Got my first trailer!

[Taylor586]

Picked up a 2012 5x8 today from Leonard and I love it! Getting it inspected tomorrow, and gonna start building sides. Not sure how high to go. I'm thinking maybe three feet?

[Bear]

are you gonna weld/bolt the sides like a framework, and put plywood on it ? i built mine 2 foot which is good for simple utility, if you want to really load it 4 foot would be good since 4 ft isn't far from having a top over it. 3 foot sounds cool too though

[Bear]

here's a photo http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/...SCF0109001.jpg I built it totally from scratch, excepting i had an axle with the leaf springs. Inside measures ten ft long and a little over 4ft wide. There's step sides in front of the fenders, makes it easy to work around and step over into. The sides are 22", works good for just tooling around, but when I was moving was wishing it had 4ft sides, in fact some the trips i put 4ft plywood around it. Just my experience with mine, you may be right on @ 3ft for yours

[Taylor586]

That's a pretty nice trailer! I'm gonna try to do three or four feet and bolt it onto the frame. I have some corner brackets to reinforce it, so I'm definitely gonna try to do that tomorrow. I'm cleaning out a warehouse Wednesday morning, so this couldn't have come at a better time! Really beats hauling in my two door Tahoe! It has sides on it already, but they're only about 8-12 inches. Plus the wheel wells aren't covered on the inside, so I wanna cover those up to avoid any blow outs!

[Bear]

yeah, that'll cut down on water splashing in from the wheels too

[taterjuice]

One thing to consider as far as how high to build your sides is how heavy your axle and ties aint no need in building sides thatll hold More than the tires and axle can handle

[Taylor586]

It holds about 1500#, and I just put some pine sides on it. It looks a lot better and I'm pretty happy with it. Shouldn't weight it down too much!

The warehouse was a bust, but the guy said he'll hold some stuff for me over time. And I actually had a pretty good score at my girlfriend's grandpa's house. Got a pretty good amount of light iron and some aluminum too. I need to make a couple trips though. Coming back for tractor parts and an old stove!

[Bear]

cool Taylor!

[Taylor586]

Yeah, pretty exciting day! Got maybe 300# left to pick up!

[Mechanic688]

If someone needs fenders on a trailer you can use an old semi mudflap cut to size and just bolt it to the braces, it'll be flexible and never wear out/crack/break.

[Bear]

I made mudflaps on mine using a square of commercial carpet that had a thick rubber like on one side. They've been on there for 6 years now

[Otto]

I made mudflaps on mine using a square of commercial carpet that had a thick rubber like on one side. They've been on there for 6 years now

Good idea, but you're probably going to make it into Mechanic's Red Neck Photo Album. LOL

[taterjuice]

Aint nothing wrong with that build em for going not showing

[Otto]

An idea like that makes me wish I was still married. That trailer parked in the driveway would have drove the ex crazy. Now that I think of it, I've got a neighbor that would be pretty miffed by it, hmmm......

[Bear]

looked a little better 6 years ago ; )

[taterjuice]

I wouldn't sweat it what they gona do ? Take away your birthday ? If me having a trailer bugs em idk they can deal with it

[Mechanic688]

If someone needs fenders on a trailer you can use an old semi mudflap cut to size and just bolt it to the braces, it'll be flexible and never wear out/crack/break.

I saw that trick done on a race car trailer that had sort of a narrow axle and the wheels of the trailer was the same width as the ramps, so the wheels of the trailer were sticking up thru a little. The guy put those heavy mudflap fenders over the tires and the race car could then drive over the fender tires without hurting them. They would flex and give but always pop back into shape.

[Mechanic688]

One thing I have not seen addressed on hauling trailers, GROUNDS. Have you ever seen a trailer (cargo/camper) going down the road and every so often the tail lights blink or go off/on ?? They are not getting a good ground to the lights. Some hookups rely on getting the ground thru the hitch ball. Not a good idea as there is rust and/or grease on the hitch ball.

On my trailer plug (and all factory RV's) I had a heavy wire bolted to the frame and into the 8 pin plug. The camper was wired the same and got it's ground thru the wire and not the hitch. That way I always had good lights on the back of the trailer no matter how greasy my hitch ball was.

And yes, grease on the ball makes your trailer turn so much easier. Just have to remember not to rub on it with your good pants. lol

[poundigity24]

Yeah Mechanic, that grease sux when you rub up against it.