Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Trailer abuse

Apparently a half cord of hardwood is a bit much for the little 4X8 trailer
Dad had found this old abandoned trailer behind his old college fraternity when they were doing a final clean up before deeding the building over to the college about twenty five years ago . He had put a new box on it that saw several years of use and exposure to the weather . After stepping though the floorboards while moving firewood , I built a new box on it last fall and put it to some use this year . Then shortly after hauling a half cord of firewood up to mom's I noticed the right side wheel was setting a bit cattywompus . I guess that would put a stop to all hauling activities until I fix it .
The prospect of lying under the thing to repair it was just not appealing , so time to rig up my old home made gantry crane in the barn , and make this a more pleasant job .
The axles are just stubs welded on to some U channel . Here you can see the ten degree bend it took on from carrying too much weight .
Take the wheels off and remove the axle assembly
A bit of grinding reveals the joint where it opened up
Then some persuading with a portable , manually operated , optically guided , inertial impact delivery device does the trick to close the gap and delete the bend   . . . never hit it harder , get a bigger hammer . . .
A bit of sketchy welding ties it all back together .
A couple sets of new U bolts
And it's back in place
Couple hours of work . . .  the hardest part was chasing down the new U bolts
As my electric winch does not have a reverse, yea it's a cheap Chinese POS, I rig up my block and tackle .
and start . . .
. . . to lower it back down on the wheels
Easy does it .
Back on terra firma again .
There good as new .
Back in service again .

Post-Script:

As I mentioned previously, last fall I rebuilt the box on the trailer . I thought I had posted about it but I guess with the storm in October and dad's passing It got by me . So here are some photos of that project .
 
Like I said I was moving some firewood for mom last fall and I stepped right through the floor boards
Sides were in pretty rough shape too
So those came off as well and I ground the rust off the frame and hit it with some Permatex rust converter .
Then some rattle can truck bed liner .
And painted it with some rattle can green paint .
Cut and painted up some new sideboards out of three quarter inch plywood
Bottom and sides drying on the saw horses . Used some real stinky oil based floor enamel .
Twelve dollars bought us a new wiring harness from Harbor Fright
Made, painted and installed new stakes. Must have done the job before the October storm as my fence is still all one color .
And got her done , mostly, though I still need to put proper rails on it to protect the top edge of the plywood.

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Haven't put it to the test since I welded up the axle but wort that can happen is it will break and I do have a welder. Looks like dad must have welded up the other side at some point in the past. I am fairly certain it will hold.

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  2. Que chico habilidoso... Ya tienes con que ir a juntar muebles, fridges y TVs de gente que compró nuevos.

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    1. Quizás en argentina sea así, pero aquí las tiendas entregan esos trastes a la casa del comprador. Va incluido en el precio de la compra. En cuanto a lo de habilidoso, es mas que todo desesperación, si no lo arreglo yo nadie mas lo hace.

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  3. That's a really nice trailer. Worth some good money if you decided to sell it. I've always stuck with pick up trucks, because I can't back a trailer worth a damn, but for people who can do it, it's a lot cheaper way to haul stuff than maintaining a vehicle just for occasional use.

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    1. It definitely has come in handy for hauling firewood and building materials. I cant imagine I'd ever sell it. I do have a 4x4 truck with a cap too, but hardly use it these days as I find the van so much more practical and comfortable for daily use. With a low deck height and three doors it is much easier to load my tools in and I don't have to crawl all the way in the thing on my knees to get to heavy tools way at the front of the bed like I do with the truck. The truck only gets 13 mpg where the van gets between 25 and 30 mpg. In the end the van with the trailer is a much more useful combination.

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