Gooseneck service trailer

[red EOD]

Removed the lower bar from the door latch and now it's easy to close. Eventually will make a new one that is completely straight and drill a hole for it.





Curiosity got the better of me today and I'll admit it doesn't look as tacky as I expected it to haha.




If the front boxes are cut to clear the gooseneck supports then everything can be slid forward 16in, which leaves less than 4in of boxes hanging off the rear of the trailer (currently 19.5in not including the bumper).





Cut out the section of the wheel well that was preventing the lathe from going all the way in to it's area. Some quick work with the torch and now it's able to fit completely inside.













I think if all the wheel wells are converted to boxes, everything slid forward, ladder rack removed, bumper cut off, and a little bit of sheet metal/paint work is done it will end up looking pretty decent and very functional.

 

[ryoken]

that lathe is just about identical to mine..

 

[red EOD]

that lathe is just about identical to mine..

Are you sure I didn't "tactically acquired" your lathe out of your shop?......... hahaha. From what I've learned there are quite of few of these Atlas/Craftsman lathes floating around. This one's a 12"x36" model.

The more I look at the trailer with both beds the more it's growing on me, especially once those wheel wells are turned into boxes like how the lathe one is becoming. Once the ladder rack is gone there won't be anything up above the boxes

 

[red EOD]

Since I had the torch nearby while working on other stuff.....

 

[imiceman44]

Assuming you will weld the boxes in that area to replace the braces you have cut out?

 

[red EOD]

Assuming you will weld the boxes in that area to replace the braces you have cut out?

Yep that's the plan. probably run a piece of 5/16" thick angle iron 3"x5" between the upright and bed to help spread the load as the neck tries to flex.

 

[red EOD]

More difficult than expected. Cleaned up the cuts then dragged the front bed all the way up to the neck. Front of that service bed and the gooseneck were slightly tweaked which required some heat on the neck and use of the come along to get everything right. Then did a little bit of welding to secure the front bed into position.

After that dropped the trailer all the way down, removed the ladder rack, and tossed the welder in. The little 4500 lb winch will be coming out soon, probably put it in the rear of the k5.

 

[red EOD]

Finally got around to the waste oil filtration setup. Have a roughly 55 gallon fuel tank sitting in the bed that's plumbed into the filters. Apply some air pressure, then the oil flows through the filters into the vehicles for fuel. First 3 are all water separators and the final is a sub 5 micron. The drain pan also gets stored in this box.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

Maybe I missed this but what are you running on waste oil?

 

[78K30]

Maybe I missed this but what are you running on waste oil?

That little isuzu would be happy running on a decently thick mixture I would think. The guy I sold my 92 Cummins to years ago ran it on 70%/30% diesel/used oil mix during the summer just fine. Probably a little thicker than I would go but it worked for him.

 

[red EOD]

Yea I run up to about a 50/50 mix during the warmer weather of either diesel/veggy oil, or diesel/waste oils. Been running it in the 6.2 that was in the crew cab, 6.2 in the k5 currently, and the old 7.3 IDI ford I used to have. Older diesel engines are not exactly picky about their fuel hahaha. When I get around to fixing the welder it will run on that as well.

I don't always run a mix of fuels.

 

[Truckman4life]

I like hyd oil and transformer oil. Nice and thin. Transformer oil is best cuz it's just used for cooling purposes so doesn't really get dirty but it's harder to get since a lot of it is older PCB stuff and there are companies that take it and recycle it.

 

[red EOD]

Finally got around to finishing the 25ft welding/jumper cables today. Need 1 more set of ends to finish the longer 50 or 75ft cables (can't remember their length).

 

[red EOD]

Thought the axles were 3500's because of the 5 lug pattern, they aint. Was looking up ordering a replacement spindle and the dimensions match up with a 5000/5200 lb axle instead, pleasant surprise.





Will be ordering a new spindle at some point this summer. Probably upgrade to having brakes on that axle as well when I do it.

With the higher weight capacity, and to reduce the number of potential trailers I have in the future, decided to add a rolling tail board so different skids can be loaded as needed. Tool skid, dump bed, etc. Makes it easier if I decide to upgrade to a heavier duty trailer in the future as well. Going to use 4" C channel to make the skid for the service beds, attach it to the underside of the beds and tie in a winch point at the front. Cut out the center section of the angle iron to make room for the skid.





Then moved the second bed forward into position.

 

[Truckman4life]

I built some axles like that once for a mini ex trailer. They kept bending the tube dragging it all over off road so I did heavier axles and kept the lighter hubs and rim size.

 

[red EOD]

Haven't done much to the trailer this year, lack of funds being the biggest delay. Picked up some tools that aren't the best quality but for how often I'll use these it's fine. Plasma cutter, air compressor, diesel generator, and band saw.

Making the wheel well drawers for the 11ft bed, lathe on the driver side and the band saw/plasma cutter on the passenger side. Just some 10 gauge plate steel and angle iron with 250 lb slides which should be here tuesday so I can finish those drawers then. Did some thinking and might get rid of the 9ft bed because if I use the space in the 11ft bed, and have a long drawer underneath it (where the truck frame would be) I would only need the 11ft bed. Shaves about 1000 lbs of weight.









Also just for shits n giggles today I "hooked" the trailer up to the little daily driver Nissan. Has a 2,000 lb payload and oddly enough it actually squats LESS than the K5 did hahaha. It's not even bottomed out.

 

[red EOD]

Had to move the trailer to a new storage spot today. 3500HD handles it just fine as expected.

 

[red EOD]

Got around to actually building the bandsaw/plasma cutter drawer today. 10 gauge for the floor, slides are 20" travel 500 lbs (each) rated so shouldn't have any issues with the weight that's on it bouncing.







Just the weight of the bandsaw was enough to invert the bow in the plate (not a surprise) so added the angle iron along the front/rear. No flex problems now.







Plasma cutter will sit there until needed, just want a organizer of some kind for the hose/cords. Thinking some upright hooks at the back of the drawer for that. Bandsaw has to be raised so the clamp handle can spin (bottom left silver tube) and so the motor clears when the saw is setup in the vertical position.

 

[red EOD]

Depending on what weight rating the trailer is considered at it's either right at max, or a bit overweight. Trailer manufacturers have 10-14k rated models with 6" C channel frames like this, but their goosenecks are heavier so I've been leaning more towards a 10,400 rating. A 12,000 lb rating wouldn't be unreasonable to consider. The axles are a mixed bag of larger than 7k tubes, 6k spindles, 5x5.5 hub pattern (can't find that), with bearings that match the 6k on 1 side and lighter on the outside bearings. Tires/wheels do match a 5200-6000 lb rating per axle though.

As seen in the pic, rolled over a scale at just under 24,000 lbs combined. 12,000 on the truck axles, 12,000 on the trailer axles.





Spent today making a new wiring harness for the trailer and added a box to make troubleshooting and accessories easier. Typical 4 wires for the tail lights, and 2 dedicated wires per axle for brakes all run through the secured wire loom. Pic from the underside came out fuzzy so didn't post it up.

 

[Truckman4life]

I did some bastard axles like that on a mini ex trailer when I was with the power company in Moab. They drug the thing over some boulders and mangled the axle tube twice in a row so I stepped up to like 5k tubes and kept the lesser rated hubs so I could run the same tires/wheels. Didn't need to go higher on them since all it ever hauled was a 4,500 lb mini.
I like those junction boxes. The clear versions are nice to if you want to be able to glance at it to see if things are getting green and fuzzy inside but they don't stay clean if mounted under the rear of a truck/trailer.