After having to bum rides on the trails at RITS I got re-motivated on getting my dozen or so projects done so I could get my junk to a trail to wheel. I've had this "trailer" since early this year, or so I think. It may have even been late last year when I drug it home. It was a project stared and abandoned by someone else. Two 10" c-channel rails 20' long, and the gooseneck already put together. I got the frame, two 6K axles, springs, and 12 10' sticks of 4" channel for 600 bucks. I never did take pics before this weekend, so it starts with the axles hung, crossmembers added, and the new coupler tacked on.
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I rebuilt the axles with new 12x2" Dexter electric brake kits, and new drums, bearings, races, seals blah blah blah. Bought new hangers, u-bolts, spring bushings, equalizers, etc.
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The plan is to make the trailer just long enough for my truck, with a couple of feet to play with weight distribution, and not be excessively long. The truck will be getting shortened in the near future, so I should have plenty of length. I plan on an 18' split bed with 2' of dovetail. You can see the rough idea drawn out here
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Here is the coupler tacked in place. I set it down in the back of my F-150(the 04) to test the placement, and this came out the best. I didn't want to set the tube all the way down, afraid it would create too much leverage to break off, so I set it here and intend on using the 2nd hole down on the coupler. I still have one to go up and 1(maybe 2) to go down further, tho I wouldn't want to extend it any further if avoidable.
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Here's the gussets for the coupler, cut out, then welded in. I plan on going back and making two more passes on all the welds also. Just for peice of mind if nothing else
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Here is the jack and mount being set-up. The mount is some ends cut off the the 4" channel. It fit perfectly inside the jack mounts, so we butted the two peices together, drilled and bolted them down, put some weldes on it, removed, finished welding, and mounted it up with a 2x2 square crossmember up top. I debated on whether or not to use two jacks, but I don't see where I would ever need to un-hook with the trailer loaded, so I think the one jack will be fine. I may end up changing my mind and adding a 2nd jack later, but not now.
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Finally after working all Friday and Saturday on it, I got to hook it to the truck thats gonna ride on it. I pulled it down the road about 1/2 mile at about 40mph just to do it. I don't have a hitch in my truck just yet so a 2 5/16 ball on the trail rig was the best I could do. But even hooked to the bumper of my old truck, I couldn't really tell it was back there, however it was at low speed
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Next weekend I plan on finishing all the welding and gusseting on the coupler and neck. I plan to add two big 3/8s plate gussets on the uprights down to the frame rails, and beefing up the puny existing ones going from the uprights to where the neck extends out. Hopefully I'll get started on the deck as well. More pics will come with progress :thumbup
P.S. Yes right now it looks like I'll be towing it with the F-150. I don't want to, but I'm a little upside down on my lien(more so after my boo-boo today, might post pics of that later) and I'm not willing to go further in debt for a truck that will sit in the yard 80% of the time. My calculations on the trailer weight are coming to 3,000-3,500 pounds, the '91 weighs 5,540lbs now, but I intend on shedding as much weight off of it as possible very soon. The '04 is rated for 8,800 pounds out of the box. By going to 17" wheels, I can boost the "rating" to 9,300, and I plan on upgraded brakes, a programmer, and probably an add-a-leaf or helper spring in the rear, if I'm unable to get into a 3/4 or 1-ton by the time I'm ready to start towing. My biggest concern with the '04 will be the longevity of the transmission. Even though I don't expect to be towing but a half-dozen times a year or so, it still would concern me. It already has 92K on the clock now. Only time and money will tell.
opc1:
I rebuilt the axles with new 12x2" Dexter electric brake kits, and new drums, bearings, races, seals blah blah blah. Bought new hangers, u-bolts, spring bushings, equalizers, etc.
The plan is to make the trailer just long enough for my truck, with a couple of feet to play with weight distribution, and not be excessively long. The truck will be getting shortened in the near future, so I should have plenty of length. I plan on an 18' split bed with 2' of dovetail. You can see the rough idea drawn out here
Here is the coupler tacked in place. I set it down in the back of my F-150(the 04) to test the placement, and this came out the best. I didn't want to set the tube all the way down, afraid it would create too much leverage to break off, so I set it here and intend on using the 2nd hole down on the coupler. I still have one to go up and 1(maybe 2) to go down further, tho I wouldn't want to extend it any further if avoidable.
Here's the gussets for the coupler, cut out, then welded in. I plan on going back and making two more passes on all the welds also. Just for peice of mind if nothing else
Here is the jack and mount being set-up. The mount is some ends cut off the the 4" channel. It fit perfectly inside the jack mounts, so we butted the two peices together, drilled and bolted them down, put some weldes on it, removed, finished welding, and mounted it up with a 2x2 square crossmember up top. I debated on whether or not to use two jacks, but I don't see where I would ever need to un-hook with the trailer loaded, so I think the one jack will be fine. I may end up changing my mind and adding a 2nd jack later, but not now.
Finally after working all Friday and Saturday on it, I got to hook it to the truck thats gonna ride on it. I pulled it down the road about 1/2 mile at about 40mph just to do it. I don't have a hitch in my truck just yet so a 2 5/16 ball on the trail rig was the best I could do. But even hooked to the bumper of my old truck, I couldn't really tell it was back there, however it was at low speed
Next weekend I plan on finishing all the welding and gusseting on the coupler and neck. I plan to add two big 3/8s plate gussets on the uprights down to the frame rails, and beefing up the puny existing ones going from the uprights to where the neck extends out. Hopefully I'll get started on the deck as well. More pics will come with progress :thumbup
P.S. Yes right now it looks like I'll be towing it with the F-150. I don't want to, but I'm a little upside down on my lien(more so after my boo-boo today, might post pics of that later) and I'm not willing to go further in debt for a truck that will sit in the yard 80% of the time. My calculations on the trailer weight are coming to 3,000-3,500 pounds, the '91 weighs 5,540lbs now, but I intend on shedding as much weight off of it as possible very soon. The '04 is rated for 8,800 pounds out of the box. By going to 17" wheels, I can boost the "rating" to 9,300, and I plan on upgraded brakes, a programmer, and probably an add-a-leaf or helper spring in the rear, if I'm unable to get into a 3/4 or 1-ton by the time I'm ready to start towing. My biggest concern with the '04 will be the longevity of the transmission. Even though I don't expect to be towing but a half-dozen times a year or so, it still would concern me. It already has 92K on the clock now. Only time and money will tell.
opc1:
