Author Topic: Trailer accessories, for a new trailer (Read 17117 times)

Ashlyn Katarzyna · « **on:** April 19, 2011, 01:10:39 PM »

bought a 75 chevy truck for $200, didnt run had an 454 engine w/o trans. Buddy split cost with me he got the engine and I got the truck/trailer for $100. Finished up the new harness and tail lights last Sunday and just needs registering.

Decided to use this LP tank for a storage locker on the new trailer, mostly for tie-downs and other small items didn't cost me a cent to make it. I might add a concealed tool compartment some day I kept a fuel tank from a minivan just for it.

What are old worn out lawn mower engines good for if you don't have a lawn? Recycling parts! I turned the piston down to make a handle out of it.
The original trailer jack handles were twisted beyond repair. My friend liked mine so much he wanted one, so I gave him mine and built this one. Nothing too fancy, I used a nylon washer and SS spring shim (medical grade Oxy tank) so it would glide.

The spare tire lock. Parts used, 3/8" flat face plate 4" x 10" (used for mounting wheel hub shaft), backing plate 1/4" 2"x 6", 1 1/2" dia black steel pipe, followed by 1 1/4" black steel pipe to fit the 3 1/2" threaded floor flange, ground and welded inside larger pipe.

Followed by some square stock for a frame to weld the keepers on that press against the hub for the wheel. Keepers are just some square & flat stock I found, welding it all together and then bending and cutting a hoop that doubles as a handle and locking piece to keep people from stealing my wheel.

Shot at 2011-04-19

Notes: I think the hub needs to be made from steel/iron the plastic is really for mock up and a temp solution to a minor issue, I think that the shaft will need to be extended when this is finalized. I will post the mounting plates later on, thinking maybe a disc brake hub or axle shaft without the shaft or I could keep the shaft a certain length and cut it to fit and then weld it in.

The only reason I decided to use the plate and threaded pipe was I had designed an automatic transmission rotissorie so as to finish another project, that in itself was changed.

Ashlyn Katarzyna · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2011, 04:42:28 PM »

Its been almost 3 months, since I posted this. Since then the trailer has undergone some major changes, the guy I bought it from initially wouldn't give me title to the chassis instead he kept on insisting he'd get it over to me. So I ended up scraping the remaining steel and buying an axle and another piece of frame off my buddies neighbor who gave me what i needed to register it. I had some 3.5" x 3.5" x 74" tubing laying around that we used to build the frame, a drop down part for the coupler to mount to and it was done. This took 2 disabled guys about 7 days to complete, considering it was during the hottest part of the summer.

Axle is a Dana 70 with 9 leaf springs, I'm taking a few of those out because I wont be needing them, (another project and they will be machetes). I am considering making a dump box of the truck bed, my buddies neighbor has made several dump beds out of his other trailers and has easy ideas on how to do it. That is to come, the estimated capacity of this trailer is in excess of 10,000lbs but I don't have a truck that will pull that much any way.

This is the new home built trailer as registered.

If you remember I figured out how to make a tire carrier at the end of my first post, only after mocking up a temp solution to the problem. I later learned that that design was a solution looking for a problem, the truth in the matter is due to a neck injury 6 weeks ago my body building, weight lifting & days at the gym are over.

This is the revised and final design for my tire carrier, I used a Ford blue oval for lightening cuts in the steel tube (2 reasons for lightening cuts I can't pick up very much right now and 2 it just looks home built)and the mount is just a 16.5" steel wheel center that I cut off and used another wheel to align the studs before welding. The hub and tube are only tack welded, I dont have enough amps at the house to burn it in solid so it doesn't break so i'll wait to go use the stick welder where this trailer was made.

Rob.Wilson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2011, 05:34:53 PM »

some how missed this the first time around Chad

Now thats MODDING

,,i like the gas bottle storage locker

Do you have to register trailers in the USA ?

Rob

krv3000 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2011, 06:07:11 PM »

oooo its agood job you is in the U.S.A as its a gans the law in the uk to cut or tamper with gas botels

Brass_Machine · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2011, 07:01:51 PM »

Like Rob, some how I missed this the 1st time around. Very nice work... I like the lock mechanism on the spare.

Sucks about the title situation though. What will you be hauling with the new trailer?

Eric

DaveH · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2011, 07:17:22 PM »

Chad,

Now that's a cracking bit of Modding

DaveH

Bernd · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2011, 07:37:45 PM »

Quote from: Rob.Wilson on July 17, 2011, 05:34:53 PM

Do you have to register trailers in the USA ?

Rob

Yes.

I built a trailer from scratch. LINKY That was fun but getting it registered was a bear.

Bernd

PTsideshow · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2011, 10:16:13 PM »

In Michigan, it is pretty easy to get a homebuilt trailer registered, Have to have a proper certificate of weight from an official weight station. Built two of them, one started out as an old one wheel allstate bumper hitch trailer. had two separate bars that hooked to the brackets on the car bumper.

Here it is under the sons BBQ smoker that we built.
The smoker slides off the trailer for use.

The springs/axle/rims is from a early 70's Volvo rear axle. It was put in a dumpster with other parts, probably from a stolen and striped car. The fenders were bent to fit. Since the trailer bed is only 4'x4' I used an excess cargo carrier that slides into a trailer hitch welded on the front of the tongue. For carrying the hardwood for smoking

Front of the unit

There are 4 trailer jacks that are welded to the frame of the smoker at the corners so it can be lifted up and the trailer comes out from under it. They are the folding style jacks.

Bernd · « **Reply #8 on:** July 18, 2011, 09:30:29 AM »

That's neat Glenn. Looks like you can smoke a couple of oinker's in there.

Bernd

PTsideshow · « **Reply #9 on:** July 18, 2011, 10:01:29 AM »

Did 220pounds of pork shoulder this past memorial day at the vet homes in Grand Rapids Mich plus the side dishes. we just added a second tier of cooking smoking racks. He figured out that the old man was correct when we built it. The door hood needed to be a quarter of the one side.
It is a real good candidate for recycle re use.
The smoke/cooker pit is a 250 gallon oil tank, the firebox was the liner of a gas hot water heater tank, the frame was second hand rectangle tubing, the smokebox generator was a metal drawer that somebody gave me that was filled with scrap. Some of the fire grates are second hand rebar, the wood handles are shorts of oak stair handrail.

Rob.Wilson · « **Reply #10 on:** July 18, 2011, 11:55:43 AM »

Cheers Bern

,,,,,,,,, Nice trailer

,,,,,,,,,, May be they should start registering trailers in the UK ,,,,,, The things going down the road in the UK

Glen ,,,,,, Thats one SMOKIN trailer

Rob

PTsideshow · « **Reply #11 on:** July 19, 2011, 10:08:43 AM »

Quote from: Rob.Wilson

May be they should start registering trailers in the UK

Over here it is a source for revenue. They changed the law because they were losing money to other states on the license plate fees for the semi trailers. It use to be each year, you paid a set amount by the weight of the trailer.
Some other states would charge a flat one time fee for the plate, for the life of the trailer or by the number of days or miles the trailer is used for the (semi's) sitting in the yard not generating revenue lower yearly cost for the plate.
They switched to a one time fee for that trailer in the photo and my tandem axle 6000 pound gross carry weight trailer sort of like Berns it is $75.00.
But unless they have changed it recently, you couldn't transfer the plate to another trailer. You had to purchase a new plate.

And I have seen some of what you are describing on the Agatha Christie TV programs that we get on the A&E cable channel and the DVD's I have. It is amazing, same thing about them still letting the traction engines pull caravans etc. on the roads there. Over here unless it was in a parade for a short distance, It has to be on trailer when being moved from location to location.

Ashlyn Katarzyna · « **Reply #12 on:** July 28, 2011, 07:39:27 PM »

I do rental houses and often times I need to haul trash to the landfill could include anything that trashy people leave behind, yard stuff and other things that can't/shouldn't be put in my truck.

AZ is a bit different if the weight your going to pull with it loaded is under 10,000 lbs your okay, over that and it gets fun which could take a month or more if you don't have receipts, 10K and more you have to make an appointment, pay them $100 to inspect & weigh it and tell you what you already knew. Revenue that's all it's about.

Some MVD stations require receipts for home built and some don't even care, the one I went to didnt ask for anything like receipts. But they did give me a hard time for the cut off section that was made from a truck frame spent about 45 minutes trying to explain to the dingbat behind the counter that the whole trailer was not a truck chassis, before I gave up and said bought it from a guy want the receipt? How she thought the steel tubes where from a truck I'll never know.

The tank portion was spawned by what I saw here for a wagon behind a bike.

The tire carrier will work out perfect, the hub cutout is big enough to put a 20ton bottle jack into and not fall out so I will serve a dual purpose. I already have a high lift jack for the trailer but why not have one more!

Cost me $157 to get title printed out and to register, plate is good for life. My buddy has several trailers that look similar and he switches plates all the time, I haven't got him convinced that leaving them on is the way to go because he is always losing them.

My buddy liked the tire carrier so much he wanted me to make another one.

Ashlyn Katarzyna · « **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2011, 12:24:24 AM »

Well I finally got around to getting the trailer weighed its empty weight without a bumper is 1600lbs.

Far too much for my truck unless I get helper springs to keep the sagging controlled. I have plans to cut about 1.5 feet off the extension and reweld the tongue so that there is less of a weak point and straighten the frame out so the box isnt twisted. I was going to put a big tool box of sorts on the extension but with the weight of the trailer being half of a normal sedan there is no point. My Max weight for the truck is 6100lbs the combo weighs 6600lbs.

My buddy really didnt know what he was talking about when it comes to building trailers. If it the surface you're building on isnt level then even if you square up the project on that surface it will be twisted

he kept telling me it doesn't matter if it's level so long as it is square.

I also plan on removing the differential and axle shafts to shave a few pounds.

DMIOM · « **Reply #14 on:** November 07, 2011, 10:23:54 AM »

any chance you could get some rubber bladder tanks to go in there and then add some helium? - I've also heard of someone blowing air under the skin to get it to crisp up (although maybe it was poultry) so maybe you could re-use the helium when you get there? or maybe H2 instead of helium for a really crispy finish!

MadModder

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