Super Duper Project Hauler Project

[bs009]

Feel free to move this to lounge if it belongs there. If not I'll be a post-whore here.

So I finally bought a trailer recently to haul projects around on. I have rented a uhaul car trailer so many times that I decided that this needed to happen.







It really needs some work though. It had mobile home axles on it when I got it and it also came with 6 wheels and tires for those.



Unfortunately the axles were in pretty rough shape, and none of the brakes worked at all and required all new parts for those. I also was not a fan of the bolt on hub design these had for any sort of distance on the freeway. I wanted to be able to take this thing across the country if I had to so they had to go.

The real issue with it was that the frame had rust holes in it and was basically rusting apart.





So off comes the fenders and the axles:









One of the previous owners put these plates in to fix the thing where the trailer had apparently cracked the frame rails:





Yeah it was pretty rough.

[bs009]

The trailer was assembled in the 80's by who knows who. The trailer itself was put together pretty well, though it did seem like the frame rails were made of pretty thin metal for what the guy was trying to haul with it.
Apparently the first owner used this thing to haul a backhoe! Years of rust and water caking up in the wheel well pretty much did the frame rails in.


So here was the solution to the issue:

Plasma cutter!







Patch panel welded in and grinded flush:





The passenger side wasn't as bad, but I still patched in some sections that were pretty rusty:


Now for the real fix:

2 10' long sections of 4"x3" 3/16" angle iron and 2 10' long 3" sheets of 3/16" sheet to go over the inside:





I also ordered new 6,000 pound axles with brakes for this trailer as well as new leaf springs, and wheels and tires. With the tires I ordered I'll be able to bring this to a 10,000 pound Gross Weight.


New spring mounts measured and installed:



I'm hoping to have this thing back on wheels tomorrow!

[harofreak00]

How much are you in so far? That looks like a lot of work, I would have walked away after seeing the frame rot.

Have you tried loading anything on it yet? It's got a pretty high deck with no dovetail or tilt. Might get hung up pretty easy.

[bs009]

Those are all great points.

It has been quite a bit of work, but the way I see it I'll have a pretty stout trailer once this is all finished. I got a really good deal on it initially since the previous owner knew it needed a lot done to it. I kind of enjoy cutting and welding metal too so I thought it'd be a fun project.

I'm at about $2,200 into it right now with everything and I'm pretty much finished buying things at this point. The biggest expense was the new axles, wheels/tires, and suspension components. I know a really good metal recycler nearby I can get good metal for dirt cheap from. The 10' sections though I spent about $200 on. I sold the original wheels and tires today too so I was able to get some money back now. I'm still hoping to sell the axles but those might just get scrapped.

Originally I figured I would just be repairing and reinforcing the frame though; I wasn't planning on replacing the axles. The mobile home axles needed a lot of work to get the brakes working correctly and new 14.5" tires would have been about $100 each minimum. I didn't really feel comfortable with taking the trailer on any real distance with those axles because of the way the wheel bolts on too.

I have thought about that quite a bit though and I do think I still made out okay here. Seems like most car trailers around the $2,000 mark are used wood deck trailers with 5 lug axles.
This one has a diamond plate deck and now has the capacity to handle up to 10,000 pounds with these tires.

I haven't tried to load anything on it yet though. I didn't want to test the frame before I took care of the rust issues. A dovetail would have been ideal I'm sure, but I've never had a problem with uhaul trailers in the past and the height seems comparable. If it's an issue though I could just get longer ramps or something. I suppose I could even convert it into a dovetail

Once it's out of the garage I'll be promptly using it to take my Grand Prix to a test and tune to see if I can break its driveshaft or its axle

[bs009]

I was able to get the axles bolted on yesterday and start on some of the paint work.

Backing plates installed, bearings packed, drums bolted in.



Now just need to grease the crap out of them, paint and seal the new metal pieces, reinstall the fenders, wire the new axles and it'll be good enough to roll again.