A bit late in life for this, but I'm considering getting rid of my old open deck car hauler. It's a 16' x 80" deck. The Challenge car will fit on a typical single axle, 12'x76" utility trailer. Aluminum ones can carry about 2300 pounds and I hope the car is under that. I know folks will bring up the added security of having two axles if you blow a tire, but aside from that, does anyone here regularly tow a car on a single axle trailer of some sort?
Well, there was this one guy...
Hundreds of miles ...
In reply to Purple Frog :
Is that a 3500# axle? Leaf or torsion springs?
3500# Dexter axle, with brakes, leaf springs.
I have 5 trailers. 4 of which are single axle. One is behind my truck almost every day. No problems.
I do keep good care of the tires.
I've got quite a few thousand miles on this setup. Works great for me.
Anyone hauling something like a Miata sized car on a single axle?
That's gonna be about balance.
I don't like towing single axle trailers. They feel significantly less stable. If you get too much weight behind the axle, it's gonna be scary.
So the answer is, it depends...
I have a single axle 12' flat with a 2' dovetail that I haul anything that will fit on it. It has a 3500lb leaf spring braked axle. I typically haul the LMP360 or the MG both about 1600lbs. It has done at least 10,000 miles like that. No issues. It is important that you keep tongue weight in a good spot. I haul the 360 backwards otherwise it's to rear heavy.
I've hauled Miata on it with some regularity. They are fine I wouldn't hesitate to use it for that weight.
I've also hauled a 2002 WRX about 50 miles with it. That was a little uncomfortable but that is 3200lbs of car and was overweight.
Assuming your tow vehicle isn't marginal for the total weight I would have no issue doing up to about 2500lbs of car. Keep good tires on it, check pressures and always have a spare.
They're all good until you have a blowout.
Doesn't seem all that scary as long as you've got a spare?
Late to the party but upon until a year ago I towed my 1650lb Datsun with a single axle trailer.
35 years without a problem.
Years ago I custom built a 78" wide x 13.5' long deck, single axle trailer. Worked fine, but sold it in 2020 when I was given an 18' tandem axle car hauler.
It had a Dexter 5000# torsion axle w/ brakes. Towed it with various vehicles. Loads were anything from 2200# GTI racecar to 3600# FJ40 to 1.5T of gravel. It has 6-lug axles, so used 15x6 Toyota steel wheel with 225/75R15 load range E tires.
ShawnG said:They're all good until you have a blowout.
There is that. Never a car on a single axle, but a sailplane of car value. These trailers are ~ 28ft. long and only 4 or so feet wide; with a blowout things get crazy real fast. Flipping on your side and dragging for a bit isn't out of the question.
Two axle trailers are usually reserved for the larger ships, but some folks are trading up just for the piece of mind.
A couple of points on the blowout concern:
Don't use cheap no name tires.
Don't run at or above GVW.
Don't speed.
Keep tires inflated properly. Follow the load/pressure chart.
Too often I hear people on camper trailer forums complaining about how crappy the tires are because they had 2 blowouts simultaneously. It's not 2 blowouts, it is one catastrophic belt separation flaying open the tire next to it, then both tires flay open the sidewall of the trailer and possibly jackknife the whole rig. Adding tires does not necessarily add safety.
Following what FJ40Jim said. I probably have over 125,000 miles of single axle trailer use. Never a problem. I do pay attention to the tires. I probably tow faster than he does though. 
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Exactly what you said.
I had a single-axle, 14.5 foot travel trailer for a few years. It towed like hot garbage when I got it. Sashayed all over the road behind me, generally unpleasant at any speed.
One day I googled the specs on the tires that Jayco supplied on it. the 13 inch trailer tires only had 50lbs of load capacity left with the trailer empty and a tank of water on board.
I upgraded to 14" tires that had substantially more load capacity so it would handle the camping gear, dishes, bikes, bedding and all the other gak that you take camping.
It was a huge improvement in towing. The trailer settled in behind the truck and behaved itself wherever we went. We put a lot of miles on that little rig after that.
Lesson learned. The manufacturers cheap out on stuff to keep the trailer costs low so people buy them. Do the math and make sure you're safe.
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