Aluminum Trailer

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I am not sure if this is the right section, if it isn't could a mod please move it to the correct place.  Thanks.Ok, I want to discuss aluminum trailers.  I have built steel trailers before and I can weld aluminum.  Now I want to make an aluminum trailer.  I am wondering is there is anything special I should take into consideration?I am thinking of doing the main frame out of either 1/4"-3/8" 6061 T6 aluminum C channel.Does anyone maybe have some pictures of aluminum trailers that they have built?Thermal Arc 210Thermal Arc 95SLincoln Weld Pak 100
Reply:I think aluminum trailers are normally bolted together rather than welded but I'd be interested in seeing the same.  I'd especially like to see ones that are completely or 'almost' completely welded that have been 'well used'./Jman...
Reply:Just some constructive (I hope) comments...I've looked at a bunch of aluminum trailers, and for all the weight savings there are serious issues with them.  For trailers that go into the water, or get used in the winter time, corrosion is a serious problem.  The water or salt and water eat the trailer up and it looks like swiss cheese unless you take extra precautions to clean it regularly.  There are also real problems with galvanic corrosion; corrosion from contact between dissimilar metals.  Most of the aluminum trailers I've seen have serious corrosion where springs and spring perches are mounted to the trailer frame.  Steel springs and mounting hardware, bolts, washers, nuts, in direct contact with the aluminum frame are a ready-made galvanic cell.  Failure at these points is very common.If you're going to build aluminum trailers, you need to do some homework and figure out how to prevent these issues.Another issue I have with aluminum trailers is that it is always accumulating damage from fatigue.  With steel, you can engineer a trailer such that the loading does not cause fatigue damage in the load-bearing members.  Structural aluminum subjected to cyclic loading(like bouncing down the freeway) is always slowly accumulating fatigue damage.  This is why airplanes are subjected to rigorous inspection and periodic maintenance.  Aluminum trailers deserve a similar kind of attention.Lastly, jman mentioned that aluminum trailers are assembled using fasteners instead of welding.  This is because welding deteriorates the strength in the HAZ, gained from heat treating the aluminum.  You mentioned using 6061 T6, a high strength heat treated aluminum alloy.  Welding this stuff will significan't lower the strength of the aluminum in and around the weld joints.  You need to factor this into the design, both for the load the trailer is intended to carry, and in the fatigue life of the joints.  Lower strength means faster accumulation of fatigue damage.Listen, obviously people are building and selling aluminum trailers, so it can be done.  Don't take my comments to suggest that it's impossible.  But, I do suggest that it's a different animal from the steel trailers you've built before, and there are serious design and fabrication issues you need to investigate before you start.I don't think that the people buying and selling small aluminum trailers for personal use are doing a good job of addressing these issues.  Salesmen don't advise buyers of the risks, and owners typically do a poor job inspecting and maintaining these trailers.  I think this is why you'll see them in wrecks or on the side of the road missing an axle so often.Personally, I wouldn't build or buy an aluminum trailer for all the reasons I mentioned above.  But that's just my personal opinion....Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:Thank you very much for your post.  That is exactly what kind of information I was hoping to see.  I realized that there was going to be issues with strength in weld areas and corrosion issues, so I didn't just want to jump into this as if it were a steel trailer.  I think maybe I will go around to some of the bigger trailer dealers and take a look at how they have avoided these issues (if they have) and go from there, changing what I think needs changing.Thermal Arc 210Thermal Arc 95SLincoln Weld Pak 100
Reply:what size trailer are you looking to build?Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Nothing crazy.  I want to start out with something like a single place motorcycle trailer, and then do something like a 5x10 utility or a double place snowmobile trailer.  Largest I would ever get would be a car hauler.Thermal Arc 210Thermal Arc 95SLincoln Weld Pak 100
Reply:Did you build anything?  If so, lets see pictures.My level of understanding of aluminum trailer design is about a 1.5 out of 10.  However, a few things to think about.1. I thought most aluminum trailers that are welded use tortion axles with rubber where the trailer bolts to the axle and stainless steel hardware.  Everything else is aluminum beside the coupler.2. It's common knowledge in the enclosed snowmobile trailer market that enclosed aluminum snowmobile trailers last much longer than enclosed steel frame snowmobile trailers.  This is only when the trailer manufacturer makes the effort to minimize steel on aluminum contact with the axle.  (very few that snowmobile will disagree with this, but some do).  I also routinely see open 2 place snowmobile trailers made out of aliminum and manufacured in the mid 90s in great shape, but hardly ever steel trailers.3.  I've always heard that aluminum semi-trailers outlast steel semi trailers?4. New railroad cars are made out of aluminum.  There must be a reason?
Reply:Originally Posted by aex3xDid you build anything?  If so, lets see pictures.My level of understanding of aluminum trailer design is about a 1.5 out of 10.  However, a few things to think about.4. New railroad cars are made out of aluminum.  There must be a reason?
Reply:Originally Posted by steve_o1989Nothing crazy.  I want to start out with something like a single place motorcycle trailer, and then do something like a 5x10 utility or a double place snowmobile trailer.  Largest I would ever get would be a car hauler.
Reply:Originally Posted by DSWMy guess on that is weight savings. Multiply the weight saved by the number of cars and that starts to add up to big money savings in fuel at these prices now. It's a primary reason the Navy uses Alum in destroyers, cruisers, frigates etc for superstructure and so on. Less weight high up, lowering the center of gravity, increasing stability, and savings in fuel as well as increasing speed for the same HP.
Reply:I actually never did get around to building the trailer.  I didn't have enough time over the summer.  Too many other, more important things that needed to be done.The only major project that I was able to complete was this:It's just an aluminum headache rack and rails for my stepdad's hunting truck.I would still like to build an aluminum trailer, but there are a few other things I need to do first.  If I get anything else built this year, it is going to be an aluminum sled-deck for my truck, then I have a little bit of welding to do on my bike.I REALLY want to get a tig, but I am a broke *** college student right now, and that is no fun haha.  As much as I want one to do aluminum odds and ends as well as stainless exhausts, it is going to have to wait.  I can do most aluminum that I want with my spool gun, and I just wanted to start pissing around with stainless.  Not really a priority.Thermal Arc 210Thermal Arc 95SLincoln Weld Pak 100