New addition

[400brian]

15 years ago, my brother and I bought a 2 place clamshell R&R trailer off ebay. It was 10 years old at the time, but it was serviceable. I pulled it out to Ohio in the summer of 2008, cooking the transmission in my 98 Chevy truck in the process ( it didn't fail until a year later ) and brought home 2 340/S sleds on that trip. It hauled college kid stuff on trips up to Duluth, and Green Bay, we put a fair number of miles on it.

I replaced a tongue that some how got bent, the aluminum underpinnings had to be welded because of cracks in the frame members, then a couple years later I spent a fair amount of money bolting 4 big aluminum angles along side the frame rails to fix it again. The rims, tires, and bearings were all replaced twice, and keeping the lights working seemed constant.

Today we upgraded! After looking for a trailer in a 500 mile radius since August, we took delivery of a new trailer from a dealer near La Crosse, WI. As with everything right now, ordering a new trailer was a no go, as the wait time was at least a year. It seems very few dealers order sled trailers like I was looking for, but the Auto and Toy Trader in West Salem finally got one in I could live with.

It is a tandem axle Legend Explorer, 7.5' x23' V-nose, drive on drive off. It is 6" taller than the standard 6.5 foot. I pulled it home with our 1/2 ton Pickup at 70 mph without issue.

This is a big deal for us.

[snowmoer]

That is one nice looking trailer! I am glad I found a used one just as the shutdowns were starting in the spring of 2020. The prices have gone through the roof now. Glad you found what you were looking for.

[400brian]

Yes, the prices are substantially higher than a year ago.

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Nice purchase Brian !! I'm starting to go the other way in that I'm considering selling my big trailer and keeping a small enclosed one.

[nick80lf]

Out of curiosity how does a two place aluminum snowmobile trailer cook a transmission on a 10 year old 1/2 ton truck? I would think it was significantly under the towing specs for the truck. Just wondering if there's an interesting story behind this.

[snowmoer]

Out of curiosity how does a two place aluminum snowmobile trailer cook a transmission on a 10 year old 1/2 ton truck? I would think it was significantly under the towing specs for the truck. Just wondering if there's an interesting story behind this.

The transmissions that Chevy put in their trucks back then was not the best. I had a Chevy truck at work that did a little towing well under the tow rating. It went through two of them in 60K miles. Luckly they were all replaced under warranty. The truck got replaced at 70K miles.

[BU1]

Congrats on the trailer, Brian! As we get older it sure makes things go better with more user friendly equipment.

[400brian]

Out of curiosity how does a two place aluminum snowmobile trailer cook a transmission on a 10 year old 1/2 ton truck? I would think it was significantly under the towing specs for the truck. Just wondering if there's an interesting story behind this.

The weekend this trip was undertaken on was right around 100 degrees. This is a half ton, it had around 100k on it, and it had no aux tranny cooler. When I got out to Ohio, I could see an oil mist on the front of the trailer, so it appeared it was hot and pushing oil out. The return trip was just as hot and now I had 2 sleds in the trailer. When I returned home, the tranny now had a whine in it that it hadn't had before. A year later the wife came home from Green Bay with college girl stuff in the trailer, and reverse died right in the driveway. She got LUCKY!

I still own the 98 truck. My dealer rebuilt the tranny for around $1500, and it has been good since.

[nick80lf]

Brian....I thought you were going to have a pretty good story about an over loaded snowmobile trailer. It amazes me how much my milage drops pulling my clam shell. The wind resistance has to be terrible. Bet that V nose cuts through the air easier.

Very nice looking trailer.

[400brian]

The clam definitely pulls a bunch of air. However, the tires track with the truck, and the new trailer has the tires way out there, so we will see how that goes in snow.

On the way home with the new trailer we were running 70 mph on I-90 in towing mode, and the 2017 Silverado was showing 12 mpg. Once we got onto a state HWY running 55 mph, the mpg came up to 14.

You can tell you have more mass back there, that is for sure. I have never pulled a trailer with brakes before, and you can tell these are working, the braking distance does not seem to be too bad.