“I just love cranking my trailer jack all the way down to unhitch and all the way back up to tow!”
Said no one, ever.
Let’s be honest. Turning that Jack a hundred times every time you need to hitch or unhitch is not exactly fun. It’s one of the biggest nuisances of towing a trailer. That’s why Redneck Trailer Supplies came up with the perfect product to take the frustration out of the job. It is called the Dropleg Insert and it’s designed to fit inside the inner tube of an A-frame jack.
Here are 3 annoying problems that your jack may be causing that the Dropleg Insert works to alleviate.
1. Wasted Time
There’s no denying it: Cranking the jack can be downright time consuming. And the more you use your trailer, the more time you will see slip away into the thousands of turns of minuscule movements. The Dropleg Insert allows you to quickly set the Jack at the correct height and move on to the things that matter.
2. Back Pain
Did you know that back pain is the leading cause of disability in the United States? Most people experience some form of back pain throughout their adult life. It’s pretty common for me to hear about those dealing with trailers to feel back pain when cranking the jack on a trailer. If cranking the jack isn’t the cause of your pain, it can defiantly be the culprit of that existing pain flaring up again. With the insert, you can avoid an uncomfortable position with uncomfortable movements. It’s much easier on your back and might help you to not feel quite as old they say you are.
3. Blocks of Wood
How many of you have blocks of wood hitching a ride -pun intended- in your truck bed or trailer? You never know what terrain or slope you might have to park your trailer on, especially those of you working in construction or towing a camping RV. Blocks of wood have become a standard towing accessory (there’s a sales idea) until now! The Dropleg insert provides an extra 8 inches of lift so you can ditch those blocks of wood. Use them for something else or burn them in your campfire. There is much less hassle with this new accessory.
The insert is so easy to install and it fits most 2K-5K A-Frame Jacks. We now have these available in our store for just $15.95. Do us a favor- next time you’re cranking that jack, time yourself and see how long it takes! We’re wondering what the average time is. Let us know by commenting on our Facebook.
Don’t forget to share our post so that your friends can see this cool new product too. Thank you!
Last month you got to see the beautiful paint job on the Mustang. This month we are revealing the incredible transformation of the interior. If you want to follow this story, make sure you catch up on the first 5 parts. Each one includes a lot of pictures to illustrate every step of the restoration.
Dave wanted to keep as many original parts as possible. He kept the old seats but did quite a bit of work to them. The original car only had lap seat belts in the front with no seat belts in the back. The front seats also had no head support. Because of the years of sitting in storage, the interior had a tremendous need for a face lift.
After adding new padding, side support, higher backs and headrests to the front bucket seats, Dave went on to re-upholster all the seats.
There was an obvious safety issue with the original front seat belts and lack of seat belts in the back. Dave looks forward to taking his grand kids for rides when they come to visit so, of course, safety is important. (No complaints here!) He installed 3 point seat belts on all the seats making them much safer (and legal.)
He went on to the rest of the interior and restored the original factory center console. He added a stereo from Custom Audio Sound to jazz it up. The stereo looks like an old fashioned radio but has more modern electronics.
Because of the black interior and the plans of summer cruisin’, Dave opted to install an air conditioning unit that he purchased from Classic Auto Air. He also got a custom steering wheel that you can see a little of in the above picture. The steering wheel and new floor mats add a lot to the interior!
He contacted our trailer light supplier, TecNiq to get some LED lights for the interior. He upgraded to a modern wiring harness from American Autowire to make everything run properly. The result is pretty awesome! I guarantee you will want to take this car for a spin when you see the finished product!
We are only two months away from revealing the fully restored Mustang! Next month we will show you Part 7: Assembly. In May, we will bring you the final touches and the test drive! Dave is so excited to have this project finished and to put the car to use.
This post is full of resources for anyone else that is working on a car or looking for upgrades. Would you please share this post on your Facebook so that your friends can see Dave’s project and use these resources? Thank you and thanks for reading!
Can I be honest with you about something? I love my job, I have a pretty sweet gig. I stay home with my kids and when they go to bed I pour myself a glass of wine and pull out my computer. If you told me 2 years ago that I would be writing a blog about trailers and ENJOYING it, I probably would have laughed at you. But I do enjoy it! I have learned so much about trailers and I enjoy passing my knowledge along to others. I enjoy being a part of our family business and seeing the benefits of my work.
However.
Back to the “being honest” part.
Sometimes, as fascinating as trailers are, sometimes I just have to change things up a bit to keep myself entertained. Which is why I made this video about our rental trailers last week. I posted it earlier this week and it’s gotten a pretty good reaction. Even if you couldn’t care less about trailers, I promise you will enjoy this video.
We understand that plenty of our customers really don’t have the need to purchase a trailer. But many have the need for a rental trailer. That’s why we have worked to create a great selection of trailers to rent for whatever the job is. Our rates are very reasonable and we are a joy to work with! You can even read our Google reviews to see what our previous customers have said about us. (Or you can head over there and give us a review yourself.) Our Facebook Page also has quite a few reviews.
Back to the rental trailers. I’m going to keep it brief here because we have all the information you need on our rental trailer page. We have 8 trailers to choose from that range from $30-$79 a day. We also have some additional items available to rent such as ball mounts, balls and pins and motorcycle straps.
So this spring if you find yourself in need of a rental trailer for your home projects, weekend gig or to give grandma a ride, remember us and our low prices on trailers. We are here to help and happy to answer any questions.
Please pass this along! You never know what friends could benefit from knowing where to find a great rental trailer. Thank you for reading and I hope we can work together soon!
We’ve had a lot of requests for this extremely popular aluminum trailer. We started stocking Neo Trailers in August. In fact, when we were anticipating our first load, I wrote Neo Trailers: 5 Reasons to Get Excited. We are proud to be Neo dealers because we know our customers are purchasing quality trailers when they choose this brand.
We recently put in a large order for some of these trailers. We recieved a variety of brand new trailers on sale, which means our customers will get them for a great price too! I will provide more information on this later in this post.
There’s a lot to love about these trailers, and I would like to elaborate on 5 things in particular.
1. Aluminum
There are many perks to an aluminum trailer. There are two major advantages, in particular, that I want to make sure you’re aware of:
Rust Free- Aluminum is extremely resistant to all forms of weather and corrosion. It keeps its shiny, clean appearance which results in a longer life-span. It also holds its resale value (not that you would EVER want to get rid of your aluminum trailer, of course.)
Lightweight- On average, an aluminum trailer weighs 25% less than its steel framed equivalent. A lighter trailer is much easier to tow and also allows you to pull more cargo. Wouldn’t it be nice to free up some of that weight so that you can have more flexibility with what you’re transporting? Another advantage to pulling less trailer weight is the increase you will see in your MPG. Save your pennies for some fancy trailer accessories!
We are big fans of aluminum trailers; they offer a lot of things that steel trailers don’t. If you would like to know more facts on the advantages of aluminum, you can read Aluminum Trailers vs. Steel Trailers. The article is written by Featherlite Trailers and is based off of horse trailers. The facts are still applicable to us and are very interesting, however, we don’t typically have to worry about horse urine.
2. LED Lighting
LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lighting is becoming very popular among trailers as well as just about everywhere else! Many manufacturers are jumping on the light bandwagon and putting these on their trailers. If you don’t yet know why these lights are getting to be so popular, here are 4 reasons!
1.Long Life-Span- This is probably the most well known fact of these lights. They last for a really, really, really, really, really, really -you get the point- really long time! When a typical LED light bulb is used 8 hours a day, it will last for 17 years!
2.Durable- Just like the aluminum, LED lights perform beautifully in all types of weather. Even in extremely low temperatures, they still are effective. And that’s kind of a requirement living in West Michigan. Anyone else ready for spring? Along with the cold, they are also resistant to shock and vibrations. Could there be a better lighting match for a trailer?
3.Go Green- These babies use energy much more efficiently than a regular incandescent bulb. There is very little wasted heat and they don’t contain any mercury. This means that their environmental impact is much smaller than that of other light bulbs.
4. They are the Future- It is estimated that by 2030, 75% of our lighting will be from LED lights. Because they are so efficient, if we spend the next 20 years switching completely to LED lights, the US would save approximately $250 billion in energy costs. This would greatly reduce our carbon emissions and prolong the dreaded effects of global warming.
The benefits from switching to LED lights are unbeatable. Whenever you decide to upgrade your current trailer with some, we have a great selection of them in our store. Thankfully, Neo’s trailers come standard with LED exterior lights.
3. Stone Guard
The bottom of the front of a trailer is a vulnerable place. Rocks, salt, ice and other debris launches up from the back tires, quickly damaging that area. Even with good mud flaps, it’s inevitable for the trailer to get scratched, dented and beaten down. There are many products on the market to add protection to the front of your trailer. I have seen guards that attach to the hitch and even some that drape from the bottom of the tow vehicle to the trailer! To me that just sounds like extra, unnecessary work.
Which is why we’ve got to love Neo! Their trailers come standard with a diamond plate stone guard on the front. They all are covered on the bottom 12 inches, which makes such a big difference in the life of your trailer! The stone guard aids in keeping your trailer looking new and upholding the resale value. (Which we have already been over, you’re not going to sell your aluminum trailer anyway.) Because Neo’s trailers come standard with this protection, you can skip the extra work that comes with the bulky guards.
4. Dexter Spring Axle
Okay so we have two things to cover here. The “Dexter” part and the “spring” part. Have you heard of Dexter Axles? They manufacture quality, state of the art products. They are well known and respected in the automotive industry. They have a team of engineers so that they are always creating the most efficient product. They use the best equipment and everything they make goes under extreme testing. Thankfully, Neo Manufacturing has chosen Dexter as an axle supplier! There has been great debate on Spring Axles vs Torsion Axles. Although which one is better for you really depends on your trailer use, let me give you some of the benefits of a Spring Axle:
Spring Axles perform better in cold weather as Torsion Axles tend to lose some elasticity in cold temperatures.
Spring Axles distribute the load’s weight evenly and allow for heavier loads.
Spring Axles are less expensive (in this case resulting in a less expensive trailer).
Spring Axles are easier to repair.
Spring Axles are more durable and can handle a little off-roading.
Considering a lot of these trailers will get used for toys and heavy work equipment, Dexter Spring Axles sound like your best option. Neo thought so too, which is why these trailers will all come equipped with the perfect Axle.
5. Color Options
If you’re going to purchase a new trailer, why not tow in style? Neo has some of the best looking trailers on the market. The one piece seamless aluminum roof combined with the 030 bonded, screwless exterior skin gives the trailer such a sleek and elegant look. Here are two videos. The first is on the NAVF (Flat top) models and the second is on the NAVR (Round top) models. Keep in mind that most of ours are swing doors.
And we have these trailers available in the following color options:
6×12 NAVF:Black, Charcoal, Silver, White, Blue, Red
6×12 NAVR: Orange
7×14 NAVR:Pewter, Black, Red, Silver/Black, White
7×16 NAVR:Charcoal, Silver
No doubt we are about to have a very colorful parking lot as the rest of these trailers arrive!
As I mentioned in the beginning, we are currently receiving our big order of Neo aluminum trailers. We are getting a total of 6 truck loads and we are expecting them to all be here by mid-March. We purchased these brand new 2015 trailers for a great sale price. We are extending the sale to our customers and are anticipating these trailers to sell quickly. We do have other Neo trailers in stock, however the sale price is only available to the select models that are listed above. You can see our full listing of Neo Trailers here.
Call or stop in to claim your trailer. Now is the time to purchase a Neo!
And comment on the social media post, to let us know: do you prefer a spring axle or a torsion axle? Tell us which one and why!
Please share this post with anyone you know who is interested in a small trailer. Don’t let your friends miss out on our deal!
I’ve already told you quite a bit about Trimax Locks. We love their stuff and we recommend their products to our customers.
Here is a lock that that is very popular and commonly used by our customers in the construction business.
Contractors, I’m talking to you. All you electricians, roofers, carpenters, plumbers and handy men. Do you ever leave your trailer and work equipment on the job site? Have you or a buddy ever had your things stolen out of your trailer? Don’t you think it would be worth it to invest $30 into a lock that will protect your belongings? This lock is pretty incredible and allows lots of hard workers to comfortably leave their trailer at the job overnight.
The Trimax Hockey Puck (THPXL) This tough guy is one of the best options out there. It has a wide range of uses as you can find these guarding traditional and RV trailers, sheds and outdoor storage containers.
I spent some time reading reviews of this lock online and these are just a few of the things that satisfied customers had to say:
“First time I’ve ever used these. Wish I had found them sooner. Awesome product. I never worry about my Haulmark trailer getting broken into.”
“Fits good on a Haulmark trailer, heavy and well built. Peace of mind!!!”
“These locks are probably the most heavy duty locks I’ve seen for a trailer. If you lose the keys, I feel sorry for ya. These are not coming off!”
“This is the trailer door lock to purchase. No one will be able to get this lock off. Don’t lose the key.”
“If you want real security and piece of mind you want these locks. You can key them alike or to match other locks!”
There you have it! This lock is well built and tough. Perfect for guarding your Stealth or Haulmark trailer and possessions. Just don’t lose the key!
Do you have a lock that you love on your trailer? Share with us what works for you, we love hearing from you!
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, it only makes sense to continue on with the Mustang story: Dave’s 10 year project for the love of his life. If you’re just joining us, take a moment to catch up and see the pictures in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
Mustang Restoration Part 5: Paint
We left off last month when Dave had just gotten all the pieces of the car back from Dekker’s Collision. The skilled body shop had painted the car Phoenician Yellow. Here is the beautiful paint job on the car shell:
Dave anxiously and carefully brought the pieces home and put the body back together. It was so rewarding to see the mustang starting to come together!
He dressed the car up with new fenders, lights and an antique license plate.
Doesn’t it look great? We all got pretty excited at this point to see the car with a beautiful new paint job. Maybe now Dave will actually get it finished? For 10 years now, Andrea had been dreaming of cruising through town on a warm summer’s night to go get an ice cream cone. Thankfully, her dream should come true this summer as the Mustang is on schedule to be done this spring!
The inside of the Mustang is looking just as good as the outside. Next month we will bring you Part 6: Interior. You definitely don’t want to miss out on those pictures! To all of our loyal readers: Thank you for following this story! This car is very special to our family and Dave is thrilled to be able to share it with you all.
With it being Valentine’s Day, I want to challenge our readers to look for ways this weekend to reach out to others. Be kind and helpful to someone, weather you know them or not. Put forth the extra effort to do something nice for someone else. It will bless that person and it will bless you. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Here’s a great option for someone in need of a small trailer: The 2015 Stealth Liberty S15LTW610SASD Ramp Door.
It’s perfect for anyone who needs to haul work equipment. The ramp door with the flap makes it ideal to load things with wheels, such as a lawn mower, ATV, quad or motorcycle. The diamond plate fenders and screwless exterior make this small trailer extremely good looking. And the steel construction with aluminum roof and door frames make it so durable, strong and weather resistant. Here is a quick video to show you more on this small trailer from Stealth.
Additional Information
2″ x 4″ Tube Steel Main Rails
3500# Lippert Spring Axle
2″ Ball Coupler
205/75R15 Radial Tires
3/4″ Rainblock Floor
Rear Fold Down Stab Jacks
3 Year Warranty
Overall Length: 15′ 8″ Width: 8′ 6″
We know this small trailer will be the perfect choice for one of our customers. Will it be you? For more pictures and information on this cargo trailer, click here. Weather you stop in for a trailer or some parts in our store, we hope to see you soon!
Do you remember your first time? Maybe it was ages ago and didn’t go well. Surely you’ve gotten better over the years. Or maybe you haven’t done it yet and you’re waiting for the right time. After all, you don’t want to make a fool of yourself, right? Weather it comes natural to you or not, everyone has needed help with it at some point. Yes, hooking up your vehicle to your trailer might prove to be a small challenge and may require a bit of practice.
If you have never hitched a trailer to your vehicle or if you still feel slightly uneasy about it, then grab a snack and a pen and paper. Hopefully this article will make you feel like a seasoned pro.
7 Steps To A Perfect Hook-Up
1. Make Sure You Size Up.
Your ball size will be stamped on the top of the hitch ball. Before doing anything, make sure it matches the size of your coupler. Wrong size? Come see us! That’s what we’re here for.
2. Get Some Help.
Phone a friend. Recruit a co-worker. Ask your wife for help. Find someone who knows their lefts and rights and you’re good to go. Have them stand behind you and direct you as you back up until your coupler is directly above the ball mount.
3. No One Around? Take It Slow.
Hey if no one is there to help you, that means no one is there to see you mess up, right? Silver Linings. If you’re doing it alone, just know that it may be a stop and go process. Depending on your vehicle and your height, you may be able to lean out your driver’s window far enough to actually see your coupler. If not, take it a few feet at a time. Get out and check to see how you’re lining up. If needed, make an adjustment and go a few more feet before checking again. Once your hitch ball is directly under it, you can lower the coupler.
4. Use A Backup Camera.
You can bypass all the in and out of your vehicle to check the status of your hitch ball. You can completely forgo the need for assistance in the first place. There are some great cameras out there and we stock the best one: Swift Hitch Portable Camera System. Small enough to stash in the glove compartment and so easy to use. This is great for anyone who tows frequently. It has an insanely long battery life, handheld monitor, and a magnetic base for quick mounting. Check it out!
5. Get Hitched.
If you have a ball clamp coupler, lower it onto the ball to get it into place. After tightening it, you can shake the trailer and then tighten it down some more. A latch style coupler will require the same ball size and and for the latch to be open. After placing the coupler over the hitch ball, close the latch and secure it with a lock or pin. Raise the tongue jack to it’s highest position to get the most ground clearance.
6. Better Safe Than Sorry.
It’s very important that you hook up the safety chains correctly. Crisscross them and hook them into the proper holes in the receiver. Your chains should not be taut as they need enough slack to compensate for turns. However they should not be long enough to drag on the ground.
7. Electrical.
Lastly you need to ensure that your trailer’s electrical is hooked up to your tow vehicle. This is not optional, as it is a Michigan law that your trailer have at lease one working taillight. Before you hit the road, test your running lights, brake lights and turn signals to be sure they are working. The same rule of the safety chains applies to your trailer harness. Make sure there is enough slack to make the turns but do not let it drag on the ground. For a quick fix, you can use a zip tie to connect it to the hitch to hold it off the ground.
We hope these simple steps and reminders were helpful to you. Hitching up your trailer really shouldn’t be too hard. Just take your time and do it right the first time. Do you have any tricks you use to hook up your trailer? Please share them with us! We’d love to hear from you via Facebook, Linkedin or Google Plus. We would be happy to share your ideas!
Mustang Restoration Part 4: Sheet Metal and Bodywork
Catch up on this awesome story with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. You really don’t want to miss the shorts that Dave is rockin’ out in Part 1.
After getting the car sand blasted in April of 2010, Dave continued his work on the sheet metal and bodywork for the whole next year. Like any car restoration, this is the most labor intensive part. He spent an immeasurable amount of time in this phase, in order to get the perfect outcome and not a Bondo Buggy.
He first cleaned up the few places that had some rust. He replaced the floor boards, and patched up the fenders, doors and quarter panels. This involved hours of cutting, pounding, welding and grinding (and probably quite a bit of beer.)
As the car was still on the rotisserie, he sealed up all the welds and painted the bottom of the car.
Once he got the car back on the ground he went ahead with installing the new suspension, disc brakes, shocks and springs. It was nice to be able to move it around again and keep it out of the way when he needed the space for something else.
And then the car sat… and sat… and sat… In May of 2011, Dave’s finances were required elsewhere as he needed to pay for a wedding (sorry, Dad!) At the same time, he was going through a major career change. Dave had already been interested in buying Grandville Trailer for a couple years. After Kevin (previous owner) passed away, Dave spent more time working at Grandville Trailer and eventually went on to purchase it. During this time he was still running his counter top business, Tosh’s Tops. When the opportunity arose to sell it, he made a rather quick sale. It was then that he was able to focus solely on Grandville Trailer and devote all his work energy to making it the business it is today.
After three years of intense business changes, it was time for Dave to get back to work on the car. In the spring of 2014 he continued the body work. He spent many nights and weekends block sanding so the car would be ready for paint. He then assembled everything together to make sure it all lined up. When it was as close to perfect as he could get it, he disassembled it to be painted.
When it was ready for paint, he brought the Mustang to a local body shop: Dekker’s Collision. Although we all tried to talk her in to red or black, Andrea’s choice of color was Phoenician Yellow. Being a labor of love, Dave followed her request.
Once the pieces of the car were painted, Dave carefully brought it all back home to his barn. The car shell, fenders, doors, trunk, hood and all the other pieces were ready for the reassembly process.
We will continue next month with Part 5: Paint, where you will see some of the beautiful paint job and something that is starting to look a bit more like a car. Stay tuned! And don’t forget to share this with your car enthusiast friends!
Well, 2014 was an awesome year for us here. We gained a lot of new suppliers, products, and customers. We attended several shows and conventions around the country to learn more about our business and work with new people. We have grown our business in several ways and we can’t wait to see what is in store for us this upcoming year.
Even though we don’t know everything that will happen this year, I can tell you one thing for sure. With Dave Tosh as the owner, we will always, ALWAYS be striving for improvement. So of course, we have a few new things to look forward to this year.
5 Improvements for 2015
1. New Dealer Management Software
No doubt this will be a big learning curve for us as we try to figure out how to navigate the new systems (Please be patient with us as we do so!) But what does this mean for you as the customer?
Less time in the store as we will finally have a scanner and we can ditch the pen and paper.
We will have the ability to keep better track of you, your purchases, and any work done on your trailer.
We can easily communicate with you to quickly inform you of the status of your trailer.
2. New Suppliers
We are building our stock of open steel frame trailers with the help of two new suppliers:
Griffin Trailer will supply us with heavy duty equipment haulers, dump trailers, and landscape trailers.
JRC Trailers manufactures utility trailers and car haulers. They also do fantastic custom trailers.
3. HitchGrip
This is a really cool product that will be arriving on our shelves in March. This was designed for those frequently towing campers or trailers. It takes the grease and awkwardness out of maneuvering your hitch.
Let us know if you want one before March!
4. You Guessed it: More Trailers
Throughout 2014 we had a hard time just keeping trailers on the lot. They kept selling before we even got them. A problem that we were happy to have! This year, however, we want to ensure that our customers have the best options readily available. We currently have over 60 trailers in stock and there are more on the way. We have over 80 on order from Aluma, NEO, Haulmark and Stealth. It’s probably safe to say that we have the most trailers for sale in West Michigan.
Now we’re just hoping that people around here still need trailers. If not, well, that could be embarrassing.
5. Where Are We Going to Put all These Trailers?
In case you didn’t hear, last year we bought a tattoo parlor! Mostly because we thought it would be fun to say that we own a tattoo parlor. But also, that tattoo parlor just happens to be right next door to our dealership. With all this growing we’ve been doing, we were looking for more space to expand our lot. This project is still a ways down the road, though. We are hoping to start the remodel this year!
I hope I don’t sound like a broken record, but I just wanted to say “Thank You” again to all our customers, friends and business partners! Without all the amazing people supporting this little business, we would still be a tattoo-parlor-less dealership with an empty lot! Who want’s that?
Please Like us on Facebook and share this post with your friends. Thank you for your support!
