Horse Floats

Chinese horse floats, any good? Seem to have all the gear in them but how long do they last? Any known faults?
Thanks
Sue

Can't really comment other than their Trailers seem to have a problem with wheel brgs and stub axles not being fit for the job, wearing out prematurely .
Would hate to think this would happen on a Horse float.
I did read this, but unsure of your budget.

http://www.foremyhorse.org/2013/05/horse-floattrailer-for-my-horse.html

How much cheaper are they? Would have to lots. A locally made float can be repaired, get parts, adapted,mill last decades and have resell value.m

Some chinese ones have two to five year warranty, some kiwi made one only offer one years warranty.

I had attended a quite new luxury tandem axle horse float last year a wheel come off on the Rangitata bridge .The owner had never had the wheel off since new.It seemed that the wheel worked loose and slotted out the soft alloy mag then broke several studs before parting. One other wheel was loose too imminently ready to part! Damaged the axle bearings and hub as well.
So contacted the assembler up north re- warranty repairs. and supply the parts needed.Well the new rims tyres / bearings /seal /studs & nuts were sent down So looked at the brand new studs & nice shinny chrome looking mag nuts and found they were a mismatch , really loose in the threads & were not pitched exactly right . So I contacted the makers of the horse float company. ,My guess they are all Chinese made shiny nuts and crap steel studs no markings!.I asked if all the Horsefloats at the factory were assembled same and sure yep you guessed it the whole lot all their trailers fitted the same .So I advised them to change that & I supplied the correct studs and nuts for this job and were not cheap either x 4 wheels + labour dismantling the hubs to fit new studs + grease etc.The whole repair was up around $2500 ! not bad for a 6 month old horse float! And lucky they didnt fatal on the bridge or loose a horse etc.
So my advice when looking to buy a Horsefloat especially with mag alloy wheels Is do ya self a favour and have all the studs and nuts checked by at least removing one wheel and run the nut along the thread making sure they are a nice close fit and not warbly loose feeling.

suggest you modify yr post in regards to naming suppliers or you could find yourself in all sorts of difficulty

+1 on the shite wheel bearings and studs. Many Chinese horsefloats are terribly heavy compared to those made with better but more expensive materials. A 3 horse float I looked at weighed 1800kg empty, AND had a tongue weight of 350kg! That will flatten the rear suspension of most heavy duty 4WD out there. Then go and throw 3 horses in it and you will be sitting at just over 3.3 tonne. Not many 4WD drive well with that sort of weight and tongue loading on them. Then saw an identical float 18 months old with the paint bubbling off along the seams with water ingress behind the paint. Be very very wary of them and have someone who knows what they area doing check them out first.

Ifor Williams floats are fantastic, well made, great resale, tow great, highly recommended, cheers.

Go and talk to the likes of Prescott Trailer's in Te Puke and ask them how many they repair BEFORE you buy one and see what their answer is, you may get quite a shock.
Personnally I own 8 custom made trailers all NZ made, from a full alloy trailer for my 7 meter boat, 7 x 4'6" tilt single axle to big tandems with one I wont go and weigh and never had a problem with any of them, they all have grease nipples in behind the flange so never done wheel bearings on them either, one I have worn a set of tyres out but never done bearings on it.

thry are brilliant floats but are imported from England so concern would be parts going forward

Just a casual observation; the outrage shown by posters when #5 attempted to name & shame is in total contradiction to no one batting an eyelid when other posts are naming favoured suppliers and products!

IMO to have balanced, useful information (as I'm presuming the OP is asking for) surely you can't have one without the other?