handirifle
Veteran Member
I like your design, kinda like mine.
I got a free trailer, 4'x8', from next door neighbor, it was an old grape bin trailer to pull behind a tractor. He was pulling 3-4,000lbs on it. It's made of 2"x4"x1/4" box tubing, throuout. Very heavy trailer itself. It came with a bed of rollers, to roll the bins off. It also had a motorhome axle on it, and I had to put 2 new tires on it to haul it next door. Once here, I proceeded to make it a street trailer. Put a bed over the rollers, cut off what wasn't needed, and added a steel frame with expanded metal sides and a 30" tailgate very similar to yours. I also make my hinged for tailgate, and my latches for tailgate, from sched 40 1/2" ID steel tubing, and 1/2" steel rod as the hinge pin.
I cut the tubing into pieces of equal length, then I spot welded the tubing to both the tailgate and the bed of the trailer, in a position I wanted the gate to be. Alternating the welds of course. One weld to trailer, next piece to gate, then on and on. Once all spotted, I did final welding with steel rod still in place. Then I welded the end of the rod on one end to keep it from coming out.
I did the latches a similar way, and bent a piece of 1/2" rod at a 90 deg angle, and aling the gate and drop the rod in, that gate goes nowhere.
My tailgate is also chaoned, like yours, but I have a few extra links on each chain, and when loading my MF1010, I drop the tailgate, and attach my steel ramps, that attach like the tailgate does to the trailer, but the rods are removable for the ramps. When not using the ramps, they are stored underneath in brackets I made, and they are loacked in place. Always there when I need them.
I need to add some load jacks to the rear to keep the ball from coming off when they load a pallet of bricks on the trailer.
I think next I will add extensions for the sides for dump runs and furniture moving. The current sides are about 16" high, work great for most uses, but high sides would be good for some uses as well.
I got a free trailer, 4'x8', from next door neighbor, it was an old grape bin trailer to pull behind a tractor. He was pulling 3-4,000lbs on it. It's made of 2"x4"x1/4" box tubing, throuout. Very heavy trailer itself. It came with a bed of rollers, to roll the bins off. It also had a motorhome axle on it, and I had to put 2 new tires on it to haul it next door. Once here, I proceeded to make it a street trailer. Put a bed over the rollers, cut off what wasn't needed, and added a steel frame with expanded metal sides and a 30" tailgate very similar to yours. I also make my hinged for tailgate, and my latches for tailgate, from sched 40 1/2" ID steel tubing, and 1/2" steel rod as the hinge pin.
I cut the tubing into pieces of equal length, then I spot welded the tubing to both the tailgate and the bed of the trailer, in a position I wanted the gate to be. Alternating the welds of course. One weld to trailer, next piece to gate, then on and on. Once all spotted, I did final welding with steel rod still in place. Then I welded the end of the rod on one end to keep it from coming out.
I did the latches a similar way, and bent a piece of 1/2" rod at a 90 deg angle, and aling the gate and drop the rod in, that gate goes nowhere.
My tailgate is also chaoned, like yours, but I have a few extra links on each chain, and when loading my MF1010, I drop the tailgate, and attach my steel ramps, that attach like the tailgate does to the trailer, but the rods are removable for the ramps. When not using the ramps, they are stored underneath in brackets I made, and they are loacked in place. Always there when I need them.
I need to add some load jacks to the rear to keep the ball from coming off when they load a pallet of bricks on the trailer.
I think next I will add extensions for the sides for dump runs and furniture moving. The current sides are about 16" high, work great for most uses, but high sides would be good for some uses as well.
