nsmithnd
Silver Member
First things first... this will be used as a light-duty utility trailer (trips to the lumber yard and landfill, hauling the riding mower and transporting 3-pt utility tractor attachments, etc).
It's an old 1977 Palomino popup camper frame that was salvaged after it got caught in a storm (while set up) and flipped onto it's top, all but destroying it. Decided that the little 4x10 converted boat trailer (seen in the back-ground of one of the pics) needed a break, and I wanted to get some miles out of the brand new 8-ply tires. The camper shell was 10' long sitting on an 8' frame (9' with the bumper) and 6'-4" wide.
I cut the curved corners of the rear bumper off and welded up some tail-light boxes to square up the corners and am stealing 12" of the tongue to retain the 60/40 axle placement and end up with a 10' deck (there is still plenty of tongue to allow for a full-sized pickup bumper without hitting the bed of the trailer). To minimize the height of the wheel wells needed, I moved the axle to the bottom of the springs. The flat-top fenders are already fabricated and will be framed out with properly sized angle iron to get them to the final height.
Now for the questions... How much spring deflection can I expect when over-loading the trailer? The tires (as it sits now) are just below the top of the frame so my initial thought was to allow for approximately 3" of clearance between tire and fender which would leave 1-1/2 of fender exposed above 2x6 decking. Will 3" do the trick?
-Neil
It's an old 1977 Palomino popup camper frame that was salvaged after it got caught in a storm (while set up) and flipped onto it's top, all but destroying it. Decided that the little 4x10 converted boat trailer (seen in the back-ground of one of the pics) needed a break, and I wanted to get some miles out of the brand new 8-ply tires. The camper shell was 10' long sitting on an 8' frame (9' with the bumper) and 6'-4" wide.
I cut the curved corners of the rear bumper off and welded up some tail-light boxes to square up the corners and am stealing 12" of the tongue to retain the 60/40 axle placement and end up with a 10' deck (there is still plenty of tongue to allow for a full-sized pickup bumper without hitting the bed of the trailer). To minimize the height of the wheel wells needed, I moved the axle to the bottom of the springs. The flat-top fenders are already fabricated and will be framed out with properly sized angle iron to get them to the final height.
Now for the questions... How much spring deflection can I expect when over-loading the trailer? The tires (as it sits now) are just below the top of the frame so my initial thought was to allow for approximately 3" of clearance between tire and fender which would leave 1-1/2 of fender exposed above 2x6 decking. Will 3" do the trick?
-Neil