7k scrap bin on wheels

[Dan]

I like to build stuff out of metal. I reuse a lot of metal because I hate being wasteful so a lot of my scrap is really small. I usually have 4-5 buckets of small scrap hanging around under the drill press, tables, by the toolbox, etc. I hate the clutter this brings and have been thinking about building a small truck bed trailer to put scrap metal in, then just hook up and tow it to the scrap yard when it's full.

About a month ago a friend gave me this little horse trailer for free, he even delivered it. It has two 3500lb axles (one has brakes), 5 rims and tires with tread that still hold air, a new tongue jack, spare tire mount, and a 7 prong rv plug.

Plan is to spend $0 building this trailer into a trailer.

 

[TrailTamer]

Are you going to make it into dump trailer?

Unload upward to 7k of scrap by hand?

What’s the plan?

 

[Dan]

Are you going to make it into dump trailer?

Unload upward to 7k of scrap by hand?

What’s the plan?

Just going to be a regular bin type trailer, probably weigh under 1k pounds when it's done.

The scrap yard I go to has a big ass magnet for unloading small stuff so it doesn't need to dump. They have a couple excavators with grapples for the big stuff.

 

[Dan]

A few hours with a hammer, grinder, and sawzall and I was able to shave off the extra stuff. I thought about trying to use some of the existing walls from the horse trailer but it would have been more work and resulted in a heavier, crappier trailer.

 

[CDA 455 II]

Subscribed

 

[Dan]

Here are the donor parts. This is the pre-scrap scrap pile, haha. Basically stuff I might use someday.

The white bed on top is a 1950's Ford step side short bed without the fenders. The bed underneath is a early 60's Chevy fleet side long bed. I'll be using the bulkhead and tailgate from the Chevy and bedsides from the white Ford.

 

[Dan]

Here is the bulkhead from the Chevy bed. I had to beat on it to get it straight enough, not nearly as much as I had to beat on the white bedsides though. There is a faint line along the bottom where I had to trim it down.

 

[Dan]

I didn't take any pictures prepping the bedsides, partly because they were a pain to straighten out and partly because I didn't think to make a thread about this trailer until after they were mounted. Really nothing to it though, just beat on them for a while, trim a little bit to fit, and repeat until you win.
Here they are mounted, you can see the little black marks where the tack welds burned through the paint along the top of the fenders. They're also welded on along the bottom where the fresh black paint is.

 

[Dan]

Bulkhead mounted and welded on the trailer. Just trimmed this piece one time and it fit really good. It's welded to the bedsides and trailer frame along the bottom.

And from the inside.

 

[Dan]

Moving back to the tailgate with a patina that is 60 years in the making.

Cleaned up the little pivot deals with a wire brush.

Surprised they weren't caked with rust, cleaned up real nice.

 

[Dan]

This 2x3x1/4 angle is the only metal I've used that wasn't pulled from the scrap pile.

I cut 2 pieces at 7" long to mount the tailgate pivots.

 

[Dan]

Drilled some holes in the angle and notched the rear bed panels to fit them.

The angle pivot brackets are also kind of like braces for the rear panels. After welding them in the bedsides were much more rigid.

I got real lucky with how well the existing trailer dimensions lined up with the pickup bed sheet metal.

 

[Kriptonite]

Damn that's looking good dude. Love seeing old stuff reused.

 

[Dan]

Damn that's looking good dude. Love seeing old stuff reused.

Thanks!

 

[Dan]

Now that the tailgate is on I needed a way to latch it. So I used the original latches from the Chevy box.

They needed to be spaced a little further out for this configuration so I found some 1-1/4" square tube scrap. I think it was part of a jig at one point, I had to grind the tack welds smooth.

Got the spacers where they needed to be and welded the latches on.

 

[aczlan]

Are you doing anything to improve the frame underneath? A lot of the strength in many of those is in the walls and the trailer frame itself.

Aaron Z

 

[Dan]

Are you doing anything to improve the frame underneath? A lot of the strength in many of those is in the walls and the trailer frame itself.

Aaron Z

No, that's what the wood floor is for

It's really not that bad, I wouldn't say a lot of strength comes from the walls but probably some did in this case. It won't be hard to reinforce in the future if it becomes a problem. If I welded in 2 pieces of 3" channel from the tongue to the rear cross member it would practically be a new trailer. I don't really think it's an issue but now that I'm thinking about it I might just add some channel or even angle iron down the middle.

Thanks for the extra work

 

[aczlan]

No, that's what the wood floor is for

It's really not that bad, I wouldn't say a lot of strength comes from the walls but probably some did in this case. It won't be hard to reinforce in the future if it becomes a problem. If I welded in 2 pieces of 3" channel from the tongue to the rear cross member it would practically be a new trailer. I don't really think it's an issue but now that I'm thinking about it I might just add some channel or even angle iron down the middle.

Thanks for the extra work

Glad I could help

Aaron Z

 

[arse_sidewards]

It's really easy to build things from scrap when you habitually throw away stuff that's too nice to throw away.

 

[Dan]

Running these taillights. I had a box full of them from when I use to work on c&c trucks. I've given and used most but I think I still have 2 or 3 more sets floating around.

I just bent the mounting bracket straight and welded then onto the bedsides. With the 7 prong plug wired up this will have reverse lights.

 

[Dan]

The taillight brackets and latches welded on.

 

[Dan]

Taillights mounted and the bed latch doing it's thing. I made a quick little license plate frame and welded it to the original bracket and to the trailer at the bottom.

I forgot to take any pictures but the tailgate drops down and is held by the chain like a regular truck bed from the 60's.

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

I LOVE it. Super use of stuff. Any plans for the front part? Tool Box?

 

[Dan]

I LOVE it. Super use of stuff. Any plans for the front part? Tool Box?

I was thinking about adding a small bin to the front but I actually have 3 or 4 full size truck bed tool boxes. It would be really easy to add one to the front and that's what I'm going to do now, thanks for the suggestion!

There is a ton of room in front, I could probably fit a toolbox and the spare tire and still have extra room.

Another angle of all that room.

 

[Burns]

The front platform would be ideal for loading axles of big stuff, just messes with tongue weight :p

 

[Dan]

The front platform would be ideal for loading axles of big stuff, just messes with tongue weight :p

The only problem is that the sheet metal up there is really thin, probably 18 gauge and starting to rust. That and I already have too many axles

I see what you mean though, I could add a platform there to make it stronger.

 

[Dan]

From the rear.

It's almost a square box. 5-1/2' wide x 6-1/2' long in the cargo area and about 30" deep.

 

[350TacoZilla]

have been thinking about building a small truck bed trailer to put scrap metal in, then just hook up and tow it to the scrap yard when it's full.

When I read this I thought for a split second you meant you were going to build a trailer to fill with scrap then once full haul it and scrap it along with the load lol. I keep vehicle shells laying around for this after I pull off what I want or if I'm parting it out, just toss steel in it each time I get a bucket load or brake rotors etc.