Trailer building

RPM · Apr 19, 2001

If you call a steel mill that produces the channel / bar / plate in the sizes you are referring to they will be able to give you all the material properties etc. - they will have it all in their standard sales materials and will probably fax it to you. You may even find it on-line.

Two concerns on home-brew trailers that I have come across:

i) Sloppy welding. I can't tell you how many times I have seen dangerous welds on key load-bearing components of home-brew projects. If you're just starting out on welding, don't let a trailer project be your first. While a good weld is better (in many cases) than a nut and bolt -- a nut and bolt is far superior to a poor weld. Lot's of practice and good weld preparation are the key ...

ii) I'm not sure of all the State's laws - it used to be that some states you didn't have to get a title on a trailer. Other states you could just send in a picture. More and more now will not issue a title for a home-brew trailer. This impacts your insurance directly and is worth checking in to.

scruffy · Apr 20, 2001

Oh Gee Whiz RPM, there ya go, gettin' off the exact topic again. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird · Apr 20, 2001

No problem, Andy, we're all friends (or at least I hope we are)./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

Cornfed · Apr 20, 2001

Thanks RPM,

I'm in Washington and the trailer must be inspected by the State Patrol. At the time of inspection, then they will give it a WA ID #. Save all receipts and the trailer is taxed by the weight of the trailer. I picked up a "Trailer Requirements" handout (4 pages) from the State Patrol before I began this project. There is no requirement in this state on the type of metal, only length/width/height (very strict) considerations. I assume that's what the high proportion of Liability Attorneys are used for. Insure everything, use lots of common sense and hope for the best.

Anonymous Poster · Apr 20, 2001

Andy,

Thanks for mentioning the "trailer requirements" handout (which I didn't know about.)

I'm in Oregon, and (hopefully) will be building/trailering-thru-Wa. a boat over the next-few-years. I'll probably be pushing the max limits, so the handout will be a good guide, ...I'll try to pick one up!

Larry /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

scruffy · Apr 21, 2001

Andy, no ill intent meant, just teasing! Best of all on your trailer project. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

john_bud · Apr 21, 2001

Cornfed,

I built a single axle trailer for hauling materials and equipment out to my tree farm. I didn't want it to be large as I use my ATV to pull it over hill and dale (and mud puddles that could eat a truck!). But to answer your question, I used channel. 2"x2"x1/4" for everything. It has one 2000# torsion axle. It works great and with the bed at 5' wide by 10' long, it is the "just right" size for my application. The tongue is a Vee from the 1/3 point of the bed. I used a Vee hitch and just let the angle of the hitch define the length. It came out to about 4 foot. My only stumper point in the project was in defining the location of the axle. I finally went with a 20% forward bias as defined by the total length of the trailer including the tongue. Why? To give it some weight with the bed empty. I figured that even ful,l with a forward biased load, the truck won't see more than 400 to 600# and that's nuth'n.

For your tractor hauler however, I personally would choose the 2x3 or 2x4 tube at 1/4 thick. No real technical reason, just for the over kill aspects and for the ease of production. Channel may work fine for a 3500# capacity trailer too, but the cost is not much more, so why not overkill if you can?

Oh, I mounted the tail lights on the upper portion (not the top) of the fenders. They are higher than the typical rear sicking-out-ready-to-smack-your-shins position and I have never had any problems. (Or sore shins). I got the idea the 2nd time I re-welded the tail light mounts on my boat trailer. I was going to weld a step over the top of the lights but I forgot and never went back and added it.

How about a photo essay of your project? I for one really enjoy and learn from what is posted here.

John Bud

Cornfed · Apr 22, 2001

John,

I will take some pictures as the project proceeds and post them. It sounds like your trailer turned out real nice. That tubing sounds like it is pretty strong. Is it stronger than channel? I'm also into overkill and a bit of a heat freak when I weld. I was also planning on mounting my tail lites at the top rail level. Thanks for the interest. Andy

john_bud · Apr 22, 2001

Andy,
Yeah, for my needs, the trailer is working out great. Big enough to haul what I need, but small enough so the Honda ATV can pull it through the woods.

I'm not a mechanical engineer, but the square tube being a "box", intuitively would seem to be stronger than channel. A friend of mine has designed and built several trailers over the years, and that is the only material he uses. (2x3 square tube) He has done snowmobile, utility and car trailers. I checked a different friend's store bought 5'x10' bed trailer before making mine. His is rated for 3500# and uses 3/16 channel. So I really do think that you will be OK with either.

Oh, when I did the trailer, I used my (then) new Lincoln SP255 MIG welder. Wow! It's soooo much nicer than using a stick! Just grind, clamp and weld and weld and weld. Love at first spark /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

John Bud