trailer sideboards..

[square1]

Needed some in a hurry so made them from 2x4s & 1/2 OSB I had on hand. 16" high gets three sections out of a 4x8 sheet of OSB. Drilled and bolted together through the 2x4 uprights at the end of each section.
I take them off and store them when not in use so they don't weather badly.

 

[newbury]

Newbury, I'm working my way into this project now. Very similar to your stage 3.

Any advice or shoulda dones looking back at yours?

If you want to keep it for years don't go cheap on plywood. I bought a batch of PT 3/4 from Lowes and the upper layers separated and the inner layers were all voids. At this point I would recommend either marine grade w/ 2 layers of paint or Advantech OSB painted.

Think of getting flat or square U bolts long enough for your purposes. I've two batches, some to just hold a 2x4 and 2x6, some to hold that plus 3/4 plywood and another 2x4 on the inside. Home Depot seemed to be the best bang for the buck for buying square U bolts.

I went with the square U bolts to maintain integrity of the 2x4's. I tried single bolts on a prior incarnation and wood would split.

Have "spare" bolt plates for tie off points. I put 2 plates on 1 bolt w/ a separation and then I can easily thread a rope between the plates to tie off, or stabilize stuff.

Label, label, label. The first time I assembled/disassembled/reassembled parts didn't line up properly for all pieces. Slight misalignment of drill holes and differing shrinkage of wood means stuff doesn't line up after aging. Spent some time shuffling the pieces around to get them correct.

The first time you bolt it together do so with just crescent wrenches. As a painful learning experience. After that use power tools, my go to's are a DeWalt 20V Max impact wrench w/ deep bits.

Use some longer 2x4's for uprights than what I have in the picture. Mine now extend about 8" above the roof, allowing easy fastening of ladders on top.

I kinda like having an open equipment trailer that can go from hauling my M4700


to an enclosed hauling my household goods


and then back again.

 

[gravelman]

the stake pockets i have are tight with 2 x 4's have to do a little planing...

 

[bcp]

If using individual side boards, I like a spacing wide enough I can slip my forearm through to adjust something.

Bruce

 

[newbury]

the stake pockets i have are tight with 2 x 4's have to do a little planing...

Mine were not rectangular, more D -shaped so I did a lot of whittling. Also remember if your wood is not dried it is liable to shrink.

If using individual side boards, I like a spacing wide enough I can slip my forearm through to adjust something.

Bruce

I spaced mine with 2" spacers so I could get rope thru it easily.

 

[Fallon]

Fallon, what type of trailer is that in your photo? I am looking to get one similar to transport my mini excavator and a few project cars.

It's a Dunn-Rite. Some small outfit here in the Denver area. I picked it up for cheap at an auction.

It was your small for my needs really, but the really long tongue on it let me get 3+ years out of it. 16' deck was really short, especially given the pair of 7k lbs axles. It would work well for a mini-ex though as those are really heavy for their tiny footprint. Maybe a skidsteer. But there would be little to no room for impliments. Probably a bit short for any cars, without figuring in needing extra deck to balance things.

I loved the tilting deck. It made loading & unloading so easy compared to ramps. The angles were so low too, way better than my new power deckover tilting deck. Gravity tilt makes balancing your load trivial. Drive forward until the deck tilted on the pivot centered between the axles. Then scoot forward a little bit more & you got 10% of your load weight on the tongue. It definitely loaded machines easy. I went with the deckover knowing it would be harder to load machines on, but easier to load other stuff on with no tires or fenders in the way.

I did somehow manage to get what was probably a 12,000lbs backhoe on the trailer, twice. It wasn't a pleasant tow for those 15 miles, but it held up fine.

It pulled okish with L3200 behind my Toyota Tacoma. But I promptly went out & got the beater F250 after a couple hauls with the Tacoma.

Have some more photos of the old & new trailer at Trailer - Google Photos

If you are just hauling cars most tilting decks are going to be overkill, but will work well for cars & machines. The last few feet of the deck aren't suppose to be used in transport & because they pivot between the axles unloaded balance can be off. They balance evenly, not with 10-15% tongue weight. Pulling the Dunn Rite home it started swaying badly over 50mph. Stopped at a friends house, shoveled a couple hundred lbs of snow on the front of the deck & it pulled fine at 65-70 the rest of the way home.

 

[tmcj]

I used all treated 2 x 4 and 2 x 10 lumber when I built the sides and gate for my utility trailer. I didn't bolt it together being that there won't really be much of a load on the sides, mostly still on the bed itself, so I used deck screws instead. The 2 x 4's needed some convincing to fit the stake pockets on mine also. If you want to haul loose stuff like gravel, dirt, mulch, etc you will need an end gate. An easy fix is to install a vertical 2 x 4 at the end of the side rails, and another one about 1 3/4" - 2" in front of it to create a slot that you can just drop another 2 x 10 in to as a tail gate.

 

[joeyd]

Gravelman,
Here are some pics of sideboards I made for my flatbed trailer.



I also used these brackets for the corners and sides.
Straight Side Bracket Set - zinc | Nuera Trailer Parts
Rack Corner Bracket Set | B2591BZ | Nuera Trailer Parts

 

[gravelman]

ok, now we are talking...this is what i was looking for....thanks much

 

[oosik]

View attachment 547961 This is the farm wagon I built. Horst model 180 - ten ton frame - 5/4" plywood decking - 2"x12" side boards. I haul large rock and selected length of my Ponderosa pine trees with this. The paint color is a mix of quite a few leftover cans.