PJ trailer modification, any problems?

[John White]

i purchased one of those China made excavators, weight 3,800. Trailer weight 850. i am limited for space in my shop but would like to keep trailer inside my shop. The Excv. foot print is 44" x 7' i can fit a 5' x 12' in a space. But I want a single axle trailer because I have to jockey it around once I get it inside by hand, then load the excv. on trailer. I started shopping for used single axle trailers and all I could find were 3,500 gvw that were 5' wide. Most were not built very heavy, 3" angle iron. I found a PJ with 4" frame and double 4" from front wheel forward. Still has 3,500 axle. I bought a 5,200 -6,000 axle ( not marked and wont know till I cut it and check thickness) with brakes and bought 6 lug wheels and 225x75x15 tires. The way I am adding up the numbers is that total weight will be under 4,800. Tire rating is around 2,800. I figure I have a 800 lb, safety margin at miinumin. (hitch is 8,000) Trailer has removable bolt on rails which is neat and plenty of stake pockets. All the rest I looked had welded on rails and no stake pockets or D rings, Don't get me started on powder coating as it is no good. Second trailer I had with it. I have removed rails, tail gate, wheels and jack stand and flipped it over with the mini and have it sitting up on jack stands for painting. Any suggestions for painting? Right now I figure I will just blast off as much paint as I can with a pressure washer, wire brush it, spray it good with Rust-olum and then black paint. I see so may used trailers that look great on top but cross members rusted away and this one is headed that way if I don't stop it.

 

[5030]

Low temp cure powder coating is just fine if applied correctly over cleaned and prepped metal, something trailer builders usually don't do because it detracts from their bottom line and it's all about profit, not longevity.

Years ago I managed a low temp cure powder coating line for an electronics cabinet manufacturer that mostly supplied cabinetry for the government for use in ships and submarines as well as rack cabs for domestic installations and they not only had a pre treat wash and rinse line but a low temp tunnel curing oven and the finish we applied was very durable and had to meet US Government specs as well.

Powder is all in the pre prep for longevity.

Far as trailers for your mini ex, if I were you, I'd get a tandem axle with loading ramps. Single axle to me sounds like trouble down the line.

 

[John White]

I bases my thinking on Butler style single axle trailers with 7000 gvw. But they are too wide to work for me, and too heavy. I want to keep my trailer inside and a tandem would be too hard to jockey around and to find one 5' wide would be hard. I would be pulling it on county roads, I have a 18' 14 gvw trailer if I need to get on interstate. I would say the tires would be the weakest link. Both tires would give me 5,600 lbs. Trailer and excv would be 4,800

 

[alexpops]

Your money/your call, but I'm betting it would cost less to build a lean-to or carport (even enclosed if you're worried about theft) to store the trailer(s) than to deal with the headaches of jockeying a trailer that's always in the way around the shop and on the road breakdowns -- not to mention the mods you're looking to do.. Why another trailer if you already have an 18-footer that should easily handle the load you're looking at?

 

[4570Man]

I bases my thinking on Butler style single axle trailers with 7000 gvw. But they are too wide to work for me, and too heavy. I want to keep my trailer inside and a tandem would be too hard to jockey around and to find one 5' wide would be hard. I would be pulling it on county roads, I have a 18' 14 gvw trailer if I need to get on interstate. I would say the tires would be the weakest link. Both tires would give me 5,600 lbs. Trailer and excv would be 4,800

Rental yards have small and fairly heavy duty trailers for stump grinders. I have no idea where they buy them. Every single one of my trailers stay outside. It’s not the optimal thing sure but it would cost half a million dollars to build a building big enough to park them all inside and they aren’t worth even close to half a million.

 

[5030]

You can purchase a 'Covercraft' fabric building from HF that is metal framed and quite large enough to keep a trailer and your jink in for under 250 bucks not on sale. I have one and I keep my F350 Pickup truck in it as well as my junk. Have had it for 3 years now in Michigan winters and no issue with it at all.

 

[nyone]

Your powder coating experience is about the same as mine. Once it starts coming off and it will..its a never ending battle of fixing it every year. I purposely did not want powder coating on my new trailer. If your in the rust belt maybe wool wax will help you coat the underside. I have used rustoleum through a HVLP gun with good sucess but I did wire wheel that whole trailer. With no prep you wont have good results with any type of paint.

Jockeying around a trailer inside a garage this size by hand just to keep it inside sounds like a total pain in the ass and not worth the effort to me.

 

[5030]

Like I said previously, all in the prep and most trailer builders don't prep for beans.

 

[nyone]

Like I said previously, all in the prep and most trailer builders don't prep for beans.

Yet the ones that power coat sell it like its gold but fail to mention that the coating is going to flake off like leaves in the fall.

 

[5030]

Sure will if the metal isn't prepped correctly and prepping it is not something they want to do because it impacts their bottom line. I Cerakote my rifles, same applies. If they aren't prepped correctly which takes time, the Cerakote will come right off.