I thought I would share another one of my custom built design projects with everyone again.
This time it is a 101” by 30’ flat bed trailer I built out of salvaged metal from scrapped out items a friend of mine had on his family farm. He needed a good heavy trailer to haul scrap metal with so I figured that the best thing to do was build it out of the assorted scrap metals that he already had.
What I started out with was a old and rather bent up mid 1970's 14' x 70' trailer house frame he had parked out in the trees for the last few years and what was left of the back of an old semi trailer floor.
Basically what I did was strip the trailer house frame down to two I beams and cut the bent section out to form a solid 30 foot flatbed frame. The shortened frame still had a little twist to it so I took the two bent sections and plated them in beside the main frame but with the bends going the opposite direction. This in effect worked to cancel out the bends for each I beam and produced a surprisingly strait frame to work with.
For the cross beams I recycled 14 3" x 4" I beams from what was left of an old semi trailer floor and cut them to fit in between the two trailer house frame rails that way the top of the deck is level withthe top of the main frame itself.
It presently rides on three 6000 # rated axles with two of them equipped with electric brakes. Eventually it may get them replaced with a pair of 10,000 # axles. The current three axle setup is set with the front axle on a 16/14 split, the center of the front axle is set back one foot from the center of the deck, to give it a good balance but still allow for sufficient tongue weight in order to make it travel smooth and handle well when loaded.
The original trailer house tongue was only three feet long so I cut it off and replaced it with a 6 foot tongue to make turning sharper possible and to greatly improve the ride and stability of the trailer when loaded. The only new materials used was 40 pounds of 7018 welding rods, the new treated wood for the deck, the 440 decking screws required to fasten it down, the new adjustable hitch, and the new heavy duty jack.
Eventually it will also get removable 16" side rails and lighting but for now that is up to my friend to do when he gets more of the parts in. Not a bad trailer for under $1500 total invested plus it rides very light and smooth despite weighing 5000 #’s and being 36 feet long from tip to tail!
This time it is a 101” by 30’ flat bed trailer I built out of salvaged metal from scrapped out items a friend of mine had on his family farm. He needed a good heavy trailer to haul scrap metal with so I figured that the best thing to do was build it out of the assorted scrap metals that he already had.
What I started out with was a old and rather bent up mid 1970's 14' x 70' trailer house frame he had parked out in the trees for the last few years and what was left of the back of an old semi trailer floor.
Basically what I did was strip the trailer house frame down to two I beams and cut the bent section out to form a solid 30 foot flatbed frame. The shortened frame still had a little twist to it so I took the two bent sections and plated them in beside the main frame but with the bends going the opposite direction. This in effect worked to cancel out the bends for each I beam and produced a surprisingly strait frame to work with.
For the cross beams I recycled 14 3" x 4" I beams from what was left of an old semi trailer floor and cut them to fit in between the two trailer house frame rails that way the top of the deck is level withthe top of the main frame itself.
It presently rides on three 6000 # rated axles with two of them equipped with electric brakes. Eventually it may get them replaced with a pair of 10,000 # axles. The current three axle setup is set with the front axle on a 16/14 split, the center of the front axle is set back one foot from the center of the deck, to give it a good balance but still allow for sufficient tongue weight in order to make it travel smooth and handle well when loaded.
The original trailer house tongue was only three feet long so I cut it off and replaced it with a 6 foot tongue to make turning sharper possible and to greatly improve the ride and stability of the trailer when loaded. The only new materials used was 40 pounds of 7018 welding rods, the new treated wood for the deck, the 440 decking screws required to fasten it down, the new adjustable hitch, and the new heavy duty jack.
Eventually it will also get removable 16" side rails and lighting but for now that is up to my friend to do when he gets more of the parts in. Not a bad trailer for under $1500 total invested plus it rides very light and smooth despite weighing 5000 #’s and being 36 feet long from tip to tail!
Attachments
Last edited:
