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crappy li'l angle iron trailer thoughts (old thread bump, scroll down to #22)

[486]

[486]

ugh, that guy again?
Joined
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pine city MN
I've got some shit to toss together a trailer sorta thing, it'll be a generic "angle iron" style trailer

my piece of expanded metal is 5' wide and the heavy angle is 3" leg
so naturally it'd be 5'6" wide with side rails that are a couple feet tall

I could do a bunch of screwing around with filling in the edges of the deck with treadplate to make it a little wider, to maybe fit small cars in/on it (climbing out the driver's window because of the sides)
Ya'll think that screwing around and making it wider would be worthwhile? It certainly ain't gonna be strong enough for something like a fullsize pickup so there's no interest in making it that wide.

Any particular figures for a good width to shoot for?
"maximum legal width" minus the wheels would be an 82" deck 6'10"
 
Go narrow. 4ft + wiggle room

(I'd do at least 2", the Aerostar is 49" and that's less than ideal in practice)

Make the sides a wedge like a ramp truck. Pallets go in the bed. Cars go on the sides. It'll give you a good "natural" shape for what I think you're doing. Maybe you can score some box truck ramps or something to use as the top of your toolboxes.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Make the sides a wedge like a ramp truck. Pallets go in the bed. Cars go on the sides. It'll give you a good "natural" shape for what I think you're doing. Maybe you can score some box truck ramps or something to use as the top of your toolboxes.
Click to expand...
huh
that ain't a half bad idea
could even still have a removable tailgate up a ways from the back bumper between the fenders, leaving the area back behind the fenders as just a 'fixed ramp' sorta thing. Deck height is gonna be 8" or so off the ground, so it'd work real good with a couple screw jacks to pick up the front and put the back into the dirt

Damn, now I gotta do some thinking.
Thanks, man.
 
The only way I can make the angles work is if I have the 'ramp fenders' start out at the rear like 20" off the ground
which I guess ain't terrible, wouldn't need a very long ramp to get a good breakover angle going

Well, gonna cut the steel to toss it together "narrow-ish" as in like 4'4" and worry about the fender structure falling into place later on
 
This thing has been a brainstorm of mine for years and it is damn near perfect for about everything besides hauling cars/equipment. Deck size is 54” x 102”, allows it to easily hold pallets of plywood, golf carts, zero turn mowers, etc. I have some ghetto OSB sides for it but stil plan to make some full height metal ones. Need to get the fenders welded on and it sprayed with bedliner.
 

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You’re not butt welding expanded metal to the angle, so you’ll need as least a 1”overlap/ flange to place the expanded metal on top of.

5’1 is probably enough to fit a mower with a 52” deck on with the chute folded up. And plenty for a 4’6” wide golf cart with a little wiggle room and 4x 8 sheet goods.
 
I have a 5X10 utility trailer with a tread plate deck and removeable wood sides, with fenders it is about 6' wide. It gets used for hauling everything and transfers from behind the tractor for yard use to my truck to pick up a load of mulch or dirt from the hardscape place and back to the tractor for moving around the yard. Easier to keep accessible so I don't have to jack with the car hauler.
 

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Following along

I really need something along these lines. 18' car hauler is annoying to deal with for 90% of what I use it for
 
arse_sidewards said:
You guys know you can buy pickup trucks with 8ft beds, right?
Click to expand...
Trailer is convenient to pile demo debris on it until it is full and then I pull it to the dump. Rather not tie up my truck bed doing that.

Stupid monster truck bed is too tall to easily load/unload heavy awkward items as well
 
Expanded metal for the deck?

Do you mean the standard 3/4 inch diamond stuff that's about 1/8 thick?
Won't that get torn up and bagged out in a hurry?
 
My utility trailer is 77”x12’, and I’m not disappointed by that size at all.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
Expanded metal for the deck?

Do you mean the standard 3/4 inch diamond stuff that's about 1/8 thick?
Won't that get torn up and bagged out in a hurry?
Click to expand...
not much of a worry, gonna have 16" or thereabouts spacing on crossmembers so anything actually heavy will be riding on those, or on boards tossed atop to spread the load

the sheeting is just to keep shit inside, and seeing through it allows loads to be placed/positioned sensibly a lot easier

WTF? said:
You’re not butt welding expanded metal to the angle, so you’ll need as least a 1”overlap/ flange to place the expanded metal on top of.
Click to expand...
trying to keep the overlap minimal to keep the decking from rattling
even thinking about cutting the crossmember overlaps down to about 1/4" or so

WTF? said:
5’1 is probably enough to fit a mower with a 52” deck on with the chute folded up.
Click to expand...
huh, riding mowers are a sticking point on the idea of a narrow well between drive-over fenders
oh well, got a big deckover and a big flatbed and a little tilt deck to take up the slack on awkwardly sized shit, gonna go small on this one.
 
[486] said:
trying to keep the overlap minimal to keep the decking from rattling
even thinking about cutting the crossmember overlaps down to about 1/4" or so
Click to expand...

it doesn't matter what you do, a little /lighter trailer is going to rattle unless you fill the framerails with molten lead.

you need an inch of overlap on all surfaces so when the expanded metal floor gets overloaded, and the tack welds pop or the metal fibers of the net mesh break' where the weld heat softened it up, the whole sheet won't deflect and fall through like you scooped a rock up in a fishing net.


[486] said:
huh, riding mowers are a sticking point on the idea of a narrow well between drive-over fenders
oh well, got a big deckover and a big flatbed and a little tilt deck to take up the slack on awkwardly sized shit, gonna go small on this one.
Click to expand...
52" deck is probably the max realistically of a 60" between the fenders. but my golf cart is an easy squeeze through a 5' fence gate.

my 61" deck ferris has a book width spec of like 63.5" but in reality, with the tire flap chute flipped up, its not exactly an effortless loading job to squeeze it between fenders of a trailer i have tightly fit a 5 series bimmer ( 71 inch wide) onto.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
This thing has been a brainstorm of mine for years and it is damn near perfect for about everything besides hauling cars/equipment. Deck size is 54” x 102”, allows it to easily hold pallets of plywood, golf carts, zero turn mowers, etc. I have some ghetto OSB sides for it but stil plan to make some full height metal ones. Need to get the fenders welded on and it sprayed with bedliner.
Click to expand...
Cool trailer!

I like the outside facing channel (did the same on my flatbed)
Also the front/rear receivers (hitch and headache rack) and multiple trailer jack spots.

Here's mine. I drilled 1/2 inch holes every 2 inches on angle around the perimeter for modular stuff and tie downs.

rolled on wheel 3.png
 
I would go slightly wider than 4’. Big enough for pallets and plywood, small enough that you don’t know it’s back there. But you also need a car trailer so you can haul things like excavators.
 
Gatorgrizz27 said:
This thing has been a brainstorm of mine for years and it is damn near perfect for about everything besides hauling cars/equipment. Deck size is 54” x 102”, allows it to easily hold pallets of plywood, golf carts, zero turn mowers, etc. I have some ghetto OSB sides for it but stil plan to make some full height metal ones. Need to get the fenders welded on and it sprayed with bedliner.
Click to expand...
I guess I should also give my dislikes for this trailer.

#1. Fill in the gap on the angle corner of the channel iron.

#2. Don't like the two receivers on the headache rack not being flush mount. Prevents flat stuff from being tight to the rack.

How do you find the tongue weight with the axle so far back? Obviously not a problem if towing with a truck, but I put mine centered on the 8 foot deck, since most of my loads can be loaded ahead of the axle and I was towing with sub-compact cars (and ATVs) so didn't want a ton of hitch weight.
 
Muckin_Slusher said:
I guess I should also give my dislikes for this trailer.

#1. Fill in the gap on the angle corner of the channel iron.

#2. Don't like the two receivers on the headache rack not being flush mount. Prevents flat stuff from being tight to the rack.

How do you find the tongue weight with the axle so far back? Obviously not a problem if towing with a truck, but I put mine centered on the 8 foot deck, since most of my loads can be loaded ahead of the axle and I was towing with sub-compact cars (and ATVs) so didn't want a ton of hitch weight.
Click to expand...

Good eye, channel gap will be filled in, still have some “buttoning up” to do on this thing. It’s not structural though as the headache rack is welded on either side of the notch. Non-flush receivers haven’t been an issue so far, though I could see it being annoying if loading something like a fridge you didn’t want a dent in. I was trying to keep enough space for a cooler to fit on the expanded metal section, so they are flush on that side. Have strapped a folding dog kennel to that side and it worked well, so something like a TV could fit in there too.

Tongue weight is pretty spot on for my uses, I had a little 4’x8’ with a centered axle and it was always banging around. I can’t lift the tongue unloaded, I’d guess it’s around 200 lbs, but it’s light enough you can skid the jack foot around if you’re off a bit when hooking up. That golf cart has 8 batteries under the seat and they ended up right over the axle, zero turn is about the same with the engine, batteries, and gas tank weight all in the back. Also works well when hauling longer steel or deck boards, there is a small gap under the headache rack where stuff can slide though to decrease overhang by 2’. Tow vehicles are either a Land Rover with self-leveling air suspension or a Chevy 2500 so it hasn’t been an problem.
 
so plodding along on this as it fits in among many other projects, I looked at a few trailers and to my surprise the uprights on several of them I looked at were not welded on in the manner I'd expected, flat on either leg of the angle, but instead plopped down on both legs of the angle making a triangle shape

I guess I can see the advantage of reduced overlaps that will rust-jack and it constrains both "flapping edges" of the angle iron
what I can't wrap my head around is: is this stiffer? Seems like it'd be lower profile and therefore less stiff, but

I was planning on running the crossmembers out past the bottom rails and tying them into the uprights, figuring that it'd tie everything together better, but now I'm not so sure.

So, put the uprights flat on one leg, or put them "triangular" on the edge of both legs?

I know I know, "You're overthinking the absolute fuck outta this shit, retard. Just scab them on any which way."
 
Assuming these were the trailers in the TSC or Lowes parking lot it was probably some way to reduce cost in the manufacturing process with zero regard for anything as long term as rust jacking. :laughing:
 
It's weaker in that orientation. Think of it wanting to kink and go flat when loaded point side.

Not sure why it's done, maybe to fit within the top rail angle being both are the same size?
 
Dethmachinefab said:
It's weaker in that orientation. Think of it wanting to kink and go flat when loaded point side.

Not sure why it's done, maybe to fit within the top rail angle being both are the same size?
Click to expand...

That's the poke I needed. Gonna take the time to notch out the overlaps and do it the right way.
 
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