finially got the "tongue box" finished and installed. (i had to modify one to fit the tongue the way i wanted).... i'll post a pic later after it warms up. so i plan to put a 12 deep cycle battery, water tight junction box, 12 volt aircompressor, straps/tiedowns etc.... and eventually a small portable winch (i'm thinking about a ATV style winch like the one "sawall" posted) any other ideas before i start mounting stuff? onlychevrolets; i also did buy a 2 5/16 ball, locking pin, drawbar etc.....
On the wood subject ... a old timer told me to use white oak. I found a local lumber yard that specialized in wood for semi trailers , they recomended to me white oak 2x8's. They are really hard and have cupped very little and have lasted a very long time. Truck and the raodster look great.
i was going to use regular "D" rings, but decide to make these shackle mounts (one at each corner and one center front) Glen; i hear yeah, the aluminum tongue boxes are expensive everywhere i checked. I got this one from a local Tractor Supply, it was a scratch/dent. work perfect becuase i new i was going to have to cut and reweld to fit trailer tongue. still thinking about wood. think i'll call a lumberyard and check prices/options
Sweet tongue box! Nice work. I think the effort to add a water tight tight junction box is gonna be time well spent. My buddy HIGHLY reccomended a specific brand to me because in his time as a mechanic working on city salt trucks and the like he's had the opportunity to use MANY different varieties. He said ALOT of them aren't worth squat and after a year or two will look like crap inside. The ones he reccomended to me he said always looked mint inside. If your interested I will get you some specifics on the brand - I don't remember off hand, but the trailer is in the garage.
Looks nice! I like the lights... These are my thoughts... A good place to stash the spare would be nice... Plenty of tiedown hooks/rings... (they're always in short supply) Grab handles on the tongue for lifting/pushing...
The manufacturer of the weathertite boxes I used is "Truck-Lite Co". I used the boxes themselves which have an O-ringed screw on cover. Also each fitting has a bushing matched to the size wire you're using plus another O-ring where it enters the box. They are a tad bulky as I think they are origionally intended for Semi Trailers - they work great though and were'nt too awful expensive. When building my trailer one of the things that stuck in my mind was all the landscape trailers I see where RARELY any of them have functioning lights etc. I didn't want future headaches and this seemed like the best way to prevent that. I also welded in sleeves to the front of the trailer for the cable (also off a semi) - to which I used more O-ring fittings so those too weren't exposed to weather. It was real easy to do this stuff up front. The only connections I had outside the boxes were for the trailer brakes (short wires) there we used weather pack connectors.
You have a good start on your trailer. I have designed and built more than ten trailers myself. I am a true believer in 1/8 MS Tread Plate for car trailer floors. I store my trailers outside. Even treated wood will need replaced way sooner than you think. I use the steel and prime all my trailers with Tank & Structural Primer before I spray on Machinery Enamel Paint (top & bottom). I managed a Heavy Industrial Fab Shop for years (Mining Equipment). I have found that ICI Delux Industrial coatings to be the best bang for your buck.
Here is a sneak peak at mine.....I will start another thread on it, once it is getting a little closer to being completed.
Whats the tubing size and wall thickness you are using?.......I will be building one here in the spring.
The original wood deck on mine (2x8 all across) lasted nearly seven years, with nothing but Thompson's Water Seal applied to it, three times per year.
glen; thats also a good looking trailer, do you have a thread about it? post a link for us to follow..... hemirambler; that looks very water proof, reminds me of stuff on ships...... i'm just using this one, plan is to put inside don't box and color code all wires. I ran some wire tonight, i've already used about 3 feet of heat shrink...... time will tell, the only for sure is trailers have lighting issues, it's murphys law are something. also orded me a 8' 7-plug sealed connector, breakaway system with battery today. gonna mount all i can inside tongue box, i'll post some pics when i get it wired up. thanks again for the ideas and pictures..........
'52 F3 - My buddy is a stickler having spent MANY hours working on salt infested wiring harnesses on dump trucks - so I took his advice to heart. He's tried 'em all - in HIS words. I would make one suggestion for your box and that would be to silicon those tombstone rubber bushing into the box - any little extra effort to keep that dreaded moisture out! I also used "Trailer cord" for the majority of my trailer wiring. It's (I think) 7 conductor - all color coded and as a bonus the colors match the semi plug wiring charts. They also have them with different wire gauges - depending on your needs. I recall using a heavier gauge on the trailer brakes, but it's been so long I can't be positive. My trailer doesn't see alot of weather so I have my fingers crossed that this will last a zillion years.
Not yet....Im taking pics as I go, after I get some good stuff going I will post a thread. I was making holes tonight for my lights and used a nut-sert tool from work.....it works awesome.
main 3 runners, tongue, front and back is made out of 3" x 3" - 3/16" cross members are made out of 2 x 2, 3/16" angle iron or 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 square 1/4" wall. railing, ramps and outermost edges (infront and back of fenders) is made out of 2 x 2 1/8" wall. some is used steel, some i bought off local Craig's list, and some i just had laying around.
Wow, super fancy trailer wiring stuff here that's super great. But realistically, you only need to follow a few rules for a harness that will provide decades of service..... -High quality vehicle connector, with quality covering to where it goes under the trailer. This is so your buddy can drag it on the ground once or twice without harming the wires. Basically buy a 6-10 foot premade lead. -Connector must also be secured properly to the tongue, so the wires/connections do not support the weight. -Loom cannot run UNDER frame connectors. Trailers drag, wires must always be above the frame low points. Drilling is required -Loom must be secured in many places. Many -High risk areas, like behind tires or frame pass-thru must be protected liberally with plastic loom and/or tape. -No crimps. Anywhere. Full solder all the way. Now for one more fancy tip above and beyond the basics. Go for LED lighting since it's not a traditional hot rod. Trailers are electric parasites and LEDs drastically reduce load. Plug in 1157 style LEDs are suckass and dangerous, so get actual LED Tails. But plug in 4-led 194s rule, and will convert peanut bulb sidemarkers with excellent results. No more broken filaments from bouncing along unloaded. Good luck!
Shifty, I will agree about the "not really necessary part" - no doubt, but "decades of service" hmnnnn that might be a tall order - at least from what I've observed around here watching the landscapers. I am sure I could have went way less since my trailer is always stored in the garage - in my case I just didn't want to EVER fiddle with it again - time will tell to see if that was wasted effort or not. I do wholehearted agree about the keeping the wires above the scrub line - I did that was well. I also made an effort keep all anchor points OFF the deck - should I ever have to redeck my trailer I didn't want to have to fiddle with wiring. I also went one more step and welded sleeves into the cross memebers and slid rubber bushings in there to further isolate the trailer cord from the crossmember. Ain't no kill like overkill!!!!! (Having used trailers with shitty wiring - sometimes you just get totally fed up with certain stuff and decide "nope - ain't happening again!" I laughed when my buddy brought over the semi wire, but you knwo what he made some great points - first it was FREE. Second it's standard at any truckstop in the country. Hard to argue his logic! Speaking of OverKill here's some more pics... Winch plugs into trailer - see the connector on the left side(battery underneath - charged off truck) Semi - trailer cord - this is as much fun looking at as it is functional - I mentioned it was FREE - didn't I? ha ha ha On board air tanks - you might as well make it easy to fill and have a guage built into the trailer - right?? It uses a standard air fitting and a check valve - snap on your air hose and walk away untill full - beats the crap out of those schrader valves. Oh yeah - I definitely got carried away with some of these things - wouldn't change any of them - well except about adding that on board compressor - that DEFINITELY has to happen.......yeah it's like everything else in this hobby - a SICKNESS
Hemirambler; i think i'm going to copy your air guage/fitting setup. I've got a smaller tank and 12 vdc compressor i'm gonna start working on since the wiring is about 95% complete. here the terminal box i wired up last night......(still waiting on the breakaway system to be delivered.)
ramps are going to be 1 x 4 feet. i using some recycled steel and "drops"..... 2 x 2" 1/8" wall and expanded steel. got a couple hours in the garage on xmas after work........ the damn things bowed alittle bit from welding, (the wrong way) I'll fix later. semi-permantly mounting the ramps on back of trailer like heavy equipment trailers do (and mount license plate on underside also) just made some heavy hinge/pivot that also can be moved left to right and can be secured in the vertical position. (along with being able to remove completely if i want)
What winches do you guys have/would like to have? i've got an old monster i don't want to use, thinking about getting and "ATV" winch like a 2000 lbs one or something. any recommendations? i'd really like to use as small as i can get away with. i'm going to mount it in tongue box above 12 VDC air compressor and motor...... dedicided on which wood and stain...... It's Douglas Fir, and i'll be staining it as soon as it warms up (it's so freaking windy out, i can't get my garage warmed up good enough to paint). did get to to fit pretty good, have 130 stainless carriage bolts to hold down the 6, 2 x 12's...
My trailer has an 8500 LB Super Winch on it. Using snatch blocks I can just about pull a house down.It works great for dragging cars out of the bush that have seized or missing wheels.Also using the snatch blocks at each rear corner I can pull the cars center on the trailer.I only use my trailer for picking up vintage cars to part out.If I was going to transport a valuable car I,d have to apply a cushion of some sort on the inner side of the fenders in case of body contact.Nice work so far...
I don't know if this has been mentioned already, but I would suggest adding self adhesive reflective tape on the back and sides. I know your lighting ssytem will be top notch (those sealed junction boxes and 7 wire cable are the way to go - think big truck stuff), but the tape is good insurance against light failures or the moron who doesn't see your trailer in a parking lot with the lights out. Hey, it happens!! The tape is available at lots of places and it's cheap insurance. Neat roadster too, great proportions.
How to register will vary from state to state-call the DMV. Last time I did one in Iowa all you did was walk in and tell them you had a homemade trailer and needed to register it-no inspection at all. But that's been a few years, laws might have changed. Hell, it was cheaper to do it that way than it was to transfer an existing title.
i have rebuilt the running gear on my homebuilt aluminum trailer 4 times since i built it in 1966. this last time i went with no springs and it tows much better.a little bouncy unloaded but loaded;the springs on the loaded car do the job.being as light as it is also helps.you are going to have to step up the hitch to keep the ride heigth level?the other thing i would think about is buying the ratchet straps that have the trailer end of the hook mounted directly to the ratchet lever. a couple of rings out on the tongue might come in handy.if you can attach permanent eyes to the front and back of your truck and roadster you will save yourself some grief.(with a little thought they can be hidden or easily removable).weld your name under it and add a few details that you can see from a distance.a theft alarm inside the storage box hooked to the hitch or a motion sensor is cheap insurance.those new aluminum drop hitches for the tow vehicle seem like the answer and i see used ones more often at the big swap meets for sale.
I have a #5,000 winch on my trailer (shown) that I have used on loading everything from a Metropolitan to a 2-ton '50 Dodge HHA truck, without a lick of problems. Snatch blocks, when necessary, have helped a lot! The above comments about the DOT tape are valid! It's only a buck a foot, and available at any trailer supply house, farm supply store, or truck stop. It is also MANDATORY on any trailer built after 2006, BTW. Your trailer has come out very nice!
A buddy of mine has a superwinch 2000# on his trailer. It sucks for pulling anything more than an empty rolling chassis. Put the biggest winch you can fit/afford on it an you won't be disapointed later.
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