My attempt at making a off-road trailer.

[looknlearn]

(I call it off-road cause I don't foresee getting it registered.)

I haven't had a trailer and have wanted one for quite some time so I recently collected enough stuff to start welding one together. The only thing I regret thus far is not getting a truck axle instead of a car axle. I tend to over build things and this appears to be no exception. I know it is not the typical trailer design, but I kind-of am combining some ideas I have in my head and this is what is coming out. If there are some glaring design flaws, speak up, cause I may have missed them. It is going to have a tilt bed to make it easier to shovel a load out but not requiring all the weight to be on the tongue like a dump trailer would have. Cost so far(Cost of steel :$151.16, cost of axle :$ 60?(can't remember exactly), a few cut-of wheels and welding wire: about $20 bucks maybe, Labor is free cause I enjoy it. Here are a few picture of what I have done so far.












This far is just from scrap I had laying around.










A view of how I notched the bed rails for strength.

 

[Milton Burro]

No suspension?

 

[looknlearn]

No suspension?

I figured since it was a low speed trailer it wasn't crucial so since I didn't have some I did without. Do you think it will be fine?

 

[dex3361]

Whether you need a suspension or not depends on how fast you are going to be traveling and how much it weights. I cant tell how big the bed will be but it looks like the tongue may be a bit light for supporting the amount of weight that a box that size could haul. I could be wrong and a picture give the dimensions.

 

[looknlearn]

Whether you need a suspension or not depends on how fast you are going to be traveling and how much it weights.

My tractor has a max speed of seven miles per hour. Weight, I don't know.

 

[dex3361]

How big is the box?

 

[looknlearn]

6 ft wide by 8 foot long.

 

[moored4]

The only thing I regret thus far is not getting a truck axle instead of a car axle. I tend to over build things and this appears to be no exception. I know it is not the typical trailer design, but I kind-of am combining some ideas I have in my head and this is what is coming out. If there are some glaring design flaws, speak up, cause I may have missed them. It is going to have a tilt bed to make it easier to shovel a load out but not requiring all the weight to be on the tongue like a dump trailer would have. Here are a few picture of what I have done so far.



I don't see a pivot joint anywhere unless you plan on having another whole box on top of this one that lifts. If that is the case then I do not think the lower box frame is strong enough to hold the top box and pivot without bending.

 

[looknlearn]

The bed is gonna get more cross members to stiffen it up. My plan is to hinge it at these points.

and then at the front to let it rest on the piece that is braced in. Those small chunks of steel are just for a shim for the picture.

Think it will work or do you think I'll get to much twist in the tongue?

 

[radioman]

I figured since it was a low speed trailer it wasn't crucial so since I didn't have some I did without. Do you think it will be fine?

yes it will be fine. most lawn dump carts have no suspension anyways