6 x 10 utility trailer build

[Piper]

Hey fellas

Here's my new machine...http://newsroom.lincolnelectric.com/News+Releases/power+mig+256.htm

it has dials for the wire speed which you can increment by "1" and voltage that goes from 1 to about 25 I think.. I've not run it higher than about 22 for some heavier stuff I was fiddling with. Mind you, I just got this new welder a week ago so I'm still experimenting.

On another forum (weldingweb) I've had lotsa guys suggesting as a trailer requires structural welds, which I agree, and the stock is 1/8" so it's not like I"m going to burn thru it doing a vertical up weld, that I should be doing vertical up for sure. When I spoke to my local machine shop where I bought the welder and metal stock. He also builds a lot of trailers and said he always uses vertical down... so..

I'm still gonna try and fine tune my welder a bit more and run a little cooler/slower and see if I can get my vertical up a bit nicer.

 

[koditten]

Good info, Moonrise. You make some good points.
I would like suggest that you to post some of this info in your own thread. This would give others that have no interest in my "trailer build" thread a chance to learn some good tips. Its kind of a shame that many will not see what you have to offer because they won't stop off here.

Keep the lessons coming.
KO

 

[MoonRise]

Hmmm, don't remember seeing you post over on WW, but I may have missed it (obviously).

Either way, step one in welding a trailer is to be a pretty good welder first. After you can do that, in whatever positions the welds on the trailer will require, then you can start building a welded trailer.

Take some steel stock of the same thickness and 'type' (flat bar, round tube, angle iron, hollow tube, whatever) and practice welding it up. Horizontal welds (positions 1F, 2F, and 1G) where gravity isn't really fighting you at all. Position 2G (horizontal groove weld) where gravity is starting to fight you. Position 3F and 3G (vertical, up in this case) where gravity is fighting you. Maybe some position 4F and 4G (overhead) where gravity is 100% fighting you, unless your trailer design don't include any overhead welds.

After you can do those welds with 'good' penetration/fusion (destructively test your practice welds until you can be sure you can correctly weld/melt/fuse the steel together well), then you can think about welding up a trailer.

It's not a high-pressure pipeline or an aircraft or spacecraft or a nuclear reactor, but make no bones about it because lives are still relying on you making 'good' welds when you weld up a trailer.

Cause if your weld fails while pulling your trailer down the highway at 50-70 mph, there certainly will be damage and destruction and there may be injury or death involved. No joking.

Oh, and a to koditten (Kirk) for this pretty nice write-up about building a trailer.

 

[Piper]

hey, sorry for taking this thread in a bit of a different direction. This'll be my last post regarding the welding part but just to clarify, I'm good with vertical welds and penetration previosly, I've just been experiencing some difficulty with my new machine and am trying to dial it in. My previous machine does lighter stuff well and I think as it's a bit cooler (and I"ve been trying to weld stock that's likely a bit outside of it's range) I've been able to do better welds (if any of that makes sense). My new hotter machine has left me trying to travel quicker and getting the middle blob in the fillet.

Thanks moonrise for your info.. as my older machine had much different control settings compared to my new one your posting has cleared up some questions I had.

 

[MoonRise]

Piper,

OK, you can weld but are just having some issues getting the new bigger (did I mention I'm jealous? ) machine 'dialed in'.

Reset your machine's parameters to where I suggested (~18V and 175 ipm WFS) and try some vertical up welds with some scrap 1/8 inch thick pieces. If the wire is stubbing into the workpiece, raise the voltage slightly. If there is to much spatter or an unstable arc (no nice smooth 'crackling bacon' sound that is what you usually want with short-arc transfer) then lower the voltage slightly. Slightly means 0.5 or 1 volt here. If the weld is too 'hot' (burning through or blowing through the workpiece or too much metal is building up in the puddle and then globbing or dripping out) then either -slightly- reduce the WFS or slightly increase your travel speed.

 

[1Garageman]

I can't believe I missed your thread when it first came out Kirk, great job!!!!
I am going to follow this and can't wait to see Piper's builds. Like Kirk said keep us posted with MANY pics!

 

[koditten]

Just great...Now I gotta get a bigger hat. You guys are making my head swell

I thought this thread was dead and gone. I'm glad to hear that its still being put to use.

Kirk

 

[ADaughen]

Kirk,

You said the ramp tailgate causes pretty bad drag, have you experimented with a folding ramp tailgate? Take a full size, cut it in half and hinge it so the top folds 180* out and down. In the down position it wouldn't fold back up.

 

[koditten]

Kirk,

You said the ramp tailgate causes pretty bad drag, have you experimented with a folding ramp tailgate? Take a full size, cut it in half and hinge it so the top folds 180* out and down. In the down position it wouldn't fold back up.

Yep, built those tail gates many times. They work great. The only draw back is that they are not as strong as a one piece gate. I only build them when someone special orders them. And of course they take a bit more effort and time so I don't advertise them too loudly

I looked for some pictures, i can't believe I don't have any of that type tailgate.

Maybe I better do a pictorial on the accordian style gate.

Later

KO

 

[Piper]

hey fellas, I just thought I'd give y'all an update. I've just about completed my first of 4 trailers. I haven't taken any pics, my bad, but as I'm doing this alone the, stop, wash hands, find camera, take the shot, redo the shot, has left me feeling sloooo. So, I'm going to soldier on and get more of the work done, then once I'm onto trailer 3 (and better at what I'm doing...hey Kirk's got a 1000 trailers on me!) I'll slow down and take shots at each step. I'll start that as a new thread too so that this one can stand on it's own.

 

[koditten]

hey fellas, I just thought I'd give y'all an update. I've just about completed my first of 4 trailers. I haven't taken any pics, my bad, but as I'm doing this alone the, stop, wash hands, find camera, take the shot, redo the shot, has left me feeling sloooo. So, I'm going to soldier on and get more of the work done, then once I'm onto trailer 3 (and better at what I'm doing...hey Kirk's got a 1000 trailers on me!) I'll slow down and take shots at each step. I'll start that as a new thread too so that this one can stand on it's own.

Not a 1000. I think I am somewhere around 300. Its taken me 20 years to get this far.

Anyways, I hear you on the time it takes to shoots some pics. When I was doing the pictorial, I couldn't believe how much longer it took to build one of these trailers.

Looking forward to the photos.

Kirk

 

[1Garageman]

Sounds like you guys need some picture device that takes a picture for you like every 30 minutes. Like a time delayed camera? That would be neat. I couldn't imaged with the heat we've had going out into the garage and doing any work, at least here in Ohio, hope it's better weather for you guys up north.

 

[koditten]

My camera actually has a setting that snaps a pick every 30 seconds. I only tried it once. Looked at the pictures and I couldn't tell I did anything. I looked like I wasn't moving

Kirk

 

[bad_idea]

Talking about camera taking a pic every 30 seconds making it look like you are moving.....

My wife is always asking me to take a pic of her standing beside something or another with her I-Phone. I take a good picture of her, then I start clicking the camera as fast as the phone will take the pictures. It's so funny watching the stop animation of her realizing what I am doing and walking over to ****** the phone from me. Completely off topic, but I thought funny enough to mention.

Good looking trailers btw Kirk. How did you go about drumming up clients to buy these trailers from you? I would love to build and sell something with my equipment to help pay for the equipment.

 

[V-10 Killer]

My camera actually has a setting that snaps a pick every 30 seconds. I only tried it once. Looked at the pictures and I couldn't tell I did anything. I looked like I wasn't moving

Kirk

The camera never lies

 

[steel 35]

Almost ready for testing the acid wash, and thanks for your tips! I can say I haven't made this one in a week end, But came up with a third way to work the tailgate because of your advise. I can change a tire or use it as a spreader (yea the tire turns) in one postion, save gas in another and a very short ramp for winching junk into it.

 

[boilerdude]

Hi Kirk, great write-up on your trailers.....I want to share something that I own that is really handy and greatly reduces the length of tailgate needed to load/unload hobby tractors, motorcycles or what have you. It is called Tilt a Hitch and makes an ordinary trailer into a tipping trailer. Here is the site: tiltahitch.com

Chris

 

[koditten]

Almost ready for testing the acid wash, and thanks for your tips! I can say I haven't made this one in a week end, But came up with a third way to work the tailgate because of your advise. I can change a tire or use it as a spreader (yea the tire turns) in one postion, save gas in another and a very short ramp for winching junk into it.

I like that. You don't even need a jack to change a tire. I can't wait to see the final product.

Later

Kirk

 

[koditten]

Hi Kirk, great write-up on your trailers.....I want to share something that I own that is really handy and greatly reduces the length of tailgate needed to load/unload hobby tractors, motorcycles or what have you. It is called Tilt a Hitch and makes an ordinary trailer into a tipping trailer. Here is the site: tiltahitch.com

Chris

That is one neat hitch, but I need you to keep this quiet. Do you know how many times I get called to build longer ramp gates for the trailers I build. I can't let the customers know something like this exists. It would take all my follow up work away

Just kidding. I do like this hitch. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

I got a feeling V10killer is ordering one now. His drag car needs as low as an approach he can get for his car hauler I built him.

Later

Kirk

 

[philwire]

Instead of having an axle across the trailer, wouldn't it be easier to have two separate wheels, one on each side? That way you could have a much lower deck without having to get over the axle?

 

[koditten]

Instead of having an axle across the trailer, wouldn't it be easier to have two separate wheels, one on each side? That way you could have a much lower deck without having to get over the axle?

I guess I don't know what you are saying here. If I want a lower trailer, i will just use drop axles. Expain this a bit more for me please.

Kirk

 

[philwire]

ok heres pretty much what I meant, in all my Paint artistic glory

instead of having the box sit on the axle...

However I understand it could add a little stress to the wheels

 

[MoonRise]

philwire,

Yeah, you -could- do something like that with just some stub axles mounted right to the trailer frame itself.

But then you lose all ability to have a suspension (springs), so you then have to derate the axle (stub axle in this case) weight capacity at least 50% (per Dexter Axle's "Design Consideration" manual/brochure). You then also have a much harsher ride, as there is now no spring to cushion and absorb jolts and bumps and so forth. And you have to make sure the frame is 'strong' enough to handle those harsh jolts and bumps.

Which is why it is almost always better to just use a drop axle.

 

[philwire]

Hi MoonRise,

Thanks for the explanations! I guess I'll google more about drop axles

 

[DekeT]

Prolly should mention that I use 6" rollers to pain the trailer. The "physical" contact of roller, paint and steel seems to make the paint last longer. I used to spray the trailers, but got tired of dealing with overspray. I actually can get more paint on the trailers this way and don't need to thin down the paint and reduce it's durability.

Kirk

Were you doing conventional spray or HVLP when you got unacceptable overspray?

 

[koditten]

I tried both ways. With the small surface areas, you are not going to hit metal with the sparay pattern 100% of the time. With the roller, every bit of paint that you buy is transferred to the iron.

The time difference is a no brainer. It may take 15 minutes longer to actually paint the trailer, but you do not have the time involved with mixing the paint and cleaning the paint gun.

One year I scraped up the excess paint that was dried to the concrete. I had enough paint chips to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Kind of cool looking with all the differnt color layers, but still I was shaking my head at all the paint I purchased to just stick to the floor.

I will limit my spraying in the future to automotive and cabinet finishes.

Later

KO

 

[Crank1]

Is this trailer design beefy enough to not use the rail? As in could it be made to just be flat with the same materials?

 

[koditten]

Will work with out the rails. You lose a bit of the rigidity, but it still will haul a 1.5 ton load with no problem. I have built several flat deck trailers off of this design.

KO

 

[Crank1]

I'm thinking maybe I'd leave the header on it and bring some supports back at a 45* to meet the frame to block wind and debris off the road but a side less trailer would work better in my application. 1.5 tons is still plenty of weight I'd think. Thanks

 

[koditten]

As I stated in another members' thread, I needed to bump this for other people who have interests in building their own utility trailer.

As well, I'm gonna let the members know that I will be doing a 7 x 18 tandem utility trailer. This trailer will have 2 ramp gates. 1 is the conventional full width drop down gate in the rear and the 2nd gate is going to drop down one of the sides, this gate will be 5' or so wide. The customer wants to be able to haul 2 full size quads and one of those personal utility vihicles (Razor?). As well as the random stuff one hauls to the hunting camp.

I won't be starting it until Monday next week. Expect pictures to show up here by the end of next week.

Later

KO

 

[V-10 Killer]

That'll be a fun build to watch happen. Since it's not a car hauler, I doubt it'll be a tilt trailer (I know a few people had been asking for details on them), but I'm sure there are lots of little extras in there worth checking out. I'm looking forward to it

 

[NWOhioChevyGuy]

Been needing to upgrade my utility trailer ever since moving and getting a larger mower. I have a 5x10 that has served me very well over the years, but my mower deck does not fit and will have to go to a 6' wide trailer at a minimum.

This thread has me thinking that I may build myself a trailer that meets my needs. I have looked at many mfg's standard designs and don't find one exactly as I desire. I guess I need to start designing it and when I get my shop built next year I will make it my first project.

Great work Kirk!

 

[milner351]

Great thread. I have a tilt bed car hauler that needs modifications to the ramp end - ya'll have given me some great ideas.

 

[koditten]

You can't be originally from Michigan. No one from Michigan uses the word ya'll. Glad you took something from the thread. Thanks for the kind word, Ya'all. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Later

KO

 

[bad_idea]

What's wrong with saying ya'll? My folks are from Bay City, they say ya'll now. My father got station in Virginia 20 years ago and we have been here since.

 

[koditten]

How about that. Learn something new everyday. Its not a common contraction for me, thats all.


KO

 

[Wanna Ride]

Nice looking trailer. Here's mine, I built about 5 years ago:

 

[snowman1981]

Really like the idea of using the plastic decking. no need to worry about the wood rotting.

 

[koditten]

Looks great! I too love the trex,composite lumber. I built something similar last year using the trex lumber. Big mistake on my part. You would think people would like a trailer made out of that stuff. I lost money because I couldn't sell it for what I had into buiulding the trailer. Polly not gonna do that again unless its paid for up front. Thanks for the pics, beautiful work there.

KO

 

[chief ben]

This is my 14 foot I built to move my tractors around

and check out the horse shoe Light Guards