New toy!

So ive been needing a trailer to haul the Argo. But like most guys, I don't want to spend any more than I have too.

Problem was; I wanted a trailer big enough to take the Argo with supertracks, which means a minimum of 72" wide. Those size trailers are a little harder to find used and just don't come cheap when you do.

I've been watching the local buy and sell and there was a beat up looking old home built that was 6'4"x10'6". But it looked like poo and he wanted 400 bucks.
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I thought about looking at it once or twice but it just looked so bad in the pictures I couldn't be bothered.

As fate would have it, I actually drove by it yesterday when I was headed somewhere. I stopped to have a look just because I was there anyways.

Well, it still looked like poo. But under the crap appearance it was actually pretty heavily built and in decent shape. There was something I couldn't put my finger on about it, but it was big enough and certainly a good base to build on.

The for sale sign also had 400 crossed out and 300 written in.

So I called the guy and we got to talking. Ended up paying 250 bucks. I'd pay more than that for just the steel to build something similar. Tows straight and true. No bounce and the truck doesn't even know it's three.

I get it home and get a more in depth look at it. It had hydraulic surge brakes on it at one time, but the master cylinder is long gone. That seems strange to me on a home built utility trailer, but I dismiss it as someone used what they had lying around. The tires are new 12" Carlisle's on 5 bolt rims. The frame is thick and the sides are not c channel, but rather look like a box section that isn't a complete box. It takes a 2 inch ball and the A frame is very heavy. 3500 lb axle with surge brakes. Theres some kind of bracket in each corner under the soft and rotting floor. There's strange little posts on the front and rear frame that angle up so they're not tie down points.

Then it hits me what I'm actually looking at: it's a converted camper trailer and a fairly big one at that. I'm guessing it's an old "Bonair" from about the 70's as the seller told me he bought it off a guy who used it to haul his stuff down from Montreal. Couple things also have "made in Quebec" stamped in them (ie: plastic wheel wells). That's why the welds look so good and it's fairly heavily built; only the registration is "home built", the base trailer frame is production built.. Certainly heavy enough to drag my Argo or a motorcycle or two around. 10'+ will be nice for hauling lumber from the yard as my truck only has a 6.5' bed (biggest I could get on an f150 crew cab).

So, plans are to strip it down to the frame and blast it clean. Drop tail added and axle flip to make a nice deck over utility trailer. Drop gate at the rear and I'll build platforms over each wheel well for the Argo to sit on. A bit more steel and probably 2x6 pressure treated boards. Two raised platforms will give me some storage on the trailer for some long but low items as well as wheel clearance.

Plan is to end up with something like this:
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but in a deck over configuration.

Should be fun. Pics as it develops. Only in to it for 250 right now (and I could use it as is) so that's good!

:)
 
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Tear down time.

Its three layers of various thickness of plywood in various stages of decay: [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.supermotors.net\/getfile\/1121385\/fullsize\/img_6590.jpg"}[/IMG2]



That pic is the last layer and is the orginal 1970-1980 era plywood. Still has the holes for power and water lines in it. Soft as puddin'! All the previous owners just keep slapping another thin layer of plywood over the previous layers as they went soft. Not the way to do it!

Once stripped, over all, not in bad shape: [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.supermotors.net\/getfile\/1121386\/fullsize\/img_6591.jpg"}[/IMG2]



A little cleaning and some rust paint and it'll be good as new.

Only bad piece is the very last rail: [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.supermotors.net\/getfile\/1121387\/fullsize\/img_6592.jpg"}[/IMG2]



Not a big deal. Cut it out, weld in new. I was going to build a dove tail anyways so its minimal extra work to replace the bad rail.

Figure I'll raise it about 6 inches to make a clean, flat deckover: [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.supermotors.net\/getfile\/1121388\/fullsize\/img_6594.jpg"}[/IMG2]



Dove tail will work nicely with the raise. I'll just make the tail a 3-4" drop. That will still add at least 2" of clearance from what it is now. The ball center comes up just enough to make it a perfect hieght for a standard hitch drop.

I was thinking an axle flip, but I think I'll just cut the spring mounts off and weld a spacer to the frame member: [IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.supermotors.net\/getfile\/1121389\/fullsize\/img_6595.jpg"}[/IMG2]



Then weld the spring mounts back on. Seems to be the cleanest way to go and maintains the orginal spring action.

I may just carry the spacer from front rail to the rear and weld at the cross beams along the way. Good way to add some strength and rigidityto the chassis while accomplishing the lift. Might slide the axle back a couple inches as well to get a bit more tongue weight since its no longer a camper and will be hauling stuff instead.

I also may end up doubling up the outside rails. Not so much for strength, but so i can add a c channel to take the deck boards. Added strength will just be an incidental bonus.

:)
 
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Oh, my 86 is about 1000-1200 lbs in stock form. So about as much as a golf cart, which is what the PO was using it for.

Sales literature says 975 lbs, but thats almost never accurate.
 
975 is likely dry, as soon as you add fluids and everything else, you are likely right.
Surprised me though, I would have thought heavier. That trailer should be perfect for your use.
You being handy as you are, you will have it set up for your use in no time.
 
Yeah, theres not a lot to the older ones.

Theres only a flat steel frame, a lawn tractor engine and a transmission. The rest is chains and tires.

pg202.jpg


Its not much more than a go cart in a plastic tub.

The newer ones have a lot more junk in the trunk. They've got fuel injection, revised transmissions, liquid cooling, bigger rims and tires, longer, taller, etc.They go upwards of about 1800-2000 lbs loaded for bear...
 
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So, further measuring reveals i need a deck height of 22.5" to clear the tires and 3" of suspension movement.

I highly doubt it will move 3", but you never know. 3" is the total amount of movement the axle can make before contacting the frame. The camper springs are actually pretty soft, most likely so the dishes and pots in a camper dont get thrown around too much. I'll give them a go and if they are too soft I'll just replace them with something more robust.

Plan is to pit two 10' 2x3 metal tubes from the a frame to the rear rail. This will transfer all the load to the pulling frame and stiffen the whole thing up immeasurably.

Then a simple 2x2 piece to space the spring mounts down the total 5" i need to raise the deck to the priper height.

A 16" dove tail will bring the rear lift up to about 10" and the drop gate will make the rest if the ramp into the bed.

10 foot 2x6's will make the deck. That will give me the option of carrying the Argo, or bolting down one or two motorcycle chocks and ferrying my bikes around. Anything else it will handle fine with the 2x6 deck boards.

The 12" tires and rims will have to stay or the trailer will just get too high for my liking. Possibly might be able to go up to a 13" if the suspension is stiff enough of if i install some bump stops.

:)
 
Add two lengths of 2x4" tube:

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And bam! Deckover utility trailer:

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The new pieces have a little "stand off" from the original spring mount piece because the cross rails they are welded to aren't flush with them. Rather than notch the crossmembers, i just welded the ends of the 2x4 tube to them and accepted the space between the 2x4 and 2x3 pieces. To compensate, i'm going to amke a couple 3x3 plates and weld 2 per side across the gap. Kind of like a "fishplate". There will also be a support welded between the 2x4 tubes to mkae sure it all stay nice and rigidly in place.

I moved the axle back to the 60% postion. The orginal camper trailer had the axle dead center of the deck. I figure they had it centered due to the way the camper had the deck loaded with its components, putting the 10% tongue load on the hitch. Utility trailers arent built that way, so i moved the axle back to a convention postion for a utility trailer.

The deck will be 2x6 wood. Probably just local spruce. A piece of 1.5" angle will be welded to the top of the frame rails and that will form the channel for the wood to sit in.

Beavertail rear piece will follow later down the road. Im just getting it functional for now since we're moving to a new house in march 2018.

I'm going to swap the spring with my 12' aluminum boat trailer springs. The camper ones are 3 leaves and the boat springs are 4 leaves. The boat trailer is so stiff it doesnt give at all and the trailer just jumps around. Swapping springs over to the argo trailer just makes sense.

Next is to weld on some spring perches as i currently just turned the axle over to do the axle under spring flip.

Deck, some cleankng and painting and i can at least move the argo around.

Still not in to it for more than 300 bucks!

:)
 
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More welding today. Put in a few more cross braces and added a 16" beavertail. It's not overly long, but it makes for a nice reduced breakover when used with my 6 foot ramps.
 
Started decking the trailer out:
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That's just cut and fit. Not bolted down yet. I have to clean and paint the frame before I bolt the deck down and I still have some welding to do before paint as well.

Probably going to stain it walnut or something like that. the bottom of the boards I'm going to leave raw so the wood can breath. I'll slip some poly or rubber strips between the wood and metal frame to keep the wood away from the steel to help prevent rusting.

I also picked up some fold up trailer jacks for the rear at princess auto for a little over 20 bucks. They are a touch short, but nothing I can't fix with the mig.

I found a power tongue jack on ebay for 20 bucks, but I fully expect that to not show up. 20 bucks shipped has got to be a scam. If it shows up, bonus! if it doesn't...meh, it was 20 bucks and ebay refunds the money if the seller doesn't. For 20 bucks, I figured it was worth a shot.

And while I'm not proud of it, i grabbed a set of bedframe rails from the roadside today. It was just an opportunity thing that I noticed as I drove by as the scrappers usually get anything metal a few minutes after you put it to the curb. Bed rails will work just fine to make a couple hangers under the deck to keep the loading ramps on until I can make a tailgate. I don't like people "shopping" the roadside cleanup days, it just creeps me the "F" out! So I'm not proud of the fact i did the same thing today!

I'm in to it now for about 400 bucks total. Probably be about 500 (-ish) into it once painted, stained and lighted.

Pretty good for a 6 1/2" x 10' 10" flat bed trailer!

:)
 
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Little bit of work done today on the dash layout:

img_6644.jpg


One the left side is a 12v port, a double usb port, and a voltmeter. Next to that is the hour meter/rpm/maintenance minder. Finishing off the left is the bildge pump panel that was already in the argo when i bought it:

img_6649.jpg


On the right is a brace of switches and the ignition key cylinder:

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Well, at least its all in and mounted. Now is just to wire it all. Easy peasy, right?

;)
 
Well, that was a waste of perfectly good money!

Thompsons isnt protecting worth a shite!

The wood is actually turning grey/black faster than before it was treated. Water only beads in a few small spots and what doesnt bead turns a milky white when wet! I followed the directions and still got this crap result.

Now i have to strip it, but Thompsons is basically solvent and wax. Solvent carries the wax into the wood, then evaporats, leaving mostly just wax. So its toxic chemicals or deal with sanding belts clogging while try to sand the whole deck.

I think I'm just going to run them through the planer and take 1/16 to 1/32 off the surface to get rid of this thompsons garbage.

Once its gone i'm just going to hit it with some regular deck stain and do it every year or two. Probably use a solid this time instead of a semi clear.
 
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I stopped using it on decks years ago, wasn't worth the money, results not much better.
If you have a decent pressure washer, it will come off with that.
 
Ran the planks through the planer and got that thimpsons crap off. Had to anyways to bring them down about 3/8 to fit the 1.5 angle. Restained in a solid walnut. Got most of the gate finished also:

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That gate is a heavy sumbitch! I'll have to rig up a spring gate assist or my already bad back is going to get worse!

Also welded the rear loading jacks on. Still too short, i need to extend the lower part of the leg about 3-4 inches.
 
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