Thinking about building a trailer

[W.olly]

I have an Erde 5x3 or therabouts and its best trailer i have had and wont get rid so for carrying larger loads instead of sitting them on the top of the box like i do i will be making a frame from 25x 25 mm SHS. On this trailer the new frame can slot down into the corner posts so its also removable then. an 8x4 sheet will just go on nice without the sheets hitting the tail gate of the car.
Be easier than making a trailer or spending out on another bigger one as trailers dont come cheap nowadays.

 

[Bobupndown]

Well nearly finished the frame fabrication now.

Went for leaf springs in the end, although technically 750kg unbraked, the springs will take 1 ton plus, handy for that occasion when a load of stones etc is more than expected. Hubs are ordered. Have yet to decide on sides, whether to do in aluminium or steel. Painting and electrics to follow.
In front in the first picture is the little 5x3 trailer it's replacing.

 

[brightspark]

are you going to get it galvanised i wish i had when i made mine i did shotblast and etch prime it and a few coats of enamel but they still go rusty

 

[Bobupndown]

Considering it, sent an email to one local place but no response! I guess it would be quite expensive?
Trailers need a repaint every 3 or 4 years in my experience.

 

[brightspark]

Considering it, sent an email to one local place but no response! I guess it would be quite expensive?
Trailers need a repaint every 3 or 4 years in my experience.

mines metal frame and wooden pannels have a sacrificial board on the bottom and rubber mat its never left out in the wet and dried if it does . sandblasted it once and painted it twice in 20 years

 

[Bobupndown]

mines metal frame and wooden pannels have a sacrificial board on the bottom and rubber mat its never left out in the wet and dried if it does . sandblasted it once and painted it twice in 20 years

Yes living inside will make a difference, the old one had to live outside but have space to keep the new one in the garage so it will fare better even if not galvanised.

 

[8ob]

Nice work @Bobupndown, I like it. My only areas of concern are the lack of bracing on the front section/panel and the gap between the front spring hanger to the A frame. As the front spring hanger is the one that takes all the road shock and load it would probably be a lot stronger if it was tied in with the A frame rather than just perched on a bit of angle, the rears are only sliders.

 

[Turbo]

Nice trailer, why the opening flap on the front?

As Bob says, add some strength around the front spring hangers & tie them to the drawbar a-frame. Some 50x10 plate added along the angle iron side rails would reinforce everything.

Can't see what you used for the axle but you need to use at least 50x50x6 heavy wall box section, anything lighter will bend!

Can I also suggest adding some rope hooks at this stage. When I built my trailer I put a box section rail around the top like yours, thinking I could use it to tie down loads. It proved to be fairly useless as a ratchet strap will not hook onto it securely. I've a set of rope hooks waiting to be fitted when I get around to doing a light refurb on the trailer.

As regards painting/galvanising go for the galvanising if you can. It may seem expensive but if you add up the painting costs plus your time stripping & painting it every few years the zinc will seem cheap!

BTW, don't galvanise the springs!

 

[Bobupndown]

Thanks for the comments and pointers folks.

I'll take on board the advice regarding reinforcing the front spring hangers and will triangulate it to the cross bar of the A frame.

Bracing between top and bottom still to be added at the front and along the sides, waiting until I have the mudguards which will determine the side locations to attach their mountings to.

Tie down hooks, yes you can never have enough of these, still to be added externally and tie down rings internally. I put the bar around the top for convenience of additional tying down points. Something my small trailer is missing and I thought would be useful.

Opening front hatch, the rear door currently fitted is basically a ramp, which will have checker plate on the bottom section and mesh on the top. When it's not needed the front flap becomes a conventional height tail gate.

Also in the plan are removable mesh sides same height as front ladder rack and ramp. Not got round to those yet.

Axle, I have 50x50x5 box section. Thought this would have been robust enough? Rather than replace it I could weld a length of angle along it to reinforce?

Jockey wheel and rear prop stands to be added, spare wheel carrier to be fabricated and a tool box will sit on the a frame to hold tie down straps, rope etc.

Still undecided on the galvanising, my time and effort preparing and painting trailers is not a factor, I enjoy projects like that. One question I do have re the galvanising, if I went for steel sheet sides would this warp due to heat of the process?

 

[Turbo]

Axle, I have 50x50x5 box section. Thought this would have been robust enough? Rather than replace it I could weld a length of angle along it to reinforce?

That should be fine, I've seen trailers built with 50x50x3 box section & the axle is always bent.

 

[brightspark]

Thanks for the comments and pointers folks.

I'll take on board the advice regarding reinforcing the front spring hangers and will triangulate it to the cross bar of the A frame.

Bracing between top and bottom still to be added at the front and along the sides, waiting until I have the mudguards which will determine the side locations to attach their mountings to.

Tie down hooks, yes you can never have enough of these, still to be added externally and tie down rings internally. I put the bar around the top for convenience of additional tying down points. Something my small trailer is missing and I thought would be useful.

Opening front hatch, the rear door currently fitted is basically a ramp, which will have checker plate on the bottom section and mesh on the top. When it's not needed the front flap becomes a conventional height tail gate.

Also in the plan are removable mesh sides same height as front ladder rack and ramp. Not got round to those yet.

Axle, I have 50x50x5 box section. Thought this would have been robust enough? Rather than replace it I could weld a length of angle along it to reinforce?

Jockey wheel and rear prop stands to be added, spare wheel carrier to be fabricated and a tool box will sit on the a frame to hold tie down straps, rope etc.

Still undecided on the galvanising, my time and effort preparing and painting trailers is not a factor, I enjoy projects like that. One question I do have re the galvanising, if I went for steel sheet sides would this warp due to heat of the process?

buy galve sheets and just fit after you get the frame done

 

[Bobupndown]

Apologies to the OP for basically stealing your thread, I didn't see the wisdom of starting another one, I hope my input is of benefit to someone
So I'm at the stage of fitting the hubs and determining the length of the axle tube, planning to measure many times and cut only once! Just pondering the ideal gap between tyre wall and trailer frame, I'm thinking about 1 1/2" / 40 ish mm? Could probably go less but thinking a bit of a bigger gap is better than a too small one. Any thoughts from the learned collective?

 

[brightspark]

be about rite. any further and the mudguards would need packing out further to cover the tires

 

[Bobupndown]

Hubs welded to axle and on its wheels for the first time.

 

[Justme]

Couple of thoughts.

Those welds look a little cold on the stubs.
The axle should be at the bottom of the spring so that its sits square to the ground.

 

[Bobupndown]

Axle can be fitted either above or below springs, it would sit too high with the axle underslung. I'm obviously not a professional welder but confident the hubs and axle are solidly attached, they aren't gonna fall off!

 

[Mikes]

From experience, I would suggest putting a small bit of sacrificial plate onto the chassis where the top of the sliding end of the spring rubs as it's then easier to change out rather than have to replace the whole 'U' bracket. Easy to do now whilst the floors not in. I've had to change quite a few for people over the years as nobody ever greases the sliding surface.

 

[Justme]

Axle can be fitted either above or below springs, it would sit too high with the axle underslung. I'm obviously not a professional welder but confident the hubs and axle are solidly attached, they aren't gonna fall off!

So not bottom as in under the springs but bottom as in at the lowest point in the curve.

 

[brightspark]

Couple of thoughts.

Those welds look a little cold on the stubs.
The axle should be at the bottom of the spring so that its sits square to the ground.

the axles on all my ford vans mk 2 and mk3 sit on top of the springs as above trailer

 

[brightspark]

the reason there on top of the springs is the same as on caravans. it lowers the center of gravity so is more stable thats why you can buy lowering blocks for them. mainly on racing or rally cars