kw22614
Platinum Member
Hope you find a good local steel supplier. I have one and it came in handy when I had to reinforce my trailer gate. I have a 7000 GVW trailer but it had a lightweight typical landscape trailer gate. It had lightweight box section members. I doubled them with 1/4" x 1.5" flat bars. You'll get more bang for your buck with flat bar since the vertical section is where the strength comes from. If you've already got angle, box or channel to stitch weld to, you don't need to use more angle to prevent buckling.
I say this because I was trying to minimize the weight addition. The gate still ended up so heavy, I added Gorilla Lift Assists. Best investment I ever made.
Ok Kenny, terms I think I can understand. My gate has 3 vertical 1/8" X 1 1/2" angles, (well 4, the center is 2 angles back-to-back), between the two frame verticals. So you're saying to stitch weld falt bar to the flats of those existing 5 uprights, then there's no need to add more verticals? If so, should I use 1/8" or should I use 3/16'' and I guess 3/4" wide to leave enough room for the welds? (That would surely minimize cost as flat is dirt cheap compared to angle). Does this sound right? Thanks, KW