Trailer Tool Kit

What’s in your Trailer Tool Kit?

Not planning ahead is planning to fail.

Things happen and being able to handle minor inconveniences on your own can keep you on the trail and on your trip without having to call for help. Just about anything in your truck, trailer or tent that can snap, crack, rip loose, tear, bend, leak, spark, or fall off will do exactly that—and always when you’re out enjoying a trail ride 40 miles from nowhere and 10 miles from the nearest cell phone reception.

The whole trick to maintaining inner tranquility and not letting a mini disaster spoil your trip is to have a well-equipped toolbox on hand. It should contain basic items that can help you deal with everyday problems and annoyances.

What to Keep in Your Traveling Tool Kit

No matter how well constructed your horse trailer is, eventually something will have to be tightened, loosened, pounded flat, pried or cut. Here are some mostly inexpensive yet important items that newcomers and veteran campers alike should pack for every trip, both big and small.

The 4 Essentials:

The 10 Tools:

  • Phillips head and flat bladed screwdrivers – for tightening and loosening screws; also for prying items apart. – https://amzn.to/3smTchZ
  • Pliers – for holding machine nuts while installing or removing, or squeezing items together. – https://amzn.to/3lSMluo
  • Channel-lock pliers – for dealing with oversized machine nuts or turning pipes. – https://amzn.to/3lSMluo
  • Adjustable Crescent wrench – for tightening and loosening bolts and machine nuts. – https://amzn.to/3sngHaP
  • Claw hammer – for straightening what got bent, bending what got straightened, driving nails and stakes, and pulling them out again, and providing “persuasion” where needed. – https://amzn.to/39eXqk1
  • Pocket knife – for cutting rope and twine, stripping wire insulation, or just whittling if you’re so inclined. – https://amzn.to/3tV52Ad
  • Wire cutters – for cutting electrical wire, or turning metal coat hangers into marshmallow skewers.- https://amzn.to/3lSMluo
  • Small tape measure – for determining how much ground clearance you’ll have while trying to get over that boulder embedded in the road. – https://amzn.to/3d2hEPc
  • Mini hacksaw – for cutting away twisted bolts, damaged metal work, thicker plastics…anything where a knife won’t work. – https://amzn.to/3cmc4Ia
  • Folding tree saw – for cutting trees that have fallen across the only road out and you can’t back up. – https://amzn.to/3cmc76O

3 Things to Keep Stuff Together:

While glue won’t mend a broken heart, it’ll fix lots of other things and can keep a situation from going from bad to worse.

5 Things to Help Keep the Lights On:

Nothing is more aggravating than trailer lights blinking on and off on their own. Or having a police officer pull you over because a brake light is out. That’s why having a few select electrical items in your well-equipped traveling toolbox can be unbelievably handy.

8 Tire Changing Tools:

2 Miscellaneous Items I Won’t Go Without:

My goal with all of these items is to be able to make a temporary fix to get me home if something were to break and have a reliable way to call for help if I cannot make the appropriate repairs.

So there you have it…the ultimate basic trailer tool kit. 30 must-have vacation savers, and they all fit in a standard tool bag.

As always for more practical information on trail riding and camping with horses give us a visit at www.TrailMeister.com, it’s also the world’s largest guide to horse trails and equine camps.