New Trailer

Since me and my son and now grandson started hunting in MD for deer, we found out it worked best with having a 4 wheeler to help out.

So we both bought used units. But then how to get them on location ??

We first started out with a cheapy TSC trailer but the only way to get both wheelers there was to put 1 on the back of my F250 and the other in the trailer. He only has a Nissan Titan with a small bed so we never could haul the 2 of them with his truck. The high diesel fuel is killing us so we wanted to be able to haul them on 1 trailer with his fuel sipping Nissan.

So we decided to get a larger trailer. Since we are cheap but crafty, we were looking to scrounge up something and convert it to our use. 1 day I found a steal on Craig's list for a used boat trailer. Beefy frame that the guy said he hauled a 19' boat on. Got the trailer for only $ 200.00 but it had no title.

We then had to pack out in between the wheels to create a flat surface upon which to build a frame to our dimensions. What dimensions you ask ?? We wanted to have the wheelers sit side by side facing front and allow room for hauling corn and other "stuff" like coolers, tools, saws, etc. So we settled on 7'4" wide by 12' long.

We used 2" x 2" x 3/16" angle and expanded metal for the gate. The deck is covered by rough cut 5/4" white oak from the local sawmill.

Yeah it might be overkill, but it looks like it will work for us. Now we just need to get some load range D or E trailer tires for it.

Here's the result:




Rick

get it loaded up and head on down. Theres nothing funnier and absolutly true about "LSD"

Rick,I'm smelling"success" with this back-yard engineered beauty ! It'll be great hearing the details of your inaugural "shakedown cruise" towing under load !

Nice Rick, don't know if I'd want that tongue that long but I'm sure she'll work just fine:) Who's that, that posted right above me???? Bob--Bob--Bob, hmmmm, sounds familiar somehow.

I dunno,some blowhole from Ohio methinks.......

That ramp has a lot more drag than it looks. But my father has that same trailer that I use once in a while behind my VW TDI. With the ramp up I cant go over 60MPH with the ramp down I can get tickets easily. I could not believe the difference it makes. But it is a good trailer.

Fred,

Yeah, we already discussed the tongue length. We will be putting a tool box in front of the platform to hold tie downs, bottle jack, etc. It is possible we will be cutting off 1 foot minumum from the front. But we want to make sure we can drop the truck tailgate for access to inside the bed while connected and still have room to walk between.

Besides, if it would jacknife the way it is, we would not damage too much.


Dave, never really thought too much about the drag effect of the gate. Wouldn't affect the F250 too much but the Titan ?????? That gate really has some weight to it. But there is room between the wood frame and the old trailer........ maybe I can make it a removeable gate and slide it underneath ???? Damn it, it is less than 24 hours old, and I'm already thinking of modifications........ sorta like building coal stoves right ???



Rick

Outstanding, that'll set up nice with/for the tool box

I had a trailer with a long tong on it at one time, good trailer but a real bear to back up. I may be wrong put i think the long tong made it real " quick " turning when backing it up. Then again the rolling rock may not have helped !!

I think i spelled tounge wrong,,,,,

Yep, them thar tong's are on the chinee trailors. Nice catch, but I think ya still spelled it wrong

I have a gate that is 6 feet wide maybe 4 feet high...
It does grab a lot of air...
The mesh creates lots of turbulence and drag...
I can feel the diff without the gate...
sierra 1500 with the 5.3...
It also will lighten the weight on the ball...
the toolbox will help...

with the 5/4 oak and angle iron plus the $200, etc... what was the total cost of this? did you have a welding machine already (what type of welder?, i have trouble with 1/4 inch on my lil' 110 harbor freight piece of chit).

Here's how it shakes out for costs so far.....

Trailer 200.00
4X4 lumber around 150.00
steel purchase 450.00 But that included a 85.00 delivery fee. The expanded metal was 100.00 for a 4' x 10' sheet !!!
5/4" planking was 220.00

I have a Solar 2175 220v welder at my shop. I used .023 mig wire


It took 1 1/2 days to layout and weld everything together. A lot of test fitting and rearranging. Luckily my landlord has a metal chop saw which made cutting these angle pieces a breeze. We did totally use up a 7 1/4" metal disc on the skill saw just cutting the expanded metal.

And then to top it off we used 1 1/2 qts of por-15 to coat the steel. We used a brush except for the gate where a roller worked better.

The real benefit was we got a well built (maybe overbuilt) trailer in the exact size we wanted. The trails we drive the trailer on in MD can get a little narrow so we just didn't want a regular store bought. And I wanted it to be a total utility trailer. The only other thing I could have done was to make it capable of holding 10 tons.................



Rick

Rick

metal is so expensive these days, but you did good. I think i need to bite the bullet and get a 220 machine (damb electricians charge so much)