FED Trailer -Built the Traditional Way...at home!

Ahh the sound of AIR BRAKES - it means my order of STEEL TUBING has arrived.

Two nights of work and I'm this far. Notice my "traditional" ch***is table - sawhorses. For a modern high tech twist (ha ha) if you look close you can see the jack screws used to level everything.

My plans call for a couple of semi unique options - can't wait to see how it all pans out. Gotta hit up the local industrial surplus place to get some "supplies".


But DAMN the PRICE of STEEL sure wasn't traditional.....sheesh.

 

Cool man keep us posted........will it be a single axle?

 

Twin axle - but it will tilt to make unloading easier. Eventually I plan to enclose it like the Mr Ed. style trailers, but that won't be for a while.

 

Lots o welding today......and a little tinkering

 

Sneak peek..........here's a couple shots before any decking.

As you can see I am a firm believer in OVERKILL.

I still need to add a couple diagonals, but for the most part this is it.

 

Looks nice!

 

Looking good.
Speaking of Mr Ed..still looking for any pics..

1939fiat

 

Beautiful work but damn, that has to weigh a ton or so as it sits. What kind of trailer brakes are you using?

 

The weight is deceptive as the vast majority of tubing is .120" wall.

I ran some numbers when I started the weight penalty for having gone with the taller cross sections was just a small fraction of the overall weight.

It'll still be way, WAY lighter than a typical open trailer hauling a car.

Dual axle electric brakes with a hydraulic/electric converter in the truck. I tried one of them new fangled electronic trailer brake modules once - none too impressed - it was junk. I believe that was one case where the older stuff was actually better than the newer stuff. The hydraulic module plumbs into the truck brakes - the trailer gets a "percentage" of the truck brake signal - they're always in sync.

Time will tell if I need a bigger truck or not.

 

Hey listen..Mr Ed trailers are made out of 5" channel steel..We took 3 feet off the front of ours to make it back to 20 feet..That 3 feet weighed 130 LBS.
And the fibregl*** is 1/4 in some places..5/8 plywood floor..

So,at .120 wall, should be good...

 

Did you TIG all that? very impressive work, although I noticed your pivot point was a 'single shear' joint, are you going to add a second pivot mount plate, or am I not seeing the 'big' picture?
Any basic dimensions just out of curiousity?

Cheers,

Drewfus

 

Time for some Hammertone & wood planking.......and some alcohol !!.......Littleman

 

Nice !

 

Drewfus, Yep, I pretty muchTIG near everything these days. I keep my MIG for exhaust work on my daily beater - I TIG the exhaust on REAL cars though


Very observant on the single shear -and yes I plan on adding a second plate to put the fasteners in double shear. BTW if the bolts look unusually long it's because I haven't cut them down yet - I like to get them long so that the shoulder is in contact with the brackets. Threads + movement = junk. (IMHO)

BTW you are seeing the big picture just fine. Alot of the brackets and such were chosen (size wise) simply because that what I had laying around or that's what I could dig out of the s**** bin at work. I keep waiting for them to toss out something suitable for those "shear plates" and so far no luck. If I run out of things to do I guess I will have to break down and give Metal Express a call - they're starting to know me as well as Dave.

Dimensions: 19-1/2' Long deck. 58" wide useable deck (gives me a couple inches of clearance on each side for the digger. 3' tongue which collapses 2' or so - allowing me to store this inside a "standard" length garage.

The air bags allow me to raise up one or both axles - so no need for a jack to change a tire

Dave, I'd love to hammertone it, but HGR had a near giveaway price on some Battleship Grey (I bought 4 gallons for 28 dollars)- seems appropriate enough - so far now anyways - grey it will be.

I hope to be planking it REAL SOON......


To be Continued........

 

Very nice, I really like the latch design, the one on my tilt deck is alot cruder, a pin thru a tube, I'll have to change it over to something like yours.

Ron

 

How did you get those bends on that rectangular tubing on the front?
Gary

 

And you are going to have it finished and bring your car to Bowling Green, correct? I hope you at least will come up and meet with us there.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Greeno, actually I only sorta "bent" them. I cut off 3 sides of the tubing - leaving the outside piece since it's most visible. I then took the inner piece and bend it in my press using a piece of thin walled tubing that I filled with water so it wouldn't crush. I put a piece of rubber under it and cranked away. By re-using the old piece you cut out - you can presserve the radius on the tube. This edge radius bends nicely since it is so short. Cap the top and bottom and call it done. I full beveled them before welding and then ground the already near flush welds that last little bit. If you look real close at the first pics (at the begining of the post) you can see the "notched" tubes before they were welded. I've done this method in the past - it is usually fairly easy to achieve real decent results with minimal effort. Not quite as easy as mitering them but hey anyone could have done it that way. Besides I don't like sharp corners!

 

some very nice work, love the welds

 

Very nice. It is nice to see somoene go the extra mile to make a trailer nice.

Rusty

 

NIce, well thought-out work, as usual HR.

I pulled my open trailer with a six cylinder van for years. No problems around the Great Lakes. One trip to mountainous Bristol worked the 4-speed real good though. You shouldn't have a problem towing it.

 

Hi Don!


No, I'm afraid not. Right now I'm s****ing all my nickles and dimes together to pay for my firesuit. Being 6'4" has some advantages, but none of them apply to Hot Rods Pretty much eliminates finding a deal on a suit. Lucky for me though a Good Buddy is helping me out by getting me my suit for cost. Still a bundle, but WAY WAY better than the alternative. I should have it in a couple weeks.

I hope ot have the trailer decking on this week or next - we'll see.

I went to Thompson's G***er reunion last weekend - these event's are bittersweet for me - I absolutely LOVE seeing all the COOL people and their awesome machines - but I'd have to get all my duckies in a row long before I'd consider taking my digger to any real events like BG. I have MUCHO to learn - and as awesome as BG is - it doesn't sound like the place for a novice like me. OTOH time will eventually change that for me (I hope). Eventually I'll make it there.....

So how's the Scorpion!!!!????? Didn't I just read about you getting the motor back???? That thing BARKING yet?????? I can't wait till I get to see it in person one day.

 

So how's the Scorpion!!!!????? Didn't I just read about you getting the motor back???? That thing BARKING yet?????? I can't wait till I get to see it in person one day.[/quote]

Putting the engine in tonight and firing it up Sat. Then we will be ready to go to the rain out next week.
dwrfab Don Ross

 

Nice job.

 

Quick update..... by the way I am looking for another pair of these clearance lights (last pic) - if anyone has a set (red prefereably, but I'd take yellow too as I'm getting desperate. Please drop me a line - if you have a set you'd be willing to part with.

 

check with http://www.truckline-sale.com/ i deal with them on all my fleet truck needs and they have great prices and all kinds of parts.

 

Ok here's the latest progress report.....

 

Looks great!!!!!!!!! ''Oh'' so close..now..........Dave

 

Very cool, you should do this for a living.
_________________________________________________________
Like I told the kid "Your music not too loud , it just ****s!"

 

Fantastic fab work, looks great!