ATV Trailer build

[handirifle]

So I decided my previous half wood, half metal trailer with the 8" Harbor Freight wheels, that are ALWAYS going flat, just wasn't going to cut it any more. I had an old riding mower (minus the deck) that I wasn't using and sold it for $200, funds for the trailer build. I think that will pay for most of it, but not all, it depends.

So a local metal supply shop sells steel tubing at various diameters pretty darn cheap. For the main portion of this build I am using 1 3/8" x 3/16" steel tubing. Other portions will be 1 7/8" x 3/16". The smaller one fits inside the larger one and will be used for hinging. I am building it as a knock off of the DR Versa, single axle. I have managed to scrounge some parts from neighbors getting rid of their "junk". You know the old saying, one mans trash is another mans treasure. That applies here.

This is what got me started on the idea, and what the neighbor "donated".

There was also a set of tires and wheels to go with it, and that is part of my dilemma. I have taken apart one of the front suspension setups, and have the hub and spindle cleaned up, since it has been sitting outdoors for years. My issue is the rear tires, my preferred ones, are 10.5" wide as opposed to the fronts that are taller and 7" wide. The issue I have is the hubs/rims for the rear. They are metric but since I don't any metric measuring devices, they measure about 4 bolt on 5 1/6" circle. Plus the rear axle on the old quad had the bearings in the center of the axle, instead of wheel hubs, like the front.

I hope this makes sense.

This is the hub for the rears. The splined axle it goes on, measures .976", so the hubs could be drilled out to 1.00" fairly easy, but there are no bearings in these hubs, so I can't weld or bolt them to a standard axle.

And here it is in the wheel

So my question for you folks, is can anyone suggest a way that I can adapt this hub to some load bearing axle? I could probably get a steel rod or tube that I could weld these onto, it I had a load bearing pillow block style of bearing. It would have to be able to support substantial weight. Also I need another one of these wheel hubs.

I have scoured the internet and cannot find one. I also priced standard hubs (4 on 4" circle) but that requires new tires, and rims, which gets way outside of my budget.

Here's the trailer as it looked this morning.

And how it looks now

I am working out the details of the build as I go. I will make it a dump trailer, most likely using a hand crank winch, but have not worked out the details of the pivot system as yet. I am also leaning towards a sheet metal lining as opposed to something like wood or expanded metal. I will add bracing to the angled uprights, since I want the front and rear to be able to be removed for carrying longer material (logs, limbs etc). I will also add horizontal tubing at the elbows of the angled uprights, from front to back, and braces on the outside of the uprights for support when the ends are open.

I will use the 1 3/8 inside the 1 7/8 tubing as a pivot hinge, and will also use the 1 7/8 tubing as the main tongue and adapt it to a 1 7/8" ball for connecting to the quad or mower.

 

[Gebada22]

Thanks for the pics. Will be following closely as I need to start a similar project. Have fun..

 

[Oldpath05]

When I made my ATV trailer, I found a small front wheel drive junk car with 13" wheels, that someone I knew didn't want anymore and was going to sell for scrap. I took the rear end spindles off that, there you have spindles, wheels, tires. My trailer has tandem axles, 4 tires, built back (97), changed tires a couple times, and used 13" tires are easy to come by.

 

[handirifle]

I want the wider, softer tires, like the rear ATV or riding mower tires. Worst case, I try to swap the ATV tires I have, for riding mower rear tires, but I prefer the ATV tires. I have the spindle for the front tires. It will require me machining them down to be able to use them, but they are only 7" wide and I want the rears, that are 10.5" wide. Our ground can get real soggy at times.

This is the front tire, next to the frame. I didn't take a shot of the rear tire, but it has a lower profile and wider stance. I CAN use the fronts, but am seeing if there is a way to use the rears.

They do NOT use the same hubs either, unfortunately.

 

[handirifle]

OK today's update. I added some horizontal braces at the elbow on the uprights. I also added cross braces at the bottom of the frame.

Here's another angle.

Here's one of the tires I WANT to put on it. You can see it's quire a bit different profile from the earlier one.

I one of the earlier pics you can see the hub for the wider wheel. I THINK I figured out a way to make this work. The inside of the wheel opening is just a smidge over 4" wide and I got to thinking that IF I can make a plate that fits into the wheel, and drill it for the existing wheel studs, then mark and drill it for a more common 4 on 4" hub,then I can bolt the plate to the wheel, and mount the wheel on a standard 4 on 4" hub.

Another method would be a ring inside the wheel opening, welded to the wheel. The ring could be marked and drilled to a 4 on 4 pattern. Since the wheel opening is basically 4" I think it would be fairly easy to mark and drill with a high degree of accuracy. I would only attempt this since this will be an "off road" setup, and top speed of 10-15.

My big road block is the wheels are aluminum and I cannot Tig weld. Now if I can find someone to weld it for me local, reasonably, it could still work. The first method would not require welding but is a little more awkward looking, but I don't care, as long as it works.

I am only considering this to keep costs down.

On the other hand, I MIGHT be able to sell these tires and wheels and buy a common sized set.

 

[handirifle]

I have decided to cover the bed in sheet metal, and I will add upright braces between the two horizontal bars right at the location of the floor cross braces. This will keep the sheet metal in place when junk gets tossed into the trailer.

 

[handirifle]

Question for you folks. I am still trying to figure out the "dump" portion of this trailer, and am not sure which method I want to use. I have seen several styles of tilting the bed. Some do it by pivoting on the wheels, some by building a sub frame that is connected to the tow vehicle and and the bed pivots from that. Anyone with experience/advice on this? Pro's cons?

 

[handirifle]

Oh yea, on the pivoting. I slipped the smaller tubing inside the larger one today, and there is way too much slop for me to use it as a hinge for the dump pivot point. So I will be exploring some options.

 

[Xfaxman]

Another option would be to drill the wheel to fit a hub with bearings in it.

 

[GLyford]

A little googling shows that 4-on-137mm (5.39") and 110mm (4.33") spacings are pretty common. I like a simple plate with bolts welded on at 137mm, and holes to go on a 4-on-4. No rim welding needed, simple and direct.

There's also a bunch of 4-on-4 hubs out there for gocarts and such with simple ball bearings that would mount directly on a plain axle, as opposed to a full trailer axle hub with tapered bearings that mounts on spindles. Might save you a buck or two.

 

[handirifle]

I don't think the simpler bearings would hold the weight if the trailer were loaded heavy. I might be wrong though. My trailer dimensions are 30 wide and 48 long, at the floor, but at 10" above the floor the sides taper out to just under 5 1/2ft wide. So if loaded with dirt or firewood it could weigh a bit.

Even the ones with tapered bearings are not too expensive, about $40 for hub/spindle combo. Mine is neither of those sizes, by the way. I do not have metric measuring equip, but at approx 5 1/16", that converts to more like 125-125mm.

I figure if I go with the 4x4 it would be easy to step up to other tires and wheels later, if I needed to.

 

[handirifle]

Another option would be to drill the wheel to fit a hub with bearings in it.

View attachment 454378

Yea that was the idea with the ring or plate added in. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a 4 on 5.5? The other issue might be the hub outside diameter fitting inside that rim as well. That was one reason I thought of the 4 on 4 hubs, clearance would not be an issue.

 

[Cord]

I used a 1200lb tube trailer axle that I bought of CL for all three of my atv trailer builds. You get a strong axle, leaf springs, high speed roller bearings and bolt on hubs for a fraction of new. Cut the axle in the center to narrow it to the width you desire. 12" trailer wheels are cheap online and then I mount some take-off atv tires on them. You can put a front tire on the 4" rims, but I prefer the rears which take the wider rims. I like a little suspension in my trailers so they don't bounce around so much. I used a single leaf trailer spring and then put rubber bump stops between the spring and axle so I could still load the trailer. The tongue is a simple tube that is bolted to the frame in front of the axle. A tipper latch secures the tongue and a couple of pieces of angle guides it. Trailers have seen extensive use and abuse with no signs of damage.

 

[GLyford]

Your odd mixed fraction threw me (5-1/6) if it's closer to 5.6 then yes, there seem to be a bunch that use 140, 143, or 144mm. Since most trailer hubs outer edge seems to be at 5-1/2", you will probably need some sort of intermediate way to go from that to your wheels, rather than just redrilling the trailer hubs.

If you have any old trailer wheels around (or can find some cheap) could you cut the centers out of a couple and drill those for the larger pattern?

 

[handirifle]

No not 5.6 in fractions it comes to 5.166 it's 5" + 1/16" 5 1/16. It was a typo on my part. I corrected it.

 

[handirifle]

The forum won't let me correct the original post, sorry for the confusion folks. It's 5 1/16" NOT 5 1/6" Now I see why there was confusion.

Cord,
I do keep my eyes open for such deals. They either haven't showed up yet, for me, or they want more than I can buy the hubs for new. I am patient though.

 

[GLyford]

In that case, you might be able to get away with drilling a 2nd set of holes in a standard hub.

 

[GLyford]

5-1/16 = 5.0625 =~ 128mm. 130mm seems to be a common size too...?

 

[Xfaxman]

The forum won't let me correct the original post, sorry for the confusion folks. It's 5 1/16" NOT 5 1/6" Now I see why there was confusion.
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Yep, can't edit after 24 hours.

For this type measuring get a divider and a metric ruler.

 

[handirifle]

In that case, you might be able to get away with drilling a 2nd set of holes in a standard hub.

I agree, but the front hubs will not fit inside the rear wheels, by a long shot. The inside of the front wheels looks like it would allow a plate of approx 6.25", maybe slightly less. I would cut something from wood to test before making a metal one though. The front hubs are about 7.5" in diameter.

If I came across a cheap set of hubs on craigs list or similar, I would surely look into that.

Now another thought just came to me. If I can locate another rear hub, (I only have one) I could bolt those into the metric wheels, and obtain a set of 4" hubs (If I do not find a cheaper set to drill as above) and cut the center out of the factory hubs and use THOSE as my adapters (IF I can fit them into my lathe)

GLyford,
I don't have any hubs like that around, unfortunately.

Cord,
I have the lower "A" arms from the old quads front end, and I have come up with a way to use them and the coil over shocks that came with them. A lot of my design ideas are going to be based on the wheel/axle configuration I end up with.

As of right now, I am thinking of basically a 2 prong fork, as a sub-frame under the main one, made from my 1 7/8" tubing. The "handle" of the fork, will be the tongue of the trailer. I plan on mounting brackets at the rear and top of the 2 fork "tines" that will connect to a bearing that will be mounted on the main frame, and act as my pivot point, with a latch up front like you described. The pivot point will be center of the main frame for ease of tilting without a hoist or winch.

The suspension and axle will be connected to the sub frame (the fork) allowing the wheels to be centered at a point 60% from the front, for better towing.

Now to find those darn hubs......