Good firewood trailer for ATV or UTV

I’m not sure of the terrain your in , I have a lot of hills here. I have a trailer for my quad, some of my hills are hard to climb even with a empty trailer. Recently bought a side by side and thinking I’m going to have better luck getting around with the weight of the load over the drive axles.

 

yep!!

It's been used and abused now for 7-8 years. I don't baby it. This is how I routinely load it. The walking arm makes a BIG difference.

 

I added a couple vertical bars to the side rails to keep the smaller pieces from rolling out between the rails and plywood in the bottom as well. I’ve been happy with it.


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That Polar dual axle or walking beam or whatever it is is awesome but it's $759 vs $400 for the single axle. That's almost double in price and that does not include the side rails! Both of them show a rating of 1,500 lbs and 22 cu ft. Could that be correct?

I have seen an ATV trailer where the rear gate could be lowered to make it a ramp. I don't recall the brand/model. If you could roll rounds up that ramp, that would be helpful for an old fart like me. I dunno, might be too steep to roll a big round. Other than that, I guess just halve them via maul or noodling and pick 'em up.

EDIT: I see it, it is a Bannon trailer. Yikes, 8 tires to keep inflated? But, wow, that looks like a terrific trailer. You can get chainsaw scabbards. (link: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200674078_200674078?cm_mmc=Google-pla&utm_source=Google_PLA&utm_medium=Lawn + Garden > Lawn + Garden Utility Trailers&utm_campaign=Bannon&utm_content=55289&gclid=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rDgBkcNXZ3sZTstcsA2gfCWR2OP9K9i0AQdSZ6D_Oey-C8Eakpakb8aArR3EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

EDIT: I don't have a hill problem, it's gently rolling terrain.

 

It's not about loading capacity, it's about the ability to easily "walk" over obstacles in the woods. One can drive over downed limbs and such with ease, as the walking arm does just that, it walks over stuff.

I originally bought it w/o the walking arm. I then bought the kit after the fact and was amazed at how easy it pulled after I installed it. If you are going to be pulling it through the woods, I strongly recommend a walking arm setup, regardless of the kind of trailer you decide on.

One nice thing about the Polar trailers, is the sloped back end. Allows for easy ditch crossing, which I do often. The trailers which have squared off back ends may have issues with crossing steep ditches and bottoming out at the rear. Plus the sloped back makes it easy to unload the big ones. I hook them with a hook-a-roon and pull them up the sloped rear to me. This places the wood right at a perfect height so bending over is not necessary.

 

Looks like a nice trailer too. I don't think it was around when I bought my Polar, as this is the first I have seen it. Those wheels just look a bit cheap to me though, kinda like they are using 8 standard wheel barrow wheels. LOL

 

The Polar is certainly a winner but for it to cost $359 for a walking beam ($759 vs. $400) seems excessive but what do I know.

 

Brother and I are both welders and fabricators to some extent. We have built 2 trailers using the solid rear axles of minivans. They measure approximately 4X8 and we keep the tire pressures fairly low for a smooth ride. We load em pretty heavy at times.

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I've been using a 20-cu. ft heavy duty Agri-Fab trailer for over 10 years and have hauled countless cords of wood with it. As someone else mentioned, larger tires make a big difference, and this model was sold at Polaris dealers (and I believe John Deere as well) with the ATV-style tires. Agri-Fab stopped selling this model a few years ago however it appears Ohio Steel now sells the same product. Home Depot sells it for $721 however a quick search found another dealer that has them for $488. After ten-plus years of abuse, I've only had two issues with it: 1) the steel bed is starting to rust/break at the bolt holes where the axle supports are mounted. (I picked up some 1/4-inch aluminum plates to fix the bad spots.) 2: The mechanism for the dump bed is primitive (they may have improved it over the years since I bought mine). I never really used the dump bed, so I just used a ratchet strap to make sure it didn't accidentally dump when being towed with a full load. Another great feature is that the tailgate just slides up and out so you can haul larger logs.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ohio-Steel-20-cu-ft-1500-lb-Heavy-Duty-ATV-Cart-3460H-ATV/202324240

Ohio Steel 3460HATV Pro Welded Heavy Duty ATV Cart, 20 cu. ft. - SLE Equipment

 

I actually went the other way. I went from a Polaris Sportsman ATV to a Ranger back in 2014 but found there were a lot of places I couldn't get into anymore due to the size/height of the UTV. I ended up getting rid of the Ranger and going back to an ATV a few years ago. The dump bed on the UTV was nice (and there are obviously a lot of other features that make a UTV much more comfortable), however I prefer the flexibility of the smaller and more maneuverable ATV for my terrain.

 

EODMSgt, that $488 source was looking great but the shipping appears to be $220!

 

Ouch, they really hammer you with the 'freight' charges. I was wondering why there was such a difference in price (I didn't look at the shipping options). Still, I paid around $500 for mine back in 2012 and have definitely gotten my money's worth out of it. If I was looking for a new trailer, I would probably get the same model again (unless I win the lottery, then I would get a MUTS trailer).

MUTS - Multi-Use Trailer System for your ATV, Quad and 4 Wheeler

 

+1 on the polar trailer. I've got one as well with the walking arm and it works great behind an ATV.

 

I have the same ATV. Heck of a mule.

 

My opinion is the best trailer is more than 1 trailer. I have two trailers I use.

First one is a little dump cart with wide tires. Second is a harbor freight 4x8 with 24" sidewalls and skinny tires.

The small one is good for soft ground and tight spaces, but doesn't haul much. The 4x8 can be loaded with more than the ground or quad can handle if you aren't careful.

I will say those HF trailers can take a BEATING. I've been downright mean to mine and haven't broke it yet.

 

Nobody needs it.....just makes things easier. It's physics. Instead of having to pull half the weight of the total load over, say, a stump like you would without a walking arm. The walking beam/arm divides that load in 1/4's and transfers the load back and forth between the two wheels on each side, making pulling over rough terrain easy.

It was very apparent for me back when I was using my riding lawn mower to haul around a fully loaded trailer of splits from the splitter to the pile. I didn't have a walking arm at first and the rider wouldn't be able to move it at times when it encountered simple exposed roots and things of similar nature. It would just lose traction and I'd be done. After I put on the walking arm I no longer had that problem.

Here's a cheesy video demonstrating what I am talking about. Imagine this trailer being fully loaded and him trying to drive over that stump w/o a walking arm.

 

Love the bridge

 

I'm late to the party here but I too run the Polar 1500. I haven't added the walking arms but am sure they would make a big difference as JRHAWK9 points out. It's the old, "you can't miss what you never had" kind of deal. I was considering adding the setup but was also considering their new hydraulic dump trailer. The only thing I don't like about the standard 1500 trailer is the dump is worthless except for sweeping it out at the end of the day. The only downside (other than price) to the dump trailer is the weight. I keep going back and fourth on whether I want to go to the hydraulic dump version or add the walkers to my existing trailer. As with most buying decisions, I have analysis paralysis so for now I'll keep running my current trailer as is.

On a related note... I pick up my new Polar trailer tow vehicle today... I'll post on it later with the required pics...