Not another trailer build

[ballingerjonathan16]

Bought an engine drive from a guy in California and we had to build a trailer for it. Welded everything with my little Lincoln Pro Mig 180T. Its not quit finished yet but this is just 2 weekends of work so far.

[ballingerjonathan16]

a few more pictures

[ballingerjonathan16]

We had to modify the welder slightly to get it to fit the way we wanted it to but all in all i am very pleased with the way it has turned out

[mla2ofus]

Nice build!! Maybe you plan to, but I'd skirt the inside of the fenders for strength and to keep mud and water off both ends of the welder while traveling on the road. Also maybe some 1/8"x 1" flatbar around the inside of the fender on the outside of them again for strength if for nothing else if a fat a$$ gets parked on it.
Mike

[ballingerjonathan16]

Nice build!! Maybe you plan to, but I'd skirt the inside of the fenders for strength and to keep mud and water off both ends of the welder while traveling on the road. Also maybe some 1/8"x 1" flatbar around the inside of the fender on the outside of them again for strength if for nothing else if a fat a$$ gets parked on it.
Mike

Lol yeah we plan to do all of that just ran out of material today and time.

[MarkBall2]

Yes, we need inner fenders, paint, tires & plates.

Don't tell me a 70Amp HF MIG welder can't glue metal together.........................

[docwelder]

Yes, we need inner fenders, paint, tires & plates.

Don't tell me a 70Amp HF MIG welder can't glue metal together.........................

markb; while you're at it capping the tube ends wouldn't hurt. nice build.

[MarkBall2]

We were going to put a tail light panel on it, but it would put the tail lights lower than the minimum of 15". After it's licensed, we may still do that. That would cap the ends of the tube.

[welderj]

I think a plate on top and bottom of the tubes where they make the bend would be a good idea. That is a critical area for that style tongue. You have no flow through beams, but instead a welded joint all the way across at almost the center of the beam span from axle to hitch, which is the highest stress point. In adition to carrying the weight you have a lot of up and down stress added to that area, especially do to that upright frame which will give you a high center of gravity and will compound the stress added too that joint. A plate top and bottom at the bend will significantly reduce the posibility of stress cracks there. When I do one like that they always get a plate both top and bottom.

Otherwise a real nice trailer that should work well.

Jon

[MarkBall2]

The outer arms on the tongue were "pie-cut" & welded solid. Then welded solid to the 3" tube of the tongue. Forgot to say, this is all 3/16" steel welded hot for full penetration. Might not hurt to plate the top of the outer arms, but I think that would be way overkill. The tubing size was my insistence, to prevent any weld/tubing breaks.

Not shown are cross members at the 22" back/forward from the front/rear cross members. And we have 2 cross members at the rear of the welder skid. The welder is bolted to the skid, the skid is bolted through the wood deck to steel cross members.

Son had it out & drove it around the block, said it pulled straight, easy & didn't bounce with the welder on the trailer.

[welderj]

Any time you have a weld joint like that you have to deal with the haz which can lead to stress cracks. You have 3 weld joints in a line across the highest stress area of the trailer, leaving it like that will be a poor design regardless of the thickness of material and quality of welds. Leaving it that way is of course your choice, but leaving it is a poor design suseptable to cracking, plating will make it a good and safe design.

Jon

[ballingerjonathan16]

Thank you for the input

[Bistineau]

Bought an engine drive from a guy in California and we had to build a trailer for it. Welded everything with my little Lincoln Pro Mig 180T.

I'm wondering why you didn't use the engine drive to build the trailer it will live on. It could probably have used the run time on it, and would have been a good time to make sure it runs the way it should. Missed opportunity.

[duaneb55]

Nice build Jonathan and Mark.

I'm surprised you didn't mount the tail lights/plate on the rear face of the fenders where they would be higher and less susceptible to damage. Or do you have other plans for those areas?

[ballingerjonathan16]

I'm wondering why you didn't use the engine drive to build the trailer it will live on. It could probably have used the run time on it, and would have been a good time to make sure it runs the way it should. Missed opportunity.

I tested the welder previously and it works amazingly and I could have used it for this build but im a much better mig welder than i am at stick and with this being a structural build i went with what im good at and what i know

[ballingerjonathan16]

Nice build Jonathan and Mark.

I'm surprised you didn't mount the tail lights/plate on the rear face of the fenders where they would be higher and less susceptible to damage. Or do you have other plans for those areas?

this is actually the way i had designed it on autocad

[MarkBall2]

Nice build Jonathan and Mark.

I'm surprised you didn't mount the tail lights/plate on the rear face of the fenders where they would be higher and less susceptible to damage. Or do you have other plans for those areas?

License plate will go on the left, fire extinguishers might go next to the fenders.

Original plan was flush LED's in the tailpan, but they would be too low for AZ law. Minimum of 15" max of 20". We are going to put flush LED's on the hoop, like a 3rd brake light.

[Canner]

Nice design, looks great. Should be plenty strong enough for what you are doing. I look at some of the mass produced trailers out there and there is no comparison. Yours looks really nice.

[jackdawg]

Looks like you used a drop axle, but mounted it under the springs? Any particular reason you did that, or was it just make the parts you had fit what you wanted?

[MarkBall2]

The axle used to have the springs under, we moved the springs to the top. We wanted the trailer higher without spending money on a straight axle.

[jackdawg]

The axle used to have the springs under, we moved the springs to the top. We wanted the trailer higher without spending money on a straight axle.

Makes sense, making what you got do the job!

[ballingerjonathan16]

Here are some pictures of the progress that has gotten done here lately

[jamesyarbrough]

Weird, a guy posts a trailer build and no flaming. You guys go soft while i was away?

[ballingerjonathan16]

Weird, a guy posts a trailer build and no flaming. You guys go soft while i was away?

We must have done a pretty good job then lol

[MarkBall2]

It's all wet today after a fine AZ shower. Going to have a great patina developing.