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Built a utility trailer

Hi everyone-

I wanted to show off my trailer project, its not much of a trailer, but it fits my needs perfectly.

It all started innocently enough with a cheap popup camper frame, but the project snowballed into a 6 x 12 trailer with a dovetail and rampgate.

trailerframe.jpg


In my opinion, there are a few things about this trailer that make it different and special. I built in a ramp gate assist in the pipe top rails and I used the A frame from the popup camper and 7' of the fully boxed frame for extra strength. I boxed the C channel A frame to stiffen it up too.

trailer71.jpg


trailer12.jpg


I put LED clearance lights into the fender brackets so that I can see where my trailer is because its wider than my truck. The fender brackets are 2x3 angle set at a 45 degree angle from the trailer, hopefully if I run the trailer too close to a tree or post, it will kick the trailer out rather than crushing in the fender.

trailer22.jpg


At the end of the pipe rails, I put a piece of square tubing, drilled some holes and made rollers out of spacers and set screw collars. There are 125# garage door springs in each tube, connected to a cable. One the front end of the tube, I welded a cap to a pipe coupler, then threaded a nipple into that. The end of the nipple has a washer welded to that. A piece of threaded rod goes through there and I used a nylon locknut to set the preload on the springs. All that ended up with a barely detectable lift gate assist.

trailer51.jpg


The front portion of the popup camper frame serves to stiffen up the trailer in the front and gave me some nice real estate to put some diamond tread aluminum on there to keep the paint from getting chipped up.

trailer61.jpg



The trailer is constructed from 2x3 and 2x2 3/16 angle, the top rails are sch 40 black pipe. The inside of the rails measures 73" 10.5' of flat deck 1.5" of dovetail with a 3' gate. And all the light wiring runs in frame rails or 1/4" pipe to keep it protected.

I painted it with automotive epoxy primer and acrylic enamel paint for a lasting paint job. I paid extra attention to the bottom side, that's where the rust always seems to begin.

With all that being said, I'd never do this again. I thought I'd save some money building it myself. I got the axle, wheels and tires cheap, as well as the front A frame, but it still cost a whole lot of money as well as about 100 hours of my time.
 



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Very nice work! I would love to see a video of the lift gate assist in action.

I am helping a friend with a steel utility trailer this week myself. We made it out of 1/4" plate steel, and made it with removable side walls and ladder racks. I was going to spray epoxy primer, and topcoat with Acrolon polyurethane. But we found a local shop to powder coat the entire thing(including labor), for the same cost as the paint materials. We pick it up from the sand blaster in the morning, and should be finished by this weekend.

I bring this up, because I agree that making a trailer can be more expensive than just buying a used one. But...it doesn't have all the personal touches incorporated in the build. So, tomato, tomata. :D
 






I am quite happy with the gate, it is smooth and quiet, you have to push it to the ground, it eases down to a bout level with the trailer, then a little pressure to push it to the ground. Coming up, I just stick my toe under it and nudge it, up it comes.
 






That looks awsome. It looks just like a landscaping trailer I used for work years ago. That thing was VERY expensive.

Suggestion though... When the town bought theirs (I did landscaping for my town in college) we had no place to tie down equipment. The town mechanic ended up welding tiedown hoops along both the floor rail on the sides and front as well as the top rail. It helped TONS when we had it loaded up.

oh, and paint the wheels too :)
 






Very nice work, very ingenious.
 






Very nice!
All you need now are matching wheels!
 












I'd thought that far away shot showed an aluminum wheel! That's painted!?!
Looks very nice.
What did you use to paint the wheels? Anything special? Might want to do that on our camper.
 












These days it's usually just cheaper to buy it rather than build it. But good luck finding one that has the features or quality of the one you built, or gives you the satisfaction of doing the project.

The liftgate assist is killer. Hat's off to you!
 






Just spotted this thread. Very nice craftsmanship! :eek:
 






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