Boat trailer to RZR hauler build

[Muckin_Slusher]

I think you should absolutely weld up every single bolted connection of the original trailer. That's what I did when I built my kayak trailer.

Completely changed the trailer. Totally silent now, no squeaks and creaks. Somewhat more rigid as well.

Left the tongue full length, which is way long, but with the kayaks or canoe loaded mostly forward it looks ok.

I also absolutely think your trailer needs the 3500# axle and radial tires. Cool project.

 

[Firstram]

If you shorten the tongue, maybe think about cutting the aft pivot mount off of the frame and moving the whole deal back 2 feet and picking up another one of your cross braces?

This all day long!

 

[Tinstar]

If you shorten the tongue, maybe think about cutting the aft pivot mount off of the frame and moving the whole deal back 2 feet and picking up another one of your cross braces?

Great idea!! I'm on it tomorrow! Thanks!!! I did weld up the pivot today but I know how to unweld.

 

[Tinstar]

Today I clamped and spot welded along the deck plate. I did that mostly to make the trailer a little quieter.

 

[Tinstar]

When I welded the square tubing I left a little drain hole to keep the tubing from rusting out and bulging/splitting from water building up in there and freezing.

 

[Tinstar]

I am going to slide the tongue back a couple feet as suggested above (Thank you!) but I still want to post up todays efforts. Next came centering up and leveling the tongue. I leveled the trailer on the stands then pulled the pins/bolts on the tongue and leveled it up. Every factory beam on the trailer showed a slight difference with the level so I averaged it out best I could. Then I squared the tongue with the axle spring plates and welded up enough of the joints to be able to turn the trailer back onto its wheels later on. I want to have one last chance to see that the tongue is square and level.

 

[Tinstar]

The 2" ball hitch was almost torn off where someone jackknifed the trailer and pushed in the sides of the tongue to the point of tearing it about 3" on both sides. So I cut all the beat up metal away and welded in a piece of 1/8" plate. I reset the junk safety chains while I was at it. I will put larger chains and hooks with keepers on as soon as I can come up with something.

I almost just cut the hitch off and tossed it since I was going to cut off a couple feet of the tongue. I decided to just clean it up anyways and use it for the test run later. Which turns out great now that I can slide the tongue back and keep the rebuilt hitch. Hell Yeah!! I do plan on going to a pintle hitch later to match everything else.

 

[Tinstar]

Its a little early in the build to start priming but its been a pretty wet winter and its supposed to rain again this weekend. I wanted to start getting all this bare metal covered up with at least primer. So I wire brushed the welds and wiped everything down with mineral spirits. II just dusted off the big rust chunks on the original trailer. Then rolled on a coat of red oxide primer on most of it. I used a brush on the hard to get to areas. It was time to go in so I'll finish the primer tomorrow after the tongue slide. That primer really changed the looks of things!

 

[Ksand]

This

is how I haul my ranger. I converted an aluminum dual jet ski trailer

 

[Tinstar]

Time was limited today but I did get a couple hours in. I unwelded the tongue and broke it loose. I had to cut the crossmember it was attached to to slide it back. As luck would have it I had a crossmember in the right place.

 

[Tinstar]

I lined everything up and laid on a few beads.

 

[Tinstar]

Tongue is now 5' from the front of the toolbox to the center of the ball. Should work just fine!!! Thanks again jhamma78 for the idea!!! Muckin Slusher I am also using your idea and welding up all the bolt-ons. Namely the axle subframe.

 

[CarterKraft]

That was worth the effort I bet.

 

[Tinstar]

Now that the big freeze is over I had a chance to spend a few hours on the trailer build. The best news is I scored a drop brake axle fo freeee! It is a little wide so I'll have to trim it down some.

 

[Tinstar]

The trailer it came from looks like an old bumper pull RV frame. There are 11 leaves in that pack! I will probably have to take some leaves out to soften up the ride. It has those funky 14.5 heavy duty tires. Its a 6x5 3/8ths or 6x135mm with a 7/16th dia. lug bolt. An online chart says that's the same as a newer F150 bolt pattern. I'm going to check out the pads/bearings ect. then see about getting 3 matching 15" or 16" steel rims.

 

[Tinstar]

I had time to finish priming the bottom and then put some glossy black on where the primer was cured. I plan on finishing painting the bottom tomorrow and taking the brakes apart and checking them out.

 

[Tinstar]

Quick update on the build getting some primer/paint laid down. I plan on getting the top coat on today. I may try to use the brake axle with out narrowing so the tires will be outside the bed.

 

[Tinstar]

I managed to get some paint splashed onto the trailer. There are a few cracks and corners that I will have to rattle can. Overall it really changed the looks of the trailer.

 

[Tinstar]

I pulled the brakes off the "new" axle to check everything out. Looks like they were rebuilt and never ran. Fresh grease and new seals and they will be good to go!! Forgot to get pic's of the dis-assembled brakes today. I will grab some tomorrow.

 

[DT75FLH]

Good call on swapping the axle.....my 2dr xp turbo rzr with spare tire. Some tools stereo and misc stuff was 1700 lbs wet....I was shocked ...

 

[Tinstar]

Had a chance to grab a couple of pics of the brake assembly's. In the background you can see the tire/wheel I scored for a spare. Looks like its never been on the ground or mounted up. The date brand is 1716. I have 2 steel wheels on order and am looking at tires.

 

[CarterKraft]

It will be nice to have brakes.

 

[Tinstar]

Time for an update:

Here's the 2 new tires/wheels plus the like new spare.

 

[Tinstar]

I pulled both spring packs apart and made up 2 spring packs that should be about right for the weight of the trailer and RZR.

 

[Tinstar]

Here's the old axle out.

 

[Tinstar]

And the "new" one ready to go in.

 

[Tinstar]

With the bigger diameter tires I had to cut the top rail and trim some of the deck.

 

[Tinstar]

Here it is setting on the "new" tire and axle setup.

 

[Tinstar]

With the change in axle came the change in width and tire diameter. Now I had no plan for fenders. Now everyone wants to go on a ride and I had 2 days to make this road ready.

I had an old beat up fender off an tandem axle trailer in the junk pile. Looks like my new temporary fenders to me!

I welded a bolt on one of the front cross members and mounted the spare.

 

[Tinstar]

I fabbed up a set of tail light brackets and put a set of LED tail lights then hooked up to the Jeep for a test load. The RZR hopped right on up.