"Wingin' it" 4x6-ish Trailer Thread

[nnnnnate]

Couple update pics. I worked for about 4 hours this afternoon and got the side rails totally finished. It was a ton of work getting the side rails on and trying to square everything up. I'm about 3/16th off on the width from front to back but I figure thats pretty close. I had planned to work on the sheet metal tomorrow but I'm pretty exhausted so we'll see, I have a hard time sitting still though so I'm sure I'll do something with it.

 

[sixstringsteve]

That's a beauty nate!

 

[jeeper]

Looking awesome!

 

[nnnnnate]

Thanks guys. I just finished up for the day, I got all the sheet fitted which took a ton of grinding. I kind of wanted to tack the sheet into place but started to wonder if I shouldn't add some more cross bracing for the floor to try and keep the sheet from deforming. Adam or Carl or anyone else that has a little trailer, have any of you had bowing in the floor? I've got some 1.5" square thats .06 thick that I could add to try and help out. Being that its so thin though would it do any good?

I'll think about it the rest of the weekend then probably start welding it into place on Monday. I also need to figure out the best way to weld thin-ish sheet to thicker tube. I'll probably post up in the welding thread for tips on that.

 

[thefirstzukman]

I used a sheet of osb on the bottom of mine, will do the same if I build a new one. It makes it really easy to add & move anchor points or bolt anything down to it. I coated the bottom side with undercoating spray and bed liner on the top. My experience with metal on the floor was everything slides too easy and if it is too thin you can have stress cracking around the welds. If you are welding thick steel to thin steel just concentrate your heat on the thick piece and let the weld flow onto the thin piece and cut power quick, you want as little heat as possible on that thin sheeting.

 

[I Lean]

Thanks guys. I just finished up for the day, I got all the sheet fitted which took a ton of grinding. I kind of wanted to tack the sheet into place but started to wonder if I shouldn't add some more cross bracing for the floor to try and keep the sheet from deforming. Adam or Carl or anyone else that has a little trailer, have any of you had bowing in the floor? I've got some 1.5" square thats .06 thick that I could add to try and help out. Being that its so thin though would it do any good?

I'll think about it the rest of the weekend then probably start welding it into place on Monday. I also need to figure out the best way to weld thin-ish sheet to thicker tube. I'll probably post up in the welding thread for tips on that.

I used 16ga for my sheeting, and it's fairly solid between the crossmembers--which are around 20" apart. There is a support in the center also. I did have some warping from welding, which can't be easily avoided.

If you want to use that square tube for support, there wouldn't be any problem with that. It will add a lot of rigidity.

For the slick-floor issue of steel, that's why I have the rubber bed mat in the bottom.

 

[I Lean]

You can see the warping here:

 

[Box Rocket]

Nate, I used 16ga for all the sheetmetal including the floor on mine. You have as much bracing for the floor with your chassis as I do so I don't think you'll need any more. I got a bit of slight warping on mine but nothing bad. Not enough that I've ever had an issue or worried about it. Just take your time when you stitch it in move to different areas and let welds cool before doing the next one in that area.

 

[nnnnnate]

Cross bracing tacked in down the center. I just used some thin walled 1.5" square, I think it was .06".



I got the floor welded in. I tacked it around the edges then crawled underneath to weld the sheet to the cross members in a few places but it didn't go well. I burned a hole in one place and just couldn't see well enough to get the bead in the right place. I think I'm going to have to stand the trailer on a side or something to get the bottom done.

I was going to tack on the side panels but realized I had forgotten to trim them down the length so I called it a night and will work on that later this week.



I started to think about paint and looked into Raptor liner like Adam used. I'll probably go that route but for giggles I think I'm going to check on powder coating though I doubt I'll be able to afford that.

Also, I realized this morning I screwed up and didn't extend the sides all the way to the back of the rear "bumper," I set the rear vertical post at the front of that tube which will mess up the hinging of my tailgate. I was kind of bummed about that but I think I will weld an additional vertical post there to fill in the gap. Hopefully that will do the trick.

I ended up ordering some fenders today from e-trailer. From the frame to the outside of my tire is 13.5", I checked State Trailer and Hendersons and neither place had anything in stock (state) or could get something (henderson) wider than 10". I found some fenders that are 13"x36"x20" and hope they will work out for me. They were $45 each so they were definitely not cheap. Since I was $10 from the free shipping cutoff I added a tongue jack to the order and saved $45 in shipping fees and I was pretty happy I already got shipping info.

 

[nnnnnate]

I'm not a big fan of welding sheet metal I decided this afternoon.

 

[Lord Al Sorna]

Red Bull gives you wings Good looking progress, and you are on the downhill slope now! I don't know if you saw this on my thread or are already aware of it, but State Trailer Supply in WVC is an awesome resource for all things trailer related, and they have things in stock (lighting, jacks, fenders, plugs, springs, shackles, etc...) That became my candy store pretty quickly.

 

[nnnnnate]

Red Bull gives you wings Good looking progress, and you are on the downhill slope now! I don't know if you saw this on my thread or are already aware of it, but State Trailer Supply in WVC is an awesome resource for all things trailer related, and they have things in stock (lighting, jacks, fenders, plugs, springs, shackles, etc...) That became my candy store pretty quickly.

Thanks, yeah I'm not too far from State Trailer and have been there a few times.

 

[UNSTUCK]

I don't think welding sheet is the problem. It's just that welding vertical and upside down is completely different than welding flat, like you have been. We talked about it a bit at my house, but didn't practice it. For these vertical welds, run the weld downhill and try to go slower than what you were doing flat, so turn your speed down. This will help keep your puddle from dropping. For the upside down, it's just the opposite. If you find you are dropping big drops of weld that explode when they hit the ground, you need to turn your speed up a bit. Remember to focus on the thicker material and then pull the puddle over to the sheet for just a split second, then get back over to the thicker stuff.

Keep going. It's looking good.

 

[I Lean]

....and no matter what you do, 18gauge is thin and will suck to weld. That is all.

 

[skippy]

in stead of welding a bead on the thin steel, if you drill holes and plug weld it to the cross members it will minimize warping.

 

[nnnnnate]

I worked for about 5 hours this today and feel like I got a lot done but the trailer really doesn't look any different. I finished up welding the sheet metal, chopped off the wings I had in front of the platform, mounted the jack, built a tailgate, and did a ton of grinding.

I got my fenders on Thursday and I thought I was going to get them mounted today but I put them off. I've been playing with the axle trying to figure out if I want it SOA or SUA and I'm still not decided. With it SOA its about 2" higher than the hitch on my JK, SUA is about 2" lower. I don't think I need the height but I just need to decide what I want out of it before I do the fenders.

 

[nnnnnate]

Started to mount the fenders this afternoon, things went pretty well.

Here I have the front and rear supports tacked on and the fender supported with jacks to check the fit. Since I don't really know how much room I should give I landed on this and thought it was pretty good. The spacing is pretty even all around the fender in relation to the tire.



Here I notched the fender on the inside so it will sit flush on the tub and clear the frame.



In the first picture you can see that the fenders extend down quiet a bit past the frame, its just under 6". I was trying to figure out the best way to attach the fenders to the trailer and I think I'd like to bolt it on. So I figured I'd take a gamble and I notched the front of one of them and tried to bend 2" flat so I would curl under the front support and I could then bolt it on there. That worked pretty well but it didn't bend as crisp as I had hoped it would. I figured worst case I would just chop that 2" piece off and go from there. I'm not sure if doing that was a good idea or not still. Whats the easiest way to bend the fender lip? Its 16 GA I think.

I was thinking that I would put 2 bolts on the front support and two on the rear support then one at the top where it crosses the vertical tub support. Is that enough?

Thanks for the feedback. I'm getting close to being done which means I'm almost out of stupid questions. I'm trying to do a big push this week so I can take it to the swell on Friday. It won't be painted by then but it'll give me a chance to use it and see if I need to make any changes or additions before then.

 

[CobraNutt]

Looks good Nate!I would probably add bit more clearance between the tire and fender. It's a light trailer, but once you load it full of gear and hit a few bumps, I'm thinking you're going to get some contact up there with the current spacing.

You can see mine...unloaded (~850 lbs) there is about 6" or more between the tire and top of fender. Loaded with 30+ gallons of water and a bike brings them a little closer... The trail I'm sure brings them even closer! Just something to think about.

 

[zmotorsports]

Lookin' good Nate.

Mike.

 

[sixstringsteve]

You're definitely going to want more clearance between the tire and fender, unless you managed to install those at full bump (kinda hard to do with leafs). Don't forget your tires move up with the suspension. The last thing you want is your tires coming in contact with the fenders.