Designing a Trailer

admin

Hey guys...So, I got this old truck last fall for next to nothing. Its an s10, with 324,000 miles. Its pretty much done for. I made a few videos with it, before one of my friends destroyed the clutch in it. The body is really beat up, the inside is a wreck, and its not drivable. I don't think its worth fixing up. If i did, i highly doubt I could get my $500 out of it. Anyway, instead of spending my (or his, rather) clutch money on a clutch, I'd rather keep it, sell some parts, and scrap the rest, excluding the back half, and the frame. Its a Florida truck, and the frame is solid. As is the bed, its rusted through along the wheel well on one side, but is otherwise good as new. Beat and dented to hell, yes, having a questionable integrity, no. I could really use a good trailer, and this is cheaper than building one from scratch, or buying one. I need some way to move scrap without feeling guilty about using my beautiful good truck. But, I've never built a trailer before. I trust my welds, I can pass a bend test on an open root weld in or out of position, and I'd feel completely safe following this thing down the highway. I feel most confident in my smaw welds, so I'd defiantly "stick" with that.I've never designed something like this, so I thought I'd share my plans. About a foot in front of the bed (I might want to add a toolbox), I'd bolt a crossmember (see picture), and directly in front of that, and then notch the top and bottom of the "C" frame. I'd then heat it up and bend it inwards, and then tack everything into position, and start welding. For the added support piece, I'd weld the big "T" joint, and where the ends meet the pates at the ends, with a 1/8" 6010 root pass, and then do two weave beads over it with 1/8" 7018. For the top, I'd run the same root pass, and cover it in a weave, and on the bottom, same root, but with stringers. Crossmember would be made out of rectangular tubing, 3/16" thick.Or, I guess I could leave a gap and do it all open root. I think thats the way to go here. And for the frame; thats not very thick, so I'd probably leave a tiny opening (<1/16), and run stringers over it with 3/32 7018, on both the top, and the bottom. I just want to know what yall think of this. I know I can do the welds, its mostly the design and the choice of what welds to do that I'm not sure about. And any feedback would be great. Its supposedly not very hard to register a trailer here in ohio (especially one under 2,000 lbs), but I'll defiantly look into that more before I start ordering steel, and sawing my truck in half. And yes, I do have a title for this truck, if that makes a difference.[Account Abandoned 8/8/16 Please Do Not Attempt Contact Or Expect A Reply]. See you on YouTube! -ChuckE2009
Reply:Originally Posted by LanseI just want to know what yall think of this. I know I can do the welds, its mostly the design and the choice of what welds to do that I'm not sure about. And any feedback would be great. Its supposedly not very hard to register a trailer here in ohio (especially one under 2,000 lbs), but I'll defiantly look into that more before I start ordering steel, and sawing my truck in half. And yes, I do have a title for this truck, if that makes a difference.
Reply:Alright, thanks for the input. A 1991 shortbed s10 is supposed to weigh 2648 lbs dripping wet, and these things are like tin cans in back. But even if it were evenly balanced, thats ~1300 lbs on each end. 700 lbs in something like that is quite a bit of scrap, and plus, theres a lot of other things that I could remove to lighten it up (brakes, gas tank, exhaust, drive shaft, etc). I'll look into the brake thing here... If I have to put electronic brakes on it, I'm assuming that i'd need a real trailer axle, and that would be a deal-breaker... I'd just go a step further, and build a bigger trailer, from the ground up. And they're defiantly not the classiest rigs out there, but I see nothing wrong with hauling scrap with one. Generally, I don't get that many looks cruising down the back roads with old farm junk anyway, and with a paint job (I'd take everything apart and sandblast, if its worth doing, its worth doing right), and a $30 used bed liner off of craigslist, it shouldn't be that bad. And with the weight thing in mind, I'd defiantly scrap the tool box idea. That gives me a foot less of frame weight, plus a few hundred pounds from not having a tool box, or the tools within.But the positives. This thing is wayyy lower than the tailgate of my Silverado, plus, i can drop things into it without fear of dents, move old fence/sheet metal/etc without worrying about the paint. And, I can just unhook the trailer if I decide to wait a little while to go somewhere with stuff. No more driving around loaded down with stuff... And lets see here... P.O.S S10 -$500Clutch money -$4002.8 v6 (sold for dirt cheap, parts, etc) -$300Transmission (same as above) -$225Scrap, from front half of truck -$100Various other parts, sold on craigslist, ebay, etc +$100Two chunks of steel to build support, a few electrodes $0I'll probably go over budget and end up having money in this thing, but I bet that I can find a lot of uses for it.[Account Abandoned 8/8/16 Please Do Not Attempt Contact Or Expect A Reply]. See you on YouTube! -ChuckE2009
Reply:Lots of slow moving water under this bridge. From a design standpoint (i.e. thumbnail engineering), always keep proper tongue weight. Balanced trailers (those that don't need a tongue jack) are unfit to drive highways, in my opinion. Pickup beds are usually going to balance with a short tongue like that, bad situation. You can overcome the balancing act with tongue weight,or tongue length. (That toolbox may not be such a bad idea after all.)The axle; minor headache because of weight and extra spinning parts that need lube and then the brake situation. You need brakes, period. Surge brakes ain't all bad if set up correctly and maintained. Surge disc brakes are awesome.  Honest to goodness trailer parts cost money though. Pickup bed trailers go off-road just fine.  Any pickup bed accessory bolts right up. A stretched tongue makes good usable space for things like...toolboxes, portable machines, cylinders, vises, etc., etc. Way back when I was a youngin', pop bought an old (circa 1930's) Ford pickup bed trailer that had seen more hard miles before I was born than it liked to let on. That thing has hauled everything we ever asked it to for probably 1/2 a million miles since we got it. Oh, it is still close to death, don't get me wrong! This is no Parade Queen.  The thing just keeps on truckin' somehow...yeah, I got a soft spot for the little, old Ford. Poor little sucker will prolly outlast me.  Attached ImagesCity of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny