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anyone have a truck bed trailer?

lagunaMS

lagunaMS

4 by drive
Joined
Nov 25, 2020
Member Number
3077
Messages
441
Loc
Dixie
I have a regular ole 7k trailer already but I wanted a truck bed trailer for going to the dump, hauling firewood, and working around my grandmother's farm hauling shit off for her. Went and picked up this K20 to cut up and make into one. It wasn't running or driveable without a lot of work, I wouldn't cut up a nice truck. Bought the whole thing for $400, parted out every usable part over the weekend and made $540, and am taking the cab, front half of the frame, and a bunch of other metal to the scrapper today.

I've done some googling on making them, just wanted to see what y'alls truck bed trailers look like before I get too far into mine.

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I had one,regretting selling it but it was way to rusty
cut the frame at the firewall,pie cut the top and bottom of the frame at the front of the bed and bend in
use a 2ft 2x2 for the hitch,1ft past the frame,then brace the back half with 4x pieces of 2inch angle iron
 
I don't have one, they can be great if you're in them cheap enough and don't try to make it too nice, then you might as well build a nice 6x12 with a lower floor and higher ramps.

you're doing it right, free back half, free spare tires, notch and bend the frame, weld on a $40 coupler, wire the tail lights, top off the diff and forget about it

put a $50 toolbox on the tongue if you're feeling high class:grinpimp:
 
Smithy said:
Looks a lot nicer than most around here

Mine:

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Nice work on your trailer! I wanted that body style so it would match my truck but the one on craiglist local to me sold before I could get to it. The K20 I bought was "fair" at best. Interior was disgusting and broken/missing shit. Cab corners were rusty, didn't run, etc. I sold the front axle, motor/trans/front clip, and seat. Cut the cab mounts off and rolled the cab onto the ground and loaded onto the trailer, then cut the front of the frame off. Kept the rest of the frame/bed/rear end/wheels.

How much did that axle cost you? This one came with an 8 lug semi-floater that I'll be using for the time being. Just have to un-lift it first, it has 6" lift springs and 3" blocks on the rear
 
Projectjunkie said:
I don't have one, they can be great if you're in them cheap enough and don't try to make it too nice, then you might as well build a nice 6x12 with a lower floor and higher ramps.

you're doing it right, free back half, free spare tires, notch and bend the frame, weld on a $40 coupler, wire the tail lights, top off the diff and forget about it

put a $50 toolbox on the tongue if you're feeling high class:grinpimp:
Click to expand...

I figured I could part out/scrap enough to get my money back and so far it's working. I planned on putting a toolbox on the tongue too, already had one I took off a truck I just sold. I'm assuming I can use the 4-wire trailer wiring and make the stock taillights work on it, don't see why that wouldn't work
 
lagunaMS said:
Nice work on your trailer! I wanted that body style so it would match my truck but the one on craiglist local to me sold before I could get to it. The K20 I bought was "fair" at best. Interior was disgusting and broken/missing shit. Cab corners were rusty, didn't run, etc. I sold the front axle, motor/trans/front clip, and seat. Cut the cab mounts off and rolled the cab onto the ground and loaded onto the trailer, then cut the front of the frame off. Kept the rest of the frame/bed/rear end/wheels.

How much did that axle cost you? This one came with an 8 lug semi-floater that I'll be using for the time being. Just have to un-lift it first, it has 6" lift springs and 3" blocks on the rear
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Thanks. I've been looking for a decent cab for my K30, I really need to take a trip south.

The axle wasn't too expensive. Spindles and hubs were new. I had the tubing, perches, and u bolts left over from other projects, and plan of installing electric brakes at some point.
 
Looked like a decent truck to me. I have my dads old truck bed trailer. Its titled as a 1959 trailer but the bed is off of a 1936 ford I think it may be older. Its gonna need a new axle and some rust repair on the fenders.
 
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Looks awesome! I like when they match what they're being towed by. Mine won't but at least they're both Chevys so close enough.

This is where I'm at right now, I cut all the unnecessary shit off and am down to bare frame rails. Do y'all think these are long enough to just bend in and weld a coupler on or do you think it needs to be extended some? I measured my 7k trailer and from the front of the deck to the point where the coupler attaches to the ball is right at 48". On this truck trailer, from the front of the bed to the end of the bare rails is about 50-51", so it will probably wind up being slightly under 48" once they're bent in. Is that close enough? I'm planning on doing a pie cut right in front of that crossmember and bending them in there

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Mine is an 8' bed and I cut the frame right behind the front suspension. It's still a little light on the tongue. It tows well, even at highway speeds, but seems pretty balanced as it's easy to lift the tongue by hand and sitting on the tailgate will easily tip the tongue up. Planning on using an RV jack leg to stabilize it when parked as I used it as a bit of a workbench. I will probably gain some tongue weight when I put the fuel tank back in to carry extra fuel. With the long tongue I can also easily add a toolbox to the frame rails. I added a mil-surplus trailer brake handle to pull the stock cables as a parking brake but I need to add a lever for more pull and less leverage.
 
I got my dad's that he made from a short bed square body chevy 1/2 ton. He just cut the frame off about 4 feet in front of the bed and then cut and bent it, then welded the coupler on. He never wired it for lights so I just bought a set of the magnetic lights that plug into a 4 flat plug.

I rarely use it anymore since the 1/2 ton springs on it squat badly under a typical load of firewood. I had used it as my trash trailer but the last time the idiot at the transfer station wanted to charge me the commercial rate for like a roll off dump trailer instead of a typical truck load.:homer: he couldn't fathom it was just a SB truck load I guess.
 
Elwenil said:
Mine is an 8' bed and I cut the frame right behind the front suspension. It's still a little light on the tongue. It tows well, even at highway speeds, but seems pretty balanced as it's easy to lift the tongue by hand and sitting on the tailgate will easily tip the tongue up. Planning on using an RV jack leg to stabilize it when parked as I used it as a bit of a workbench. I will probably gain some tongue weight when I put the fuel tank back in to carry extra fuel. With the long tongue I can also easily add a toolbox to the frame rails. I added a mil-surplus trailer brake handle to pull the stock cables as a parking brake but I need to add a lever for more pull and less leverage.
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That's where I cut mine too. Right between the front cab mounts and the rear spring hanger of the front springs. Good idea on the brake cables


Twankie said:
‘98 Chevy I turned into a trailer
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Looks awesome, super useful with it being a utility bed. Is the water tank just for drinking water while you work? That's a good idea


Wheelerfreak said:
I rarely use it anymore since the 1/2 ton springs on it squat badly under a typical load of firewood.
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I'm glad you said this because I was thinking of going to get come C10 springs from the junkyard. This truck came with 6" lift springs, a 3" block, and a longer rear spring hanger. I don't want to put any unnecessary money into it so I'm just going to take the blocks out and put the stock hangers back in that I had laying around. It will still be a little high but I'll be pulling it with a lifted truck anyway so it will be good enough
 
I originally bought this one to cut in half for beer coolers at my wedding, but it's a great little dump run / maybe 4 wheeling trailer behind the Cruisers that I couldn't cut it in half. Not as useful as the 3/4 or 1 ton trailers, but still gets the job done.

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lagunaMS said:
I have a regular ole 7k trailer already but I wanted a truck bed trailer for going to the dump, hauling firewood, and working around my grandmother's farm hauling shit off for her. Went and picked up this K20 to cut up and make into one. It wasn't running or driveable without a lot of work, I wouldn't cut up a nice truck. Bought the whole thing for $400, parted out every usable part over the weekend and made $540, and am taking the cab, front half of the frame, and a bunch of other metal to the scrapper today.

I've done some googling on making them, just wanted to see what y'alls truck bed trailers look like before I get too far into mine.
Click to expand...

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trailer1.jpg
 

beautiful! I wish I could’ve found a cheap truck in that body style. Maybe one day.


Looks like I’m going to have to swap springs on mine. The spring shackles were shot and can’t get stock shackles to work with the super arched lift springs. I’m going to go find some C10 or 20 springs at the treasure yard today. I won’t be hauling a lot of weight with this so it shouldn’t matter too much. I can just add another overload spring if I have to
 
Always wanted to build one out of a Tacoma bed... following this.
 
rockota said:
Always wanted to build one out of a Tacoma bed... following this.
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The yuppies that bolt shit to their Tacomas to show off their conspicuous consumption will have nothing on the guy who cuts one in half. :beer:
 
Finally got around to getting the Chevy trailer finished. I didn’t do the welding, but it’s done. I’m into it a total of $120

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