Home Made Trailer

63DH8 · May 6, 2005

Do you have a clearer picture of your stickers? Where did you have them made up? How did you make your Texas stars?

chucko · May 6, 2005

wow did I see a rease hitch on the back of that? can you pull a trailer with a trailer out there?

DaMadman · May 6, 2005

( I preassembled the wiring harness and laid it in after painting. The connections are sealed with a heavy wall heat shrink that utilizes a heat melt glue to keep the moister out.

)

I used to have a bunch of that stuff when I worked for an electronics Company and did wiring harnesses all the time.
It comes in handy

bdog · May 7, 2005

That is one awesome piece of work. Probably the nicest trailer I have ever seen. I have one question though, Can you actually load it up to 10,400 lb and be within all the specs for the coupler, ball, draw bar, receiver hitch, etc? I have seen tongue pull trailers with two 7k axles but I have never seen a complete hitch system rated for over 10k.

PineRidge · May 7, 2005

Gary I rate that trailer right up there with Harv's work. Very nice work indeed.

Seems kind of a shame to leave such a nice trailer out in the elements now that it's finished.

How did you prep the steel prior to paint?

have_blue · May 7, 2005

Now that's a trailer worthy of buying a truck for.

EddieWalker · May 7, 2005

Gary,

You did a first class job on that trailer. Really nice!!

Did you keep track of your costs? I've always been told that you can't build a trailer for what it costs to buy one from somebody who builds them every day. Their price for materials is so much cheaper from buying in bulk.

I have a high end 16 foot trailer that I paid $900 for from a dealer. I have no labor into it, but I've always been curious about actual costs.

Thanks,
Eddie

LBrown59 · May 7, 2005

( This is the rear wiring breakout. All the connections are soldered and the heat shrink has a heat activated glue that seals out the moister.

)==
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Did you put a 3rd. center mount brake light on it?

JohnnyDark · May 7, 2005

very nice. i know you saved a bundle on that. that level of quality would have run the price up quite a bit. great job.

GaryBDavis · May 8, 2005

I kept a complete cost log just for the fun of it. I also pre-calculated the weight which came in around 2400lb. The cost was around $2500 but I purchased most of the steel before it started going up like crazy. You can’t really save much money building your own trailer, but I couldn’t buy one like I wanted. That’s pretty much how it is with most of my projects. I have to build one to get it like I want it.

In Texas, you can legally pull multiple trailers. The restriction is on overall length which I think is 65 feet. To safely pull multiple trailers, you need not just a hitch receiver, but a wiring jack and hookups for your safety chains.

There is no 3rd center brake light, just the triple clearance which is required for trailers over 80 inches wide.

To pull a 10k hitch trailer, you need a truck, bumper/hitch receiver, drawbar, ball, trailer tongue coupler, safety chains, trailer frame and trailer axles rated for 10k. Amazing how most folks don’t think about this. I have a Ranch Hand rear bumper rated for 10,000lb (non-weight distributed) that is both bolted and welded onto my 3/4ton truck frame. There are a couple of hitch receivers on the market that are rated for 10,000lb. My drawbar is made from a SOLID piece of 2 inch square bar and has a 10,000lb rating stamped into it. I use a 2 5/16 ball/coupler that are rated for 12,000lb.

I made this trailer for myself and if I sold them, I’d have to charge way too much because of the time it takes to do the little things right. So, this one will have to last me a lifetime.

The Texas Stars are cast iron and come from King Architectural metal supply. They are on the web and sell mail order. The cast iron is “grey cast” which is a weldable metal just like all the ornamental castings these days. They were something like $3 apiece. If you aren’t a Texas Star buff, you can use this technique with other castings. There are many to choose from.

Attached is clear picture of the warning and danger stickers I had made at a local print shop.

I hope this answers all the questions. Thanks for the kind comments.