Pinto Trailer vs Trayla Trailer

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noozealand

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#226388 5-Jan-2018 10:00

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a NZ made 7x4 trailer and have come up with two possibilities, either a Pinto DIY wellside or Trayla Trailer single axle. The main use would be loading it up for the family camping tips, general household DIY stuff, moving furniture etc.

Both tick all the boxes in what I'm looking for in a trailer: NZ made, 900mm cage, full length tie down bar on side, ability to fit bike rack onto draw bar. The Trayla has a slightly deeper deck, 300mm vs 260mm.

Price wise, the Pinto comes in at $2175 (no extras) vs $1945 for the Trayla (comes with free spare wheel & jockey wheel). All up, with the cage, bike rack fitting & on road costs, the Pinto is $3290 (excluding spare wheel & jockey wheel, $195 & $130 respectively). The Trayla is $2687.

Does anyone out there have experience of both trailers (how they tow etc), or any pros / cons to either? Is it worth paying extra for the spare wheel on the Pinto?

Thanks for your help.

Geektastic

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#1929686 5-Jan-2018 10:38

Not NZ made, Welsh made, but if you want the best there is an Ifor Williams dealer in Cambridge called Southern Trailers.

I did not get a NZ made one because I don't like the excessively long draw bars on most NZ trailers, and the IW braking systems towbars are top end German systems, but I guess it's a question of what you're used to and I don't know if there are overall length limits on trailer/car setups etc here.

Looking at the websites of those two and based on 35 years of using trailers, the Pinto ones look better to me, but without seeing them in the flesh it's hard to say for sure. They do look a bit more 'professional' to my eye.

Coil

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#1929698 5-Jan-2018 10:45

Geektastic:

Not NZ made, Welsh made, but if you want the best there is an Ifor Williams dealer in Cambridge called Southern Trailers.

I did not get a NZ made one because I don't like the excessively long draw bars on most NZ trailers, and the IW braking systems towbars are top end German systems, but I guess it's a question of what you're used to and I don't know if there are overall length limits on trailer/car setups etc here.

Looking at the websites of those two and based on 35 years of using trailers, the Pinto ones look better to me, but without seeing them in the flesh it's hard to say for sure. They do look a bit more 'professional' to my eye.

+1 for the Germans, Pinto is a reputable brand for trailers over here and know a few people with them and no complaints.
Just use it for what it is designed for and nothing more.. Thats all.

tdgeek

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#1929704 5-Jan-2018 10:48

I bought an Elite 7x4, cage, jockey wheel, tiltable, was about $2000k maybe a few dollars more but close to that

http://www.elitetrailers.co.nz/product/auckland-7x4-standard-tilt-trailer-with-cage

I was sure it was $2000k, I got the spare wheel, but its $1695 +$130 for spare wheel. Maybe rego was included, although I did have to go to the station, maybe that was just WOF?

fearandloathing

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#1929756 5-Jan-2018 11:31

I have a Trayla 7x4 which is a great trailer, and would recommend. Be sure to get a jockey wheel, makes manoeuvring a laden trailer off the car easy.

I also like the wooden floors on them.

Geektastic:

I did not get a NZ made one because I don't like the excessively long draw bars on most NZ trailers

I like the long draw bar, easier to reverse IMO and good visibility of an empty trailer in the mirrors.

Matt

tdgeek

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#1929771 5-Jan-2018 11:59

fearandloathing:

I have a Trayla 7x4 which is a great trailer, and would recommend. Be sure to get a jockey wheel, makes manoeuvring a laden trailer off the car easy.

I also like the wooden floors on them.

Geektastic:

I did not get a NZ made one because I don't like the excessively long draw bars on most NZ trailers

I like the long draw bar, easier to reverse IMO and good visibility of an empty trailer in the mirrors.

Matt

That's correct. Short drawbar makes it too sensitive

Fred99

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#1929848 5-Jan-2018 12:57

I bought (last year) a Kea 7'x4'4" trailer with tuffdeck (ply) deck. A bit like this one.

Can't remember the exact price, but around $3200 IIRC including jockey wheel and swapping the 12v LED lights for 12/24v dual voltage lights.

4" deck width is a potential problem, many sheet building materials come in 1220mm width - slightly over 48 inches and no room for fingers when loading.

Ply deck stuff is the same as what they use in trucks, IIRC it's a birch ply with hard epoxy coating.

That trailer is very light (I can pick one side up off the ground with a bit of effort), and wheel it round by hand quite easily, but made of high tensile steel, so rated GVM IIRC is about 1200kg, max rated load is about about a tonne.

Cheap chinese trailers are much heavier, so rated load capacity is usually much less. As well as better chassis construction and detail/materials, you get better suspension, wheels, tyres etc.

Expensive though - and that didn't include a cage. I didn't want a mesh cage as it's too hard to get garden waste etc untangled when you dump it, so DIY welded up a galv steel RHS frame, lined with 7mm marine ply - which probably cost me about $250 in materials:

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clevedon

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#1930998 5-Jan-2018 19:15

Yep, I'd highly recommend to go for a 4.5 foot wide trailer. You won't see the guards of the trailer in your side mirrors with a four foot wide one and you need to see what the trailers doing while towing.

I've been doing WOF's for 30+ years now and being a semi rural workshop, we see untold stock, boat and general trailers, horse floats etc and would only recommend a Pinto or Kea trailer personally. Good long draw bars for reversing and steady on the road, well balanced for moving around by hand, decent suspension and all consumables like lights, wheel bearings etc locally available at low cost.

I would also advise to get a spare tyre whether mounted on the trailer or carried with you, worst thing to be stuck on the side of the road with no spare on a trailer. And also if budget allows - 8 ply commercial tyres which are high puncture resistant and are good up to 65psi if you are really loaded up.

I've had a Kea trailer with a stock crate on it for around fifteen years now and it's done a heap of work, it hasn't costed me anything in maintenance other than putting the 8 ply tyres on it.

Geektastic

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#1931097 5-Jan-2018 23:28

tdgeek:

fearandloathing:

I have a Trayla 7x4 which is a great trailer, and would recommend. Be sure to get a jockey wheel, makes manoeuvring a laden trailer off the car easy.

I also like the wooden floors on them.

Geektastic:

I did not get a NZ made one because I don't like the excessively long draw bars on most NZ trailers

I like the long draw bar, easier to reverse IMO and good visibility of an empty trailer in the mirrors.

Matt

That's correct. Short drawbar makes it too sensitive

I think a drawbar that is too short would; I do think the common lengths here are too long by at least a foot though.

Short drawbars are better for farm trailers and serious off road trailers due to their better tracking when taking tight corners (less chance of the trailer hitting fence/gate posts or trees when turning) and reduces the occurrence of the drawbar bottoming out when going over and through steep undulating ground or sand dunes.

This one is mine and you can see the drawbar is noticeably shorter than is common here.

Fred99

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#1931205 6-Jan-2018 12:08

Geektastic:

I think a drawbar that is too short would; I do think the common lengths here are too long by at least a foot though.

Short drawbars are better for farm trailers and serious off road trailers due to their better tracking when taking tight corners (less chance of the trailer hitting fence/gate posts or trees when turning) and reduces the occurrence of the drawbar bottoming out when going over and through steep undulating ground or sand dunes.

This one is mine and you can see the drawbar is noticeably shorter than is common here.

If you look at that trailer, then the centres of the axles are about a foot to the rear of the centre of the deck, so the short drawbar is a bit of an illusion and it probably reverses fine.

I'm sure it's a very good trailer, and IMO having the deck forward of the centre of the axles is probably a safe idea by default, as it would reduce the chance of inadvertently loading with not enough weight on the tongue - which can make trailers dangerously unstable when towing. That said, modern particularly Euro cars with towing stability control have very low maximum tongue weight specs - often less than 100kg.

Geektastic

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#1931225 6-Jan-2018 13:06

Fred99:

Geektastic:

I think a drawbar that is too short would; I do think the common lengths here are too long by at least a foot though.

Short drawbars are better for farm trailers and serious off road trailers due to their better tracking when taking tight corners (less chance of the trailer hitting fence/gate posts or trees when turning) and reduces the occurrence of the drawbar bottoming out when going over and through steep undulating ground or sand dunes.

This one is mine and you can see the drawbar is noticeably shorter than is common here.

If you look at that trailer, then the centres of the axles are about a foot to the rear of the centre of the deck, so the short drawbar is a bit of an illusion and it probably reverses fine.

I'm sure it's a very good trailer, and IMO having the deck forward of the centre of the axles is probably a safe idea by default, as it would reduce the chance of inadvertently loading with not enough weight on the tongue - which can make trailers dangerously unstable when towing. That said, modern particularly Euro cars with towing stability control have very low maximum tongue weight specs - often less than 100kg.

Yes - as I mentioned above, it's all about how well the trailer is designed. This one is probably a little larger than most people would want to tow with a normal car, but any decent 4WD will pull it as though it's not even there when it's empty. The braking system is nice - as you brake, the weight of the trailer compresses at the towball end (see the black rubber boot) and that causes the brakes to apply proportionally to the amount of compression. As you accelerate, the coupling is pulled out again and so the brakes are released. It has some clever system that knows when you're reversing so that the brakes do not come on then.

Also uses a breakaway cable instead of the more common chains - that red cable. That attaches to the tow vehicle and if the trailer comes unhitched, the cable will apply the brakes on the trailer then snap, so that the trailer does not cause the tow vehicle to have an accident.

kryptonjohn

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#1932037 8-Jan-2018 10:23

Mate has a Pinto trailer with removable cage and I borrow it all the time. It's a perfect little trailer. Very handy if you can get the custom fitted cover to keep contents dry(ish) in wet weather.

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kryptonjohn

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#1932041 8-Jan-2018 10:30

If you look at that trailer, then the centres of the axles are about a foot to the rear of the centre of the deck, so the short drawbar is a bit of an illusion and it probably reverses fine.

I'm sure it's a very good trailer, and IMO having the deck forward of the centre of the axles is probably a safe idea by default, as it would reduce the chance of inadvertently loading with not enough weight on the tongue - which can make trailers dangerously unstable when towing. That said, modern particularly Euro cars with towing stability control have very low maximum tongue weight specs - often less than 100kg.

My 20' boat trailer (double axle) has a massive drawbar weight - I can't raise it without using the jockey wheel. I often see a recommendation of 10% trailer mass on the drawbar which for this trailer would be around 1.5T so 150kg on the towbar which sounds about what it is. The tow vehicle is rated to 3.5T and you hardly know the trailer is there despite the down force on the towbar and it tracks beautifully when towing on the open road.

Have seen some horrific sights with unstable trailers though - not enough weight on the bar.