Somehow I got to thinking of using a plastic sled for dragging firewood or small logs out of my woods. Looked at deer sleds, kid's toboggans and also concrete mixing tubs. My trails are kind of rough, lots of roots, stumps, knobs. Don't know how plastic would hold up. Plus, they don't hold that much. Then I was reminded of a small trailer my neighbor has and it's just rusting away, he never uses it. Wonder if I could buy that for a c-note or two. It's large enough to carry a decent load but also small enough to make some of the tight turns on the trail and it even has street-legal lights (which look like would need to be redone!). Wondering if wheels might hold up longer than sliding plastic?
I use sleds when there's snow, and trailers when there's no snow. Sometimes I use no trailer I've got a couple of trailers I use. To very small for use in the tight trails in the woods.
Yeah I don't think plastic would hold up very well unless you baby it on every trip and have smooth land to go over. Better off with the trailer if its worth your time and effort.
Is the ground soft where your at? Swampy? I’d consider buying a tandem atv trailer. if I had it to do over.
Looks like the average snowfall for Louisiana is less than an inch....(What? ) and when it snows, no more than a 3-4 inch "storm" at best? I would go with tires. A wide tire type trailer?
Rare snow here, lol. Land is not swampy on trails. So, trailer, it is. One I am eyeballing is about size of Horkn's last trailer above. EDIT: Wide tires a plus here. I have seen those with articulated wheels, that would be even better but I bet it's expensive!
The 4x8 or the small ATV trailer? The 4x8 works well, but this one has narrow tires on it. If I load up the trailer and the grass/ ground is wet, it will leave ruts. Tire size is 4.8x12. those work, but like I said with firewood they'll dig in to any non solid ground. Wider tires like are on 14 or 15" wheels are much better for this. There's also the wide snowmobile trailer type tires which resist sinking in and making ruts. Those are 8" rims iirc, and around twice as wide as the narrow type that a lot of smaller trailers have. Also, what are you pulling it with? Truck, atv, sxs? Do you want to drive anything into it? Tractor, atv, splitter? If so, a rear ramp gate is nice, but you could get a tilt trailer too. Ramps work as well, but the gate/ ramp is the best. Next question, solid or metal grate floor? Pros and cons to each, but I prefer a solid floor. Especially if using it to haul around on your lawn. Wood scraps, bark, etc will get deposited around your lawn with the grate floor. With a solid wood floor, you can sweep all that junk where you want it, not where it wants to fall out. Also, grated floors the to grab sticks and make it hard to clean it out.
I really like the wide tires. But I can see no good reason for tandem. I can go through some pretty bad mud loaded and it does well.
What are you towing the trailer with? Biggest reason for a tandem would be more carrying capacity, both volumewise and weightwise. A walking beam is much less likely to tip on uneven ground than a single axle trailer.
Savage Dennis, in your first pic, are you skidding a stack of logs out on a platform skid? Why do you have a windshield fairing on a 4-wheeler? Haven't seen that before. Keep sticks out of your face? The trailer with the red rails, is that home made or a manufactured trailer one can purchase? As for towing, it could be John Deere Gator or my Honda 500 4-wheeler.
Tandem walking axles are better for uneven terrain. Plus less chance of ruts, but the wide tires are good at that anyway.
The windshields help in cold weather. Wind chills are a real thing up here in the north country.. Heck we even put heated hand grips on our atvs here. That's a Yu-trax trailer. You can put the dual walking axle on it. These used to be much less $$. Backwoods Savage , do you recall what you paid for yours?
I have the same YuTrax. I love that thing. I tow it in the snow with no problem, typically. I try to move most of my wood prior to any major snow storms though. The tires are wide, and sit outside of the frame. That makes it really stable on hilly terrain. I’ve never personally messed with a sled. I paid $399 for trailer a few years ago through Cabela’s.
