6x10 Utility Trailer Build

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the compliments guys. This was my first time trying to video tape my welding. It is harder than I thought trying to work around the camera and capture everything. I hope it was beneficial to you guys. There have been a lot of questions and/or debating lately about this technique so I just thought I would throw out my two cents worth of opinion and assist someone who wants to try it or just learn the basics.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I was able to spend some time in the shop last night and got some more work done on my utility trailer project.
I mocked up the tongue, decided on a tongue length and welded the coupler on, then took a pie cut out of the sides and 45- degreed the ends with caps.

The 45-degree ends with caps are merely for aesthetics.

Clamped the tongue in place and pulled a line with a plumb bob for the tongue centerline to ensure it is in line with the axle centerline and trailer centerline.

Some more random welds from last nights work.

Next up will be welding the axle brackets on and flipping it right side up, installing tires/wheels and working on fenders and the sides/front framework.
Mike.

 

[Bart]

Looks great and love the welds.

 

[sixstringsteve]

One more question for ya. What are those beads of "sweat" in your welds? I never saw those on my flux-core welds, but when I use gas my welds "sweat" too. Is it just the impurities of the metals? Or a byproduct of the welding process? It reminds me of flux when soldering. Are these sweat-looking drops bad? Is there a way to avoid them? I realize they all go away with a wire wheel, I'm just curious what causes them.

 

[CobraNutt]

Good question, Steve! I was wondering the same thing!

Sent from my mystical handheld gizmo.

 

[zmotorsports]

One more question for ya. What are those beads of "sweat" in your welds? My welds do that too. Is it just the impurities of the metals? It reminds me of flux when soldering. Are these sweat-looking drops bad? Is there a way to avoid them? I realize they all go away with a wire wheel, I'm just curious what causes them.

Good question and one that is often answered incorrectly. Some people think that it is the silicone in the wire and therefore the -6 wire may exhibit more of it than the -3 wire. Incorrect, both the -6 and the -3 wire do the same thing. The next answer is that it is the copper coating on the wire. This is actually correct but for the wrong reason most people think. Most think the copper is to protect the wire against corrosion. Again, incorrect. The copper coating is not thick enough to prevent any corrosion and the wire will still rust when on the spool if it comes in contact with moisture.

The real reason the welding wire manufacturers use copper coating on the wire is because this small amount of copper acts as a lubricant for the dies that the wire is pulled through for sizing purposes. It helps the dies last longer, bottom line.

It does not hurt anything as far as weld strength because it floats to the top of the weld pool as the puddle is molten. One thing to keep in mind though is if you are trying to get that stack of dimes look like I have been demonstrating above, if you make the loop too large and come back on the puddle too far you can trap this copper in the weld and it can show up as impurities in the weld. This is why I emphasize always at all times keep at the leading edge of the puddle and mover the puddle where you want it to go rather than quickly flicking the gun and flopping the puddle back over the previously deposited metal. I hope that makes sense, sometimes it is hard to explain verbally vs. demonstrating.

Personally, I think this floating copper it is kind of cool looking on the weld bead. Just be sure to remove it prior to topcoating/painting.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks great and love the welds.

Thanks Bart, I appreciate that. Unfortunately on another forum I am getting verbally abused for these same welds. Even though I explain that this technique is more prevalent in the motorsports industry and I am crystal clear about that, I continually get the keyboard expert's whos brother-in-law twice removed knows a guy who knows a guy who was once certified and he said the weld is "unsafe". Gotta love the internet.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I finally got around to doing some work on the trailer over the weekend. It is taking me a little longer than projected but I have had quite a few interruptions.
I returned the 9" wide fenders that I had originally purchased and bought some 10" wide ones so I could mount them directly to the side of the deck without having to space them out to get tire coverage.

I cut some 14 gauge sheet metal out to enclose the back of the fenders.

After TIG welding the back on I metal finished the welds and clamped them onto the trailer for a test fit.

I then fabricated some fender supports out of 1.5" square tubing. I cut the ends at a 45-degree angle, caped them and drilled a .780" hole in the ends for small LED lights at the end of each one, amber front, red rear of the fender.

Fender supports welded onto the side of the deck.

Moved the trailer to the lift so I don't have to stand on my head to weld. I now am using some thinner wall tubing for the front and sides.

I 45-ed the end pieces for a nicely finished corner.

And for the side appearance, I angled a tube back from the front to intersect the sides mid-point between the front of the fender and the front of the trailer. This will give me some attachment points to cover the exterior with ATP.

That was about all I was able to get completed over the weekend. Next up is to fabricate some tail light housings, add a couple more vertical supports for the perimeter metal tubing, drill holes for the marker lights and come up a storage mounting method to hold the ramps under the trailer. Then she is ready for paint.
Mike.

 

[sixstringsteve]

looks killer!

 

[I Lean]

Out of curiosity, how do the fenders attach? On my little trailer I got lazy and just welded them on, but I'm sure that's not the "right" way.

 

[zmotorsports]

Out of curiosity, how do the fenders attach? On my little trailer I got lazy and just welded them on, but I'm sure that's not the "right" way.

The fenders are welded on. I welded them on the bottom attaching them to the fender supports. There is a slight gap at the top of the support/fender intersection but this will be filled with a urethane seam sealer prior to paint.

Nothing wrong with welding fenders on, I have bolted them as well but I wanted to tie the side rails into the fenders for added support and strength so I just opted to weld them.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I still have some vertical tubing to add, ran out of time yesterday. I will put a vertical tube at the intersection of the horizontal tube and the angled tube as well as a vertical tube in front of and behind the fenders. I also still need to add two additional vertical tubes for the front.

Mike.

 

[nnnnnate]

What size and wall tube are you using for the vertical pieces? 1.5" square? I really like how you added those light spots on the fender supports.

 

[zmotorsports]

What size and wall tube are you using for the vertical pieces? 1.5" square? I really like how you added those light spots on the fender supports.

Thanks. The tubing for the front and sides is 1" square tube x 12-gauge I believe. I had it left over from another project, quite a bit lighter than the main deck.

The fender supports are 1.5"x .188" wall, heavier than it needed to be for sure but I had it lying around as well.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night I was able to get the E-Track welded down and primed between the fenders and fender struts then applied some urethane seam sealer.

Overview of the trailer so far. Verticals are all welded in for the perimeter.

E-Track welded down. I welded some .875" spacers to the cross supports which brought the E-Track up flush with the top of the decking and will also be flush with the 2x8's I am using for the decking. This way everything will be flush rather than having the E-Track on top of the flooring.

One of the welds on the E-Track.

I scuffed and primered down in between the fender support struts and the fenders for corrossion protection.

Next I used some 3M urethane seam sealer to fill the gaps and keep moisture and debris out.

I then decided to commence work on the tail light boxes. I just clamped some 2"x4"x.188" tubing in my mill vise and used a 2.5" hole saw to cut out each end then a die grinder to remove the small remaining piece in between.

Next I need to modify the back of the tail light box to allow room for the connector and also drill a .875" hole in the side of the tail light box for the small LED marker light.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I had about an hour last night between other tasks so I decided to fabricate my tail light boxes and get them ready to weld onto the deck of the trailer.

I used 2"x4"x.188" tubing, cut the radii for the tail lights with a 2.5" hole saw, drilled the hole in the side for the small LED marker light and then capped the top, bottom and boxed the rear where the plug was hitting the inside of the tubing.

Here are the completed boxes. One with lights mocked up and the other without.

Backside. Here you can see where I had to make a box to clear the electrical plug on the backside of the flush mounted light.

A few of the welds on the tail light boxes.

I drilled a hole on the side where they will mount to the deck of the trailer, then drilled a corresponding hole in the deck of the trailer to fish the wiring through so no wires should be exposed or visible.

Next order of business is to weld the tail light boxes onto the deck of the trailer and move on to figuring out what to do for ramps and mounting.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I completed my ramp modifications, the ramp storage configuration and my ramp attachment system last night.

I used some existing aluminum ramps and just cut them down and modified them for my trailer project. First thing was to remove the tall side that existed on one side of each ramp. I removed the side rail and cut it on my vertical bandsaw then riveted it back onto the extruded aluminum sections. I also welded the end pieces and cut the flat at the end off and welded a 90-degree lip onto the end so it could sit down into a channel when needed to load or unload a wheeled item.

Here are a few of my aluminum welds on the lip end. These were not the clean, virgin aluminum that I like to weld but in the end the welds turned out fair.

I then set the trailer on the ground and took a couple pictures of it just to see the stance and overall profile.

I had been thinking long and hard about how to come up with an attachment design/system to keep the ramp from slipping when loading or unloading something. Years ago on a snowmobile trailer I modified for a friend, I used a piece of tubing welded across the rear of the trailer with corresponding pieces welded onto the ends of the ramps that would sit down on the round tubing. This worked well and looked OK, but not as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked. I saw one the other day in a parking lot that had a piece of angle iron welded to the end of the deck in which the ramps sat down into and although the thought was there again it looked terrible. I thought about leaving the large flat section on the ramp and let is sit over the top of the rear of the deck but I worried about two things; first, scratching the crap out of the top of the rear perimeter piece of 2x3 tubing and secondly without it actually "locking" down into something it was a safety issue if it slid out from under whatever either my son or I was loading. Both of which were unacceptable outcomes.

I decided I liked the angle iron method as it was simple and effective but I didn't like the looks plus the "channel" ends up being a catch all for dirt, road spray and grime. I settled on a "modified" channel design that allowed me to use my lathe to make some small bungs that I would use as stand-offs for a piece of 1"x .250 flat bar. This would leave the bottom of the channel open for debris to fall through and wash off.

Flat bar used.

Bungs being tapped to 5/16-18 threads.

Parting off @ .250".

Five bungs threaded, parted and ready to space and weld onto the rear of the deck.

I mocked up the flat bar and bungs into a position in which would allow the ramps to sit flat or flush with the rear deck of the trailer when they are in the groove.

Bung welded onto the rear deck. Threads go through the bung as well as the rear deck threaded which is another .188" in thickness.

Overview of all five welded on the rear of the deck.

Rear ramp attachment points completed.

Open out the bottom to illeviate the possibility of debris getting trapped.

Here is a picture of one of the ramps locked into the groove to show how the ramp will sit flush with the deck.

Next up is a design change. I was originally going to mount the spare tire on the tongue just in front of the ATP that will be on the front and sides. I had wanted to come up with something for storage of tie downs so I could keep everything with the trailer rather than having to store the tie-downs in the shop and then have to remember to grab them when I hooked up the trailer. I had looked at some diamond plate aluminum ones and others but they were well beyond my budget and I am already a bit over budget on this trailer. I got an email from etrailer.com the other day showing a smaller poly tongue box that fit the bill perfectly and was priced fairly well.

I am leaning towards moving my spare tire mount to the underside of the deck just under the front of the trailer. My thinking is two-fold; first, it would protect the spare from UV and I wouldn't have to get a cover for it and secondly because it would clean-up the look of the tongue of the trailer without having a spare tire mounted there. I think under the trailer it is. Out of sight. That is next on the agenda for tonight.

Mike.

 

[sixstringsteve]

killer design with those ramps.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks Steve. I appreciate that.

Mike.

 

[rholbrook]

If you are mounting your spare under the front, may I suggest that you mount it between the rails on your tongue. If you mount it under the rails you will drag it, if you mount it up and between, it will keep the spare up and out of the way. I had my boat spare mounted that way because it would drag on the occasional exit or entry of some driveways. If you were to ever take this trailer off-road, you would want it up out of the way.