Trailer rehab

[Dan]

Bought this thing about 4 years ago. It was basically a frame with some wood sitting on the deck that had a handful of screws holding the decking down. No fenders, the tires were toast, and there was a single light not wired to anything.
The cargo deck is 7'x20' and I picked it up for a good enough deal that it saved me a lot of time and I didn't have space to build a trailer that size at my house.

 

[Dan]

I added some Amazon special fenders, wiring, lights, and light buckets to make it road worthy and used it a lot for the next few years like that.


I had a table and ratchet straps holding down the decking because all but 2 of the boards were just sitting there.

That got old so I decided to repair the deck while I had some covid sponsored down time.

 

[Dan]

The apitong wood was kind of beat so I removed it and wire brushed both sides and sprayed all the boards front and back with some weather seal I found in one of my maintenance sheds at work.
Once it was stripped I removed the broken hardware and painted any exposed metal surfaces with spray paint.

 

[Dan]

There wasn't enough wood left to cover the entire deck and apitong is kind of expensive so I looked for a solution elsewhere. I found it in the form of some automotive tread plates I had given to me years ago.

They were going to work perfect just need some modifications first so I cut off the stuff I didn't need.

 

[Dan]

Fit them up and welded them together.

Then I coated the bottom side with POR 15.

And bedliner on the top side.

 

[Dan]

Mounted the decking with new 5/16" black oxide carriage bolts and sprayed a final layer of Thompson's Weather Seal and that was that.

 

[Dan]

Added a total of 8 new lights, all lights are led.
6 running lights -2 amber/ side in front of the wheels & 1 red light/side at the rear corner.

2 work lights wired to a switch on the bumper bar up front.

 

[Dan]

Only about $250 spent on this recent round of upgrades.

 

[Clb]

Nice webbing on The frame.
looks great, beats buyin new.
Out here shit is bent or broken and they still want huge $$$

 

[Elwenil]

Those are military landing mats. People use them for automotive uses, but really they are to construct helo pads and temporary landing strips.

 

[rattlewagon]

That came out great!

 

[Dan]

Nice webbing on The frame.
looks great, beats buyin new.
Out here shit is bent or broken and they still want huge $$$

Thanks. I looked under to make sure it was welded before I bought it and it looked decent. Dude I bought it from worked at a trailer mfg.

 

[Dan]

Those are military landing mats. People use them for automotive uses, but really they are to construct helo pads and temporary landing strips.

That's crazy, I've had these for like 10 years and didn't really know what they were for. I still have 6 or 7 sitting around.

 

[Dan]

That came out great!

Thanks!

 

[Elwenil]

That's crazy, I've had these for like 10 years and didn't really know what they were for. I still have 6 or 7 sitting around.

They are technically called a Marston Mat. They have been in use for a long time, but there are newer versions these days.

 

[87manche]

that bristol isn't something you see a photo of every day.

 

[Dan]

They are technically called a Marston Mat. They have been in use for a long time, but there are newer versions these days.

That's a really cool picture. Thanks for posting it, never seen them in use before.

 

[Dan]

Been using this mostly as a utility trailer so no need for ramps..... But the time came when I needed to move a vehicle so I stopped procrastinating and built some ramps.
​​​​​This trailers primary job is (or was) car hauler anyway so it's about time.
​​​​​
Some metal cut, prepped, and stacked up.

The main runners are 2x3 angle and the rungs are 2x2 angle, all .250" thick.

 

[Dan]

Set up and welded. Rungs are on 8" centers, total ramp length is about 65" long x 16" wide. The 2x3 angle I bought was a little over 20' long and I just cut it into 4 equal lengths. They should be long enough for the junk I tow.

This is the side that gets driven on.

 

[Dan]

The hook part.

Everything ground smooth, don't want any flat tires or cut hands from using the ramps.

 

[Dan]

The jack it came with had seen better days.

New one is a little longer.

Installed.

 

[Dan]

I finally received my tongue box, it's an aluminum Westin Brute. It took a long time to get after ordering but it is the perfect size for the trailer.

I made a little pad for it to sit on using angle iron.

 

[Dan]

Stamped the trailer vin on the tongue frame before painting it and covering it with the tool box.

Installed up against the bumper bar.

Still room to spin the jack handle.

 

[Dan]

Added a D-ring to the front middle of the trailer to pull from with a winch.

I added another one in between the tires on each side since that is kind of a dead zone and stuff always ends up right over the axles.

 

[Tinstar]

Nice upgrades! I rarely see anyone putting "D" rings on. I always "D" ring the hell out of my trailers.

 

[Dan]

Nice upgrades! I rarely see anyone putting "D" rings on. I always "D" ring the hell out of my trailers.

Thanks. It has 7 now and I had to stop from adding more.

 

[rugburn]

Kick ass thread and trailer 🇺🇸

 

[rockota]

Going to interfere with the Jack?

Stamped the trailer vin on the tongue frame before painting it and covering it with the tool box.

Still room to spin the jack handle.

I guarantee I would hit my hand in every spin of the jack handle.

 

[Dan]

Going to interfere with the Jack?


I guarantee I would hit my hand in every spin of the jack handle.

It's close for sure. The payoff is a decent size box so I can live with that.


It's definitely got potential to scrape some knuckles though.

 

[Tinstar]

Make a drill adapter for the jack and lose the handle. I made a drill adapter for my GN trailer. I got tired of running that jack up n down by hand.


Similar to this but to fit your jack screw.