Did I say this trailer was easy ?

No way !  Lot’s of work to do even before the paint goes on.  And so I want to flip the trailer but not before I do all the topside prep. There are some rust holes in the fenders.  I’m going to add some metal to that problem.

There’s a few places on the fender walls like this.  So I’m going to use the old side rails to put a second layer of metal along here.

These should work !  Just cut the angle off.   And tack them in place …after cleaning !

I’m trying to not get overly fussy with the trailer.  But rust holes look bad..  Just a bit more cleaning rust and sanding things smooth..

Flippin Crazy !

It got a bit scary..    My Son was helping me this morning.  I had snatch blocks, chains and straps..  I wish I took some photos ..but the camera was the last thing on my mind.  We got one side of the trailer about four feet off the ground.. And that was scary.  The gantry could handle the weight and so could the winch..  But pulling from one side looked like the gantry frame was going to bend sideways.  Even anchored to my big shelf , which it was pulling away from the wall.  We called it a no go !   And put it back down.  Back to having on the lift table ..and I will just crawl under to do the work.. Way way safer.

So I took the gantry apart ( it was in the way)  and set to work on the wind gate / tailgate.  I have it all planed out …so just a mater of putting it together.  And hours of cutting and welding later.. even next day.   Boom.. got it done..  Now I’m figuring out the hinges.

Darn thing is heavy !  But I want it to hold lots of weight..  And rather than fold flat on the deck , I’m opting for being able to remove it.  So I came up with these hinges.

About as heavy duty as I could make them..  Just lift the tailgate up and out.  The latch half way up will not allow the gate to bounce out.

Hopefully this works good.  I’m putting handles on the gate to help lift it..  Here’s an update video:

The latches for the tailgate arrived today.  They are going to work great !

I’m not going to weld them in place …I’m going to drill and tap holes and use bolts.  I was just testing the paint … good thing I didn’t go too far down, need to weld a bit of angle here for these latches.

This gives a peek at the future !  Red & Black with a bit of silver is the color scheme.  I’ve taken a bit of a break from the trailer for a few weeks to deal with some things… like a new gas fireplace.  And Christmas is getting closer too, and all the stuff for that.  soon I’ll feel I have the time to get back out to the shop.  A bit more welding on the hitch and some more cleaning and it will be paint time.

Yes the work continues on the top side !

First I need to finish the rail in the front.

Done !  And it turned out very nice.

Got to love it when a plan works out.  I now have 13 ft- 4″ of deck space.   Also the box sits there nicely and the lid has room to open.

Now to figure out the tail lights…  I made the decision to go simple.  No fancy angles, just a good size square with room for the lights.

The two lights are designed to flush mount so I’m using a piece of 1/8 ” aluminum sheet.  Seen on top of the fender.  It’s now time to clean up the top side of rust and loose stuff before I flip the trailer.

One more thing is… I needed to raise the legs of the gantry so that it’s ten feet high.  Hard to flip an eight foot wide trailer with an eight foot high lift.  It’s simple math !  Also I need to temporary mount the winch on the gantry cross beam.

Here’s the new improved legs.  And the winch is mounted up and working great.

Ten feet wide and nine feet high.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll get brave and see if it can lift the trailer.  Yes ! but just barely.  I’m going to remove the axles now to lighten the load.  I took one of the rusted hanger bolts out, and sure enough we have serious wear issues.

Compare old and new !  Ya ! not much left of the old bushing..  And the bolt has seen better times too.   It gets worse..  New bushings won’t help.

All that play just hammered the eye of the spring.  Going to get interesting ! I’ll have to get some brass shim material to fix this.  I’ve ordered a new bolts, bushings, shackles and two equalizers because everything is toast !

I discovered that years ago I bought an air hammer !  And never used it …till now.  Made short work out of the frozen bolts.  So now the axles are free and I have set them aside for cleaning and painting.  Just don’t know where to start?  The frame needs cleaning and the brake parts too.  I’ll do the brakes next.  So many little rusty parts !

One thing for sure ..these brakes were not in working order.  It looks like they had the left and right front brakes reversed.  And not only were they backed off , but the adjusters were also rusted stuck.  In the  next photo you can see two clean ones and a rusty one.

Got the brake parts cleaned up .  Made a new update video…

Rather than leave my axle and brake parts all over.. I decided to complete the cleaning.  Gather all the parts in a box and clean and paint the drums.

Here’s a clean drum next to a not cleaned one.  It’s important to polish the inner surfaces of these drums. Both the surface for the magnet and the brake shoes.

And this is the finished drums.  Painted with Por15  rust paint.  I’ve used this product many times and it’s tough.  These will not rust again !  Same goes for the axles.  They get a good cleaning and a Por15 paint job too.

This paint may be tough but it does not like the sun.. Which makes it perfect for axles and springs.. you know stuff that hides underneath the trailer.  It takes a good 24 hrs to cure, and I don’t want to make dust.  So one at a time… When the axles are done then I can put them aside and concentrate on the frame.  Let’s start a new page…

12 ft trailer page 5:

Time to get at -er !

I put the trailer aside until I picked up the gantry from my friend.  I will need that to flip the heavy frame without help.

Here’s the gantry pieces in amongst some of my stuff.  The jeeps are in the way for a bit, then I will set this up.

Meanwhile the trailer has been enjoying this space, and providing a place to store the new metal.

Update:   Now the jeeps are out of the way I was able to put the  trailer in the shop.

Notice that I parked it in the middle over top of the lift table.  Hoping the lift will lift it after I remove the ton of metal.. and maybe the wheels ?

Let the transformation begin !

Step number one is to remove unwanted things like the the four side lights.  Also the wheels, jack and extra bits of steel.  I did have marks where the extended front would go … but mother nature didn’t like them.  That’s ok I remember the measurements, and they may change.

How about that lift table .. brought the trailer up to a comfortable height for working.  Then I started cutting off the extra bits of metal.  Next I moved some of the hitch pieces to extend the deck and mount the aluminum box with the winch inside.

That’s the winch plate that will be inside the box.  I had to re- think my locations for things, and that will shorten the length of the deck extension by a few inches.  Seems most of the work I do to trailers is to the hitch area.  But if you don’t use that triangle wisely ..it’s a waste of space.  You will see how I do it .  I was waiting for an extension cord for my new welder so it can reach the front of the trailer.  While waiting I tackled the dents in the fenders.  They are not prefect but much better.

Here’s two new pieces of angle to hold the extra deck boards.  Because of the location of the box and the need for a separate  battery box the deck extension is less that the hoped for 20 inches. This afternoon I got the extension cord and was able to use the new welder.  WOW does soooo much better with the 240 volts.

That’s where the box goes with room to open the lid.  And the front area is getting less and less.

A place for the battery and my wiring junction box  is next and I need to replace the hitch too.  I made a very “scookum”  battery holder.

The angle iron is for the electrical box.  A new coupler is self explanatory !  All these things need to be done before flipping the trailer over.  Once it’s upside down More welds can be done easier. I started tacking the side rails in place.

The rear post is taller to hold the tailgate closed.   Got both sides done now.  Just need to put a top rail across the front.

What I had envisioned is taking place.. and turning out great.  Adding little touches like these “tie downs”.

Another few days of work and I’ll be setting up the gantry to flip the trailer over.   I still need to figure out the tail light mount.   And now it’s time for a new page in this post…  as the work continues.

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