finally found a trailer worth a poopoo...

[jekbrown]

found a guy local to me that has a good looking trailer (I think anyway!). The guy got it used in Utah when he needed to move a newer Ford superduty desiel from Utah to Washington. Made the trip fine, now he doesn't really need it anymore.

The bed on it is 7'9" wide... which is more than enough for my fullwidth truggy on 44s. w00t! Not sure what the axle rating is, but if hauling a full-bodied desiel didn't break 'em I doubt my body-less little rig would. Pics....

the frame on the thing looks plenty beefy. I'd probably cut/lower the railing around the perimeter. I know they make the frame more rigid, but its sort of goofy-tall the way it is now. 2-5/16" coupler, frame looks plenty beefy.

Guy wants $1500 and may be willing to trade some stuff to help bring the cost down. I sent him a list of stuff I have / can do... maybe we can work something out.

what say you trailer gurus?

j

 

[dhcomp]

how many lugs?

 

[mikey_d05]

What's the bolt pattern on the wheels? How hard does it look to change a tire if one goes flat?

I say it looks pretty decent. You might regret having the weight up a little higher when you're using a bumper pull but only time will tell. I like it. Now cut that stupid railing off!

 

[TexasBlazerBoy]

not a trailer guru, but it looks plenty beefy. good find

 

[jekbrown]

already asked about lug nut count, I'm just waiting to hear back from him.

The height looks ok to me... could be better... could be worse. He has wood sitting on top of it, but the thing has the wheel wells poking through the frame so its not like its a deck-over or anything.

Dunno about changing tires... highlift on the frame right next to the tires? might work, if the trailer was loaded though, it might be a challenge. I dunno, never had a trailer... like this one or not. lol! maybe someone who has will chime in...

As soon as I got it I'd take the deck off, clean everything up, lower that railing, add some d-rings, prime/paint, add a tool box and then work on the deck. Some of the deck doesn't look very good really. Thats ok though, because I'd rather have wood decking where tires would go along the sides... but a dropped center section (between frame members) lined with extruded steel mesh for storage of various things in the middle. I could pick the best deck planks and use them on the sides, and make firewood (or replacement decking!) from the left-overs.

j

 

[jekbrown]

btw, anyone else jealous of all the **** this guy has at his house? got a semi, some kind of heavy equipment thingy, an air hose reel (big compressor somewhere!), decent looking 80s furd work truck, big boat (it was in another pic he sent me, just the nose of the bow is peeking out in pic #1) and a ginormous shop with hella-tall doors. Nice! not sure what that weird thing is on the right side of the last pic (you can see a hydro ram pretty clearly)... but it looks cool!

j

 

[mikey_d05]

I don't know chit about the PNW but it looks like a farmplace to me.

Didn't look close enough to realize it wasn't a true deckover. That should help a bit.

 

[jekbrown]

yeah, the area he is in is getting close to the toolies. Dunno if he has a farm or horse pastures or whatever, but neither would be surprising out there.

j

 

[ntsqd]

That deck looks deliberate to me. Like maybe they were afraid of driving over the trailer tires. The tire change thing merits looking into, but this is by far the best one you've found yet.
I doubt those rails are doing much for the frame's strength.

About the only thing I don't like about it is that the tongue is pretty short. I'd be really tempted to cut the front of the deck back to just in front of your buggy once the ideal position for it was found. Maybe then those front corners won't crease your tow rig, and you won't be tempted to upset the tongue weight by piling tons 'o crappola on in front of the buggy.

 

[83ZZ502_Jimmy]

Jek,

I completely admire your "thriftability" in things. But the one thing I have learned is to never buy a used trailer, no matter how good the deal seems. This is however, the best one I've seen you post so far. But still...

I have been down this exact road you are on. Please don't take my experiences as criticism in this case, I just know what a "$1500" trailer really costs..

By the time you pay for it:
Change the hub bearings
Fix the lights
Possibly redo the wiring
Make sure the trailer brakes work, replace if needed
Fix/replace the decking
Cut those rails down
Add a decent hitch coupler to it, (the one on there is not the greatest IMO)
Add a new jack to it (the one on it has seen better days)
I don't see any ramps
New tire(s) - They should all match, because even the smallest difference in size will make the new one wear fast

IMHO it doesn't add up. You can buy a new trailer for $2500 with everything you need and most important, peace of mind that it won't break down on you at the most inopportune time.

Just some friendly advice from a fellow CK5'er who's done all this before.

John

 

[jekbrown]

yeah I hear ya. Some of that stuff is just labor/time (i work cheap) so it wouldn't be a problem. Parts (brakes and such) would be the biggest expense. I have scrap steel laying around that I could make ramps into, for example.

I have pondered getting a new trailer, but they are mad coin... and there doesn't seem to be a lot of good trailer builders in my area, just places that sell trailers that other people made (mark up, transport costs etc...ka-ching!). Pretty lame.

The way I figure, if I got a trailer like this I could use it as-is for a little while and change things as supplies/$$$ is available. I have plenty of wire wheels, rattle can paint and cut off wheels, I could do most of what I wanted to do to it right now with no additional out-of-pocket $$. That'd be nice. Just a matter of how much $ I'd have to shell out for brakes, bearings and tires to get it useable.

sigh. I dunno.

j

 

[jekbrown]

I found a guy on craiglist that runs a trailer fab biz. I asked him about pricing and options and stuff and this is the response i got...

Sorry no goosenecks. Standard trailer with wheel wells on the outside is 81" frame 7' between fenders, otherwise it is up to 8'6" deck over the wheels, but they are high off the ground. i can fab to any stage you like..
basic complete 7x20 7k is $2100 ready to roll with ramps, led lighting, torflex torsion axles,brakes, 2x4 pockets and more. all c-channel frame.

I'm not sure the axles he sells are the widest available or just the ones he uses on all his trailers. I don't think 7' between the fenders is enough for a rig with 44s. Not that bad a deal, I could just fab some drive-over fenders from tube.

The coolest thing about this guy is that he will "fab to any stage you like"... which means I might be able to save myself some coin by doing a bunch of work myself (bonus!). The $2100 price also includes torflex type axles... which cost more than leaf sprung ones. It also includes ramps and stake pockets... both of which I could do myself no problemo. This is for 3500 pound axles... if the heaviest thing I ever haul is a body-less truggy, that'd prolly be fine. If I wanted to haul something heavier I wouldn't be able too. Not really that big of a loss... the next project is a single seat tube buggy with yota parts (light!).... not a quad cab on rockies and 53a.

here is their web site...

http://www.ms-trailer.com/

i wonder how much he'd want for a bare bones trailer that I could just finish myself (paint, build ramps, decking etc). Hmmmm...

j

 

[rjfguitar]

btw, anyone else jealous of all the **** this guy has at his house? got a semi, some kind of heavy equipment thingy, an air hose reel (big compressor somewhere!), decent looking 80s furd work truck, big boat (it was in another pic he sent me, just the nose of the bow is peeking out in pic #1) and a ginormous shop with hella-tall doors. Nice! not sure what that weird thing is on the right side of the last pic (you can see a hydro ram pretty clearly)... but it looks cool!

j

Shoot, I've got 10 times as much stuff as what that guy appears to have..... it's just more crap to change oil in every year.....

 

[rjfguitar]

personally, I think that trailer looks too heavy. I'd guess they are 6K axles??? Very likely. I think it's overkill for a K5 hauler.

You're going to weigh a ton with that trailer and you're going to suck down a crap load of gas for beefieness for a trailer that is way overkill.

I'd look for a 10K trailer with a lighter duty deck.