New to me trailer, doesn't have a normal frame?

[rangerfredbob]

Got a trailer from a friend of a friend for cheap ($1500 all said and done after getting new tires and redoing the wiring at the tongue), it's a car hauler with slide in ramps that are over 6' long, two six lug axles both with brakes, the whole deck is 1/8" diamond plate, in the tire area is stainless, middle is mild. There's sides that are as tall as the fenders so around 12" with 3"x3" 3/16" angle iron top and bottom with a ladder of verticals every few feet, and ~2" angle iron 1/8" wall crossmembers under the deck every 2', deck is 6.5' wide and 20' long. Hopefully that paints a reasonable picture... the odd thing to me is it doesn't have a frame like normal, just the ladder of heavy angle iron that the tongue and leaf springs mount to. Is this normal for a trailer with permanent sides? Below is a picture with a cord of wood in it behind my V8 Explorer... that was before I got the lights working, will likely need to relocate them to the back where they should be...

 

[bcp]

The trailers with the angle iron ladder-style sides/frame are often called landscape or utility trailers. Car haulers usually have channel iron frame rails and no sides, so you can open the car door and don't have to crawl out the car window.

Bruce

 

[Xfaxman]

Evidently the side rails provide enough strength that a frame is not needed.

 

[jaxs]

You should look at web building trusses to understand that engineering can do more with less weight than solid beams. There's stronger trailers but not for $1500 used.

 

[rangerfredbob]

Oh, I understand the engineering behind it (been a while since statics/dynamics classes at this point though...), just didn't know how common it was... once I realized what was going on I thought it was kinda neat for a shortcut... I do see the downside of it though, after whatever abuse it's seen before it's bowed in the middle some (with 6.5' between structural members and all...) and has a twist to it, will work on that sometime in the future... There's just no torsional strength in the design... I'm pretty sure it's home brew from some of the design elements but structurally it seems fine, wiring was janky though . Sure tows nicer with ~5k pounds on it than the deck over 18' deck trailer with a pintle hitch I'm used to pulling... longer tongue and lower COG helps...

 

[Richard001]

If you move that trailer with you beer on there like that, your going to spill it.

 

[rangerfredbob]

Good call , it was parked there for over a month while I revamped the wood shed floor... it wasn't spilt and wasn't likely the last one opened that day lol

 

[LD1]

Looks like a typical landscape trailer that someone simply closed in the truss sides to haul loose material.

Its a VERY common trailer construction method. Google landscape trailers and you will see.

The mistake alot of people make is thinking they can cut the sides out of it if they are in the way, or think they can turn it into an open car hauler.

 

[Renze]

Evidently the side rails provide enough strength that a frame is not needed.

In Europe all trailers with fixed sides have no frame, the sides provide enough strength for these usually shorter trailers up to 12 feet long.

If you have equipment haulers (for compact equipment) these can be longer, but have full sheetmetal sides instead of rails with wooden boards inbetween.