Horse Trailer Floor Rebuild

[bigballer]

i could say this is discouraging but it's obviously beyond my ability if indeed i need to start cutting sections out and replacing steel. of course i'd rather do it right then risk having to put one of the horses down because of a weak floor. once again this forum is invaluable and i appreciate everyones comments and feedback. i'm taking it to the local trailer specialists tomorrow to have them give me a work/cost estimate.

thanks again,
bigballer

 

[bigballer]

I dropped the trailer off today with the shop (trailer manufacturer/sales/service) and they are going to cut out the bad section and weld in a new cross beam of angle iron. Labor (estimated 2hrs) and material will run about $250 which I can handle. If they find other issues after they cut out the old section we'll decide what else needs to be done. I asked the shop guy about the replacement boards and his opinion on the type I should use. He said not to use pressure treated since the copper and zinc in them are very corrosive to steel. I am not sure how accurate this is but he mentioned he has seen it on more than one trailer where pressure treated boards were used and the iron under them was in pretty bad shape. What do others know about this? Is this a legitiamte point? His recommendation was to use a hardwood and treat it with any of the water sealant liquids such as thompsons or similar.

cheers,
bigballer

 

[Soundguy]

The older CCA shouldn't be hard on the metal.. though the new stuff ( acq? ) probably is. i see rec to use it with stainless fasteners.. or galv-double dip.

Soundguy

 

[Renze]

If you cant do your own welding etcetera, there is only 1 advice:
Leave the steel alone, throw in some cheap wood and sell it for slightly over the price you bought it for, to cover your cost and a bit more. Then look out to buy something that doesnt need so much work.

At the company i work, we dont even want to take refurbishment jobs like that: No matter what, but the customer is never statisfied: Either about the work done, or mostly about the price for doing the job right. If you want to do get it done right, the work involved plus materials plus initial trailer value, totals the price of a new trailer. If you dont want to spend that much on it, you'll get a half baked job, and probably wont be statisfied with this company. Trouble either way !!!

It just takes way too many costly hours to refurbish a trailer in that shape, unless these are your own hours, or the cheaper hours of someone you know, who's willing to do it in evening and saturday hours for a friendly price.