Had a small 4'x4' trailer I used to haul my wood around the yard with my john deere 318. The kid and I were bringing a load of 5' log rounds back to my wood pile last weekend and as I crossed a small dry creek on my property I heard one of those loud "not so good" pops from the trailer. After unloading the trailer I found that the pop was my leaf spring bracket ripping away from the frame. I definitely had overloaded the trailer a bit; however, the real culprit of the mechanical was the fact that the entire frame had rusted away to practically nothing. After finding three more supports broken I decided it wasn't worth salvaging and made a call to the local weld shop and bought some tube steel to fab up a new trailer.
While I was a little upset to see the old trailer go, there were a few modifications that I wanted to incorporate into a new trailer so it wasn't a total loss. My old trailer had flimsy sheet metal sides to it that would bluge when loaded with full loads. The sides were also welded in place so larger loads would not be centered over the axle and would hang out of the back. Several times I had a little too much weight cantilevered off the end of the trailer that I actually popped the hitch off the ball of the tractor. Now I know some people are probably shaking their heads at the things I put that trailer through, but now you'll understand why I incorporated some new ideas into the new trailer.
I was thinking about building a tandem axle trailer like my neighbor uses to haul firewood to help balance out some of my longer loads. When cutting wood I like to leave my log lengths as long as possible and then bring them home to finish cutting up when time permits. The thing I don't like about tandems though is that when making sharp turns it tends to turf up your grass. I remember one time seeing a boat trailer at a boat launch that had a slip hitch that allowed the user to shorten up the length of the tongue of the trailer when not towing a boat, but pull it out when needed. This same concept would help me when trailering my logs to the back in a smaller trailer. By pulling out the tongue, I would move my wheel base back, centering it up on the load and cutting down of the cantilever action applied to the hitch. I used 2" square tubing 1/8th inch thick for the frame of the new trailer, but in the center of the trailer I used a piece of 2 1/2" square tubing as a receiver for the tongue of the trailer. By drilling holes in 1 foot incriments I am able to move the axle of the trailer an additional 3 feet by removing 5/8" hitch pins.
I also added stake body pockets to all 4 sides of the trailer to allow me to use any configuration of siding that I wanted. I also have plans to make poles that would insert in the pockets just for hauling logs. The fenders were purchased from a local hardware store but lacked the sheet metal backing that most larger trailer fenders had so I cut sheet metal blanks and spot welded them on the inside to help keep water kicking up inside the trailer
I'm currently in the process of priming and painting the frame now. Then 5/4 wood decking on the frame and siding.
This trailer is defiantly way over engineered, but for the amount that I spent on it I couldn't have purchased one of those cheap angle iron carts they sell at the Big Chain stores that are "as is" as far as options. I have plans on possible incorporating some sort of dump body and removable boom hoist that will help me haul rocks and other cumbersome objects around the yard. Will post more pictures as I come around to getting more done as time allows. Any suggestions / comments would be appreciated.
While I was a little upset to see the old trailer go, there were a few modifications that I wanted to incorporate into a new trailer so it wasn't a total loss. My old trailer had flimsy sheet metal sides to it that would bluge when loaded with full loads. The sides were also welded in place so larger loads would not be centered over the axle and would hang out of the back. Several times I had a little too much weight cantilevered off the end of the trailer that I actually popped the hitch off the ball of the tractor. Now I know some people are probably shaking their heads at the things I put that trailer through, but now you'll understand why I incorporated some new ideas into the new trailer.
I was thinking about building a tandem axle trailer like my neighbor uses to haul firewood to help balance out some of my longer loads. When cutting wood I like to leave my log lengths as long as possible and then bring them home to finish cutting up when time permits. The thing I don't like about tandems though is that when making sharp turns it tends to turf up your grass. I remember one time seeing a boat trailer at a boat launch that had a slip hitch that allowed the user to shorten up the length of the tongue of the trailer when not towing a boat, but pull it out when needed. This same concept would help me when trailering my logs to the back in a smaller trailer. By pulling out the tongue, I would move my wheel base back, centering it up on the load and cutting down of the cantilever action applied to the hitch. I used 2" square tubing 1/8th inch thick for the frame of the new trailer, but in the center of the trailer I used a piece of 2 1/2" square tubing as a receiver for the tongue of the trailer. By drilling holes in 1 foot incriments I am able to move the axle of the trailer an additional 3 feet by removing 5/8" hitch pins.
I also added stake body pockets to all 4 sides of the trailer to allow me to use any configuration of siding that I wanted. I also have plans to make poles that would insert in the pockets just for hauling logs. The fenders were purchased from a local hardware store but lacked the sheet metal backing that most larger trailer fenders had so I cut sheet metal blanks and spot welded them on the inside to help keep water kicking up inside the trailer
I'm currently in the process of priming and painting the frame now. Then 5/4 wood decking on the frame and siding.
This trailer is defiantly way over engineered, but for the amount that I spent on it I couldn't have purchased one of those cheap angle iron carts they sell at the Big Chain stores that are "as is" as far as options. I have plans on possible incorporating some sort of dump body and removable boom hoist that will help me haul rocks and other cumbersome objects around the yard. Will post more pictures as I come around to getting more done as time allows. Any suggestions / comments would be appreciated.
