How square is square enough?

[booyah]

So, very early stages of my build, I have purchased a Northern Tool Irontron 5x8 utility trailer.

I've assmebled it (wrapped it up last night) and while doing so I noticed that the corner to corner measurement is different. The difference is less than 1". The corners look good, at least as square as I can tell with my square, but I know its not (by definition)

Is this good enough, or do I need to spend the time to get it less than that?

Thanks for the help

[GuitarPhotog]

An inch out of square is too much. It will affect everything you build on it. From the floor plywood having to be cut out of square to roof joists being on an angle to the wall.

You need to get that down to less than 1/4" difference, corner to corner

IMHO


<Chas>

[Redneck Teepee]

^^^^^ What he said.

[dales133]

Yep x 3. I work in mm and 1 inch is 25mm and I spent almost an hour darting around getting my trailer to under 5 mm and ended up less than 1/8" before I was happy.
You'll thank yourself at least 100 times later if you take the time to correct this now

[booyah]

appreciate it. is that a good measure of square to use? Corner to across corner? Sorta a bit X on the trailer?

[GuitarPhotog]

Corner to corner on the trailer and any plywood for the floor.

<Chas>

[TrailerEd]

Any amount out of square as you build up with magnify to be even worse. Think of a house foundation out of square. If you don' correct it as you build up, i.e., the floor and walls, by the time you get to the roof you will have a mess to deal with and it becomes much harder to hide. it.
If the frame is our of square say 3/8" you compensate the floor to bring the floor to square. Thus, the more you are off, the worse it can be to compensate and hide.
All the above posts are correct, fix it now while you still can. Its worth the time and effort!
Good luck!!!

[dales133]

Yep, as I said due to warpage ect I've ended up slightly out but corrected it straight away with the floor

[H.A.]

Bolted kit trailers are notorious for loose tolerances of manufacture.
Be sure all the members are equal length also.

Fwiw, you can verify a sheet of plywood to be square, (I have never found factory cuts to be off, but its easy enough to verify) then use that plywood as a giant framing square to compare your trailer frame against.

[bobhenry]

An inch out of square is too much. It will affect everything you build on it. From the floor plywood having to be cut out of square to roof joists being on an angle to the wall.

You need to get that down to less than 1/4" difference, corner to corner

IMHO


<Chas>

I heard "less than an 1" difference in the diagonals.

even at a honest inch difference this is only 1/2" out of square. As you pull the long leg in, the short diagonal gets longer so after 1/2" in, the short leg should grow 1/2" so now it's square.

If it is problematic a good heavy duty semi ratchet strap just might pull the long leg down to equal dimensions. I framed all of my wood frame components over the edges of the steel frame so I never even checked for steel square I was just very careful the floor itself was as square as I could make it.

[daveesl77]

I agree completely with Bob, when I first put together my HF it was way over an 1" out. Hook up the ratchet straps and tied it down. When it came time to weld it, I reset the square and did the weld. When came time to bolt down the floor, rechecked square again, less than 1/4" out and while more than adequate, it bothered me for a couple of days. I could live with a final under quarter, but if it had been any more I'd have probably gotten wacky on the ratchets.



dave

[Wobbly Wheels]

appreciate it. is that a good measure of square to use? Corner to across corner? Sorta a bit X on the trailer?

If you want to check each corner individually for square, you can use the 3-4-5 method:
Measure a multiple of 3 along one edge (let's say 12") and make a mark.
Measure the same multiple of 4 along the adjacent edge (16") and make a mark.
The diagonal distance between your two marks will be the same multiple of 5 (20" in this case) if the corner is square.
The longer the 'legs', the more accurate it will be.

[Kaz]

If your just starting your build what a great time to learn patience, Your going to need it watching glue dry. Take the time to get it square.

Beer helps

[ctstaas]

Hi All< When I built mine the trailer was square but the plywood was 1/16 out. By the time I got from one end to the other that 1/16" is now 1/8". One custom piecr of wood later. and it's all good. If your tape measures 1", your a 1/2" out of square. For something like a trailer it should be within 1/16" of perfectly square. A measuremet larger then 1/8" is too much.
Enjoy, Chris

[KCStudly]

Anything that causes a wooden joint to be more than I care to sand by hand is too much, so +1 on under 1/16 inch. Then I cheat and use the block plane first before sanding.

As stated, a ratchet strap on the long diagonal will pull any bolted trailer square, assuming that the members are equal lengths and the bolt holes are all in similar locations in each piece. Also check to see that the deck is relatively flat, not potato chip. There's a post somewhere showing how some of these things (hole locations, etc.) can be quite a bit off from the builder, so if it doesn't come into square pretty quickly, start checking. It is better to know what the problem is before a solution can be determined.