Hi everyone-
I found this site searching on how to design my trailer I was building, then again researching a tractor the company I work for was buying. I wanted to register and post to say thanks, I've found lots of good info on here.
I wanted to show off my trailer project, its not much of a trailer, but it fits my needs perfectly. It would haul a compact tractor, but I / we don't own one small enough. It carries my riding mower or ATV or whatever short of an automobile.
It all started innocently enough with a cheap popup camper frame, but the project snowballed into a 6 x 12 trailer with a dovetail and rampgate.
In my opinion, there are a few things about this trailer that make it different and special. I built in a ramp gate assist in the pipe top rails and I used the A frame from the popup camper and 7' of the fully boxed frame for extra strength. I boxed the C channel A frame to stiffen it up too.
I put LED clearance lights into the fender brackets so that I can see where my trailer is because its wider than my truck. The fender brackets are 2x3 angle set at a 45 degree angle from the trailer, hopefully if I run the trailer too close to a tree or post, it will kick the trailer out rather than crushing in the fender.
At the end of the pipe rails, I put a piece of square tubing, drilled some holes and made rollers out of spacers and set screw collars. There are 125# garage door springs in each tube, connected to a cable. One the front end of the tube, I welded a cap to a pipe coupler, then threaded a nipple into that. The end of the nipple has a washer welded to that. A piece of threaded rod goes through there and I used a nylon locknut to set the preload on the springs. All that ended up with a barely detectable lift gate assist.
The front portion of the popup camper frame serves to stiffen up the trailer in the front and gave me some nice real estate to put some diamond tread aluminum on there to keep the paint from getting chipped up.
Trailer is slightly wider than my F150
The trailer is constructed from 2x3 and 2x2 3/16 angle, the top rails are sch 40 black pipe. The inside of the rails measures 73" 10.5' of flat deck 1.5" of dovetail with a 3' gate. And all the light wiring runs in frame rails or 1/4" pipe to keep it protected.
I painted it with automotive epoxy primer and acrylic enamel paint for a lasting paint job. I paid extra attention to the bottom side, that's where the rust always seems to begin.
I manage a small seed company in Arkansas, we just bought a John Deere 5525 with a 542 loader. We have had a Case tractor for years, a bush hog, box blade, killifer etc. We have two tandem axle trailers, that's why I built a light duty trailer for myself.
Sorry for the long post, this is a great forum!
I found this site searching on how to design my trailer I was building, then again researching a tractor the company I work for was buying. I wanted to register and post to say thanks, I've found lots of good info on here.
I wanted to show off my trailer project, its not much of a trailer, but it fits my needs perfectly. It would haul a compact tractor, but I / we don't own one small enough. It carries my riding mower or ATV or whatever short of an automobile.
It all started innocently enough with a cheap popup camper frame, but the project snowballed into a 6 x 12 trailer with a dovetail and rampgate.
In my opinion, there are a few things about this trailer that make it different and special. I built in a ramp gate assist in the pipe top rails and I used the A frame from the popup camper and 7' of the fully boxed frame for extra strength. I boxed the C channel A frame to stiffen it up too.
I put LED clearance lights into the fender brackets so that I can see where my trailer is because its wider than my truck. The fender brackets are 2x3 angle set at a 45 degree angle from the trailer, hopefully if I run the trailer too close to a tree or post, it will kick the trailer out rather than crushing in the fender.
At the end of the pipe rails, I put a piece of square tubing, drilled some holes and made rollers out of spacers and set screw collars. There are 125# garage door springs in each tube, connected to a cable. One the front end of the tube, I welded a cap to a pipe coupler, then threaded a nipple into that. The end of the nipple has a washer welded to that. A piece of threaded rod goes through there and I used a nylon locknut to set the preload on the springs. All that ended up with a barely detectable lift gate assist.
The front portion of the popup camper frame serves to stiffen up the trailer in the front and gave me some nice real estate to put some diamond tread aluminum on there to keep the paint from getting chipped up.
Trailer is slightly wider than my F150
The trailer is constructed from 2x3 and 2x2 3/16 angle, the top rails are sch 40 black pipe. The inside of the rails measures 73" 10.5' of flat deck 1.5" of dovetail with a 3' gate. And all the light wiring runs in frame rails or 1/4" pipe to keep it protected.
I painted it with automotive epoxy primer and acrylic enamel paint for a lasting paint job. I paid extra attention to the bottom side, that's where the rust always seems to begin.
I manage a small seed company in Arkansas, we just bought a John Deere 5525 with a 542 loader. We have had a Case tractor for years, a bush hog, box blade, killifer etc. We have two tandem axle trailers, that's why I built a light duty trailer for myself.
Sorry for the long post, this is a great forum!
