Trailer rebuild- a summer I will never get back.

[bubbacuse77]

So, I am sick of borrowing trailers or not having one when I need it and I have been scouting for a decent used tandem to haul stuff. The problem is that not many people ever part with these things. I eventually seen something that looked my speed on CL and went to have a look. Needless to say it wasn't as described. One axle was bent, The main side rails were bent from being overloaded, It had no ramps, It was rusted up, and the wiring was a mess. The pictures speak for them selves. I told the guy I didn't want it but he said I wasn't leaving without it and he would move on the price. I told him that maybe for $400 I would take it and He said give me $500, well you know how these things work....... we meet at $450 and I pulled it home. You can see from the one pic how bad the main side rails where bent. I figured if nothing else I could use the thing to haul logs to the mill.

 

[bubbacuse77]

Then after about a week I thought, suck to have a trailer I don't trust to put my tractor on. I also hate junk, so began the end of my free time this summer. I started tearing it down to pieces, literally and rebuilt it from scratch. The only thing that stayed in tact was the front, but it got heavy modifications. As you can see I basically started from scratch. I pieced in a new side rails to where the bend started then also "sistered" another 3x5x.25 inch angle over top of where the axles are and over the weld joint to add strength. The pictures on the right are during during dissemble and the two on the left are the rebuild.

 

[TomSeller]

. I started tearing it down to pieces, literally and rebuilt it from scratch. .

You certainly did. Wow. Nice work.

 

[bubbacuse77]

I had no Idea how many man hours I would have in this thing to do it right. The pictures speak for themselves. New custom everything. I made it the way I wanted it. I just finished fitting everything else up two days ago and started prep and priming yesterday for 8 hours. Now after 8 hours of painting today I have the paint curing in the driveway for a couple days. My neighbor is a CAT salesman so he got me CAT Yellow paint for his cost.

OBTW- I forgot to mention that the original trailer had a spot for side load ramps but it didn't come with ramps. my guess is this was the main reason the trailer was so bent up because the guy who sold it told me that they would load skid steers on this trailer. and with out ramps, a 11K lb ish SS would easily bent things up. I reworked it and made ramps and made them so they slide in from the back.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The rest should go fast since I fit up everything prior to paint then took things off to paint.

 

[bubbacuse77]

Forgot to mention that I ran out of Primer at 8:55PM last night and raced to Home Depot in time before they locked the doors at 9:00PM.

 

[TomSeller]

Wow! What a difference a summer makes. That sure looks a lot better. Not that the original was that bad, but you have made a 100% improvement. Good job !

 

[weldingisfun]

Looks good. That should handle any job you want it to.

 

[EddieWalker]

Very impressive. I have two trailers. One I bought used that is in pretty bad shape, but all I use it for is to haul diesel with. I put new tires on it and redid the wiring. For $200 it was a good deal, but when I wanted a bigger trailer, I went with brand new for a grand. I don't know how they can build them for that and still pay employees. When I priced it out I couldn't come close to that for in just materials.

I like the yellow. Can't say that I've ever seen one that color before.

Eddie

 

[Gary Fowler]

OK, now that you have it about finished, how much more did it cost you to build (rebuild ) it than it would have cost to just buy a heavy duty NEW trailer? I don't know what you consider your time worth but throw in an amount for that too.

 

[debo1683]

What did you use to prime and paint?