Frame Tutorial

Ask questions about Harbor Freight trailers, or questions about building your own...

Postby spadman » Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:50 pm

nice tutorial nitetimes. btw, i love your signiture! 9mm? that is a funny one and yet so very true. :twisted:
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Postby Trailer411 » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:43 pm

Nice job on the tutorial!

I just wanted all to know that i have lived and breathed trailers for over 25 years.

I would enjoy passing on my knowledge, or some would say curse, to anyone needy of help.

I have started a website just for this purpose!

Just trying to give a little back to the industry I have worked in all my life!
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Postby mountaindew49 » Sat Mar 01, 2008 11:12 pm

I'm a Newbie Here ad hope to be very active, You sure gave me a lot of knowledge on the Frame and I wanted to Thank You :applause: And Your Thought For The Day :lol: :twisted: :thumbsup: It's going Keep Me Going for the rest of the Day . Thanks Again /Mike
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby felixx » Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:39 am

Link did not work for me :(
Said my account was suspended :?

Anyway external trailer frame;
should I cut mitre type joints (45 degreees) Or cut the lengths of box section at 90 degrees and join it?
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby dales133 » Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:46 am

You can do caped straight joints or mite joints . There's pros and cons to each.
I've used both on mine.look back at the start of my build thread.im not claiming to be an expert, I have alot of welding experience but it was 25 to 30 years ago.do what's comfortable to you and if you've got a cut off saw it makes life easier
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby felixx » Tue Jan 13, 2015 4:53 am

Hi Dale
I have use of a drop saw

I think caped joints will be easier (first trailer build), what are the cons of this?
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby dales133 » Tue Jan 13, 2015 5:05 am

Caped joins mean more welding and linishing to finish but allow for a greater margin of error if using a mig.
The other thing is as I did you can weld you frame up based on your wheel base with the side rails and then cut back the front and back rails to suit afterwards
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby KCStudly » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:04 am

It is a bit harder to get mitered joints to square up and fit nice when welding. The only reason I can see to do it that way is if you wanted to run wires inside and needed to turn the corner with them. However, I would never run wires loose inside of a trailer frame because they would not be secure, could chafe, and would be much more difficult to service or troubleshoot.

My writing style is a bit tedious, but there is extensive coverage of how I built the trailer for TPCE in the beginning of my build thread (link below). Might be a little more detailed than needed, but you can take from it what you want.
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby felixx » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:20 pm

You guys just answered my questions thanks
(I will be Arc welding, think you muricans call it stick welding)

I get my steel next week so I will post some pics of what I plan
for now
the exterior frame will be 40x40mm box
the cross beams will be 40x40 angle iron
The drawbar will be 75x50
axle will be 50x50 on 600kg leaf springs
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby doug hodder » Wed Jan 14, 2015 7:37 pm

Frame Tutorial update: Rich and I had put this together years ago. Since Rich has passed, the account that hosted that work is suspended and I would imagine gone for good. I have none of the work. If someone would like to step forward and put something together on the topic that would be great and I"m sure that many on the forum could learn a lot from it. Doug
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Re: Frame Tutorial

Postby mikeschn » Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:49 am

Andrew and Doug just delivered a copy of the tutorial to my inbox.

It's here: http://tnttt.com/images/2015/tbuild.pdf

(Thanks Andrew & Doug!)

Mike...

P.S. Later I'll put it up there in design resources too!
The quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten, so build your teardrop with the best materials...
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