WOOD TRAILER PROJECT... NEED SUGGESTIONS! PIC INSIDE!

nice post, good info! well, once i understand where he put these wires and why, ill rip em all out and put fresh ones in with waterproof connectors and i WONT wire them in between boards and the frame! i drive an 01 cherokee, so im sure its the old style wiring . heres a link i went to that helped me out a bit HERE


its says i need this : HERE

Nearly all my trailer electric experience has been with trailers that didn't need brakes (small boat trailers), but the wiring diagram shown looks right for an old style vehicle (the quick and easy test - do you have seperate yellow turn signals on the back, or do your brake and turn signals use the same bulb? - 01 could be either, when I'm talking "old" I mean 60's and 70's....) OTOH, the wiring harness connector you are showing in the second link is wrong... It is intended for a trailer w/o brakes. You need the big round connector for trailers w/ brakes. You may also need a seperate brake control module, I'm not sure just how they do the brake hookup as I've never had to deal with that side of things (yet)

Gooserider

this trailer doesnt have electric brakes. the one i have just has the rectangular brake LIGHTS , not stopping brakes. i probably didnt clarify it. the only thing that needs rewiring is the brake lights. i just want to put fresh wires in and loom them up nice n neat.

good news. i put an ad on craigslist for my old trailer, described it in detail , had pics galore and sold it in 3hours after posting for 200$ ! hah. i only bought it for 100$ if you guys remember. its the trailer that started this post that you guys said to trash it. well, this guy was in love with the torsion axle and paid right away. heres the pic to refresh HERE .
ill miss that axle though. kinda neat. anyways, were supposed to get a decent thaw in about 5 days , ill get to the wiring then.

i need to get a good welder, though im limited to 115v outlets. i dont really wanna run 220v right now. ive heard you can only do 3/16" thick steel and lower with an arc welder thats 115v standard. that true?

the steel stakes for the trailer i want to weld on are 1/4" thick.... about the only thing ill ever do that thick probably.
any suggestions as to what welder to get?

wire feed or stick? maybe mig? it mostly be for small projects like this, or maybe to fix a 4 wheeler or something.

my knowledge is limited but im a fast learner and master things quickly so i dont really want a toy. my buddy works at lincoln electric, its about 20min from my house, so ill probably get one from him or craigslist.

ill probably make a separate post on here see if anyone has any suggestions.

thanks in advance!

Good news about the trailer, hope the guy that bought it doesn't have any problems.

As to the welder, I'd strongly reccomend MIG or TIG over stick. I have a 200 Amp Lincoln MIG unit that does a really good job, and is very flexible... It is kind of tricky to learn stick, not only how to strike an arc, but maintain a good weld as your stick gets eaten up by the weld - I know I tried a few times and never got the hang of it. OTOH MIG (wire feed) is much easier once you learn how to balance the current and feed settings to match your wire and the material (there are charts that help) The arc eats the wire at the same rate it feeds, so your torch stays at a constant distance, you mostly just "pull the trigger and go" MIG also can handle thinner material than stick.

If you get a gas feed unit, (I reccomend that choice) you don't get the heavy slag to chip off that you get with stick and you can also set up to do aluminum (different gas mix needed, and either a spool gun (highly reccomended) or a different liner and drive roller for the regular gun hose.) It is also possible to do some kinds of stainless, and so on. However, I started w/ a 20A 115 volt unit (max for 115) and was not happy on 3/16" - I couldn't get reliable full penetration from one side... I was able to trade it in on the 220V unit, which is much bigger, (and as big as I can get on single phase) and found it did a MUCH better job... Lincoln and a few other outfits make quite high quality 110v units, but the basic laws of physics limit what you can do with them. A good welder can get more out of them than a bad one, but there is only so much that they can do. With the bigger unit its hard to get a bad weld as they have the juice to get penetration pretty much automatically.

TIG is something I've never tried, but supposedly it's more like welding with a gas torch. TIG has the claimed advantage of being able to handle just about any sort of material with the right gas mix, and also being more flexible about material thickness... It's expensive to get set up with however from what I've heard.

Lincoln is a very good machine, I would highly reccomend it - you can also get some very useful educational books and such through them.

The other welding item I'd say is an essential is one of those electronic photosensing helmets - they are a MAJOR improvement over the traditional dark glass, or even the newer gold leaf glass viewport helmets. With no arc they are like wearing really dark sunglasses, you know the shield is there, but you can see what you are doing no problem, and then get full protection as soon as you strike an arc. I found with the old style helmet it was always a challenge to either get set up when I couldn't see, or set up with the hood up, then drop the hood w/o moving... These days the price on the electronic helmets has dropped to the point where they aren't even that much more expensive than the old fashioned ones...

Gooserider

In welding school they teach stick first. Most people don't get enough penetration with mig.
Can ya catch which way I'm leaning?

thanks guys. i wish i could get a 220v , but am not in a house where ill be staying enough to reap the benefits of running conduit to the garage for 220v .

the wire feed welders seem a lot more versatile and easier to handle. you can do mild steel and get the gas for different types of metals. one that seems like a good buy is the lincoln weld pak . heres a link http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tls/1044141199.html . simple but effective. it SAYS it can do 1/4" steel , but im sure itll take a couple passes to do that. stick or arc welding would have the same downside right? i dont plan on welding aluminum, but i guess with the wire feed it would be a help to keep the machine versatile, no ?

I also have a 115V Lincoln, I've never bothered to hook up gas to it I just run flux-core wire so I can use it outdoors off my generator, etc. I built an entire pole barn with it; frame, doors, etc - definitely earned itself back. It will do 1/4 inch easy; the secret is not to try to do it in one pass. Run a root pass, then clean off the slag (the crust) that forms, then run another. However, I don't think you need 1/4 inch for your pockets, what's the thickness of the frame they're going onto? I'd go 3/16, and you should be able to get that in a single pass if you're plugged in close to an outlet with good power. Extension cords will rob your juice for welding, especially on a 115V wire feed.

im assuming its standard channel iron, so maybe 3/16 tops. what if your wleding 1/4" thick pockets to 3/16" body, how would you set your knobs? so i want a wire feed 115v mig welder then?

I just got done with the finishing welds on my trailer yesterday. I used a small 100 amp, 110v Arc buzz box. The one I have is 25 years old at least but you can get a refurbished one from Harbor Freight for less than $100. I was able to weld 1/4" no problem. You just have to have a really strong breaker to run it off of and if it gets hot you'll need to let it cool down. If you are just using it intermitently you should have no problem.

ok, so i got the whole car wired correctly now. there was a converter box behind the kick panel of the cherokee, and it was busted up so i figured it was messed up. now the whole 4 pin harness works comin out of the car: green is to right turn, yellow is to left turn , brown is to lail lights when i have the lights on, and i made a SEPARATE wire for brake lights, which is coming from a red wire by my tail lights. . . . my question is this:

my lights on my trailer have a separate red and orange lens for brake and turn. . .

how do i hook up tail and brake ot one red light? since its double filament do i hook the tail light to one of the wires comin from the bulb and the brake light to the other? if so, how do i know to pick the higher or lower filament? thanks!

In a standard two filament setup, the tail light takes the lower power filament, and the brake / turn light gets the brighter filament - it is important not to get them backwards, as some fixtures will overheat and melt if you do.

If you have separate turn signals, it stays almost the same, tail light goes to the dim filament, brake goes to the bright filament and the turnsignals go to the yellow lens fixtures.

You MUST also have a ground connection! - some fixtures will have three wires coming from them - brake hot, tail light hot and chassis ground, but most will just have the two hot wires and ground via the mounting studs. Either way you need to have a GOOD ground connection! Make sure the fixture is either mounted to a solid, permanent part of the trailer frame, or has a ground wire that goes from the fixture to the frame. If the fixture is attached to the frame, take it off and make sure you have a clean, non-rusted, metal to metal ground contact - I like to use plenty of neversieze to prevent future corrosion. At the hitch, make sure there is a ground wire in the wiring harness that connects to a good solid ground on each end - DO NOT depend on the hitch/ball connection for ground, it isn't dependable for that.

Aside from blown bulbs, the number one troubleshooting area for trouble with your trailer lights, especially if it's an odd failure (i.e. the wrong bulb lights up, or some bulbs go out when others come on) is making sure all the grounds are good...

Gooserider

thats exactly what i was lookin for . so 2 positives for the one tail light/brake bulb. got it .

now, listen to this.

i dont have a title, it was 200$ , so ohio law made me go to a weigh station which was luckily a industrial sand company with a weigh ramp about 5 min from me. i pulled up with my cherokee , and i gotta say, it was fun pulling up the ramp and seeing the digital readout of my jeep/trailer weight . 4460lbs ! sheesh.
the guy told me to pull the jeep off so he could weigh the trailer only, and give me a weight slip to bring to the license bureau to get 24$/year plates.

the trailer was 660 lbs !! i figured 450 tops. i think its cus the wood is pressure treated and the channel iron.
glad to know its beefy though. 24$ a year to haul wood... damn thats as much as my motorcycle!

well, i built the sides up ... heres a link for the update! http://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/37835/