Ice Castle Mini Toy Hauler advice please

[pikeandchester]

I am  thinking of buying one of these but am concerned about overloading it. House is rated at 2990# and approximate dry weight of 2400#. as soon as i put my atv (800#) in its overloaded, plus the other necessities. It comes with electrics brakes, which I don't believe are required on a trailer under 3000# so my thought was that maybe Ice castle plans this thing to be overloaded and licenses it light to get the permanent registration from the state. I am absolutely no expert on this and would greatly appreciate any advice.

[Wanderer]

That's a good question.  My guess is they'll say it's made for "toys" that are within the weight limit.

 

I'm curious about these small houses too.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Overloading an Ice Castle is recipe for disaster.  There is a ton of info out there on these "toy haulers" after they get a few years of use.  Plenty of cracked welds and twisted frames.  My cousin had one that hauled a snowmobile or atv a max of 5 times and both spindles had cracked welds at the frame.    

 

Simple math tells you it won't work.  The dry weight doesn't account for batteries or propane, which can add 200# pretty easily.  I'll bet the tires are rated for 1500# each.  Check into the leaf springs and spindles.  Then subtract out any bait buckets, augers, generators, cots, sleeping bags, etc.  If you can make it work, you won't have much margin for safety.       

[kudu63]

So is the ice castle mini different then the ice castle scout?  I too was thinking about the ice castle scout toy hauler (6.5x8') model and was concerned about weight.

[pikeandchester]

 I called Ice Castle. They told me they put 2500# axles on (each side) so the frame is good for 5000#. she explained they are built with the expectation that atvs and such will be hauled in them. As for the tires, they are load range C, from what I gather they are rated for 1820# each.  

 A few hours after I made the post I bought a 2013 6.5 x 14 Mini Toy Hauler. It has the arctic package, cedar interior, electric brakes and extra tall walls that accommodate extra tall ramp door to allow a side by side to fit. I will only be putting a sportsman 600 in, so fully loaded I expect total weight to be around 3500#. 

 There seems to be a big difference between the model 2011 and newer from older models.. Pre 2011s have angle iron frames, tube frames 2011 and later. That's what I am finding, hopefully someone can correct me if i am wrong.  

 Hope I didn't make a bad decision,  time will tell. Thank you for the responses. 

[vtx1029]

what's the normal $ range on them? I searched but didn't see any prices. I'm not asking what you paid.

[Wanderer]

5 hours ago, vtx1029 said:

what's the normal $ range on them? I searched but didn't see any prices. I'm not asking what you paid.

 

The Scouts are $5 - 8k.  The toy hauler door is about $1,500 if you want to build yourself a house on a new $2k frame.

[pikeandchester]

6.5x14 mini toy haulers I looked at new generally where running $10,500 to $12,500 depending on options. Only saw a couple used 2011 or newer pop up in the last few months, they where listed about $9500. Seems to be a fair number of older ones that pop up but given there frames and, at least to me, unreasonable price I never looked at them; $6500 - $9000. Mostly just watched Craigs List and called dealers. Keys Power Sports in Owatonna has three in stock. If you call they will give you a different price than their listed MSRP on their web site.

[pikeandchester]

I realize this is a dead post, since this community has helped me so much I want to follow through with a review. Having put many miles on this fish house hauling my ATV and equipment it is holding up very well. Last summer I replaced the wheel bearings and races, which showed signs of overheating, with new Timkin bearings and races as well as removing, cleaning and greasing the pivot points. Bearings appear to be rated for no less than five thousand pounds, supporting Ice Castles claim about the suspention. From what I can tell, the frame and suspention are the same as what is found on th 8.5x16 models (obviously different dimensions). I really like the arctic package, cedar interior and have been very impressed with the air tight quality of the toy hauler rear door. My only  complaint so far is how loud the forced air furnace is while trying to sleep.  I don't want to lead anyone to believe ice castle is the best ever made, but I have been happy so far!  Now I just want bigger one

[Jmnhunter]

On 1/12/2017 at 8:49 AM, pikeandchester said:

  There seems to be a big difference between the model 2011 and newer from older models.. Pre 2011s have angle iron frames, tube frames 2011 and later. That's what I am finding, hopefully someone can correct me if i am wrong.  

 Hope I didn't make a bad decision,  time will tell. Thank you for the responses. 

 

My wife and I just bought a 8x16 a couple of weeks ago and prior to that I was researching the bad talk everyone was talking about IC, but what I found is the bad press on the frames/axles anything 2011 or older like you stated. 

[vtx1029]

Just curious if you ever weighed your shack to see how close it was to the listed weight?

 

[pikeandchester]

No I haven’t yet. If I get a chance to weigh it I will post it. 

[pikeandchester]

 

On 4/3/2018 at 10:47 AM, Jmnhunter said:

 

My wife and I just bought a 8x16 a couple of weeks ago and prior to that I was researching the bad talk everyone was talking about IC, but what I found is the bad press on the frames/axles anything 2011 or older like you stated. 

Congratulations! Get it out yet? Which model did you get? Happy so far?

[Pat K]

The odds of being caught with an over weight trailer are very slim. But my wife works at a Deputy Registrars office and occasionally some one comes in that had their trailer licensed for under 3000lbs and were weighed and ticketed for being over the 3000lbs. Fines are based on how many lbs over you are, whether you have brakes on the trailer and the mood of the sheriff or DOT officer that tags you.

From what these people have told her the fines start at over $500, plus you may have to pay the registration fees for previous years.

A few years ago Scott county deputies went through boat landing parking lots and compared GVRWs of trailers to how they were registered and ticketed several people for having trailers registered for under 3000lbs that were rated for more.

[pikeandchester]

Did a bit of research on that and didn’t find any evidence of anyone getting ticked for exceeding GVWR in a setting other than commercial use, admittedly was mostly looking into half ton compatible truck campers. Thanks for the heads up. Does she know if it was a commercial trailer?

  I could certainly see the state doing a revenue grab with people licensing their trailer for less than it’s rated 

[Pat K]

The cases she's seen were all non-commercial.