Working on the trailer...

[steved]

Well, got another warm day and decided to move on painting my rims. I had a set of steel 16x6.5 Dodge rims that were a tad rusted from sitting outside and being 15 years old.

So all the painting, other than the axle tubes; is completed now. Its going to be a hectic couple weeks, so probably won't even touch it until sometime in December...

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[WoodTick007]

When cutting and splitting I found pockets of resin, some of those pockets had several ounces of resin...messy stuff.

Oh that's BS.

 

[steved]

Oh that's BS.

Tell that to my truck's bed...

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[steved]

Tires on my wheels...local tire shop saved these for me, not bad and better than the ones I bought!

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[steved]

Got some of the wiring pulled together and soldered tonight. Got a couple sets of wires that I need to "make" a bigger soldering iron in order to get enough heat to get them all soldered together. I have only about ten more connections to make, then it will be on to the lights. I need to make sure what I got done so far is correct, the harness for the truck is the old style colors, so its not as straight forward as it could be. I also got the breakaway battery installed...hopefully, the directions lead a lot to be desired.

Got all my lugnuts, Dorman had almost what I wanted. They have the correct thread, the correct taper, but they are crimped to be locking. They crimp the cone, so starting them onto the stud is impossible. They list another part number, but it is wrong. So I bought 40 of them, and bought a tap to chase the crimp out. Ran ten of them tonight, and that solved the problem. Takes about 20 minutes to do ten...not to bad.

May get more time this weekend, as long as the rain holds off.

 

[steved]

Rained all day...went to TSC and bought the bolts needed to put it together.

Got all 32 nuts chased, so that's done.

The original VIN tag was getting fairly faint to read, so I stamped the VIN onto a strip of aluminum strap to screw into the frame.

Its supposed to be nicer tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get the spring perches welded on and finish the wiring.

 

[steved]

Well, got a good portion of my wiring done today...it was cold enough my 40-watt iron wouldn't even melt the solder. My solder gun burnt the tip off the other day, but talked to my (electrician) father and he said just replace the tip with a piece of copper wire...worked like a champ!

I got the rear all done, backed the truck up to the trailer and plugged it in...I was worried the wiring would be screwy because of the old style wire color coding and my new style color scheme. Everything worked like it should!

I have two more lights to solder up, and then its on to axles and suspension.

 

[Ambull01]

Oh that's why you know so much about trailers, you build them.

 

[mga]

nice project! good luck with that.

i have a 16 foot landscape trailer and i almost traded it for a trailer like yours, but with a power dump. but, the guy backed down at the last minute....damn.

 

[steved]

Oh that's why you know so much about trailers, you build them.

Here's the little one I built for working cross-country...this trailer has more miles on it that most peoples' cars. Before being regulated to firewood hauling, it had a 3ft x 3ft x 6ft contractor's job box bolted to the deck.




It's a pintle hitch, for versatility...a lot of flex for offroad, and you can hook it to most HD equipment pretty easy (I had a D6 drag it about four miles off the beaten path to a jobsite). Plus, people don't ask to borrow it cause most people don't even know what a pintle hitch is...

I cut down a Dana 60 from an old Dodge truck for the axle, that gave me an 8 x 6.5 lug pattern that match the truck (at that time) so I could carry a single spare. It will fit 265x75r16 tires, its got 225x75r16, LR Es in the picture. Even loaded to the hilt, pulling a couple hundred miles straight from Albuquerque up across 54 out of Tucumcari into Kansas, the bearing would only get to about 135*F with ambient around 110*F. That's the beauty of big tires and big bearings, they aren't turning all that fast to generate heat.

 

[steved]

nice project! good luck with that.

i have a 16 foot landscape trailer and i almost traded it for a trailer like yours, but with a power dump. but, the guy backed down at the last minute....damn.

I have the big flatbed thing, even put sides on it at one point to haul firewood...could haul a cord of tossed pretty easy. The only drawback is that mine is a 102" wide, and while that is only 6" wider than a typical trailer, it makes it just that much more unpleasant to tow any distance. The main drawback with mine is that it's too low to access some of the places I need to get...I would get hung just getting the unloaded trailer into the field because of its overhang. In reality, it would have been the easiest and cheapest...basically should have new tires, and put it on the road. But it weighs 2400#s (its heavy empty), and even thought the truck is capable of towing it at safely; I really wouldn't want to drag it that far (ie. 300 miles) loaded to max.

I was even looking at those little 3k GVW single axle dumpers at one point, but they really like those and the prices reflect that!

 

[olyman]

nice project! good luck with that.

i have a 16 foot landscape trailer and i almost traded it for a trailer like yours, but with a power dump. but, the guy backed down at the last minute....damn.

dumps,,,,be waaaaaayyyyyyy nice!!!!

 

[olyman]

View attachment 385137


I have the big flatbed thing, even put sides on it at one point to haul firewood...could haul a cord of tossed pretty easy. The only drawback is that mine is a 102" wide, and while that is only 6" wider than a typical trailer, it makes it just that much more unpleasant to tow any distance. The main drawback with mine is that it's too low to access some of the places I need to get...I would get hung just getting the unloaded trailer into the field because of its overhang. In reality, it would have been the easiest and cheapest...basically should have new tires, and put it on the road. But it weighs 2400#s (its heavy empty), and even thought the truck is capable of towing it at safely; I really wouldn't want to drag it that far (ie. 300 miles) loaded to max.

I was even looking at those little 3k GVW single axle dumpers at one point, but they really like those and the prices reflect that!

hows it in your state,, with 102???? if you were here, and the DOT noticed, youd get ticketed, if no oversize,, and permit.. and pintles,, STOP the askers!!!!

 

[steved]

dumps,,,,be waaaaaayyyyyyy nice!!!!

Way expensive too...seems like the prices for all trailers went through the roof in the past couple years. From the prices I've seen on Craigslist, I could sell my flatbed right now for more than what I paid for it back in 2006.

 

[steved]

hows it in your state,, with 102???? if you were here, and the DOT noticed, youd get ticketed, if no oversize,, and permit.. and pintles,, STOP the askers!!!!

Legal width is 102 these days...look at any OTR truck/trailer...the most common trailer size is a 53 ft, 102" wide. And almost all doubles are connected with a pintle...

Heck, even most snowmobile trailers are 102" wide...

 

[olyman]

Legal width is 102 these days...look at any OTR truck/trailer...the most common trailer size is a 53 ft, 102" wide. And almost all doubles are connected with a pintle...

Heck, even most snowmobile trailers are 102" wide...

I just talked to my trucker man,, he said semi trailers only..............ill look on the dot site

 

[steved]

Nah, cover anything on the road. Unless posted "no 102 inch wide".

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[Ambull01]

Here's the little one I built for working cross-country...this trailer has more miles on it that most peoples' cars. Before being regulated to firewood hauling, it had a 3ft x 3ft x 6ft contractor's job box bolted to the deck.

View attachment 385132


It's a pintle hitch, for versatility...a lot of flex for offroad, and you can hook it to most HD equipment pretty easy (I had a D6 drag it about four miles off the beaten path to a jobsite). Plus, people don't ask to borrow it cause most people don't even know what a pintle hitch is...

I cut down a Dana 60 from an old Dodge truck for the axle, that gave me an 8 x 6.5 lug pattern that match the truck (at that time) so I could carry a single spare. It will fit 265x75r16 tires, its got 225x75r16, LR Es in the picture. Even loaded to the hilt, pulling a couple hundred miles straight from Albuquerque up across 54 out of Tucumcari into Kansas, the bearing would only get to about 135*F with ambient around 110*F. That's the beauty of big tires and big bearings, they aren't turning all that fast to generate heat.

Nice work. Never heard of a pintle hitch so I looked it up. How do you measure the bearing heat while driving?

 

[steved]

And further, that 102 has been from PA to Washington twice, got pulled into the scales twice (once in Iowa) to check my tanks for dyed fuel...they walked the trailer to make sure it was safe, never questioned the 102 width.

They gave me more grief about my safety chains on my little trailer (no keepers) than my pintle (again, that was an Iowa "safety inspection".

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[steved]

Nice work. Never heard of a pintle hitch so I looked it up. How do you measure the bearing heat while driving?

Infrared thermometer...one of those no-touch deals. Pull off the side of the road an shoot the hubs and tires once in a while.

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