Out of necessity (cost)and possibly sentimental value, I rebuilt my dad's 30 plus year old Holsclaw trailer to haul my stepdaughter's and my dirt bikes. There are some shortcomings. My personal comments/ experience: The trailer bed is about 5 1/2 feet wide x maybe 8 feet long(it's outside in the cold right now, so I'm estimating). It's easily wide enough for two dirt bikes if you stagger the wheel chocks about a foot (front to back). You need wheel chocks for carrying the bikes. I made mine out of plywood, but I was out of work at the time and had the wood- my time was free. Making your own chocks allows you to make them to fit the tire widths more closely. The pre-made chocks I looked at were more geared to street bike width tires. However, if you need to transport street bikes, narrow chocks may interfere with the brake rotors. My trailer tilts. I think I would prefer a trailer with a large built-in fold down ramp. However, that vertical ramp may have a large negative effect on gas mileage. Tying down two bikes with four tiedowns each is a pain. I am working on some way to secure via the chocks and handlebars, but I am still working on it. It has a steel bed (not mesh)- kind of slippery now that it's painted. Lots of tie-downs that I installed, plus lots of "slots" in the bed. The trailers that hold two snowmobiles side to side are a lot wider than most tow vehicles- my trailer is only a few inches wider than my SUV. I have driven with wide trailers- it takes a little getting used to, especially at toll booths. A trailer with low sides may allow you to carry gas cans and gear with a little more confidence- driving two hours over bumpy roads to a riding area with a smelly gas can in the back of an SUV can be trying. Always carry a spare tire, lug wrench, and jack for the trailer. That way you'll never need them. Remember to re-grease your wheel bearings every year. Check the hubs (temperature and feel) every time you stop for gas or food. Re-check your load after one mile, ten miles, and every 100 miles. I think that about sums up my experiences so far. Good luck. Ralph

While it will not happen on a tractor, I learned my lesson on my boat trailer. We had camped on the boat overnight. The next day while driving home at about 55mph, I felt the trailer do something strange. I looked in the mirror and saw the trailer come up and the wheel come out of the fender. I immediately started to stop and watched the wheel go rolling down the road. Fortunately I was able to keep everything properly oriented and got the car and trailer off to the side of the road. My wife was a sleep and I woke her, telling her to get the water from the boat to put out the fire. On one side of the trailer one of the axle U bolts was gone and one about 30% remaining, the rest of the two bolts had started the grass fire.. After retrieving the wheel the adrenalin left me, and I was so weak I could not get a couple of nuts from the right wheel to attach the left wheel. (I had an extra in my tool box.) I drove the remaining 30 miles dead slow with three bolts on each wheel. and what was left of the one U bolt

We have 10 acres of solid woods that we are starting to tame and I have to say, it has been much easier than we expected thanks to the use of landscaping fabric. We clear an area of any dead fall, prune to the ground any small tree or large stem weed, use the weed whacker to knock the brush down, and then use a mulching mower to grind it all up. The area is then clear to plant whatever you want, and then simply place the fabric around your plants, put on some mulch, and Voila! no more weeds! This method has gotten rid of garlic mustard, poison ivy, thorny wild raspberries, woodland shrubs and a bunch of other stuff that was growing. At first I was hesitant to put the fabric down, thinking is was too much work and too difficult to plant in afterward. But is was quick to lay down and very easy to cut. When you decide you want a special plant in a certain spot, you simply move back your mulch, slice an X into the fabric and you have easy access to your soil. It is great and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to tame large areas. This will be our 3rd year gardening in the forest and I have to say it is much more exciting than I ever imagined it would be. I thought my plant choices would be very limited but it is not true. Shade gardening is very rewarding, very beautiful and so very peaceful. Good Luck with your gardening, and so far everything you have done looks very beautiful.

IMO, you have two decent options: 1. Ideal #65 "Purple" wire nuts. They're UL approved for AL/CU connections and contain an anti-corrosive liquid. You can find a site or two on the net claiming they have been associated with fires, but you should consider whether these claims are mostly just hyping a much more expensive specialized "solution" (i.e., COPALUM high-pressure crimping). 2. AlumiConn connectors. These are reasonably small plastic-housed bars with independent lugs to accept wires of different metals. (The copper and aluminum wires don't actually touch each other.) I own a farmhouse in Maine that was wired in 1966 with all aluminum wire and have spent the better part of 15 years replacing the small guage AL with copper. I'm about 75% done and there are a couple of circuits I may never completely replace due to the difficulties involved in rewiring. Anyway, I've used both methods--purple wire nuts and Alumiconn connectors--with no problems. The purples are widely available (e.g., Home Depot) whereas I've bought Alumiconns at an electrical supply house. Going forward, I have a slight preference for the Alumiconns. In your case, it sounds like you'd only need two or three (about $4 as I recall for the purples) so I'd definitely go for a UL-approved method rather than loading up a regular wire nut with "goose-$h1t" (as the grease is so affectionately called). If you go with Alumiconns, make sure you torque them down properly.