up and go in it .I gave my nephew the ranger and he is still driving it to this day and loves it .Edison assembly plant built the ranger and i drove it right off the line to home .

 

[taherrmann4]

This is my toy. I have had it for 3 years and has hauled a ton of stuff. We use it to haul our kayaks, bikes whatever I need it to. When I was building my pond I had to haul the rocks in my wifes civic didn't have the truck at the time. When we were buying the truck my wife asked me why we needed a truck since the pond was done and we would not be hauling any more rock or landscaping. Now every time I am using to haul something I remind her of her comment she made and she just laughs. I don't know how I did it without my truck for so long.


This is going to be my next truck. don't know why I want one but I think it would be cool to restore one of these. Don't know where I would park it either since I can't have something like this in my neighborhood.

 

[sissy]

you want guns with that truck to tmann

 

[ididntdoit99]

There was a truck like that for sale in my area a while back, I thought it would be so cool to have it, but like you, i have no idea where i would park it. right now, i can fit 4-5 cars in my driveway (snugly, and the last one would block all the others) but that thing would just be in the way.

 

[ididntdoit99]

Oh yes.. another great use for it.. Last summer i carried my canoe on the top of my car all summer, and i managed to scratch that thing in a few different places, the straps rubbed against my paint and dulled it, the anchor came unstrapped one day going down the highway and hit the top of my roof and dented it. this thing will make hauling my canoe much easier

had to post a picture of that i found on my phone, looks pretty funny with that 17 foot canoe on top of my car.

 

[j.w]

Wow I can see why it damaged the car!

 

[sissy]

gosh I would hope you don't go out on a windy day like that

 

[ididntdoit99]

Wind doesnt make much of a difference when you are driving down the highway at 70 mph with that thing strapped to the car.

Note...I threw the canoe on top of the car, and then went back down by the lake to grab the fishing equpiment and my fiance took it upon herself to start strapping the canoe down. I burst out laughing when I walked up the boat ramp and saw this, then I pulled out my phone and took a picture. The whole time she was saying "whats wrong, why are you laughing", and then when I finished taking this picture, i walked over and grabbed the canoe and pulled it right off the roof of the car sideways. I then explained to her that she couldn't go straight to the front bumper and straight to the back bumper. The strap needed to come around the side of the car so that it could not slide sideways at all. So no, it generally didnt look like this when i was driving with it on the car. Generally strapped correctly, and much more horizontal.