New Trailer Build

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Earl
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New Trailer Build

Post by Earl »

My 17yr old son is making me a new trailer. I have purchased all steel, axles, wheels, tires, and other components. He is doing the fabricating in my garage. Here are some pics of the first two days of work. First day was just the main frame in about 2.5 hrs. The second day was calculating axle placement with both total trailer weight and loaded with my Hobie Tandem Island and weighing the tongue weight, then putting in the cross members, one will support the torsion axles. This trailer will only be rated for a gross of 1000# with a net trailer weight of about 430#. We will be adding upper racks this week and decking. Total work time so far is 6hrs.

I will keep posting updates as we progress. Expect to be mostly done in 1 week.

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Day 1 about 2.5 hrs

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Day 2, total work time 6 hrs

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Welds

SYOTW,
Earl
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Drifting Yak
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Drifting Yak »

Looking good there Mr. Earl! Way cool to build your own stuff!
Cigarsnjeeps
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Cigarsnjeeps »

Your son has some nice skills for his age. Looking good.

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Welderdude
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Welderdude »

I was going to comment on the welds but someone beat me to it. Looks like a good, quality build and be proud that your boy has some skills. Will end up looking better than most store bought ones!
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Earl
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Earl »

Thanks, he has only been welding since October and picked it up pretty fast. I spent time teaching him Acet/O2 welding then he took a welding class at school and won district and regional with a brush guard for his truck.

I have had a design for a custom trailer to fit my needs for some time now and he decided he would take it on if I would get all the supplies and tools he needed. Yep good kid with good head on his shoulders and off to OSU (Oklahoma) in Aug to study ME. His twin brother is off to TAMU. He may not be a welder but he knows his stuff on finance and is ready to compete with George Soros on currency trading.

Yea, dad is proud,

Earl
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Earl
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Earl »

We made some good progress this past weekend on the trailer. So far Zach has about 30 hours in it and me 12. The frame is complete, axles and wheels are on, racks are complete, coupler, jackstand done. We still have to customize some fenders and make boxes to hold the low profile lights then run the wiring through the frame. The decking has been cut and fitted but removed so we could work and it will be painted separately. We still have some polishing to do on some cut end of the bars and smooth out a couple of rough welds but should be done next weekend or during this week depending on how much time we get to work on it. Also, I designed it so that the upper racks and all lower cross bars are removable. This was I can use it as a small flatbed trailer. It has a rail 2” above the frame all around except the rear.
I am not sure what we are doing for paint yet. I was thinking Herculiner but that is going to be difficult to do on the round bars on the racks with rollers. I am now thinking about taking to a local Line-X shot and get a quote to spray it . The other option is to use POR-15.

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Day 3
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Day 3

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Day 4
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Day 4

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Day 4

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Day 4

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Where we bolted on the torsion axles to the frame. We custom made some matching plates. This way if or when the torsion axles wear out they can be easily replaced. I used 1000# rated axles but I think the frame could easily go to 1500#.
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Earl
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Re: New Trailer Build--Complete

Post by Earl »

The trailer is complete. We used U-pol to coat it. The prep was to bare steel then primer then the U-pol sprayed on. It took us a week to get good weather. I had been to rainy and windy. We coated both sides of the top decking also. It is so smooth and quiet pulling behind the truck.

Went with LED lights all with independent grounds and a truck to trailer master ground, all splices are soldered then liquid electrical tape then heat shrink then coated with liquid electrical tape. All wiring is inside the frame except to come out to the light and that is covered in wire loom.

All lower and upper cross bars can be removed so the trailer can be used as a flatbed and the lower cross bars are adjustable in there positions.

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SYOTW,

Earl
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Drifting Yak
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Re: New Trailer Build

Post by Drifting Yak »

Congrats to you and your son on a very nice build. (Those welds look great by the way!) Now it's time to get out and put it to good use....and make more memories....on the water!
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