How to Haul a Side-by-Side, RZR, or UTV in Utah: What Trailer Size and Type Actually Fits

By Workhorse Trailers | Northern Utah Utility Trailers & Custom Builds

Utah is one of the best states in the country to own a side-by-side. Sand Hollow State Park, the Paiute ATV Trail, the slickrock trails around Moab, and dozens of trail systems across the Wasatch and Uinta ranges all put serious riding within a few hours of most of the state’s population. What gets less attention is the trailer doing the work between your garage and the trailhead. At Workhorse Trailers, we talk to UTV owners every week who bought a trailer before they fully thought through what they were hauling, and the mismatches range from inconvenient to genuinely unsafe.

This guide covers the specific measurements and configurations that matter for hauling a side-by-side, RZR, or other UTV in Utah: deck length, deck width, ramp angle, tie-down placement, and which trailer type makes the most sense depending on how you ride and where you are going. The numbers here are practical, not theoretical, because the difference between a trailer that works and one that causes problems on the way to Sand Hollow is often a matter of a few inches and a few degrees of ramp pitch.

Start With Your Machine’s Actual Dimensions, Not the Model Name

The first mistake UTV owners make when trailer shopping is naming their machine and assuming the salesperson knows what fits. A Polaris RZR is not a single set of dimensions. The RZR Trail 900 is 50 inches wide. The RZR XP 4 1000 is 64 inches wide and nearly 120 inches long. The RZR Pro R is 72 inches wide. Those differences matter enormously for deck width clearance and tie-down positioning. Same issue with Can-Am Maverick and Yamaha YXZ models: the platform name tells you almost nothing about what you actually need.

Before you start looking at trailers, pull the spec sheet for your specific model and note three numbers: overall width including mirrors or doors, overall length including any rear storage or spare tire mount, and curb weight. Those three figures determine minimum deck dimensions and minimum trailer capacity. Everything else is secondary to getting those right.

A useful rule of thumb for deck width: you want at least six inches of clearance on each side of the machine for loading ease and tie-down access. A 60-inch-wide machine comfortably fits a 72-inch deck. A 72-inch machine needs a minimum 84-inch deck, and even that is tighter than most drivers prefer when they are loading alone on a sloped trailhead parking area.

Deck Length and Why Getting It Wrong Creates Real Problems

Most two-seat side-by-sides fall between 110 and 125 inches in overall length. Four-seat models frequently run 140 to 155 inches. Add a few inches for any rear-mounted accessories and you are looking at a machine that needs a 12-foot deck at minimum for a two-seater and a 14-foot deck for most four-seaters, with 16 feet being the comfortable choice for longer four-seat platforms and anyone who wants room to walk around the machine on the trailer.

The consequence of loading a machine onto a deck that is too short is not just that it hangs over the rear. It shifts the weight distribution of the entire trailer toward the back, which reduces tongue weight and creates instability at highway speeds. Utah’s interstates move fast. A tongue-light trailer on I-15 between Provo and St. George with a loaded side-by-side that is improperly positioned is going to develop sway, and that sway gets worse before it gets better.

On the other end, running more deck than you need is not inherently a problem, but it does add trailer weight, affect fuel economy on longer hauls, and make parking at crowded trailheads like the Sand Hollow staging area or the Moab BLM lots more complicated than necessary. Matching deck length to your machine with a reasonable margin is the goal, not simply buying the longest trailer available.

Ramp Angle: The Detail That Gets Overlooked Until Loading Day

Ramp angle is one of the most underestimated variables in the UTV hauling equation. Side-by-sides sit lower than ATVs and have less ground clearance relative to their wheelbase. A ramp that is too steep will hang the nose or rear skid plate of the machine on the transition point between the ramp and the deck before all four wheels are on the trailer. At best, that is a scrape and a frustrating loading attempt. At worst, you are stuck at an angle with no traction and the machine rocking.

Ramp angle is a function of two things: trailer deck height and ramp length. A standard utility trailer with a 20-inch deck height and a 5-foot ramp creates an approach angle of roughly 18 degrees. That is acceptable for most ATVs but too steep for most side-by-sides with low front ground clearance. A 6-foot ramp on the same deck drops that angle to around 15 degrees, which is workable. An 8-foot ramp gets you closer to 12 degrees, which loads cleanly with virtually any production UTV.

Tilt deck and dove-tail trailer designs address this differently. A tilt deck hydraulically lowers the rear of the trailer so the ramp-to-deck transition is nearly flat, which is particularly useful for machines with very low skid plates or modified builds with aftermarket bumpers that extend beyond the frame. If you are loading a machine with significant front bumper overhang or a built sled with custom armor, the ramp angle question becomes even more specific to that machine’s geometry.

Utah terrain adds a practical wrinkle here. Staging areas at places like the Paiute ATV Trail access points and many Forest Service trailheads are not paved and not flat. Loading a side-by-side on a gravel surface that slopes sideways relative to your trailer changes the effective loading angle. Longer ramps give you more margin for those conditions, which is worth thinking about if you are doing most of your riding at higher elevation trailheads with unpredictable parking surfaces.

Utility Trailer, Car Hauler, or Enclosed Cargo: Which Type Actually Fits Your Riding Life

Open Utility Trailers

A well-built open utility trailer is the most versatile option for most Utah UTV owners who ride regularly but are not running a racing program or hauling expensive builds that need weather protection. They load and unload quickly, give you full visibility of the machine during transport, and double as a general-use hauler for everything else you need a trailer to do the other 11 months of the year when you are not at Sand Hollow.

The limitation is exposure. Dust, road grime, and precipitation all hit the machine directly during transport. For a work UTV or a machine that sees regular hard use, that is a non-issue. For a clean build with custom graphics or significant electronics exposure, it is worth at least considering the next option.

Car Haulers

Car hauler trailers offer a wider, lower deck profile than standard utility trailers, which benefits wider side-by-sides. The 7-foot and 8.5-foot deck widths available on car hauler builds accommodate most production UTVs comfortably, and the side-loading forklift option some car haulers include gives commercial operators flexibility that pure ramp-load trailers do not. If you are frequently hauling multiple machines or combining a side-by-side with other equipment on the same trip, the car hauler’s deck layout often works better than a utility trailer’s side rail configuration.

Car haulers in the 7,000-pound and 10,000-pound capacity range also work well for owners who use their rig for light commercial purposes in addition to recreation, which applies to a meaningful number of Utah owners who use their UTVs for ranch work or property maintenance.

Enclosed Cargo Trailers

Enclosed trailers make the most sense for riders who are traveling longer distances to destinations like Moab or the Paiute Trail, need to secure gear and tools alongside the machine, want weather protection during transport, or are hauling a machine they have invested heavily in building. The added security on an overnight or multi-day trip is real. You are not leaving your UTV uncovered in a hotel parking lot or a campground, and your helmets, tools, and recovery gear travel with the machine behind a locked door.

The tradeoffs are weight, fuel economy, and the fact that an enclosed trailer is harder to use for anything other than hauling toys. If your trailer is going to pull double duty as a landscape hauler, a dump run vehicle, or a work tool, enclosed is probably not the right configuration. If it exists entirely to get your machine to the trailhead and back in the best possible condition, it earns its cost quickly.

Tie-Down Placement and Why Four Points Is the Minimum

A side-by-side secured with two straps is not adequately secured for highway transport. A loaded UTV on a trailer moving at 70 mph on I-15 experiences braking forces, acceleration forces, and lateral sway forces that a two-point tie-down arrangement cannot fully control. Four tie-down points, one at each corner of the machine anchored to the suspension or frame rather than to plastic body panels, is the standard that actually keeps the machine stationary on the deck.

Trailer deck design matters here. A utility trailer with D-ring tie-down points integrated into the frame at appropriate spacing for UTV wheelbases gives you a cleaner, more secure connection than trying to use side rail stakes as anchor points. When you are looking at trailers, check where the tie-down rings are positioned and whether they line up with where your machine’s suspension mounting points will actually land on the deck. A mismatch means your straps are running at awkward angles and applying force in directions they were not designed to handle.

Getting the Right Trailer from Workhorse Trailers Before Your Next Utah Ride

The trail season in Utah starts early and runs late. Sand Hollow is rideable most of the year. Moab fills up fast on spring and fall weekends. If you are planning to ride the Paiute Trail system or the high-country routes in the Uintas this season and you are still hauling your side-by-side on a trailer that does not quite fit right, there is a better option a short drive away.

Workhorse Trailers builds utility trailers, car haulers, and enclosed cargo trailers right here in Northern Utah, and every trailer on the lot was fabricated to handle the specific demands of hauling across Utah’s highways, canyon grades, and trailhead approaches. Bring in your machine’s dimensions or pull up the spec sheet on your phone and we can work through deck length, deck width, ramp configuration, and capacity together before you make any decision.