Trailer Restoration Thread SN176

My guess is its rusted in place. See if one if Quinners girlfriends can come sit on the frame and break it loose. Don't let her sit on the fender as those are hard to replace.

Just kidding, signing up to see the answer to the last question.

That's what I did not want to hear Pete.

I'll have to take a closer look and some pictures when I get the wheel hub assembly off. Right now it's just too cold to mess with grease.

There is probably nothing wrong with your axle. The axles Prestige used were rated a 6000# if I remember correctly, which is close to double the capacity it needed to be. If you don't have "trailer" tires on it, that will contribute to a "rougher" riding trailer. The original tires should have been Goodyear Marathon? trailer tires if I recall.
As for disk breaks, they are the best. The locking out to back up issue can be resolved easily, but the cost is truly the only downfall, fairly significant one too!

Thanks Zach and Brandon!

I think you guys are correct. I just spent a couple of hours researching torsion bar suspensions online and there seem to be a few constants.

1. They don't fail very often.

2. When they do fail, they tend to sag quite a bit.

You can see from my pictures that this isn't the case. I guess it's just a rough riding trailer.

I would, however, like to get some of Quinner's Angels to bounce on the trailer for kicks.

Yea, Salamanders are thirsty in an un insulated open barn like ours. :(.

I refurbed my trailer about 5 years ago. I too had not had brakes in a long time and thought about going to disks. I ended up going with electric drum brakes. All I had to purchsed was new backing plates which were not too expensive and they work fantastic. I was worried about them holding up being submerged a lot but I have had 5 years of trouble free braking and no need for a lockout to back up my very steep driveway. I took off the drum last year to check thme and there is zero signs of corrosion.

phatsat67 wrote: Did you just use regular old electric drums like I would use on my car trailer? The drum/backing plate assemblies are so freakin cheap compared to all the other crap that goes along with surge brakes.

I too used plan old electric brakes on one of my trailers. Yup, they are cheap and I too have had no problems. Even though the truck was pre wired for the brakes, setting it up was more work than putting the brakes on the trailer!
One nice thing about electrics up here in the north is if you get into a ice/jack knife situation, you hit the trailer brakes and they straighten you out. I've used the technique twice in say 20 years.

I have used the stuff from Menards on my lift bunks and rails, seems decent enough. Comes in a 12' roll, black in color.

Actually maybe it's an 8' roll??

Progress is being made on the 176 trailer. Over the last few weeks I was able to get it sandblasted, torn down, primed, and painted. This was a terrible job in the Wisconsin winter and I don't think I'll be doing it again. At least not without a proper spray booth.

The final choice ended up being PPG Omni Epoxy Primer and Seaguard 1000 topcoat. I know there will be objection to this (I got as many suggestions as there are paints in the world), but in the end, it was available and fit the criteria.

That being said, the sandblasting revealed a lot about this trailer.

1. It revealed the depth of the pitting.

2. I found a few spots along the bunks and steps that held moisture which accelerated the corrosion.

3. The sandblaster used medium that was far too coarse to be painted over.

There were a lot of left over imperfections including a textured look to the entire frame. With the application of the primer and paint, that texture is still present.

For anyone reading this thread looking for guidance on painting a trailer, I suggest making sure your sandblaser uses fine medium that will leave a smooth surface. If not, use a self leveling primer or sand the trailer until smooth before painting.

It was not a priority of mine to make the finish look like a car. My main idea in this project was to make the trailer road worthy and slow the corrosion in the process.

Time lapse of us hanging the trailer frame from the ceiling of the garage.


We used a propane torpedo heater in this insulated garage with a fan exhausting the fumes on the side.








I used a 3M respirator with 6001 filters and P95 pre-filters. I did not even smell the paint once until I took the mask off. It worked very well.

Parts


Old drum brakes with cracked cylinders.


New brakes and bearings





I have started assembling the trailer again but I ran out of time to take pics. I'll post more of the results when I get back next week.

Next post should cover bunks, running the brake lines, and beginning the wiring of the lights.

Look at Chris go!!

Beautiful! - LOVE me a good trailer restore thread!

Chris,
What did Steve use to keep the wiring intact to the trailer frame? I'm curious since that'a always one weak point on trailer wiring. On two of my trailers I actually used pvc pipe to run the wiring in. I also hope he used some decent heat shrink type "sta-kons" for all of the connections and did NOT use any insulation displacing connectors.

You are absolutely correct about slippery bunks. They can be a problem at the ramp. In fact, we have a well know member (the best on the camera) that actually lost his boat on the ramp due to slippery bunks. If I remember correctly I think he sprayed them with silicone. Big damage!! Do a search and you will find Tim's thread. Sorry to bring this again Tim but all should know.

looks awesome dude, nice work. you should really be proud of that effort

That gantry crane is just plain old cheating Chris.

I've used HW's suggestion a couple of times and started at the front and worked back, it does give you a lot of leverage. On lumber selection , trailer bunks is the only time I go to the lumber yard and look for sticks with the largest hook I can find, LOl. I usually the guy that empties half the lift of lumber before I find the straightest piece on the rack but for bunks it's just the opposite.

So job well done, looks great, should stop on a dime, ride nice and hopefully you'll have turn signals!    I got to hand it to Mr Skutch, he always seems to show up when there's work to be done.