Southern Ohio Squaredrop Build

[DarknessFalls]

I got the trailer and suspension cross support primed and painted. I laid down some painters tape on top of the frame as I won’t be painting it yet. It’s sprayed with primer and will be grounded off when I’m ready to weld on the floor panel and walls.

[DarknessFalls]

I reinstalled the suspension, used a bearing packer to lube the bearings, and put the brake assembly together.




This is the first time the trailer has moved around on its own tires and suspension. It definitely felt like a milestone. After another commenter mentioned it, I will most likely go back later and add some crush tubes to prevent the suspension bolts from damaging the frame. Unfortunately, the trailer was already assembled before I received that advice. Live and learn.

[DarknessFalls]

I got the trailer back in the garage and dragged the floor sheet onto it. After getting it where I wanted, I started spot welding it in place till eventually all 29 feet had been welded. Now I’ve only been welding since August so these welds are probably amateurish to most of you, but I think they’ll hold.



I put my walls on and did some test fitting. Once in place , I tacked them and added a few of the crossbars to see how it was all fitting together. Once I was happy, I began the long and tedious task of welding the walls down. I’m not sure if I was supposed to, but I welded every inch both inside and outside of the walls to the frame. Counting the floor pan, it was almost 90 feet of welds.

[DarknessFalls]

I did a test fit of the hitch coupler and receiver. First time being hooked up to the Traverse.

[DarknessFalls]

I decided to add some tree bars to the side of the frame to protect everything and to have something for the fenders to eventually mount too.


Cutting this was just too much for my little band saw in its chop saw configuration. I had to set it up vertically and cut this while pushing it through by hand.


The angles seemed to work out really well. These were probably my hottest welds. Marrying 1/8” thick tubing to 3/16” thick frame.


Repeating the process for the rear.


And finally finished this part of the project.

[KCStudly]

I like it.

[DarknessFalls]

I like it.

Thanks! Still a long way to go. I’m a little ahead of where the pictures show. I just haven’t had time to update the thread and some things I forgot to document while building.

[DarknessFalls]

I used the frame, some steel tubing, and some C-Clamps to make a jig so I could easily frame out the rest of the rear.



Finished the rear build-out.

[DarknessFalls]

I cut and sanded several tubes to build the spine for the roof. Due to my width(66”), there are no standard or oversized sizes that’ll cover it with a single piece. The idea is to have a seam down the middle that’ll be sealed and then a 10” wide cap on top of that.




After I finished that, I decided it was time to find a solution to my fender problem. No-one carried fenders big enough for my application. I needed something 39” long and 14” wide. This will still leave just a little bit of tire sticking out past the fender.

I decided I would try to build them. I also figured I would make them strong enough to stand on. I ended up buying some 14 guage steel sheet for the task. Unfortunately, no one within 100miles of me has a brake that could bend 14 guage steel. I ended up scoring the steel with a cutoff disk and using the side of my bench, I bent them by hand. I’ve out the fenders away for now and moved on to other task. When I get ready to install them, I’ll fill the score marks and grind it smooth. This is what that journey looked like.






While I was working around the fenders, I decided to cut a scrap piece of steel and cap the open square tubing. After tacking it, waiting a few minutes between welds, I grinded it down. You almost can’t even tell there was an opening there.

[DarknessFalls]

I spent a day completely sanding down the cage part to bare metal. It was blinding to look at in the sun. I forgot to take pictures,(I do that a lot), so I pulled some screen captures from our security camera.



Then I added a couple coats of clean metal primer.