Thanks to you my frame is complete

[Onajourney]

I am here to show how great this place is. A few months ago not only did I not know a thing about trailer frames, I never welded a thing. Here I am now, know a bit about trailers, and a good enough welder to get the job done. Thanks to you all! Now onto something a lot more in my wheelhouse, building with wood. (5x9, 35" tires, ~580lbs)

[Capebuild]

Looks really good. I know the feeling of not having welded and then you learn how to.....and make something useful. A good feeling. Nice job!
One (humble) suggestion. If possible, you may want to extend the rear hitch receiver to the next cross member. Maybe you have your reason for making it the way it is.
Looks like the Millermatic 211 in the background there. That's the welder I had purchased and learned on. Nice machine.

John

[John61CT]

nice!

[Onajourney]

Thanks John. Good suggestion on the rear hitch but I only put it on to put the trailer on the rotisserie which may have been the smartest thing I did for the frame build.

[matphat]

I'm considering doing what you have done because I am having a hell of a time sourcing a 5x8 trailer out here in Colorado. I have a stick welder I've been meaning to lean to use and access to new steel. Would you be interested in detailing your journey in frame building for those of us who are about to start the same path?

Thanks,

Mat

[matphat]

I am here to show how great this place is. A few months ago not only did I not know a thing about trailer frames, I never welded a thing. Here I am now, know a bit about trailers, and a good enough welder to get the job done. Thanks to you all! Now onto something a lot more in my wheelhouse, building with wood. (5x9, 35" tires, ~580lbs)

Also, that trailer is amazing.

[Onajourney]

I'm considering doing what you have done because I am having a hell of a time sourcing a 5x8 trailer out here in Colorado. I have a stick welder I've been meaning to lean to use and access to new steel. Would you be interested in detailing your journey in frame building for those of us who are about to start the same path?

Thanks,

Mat

Mat- I too looked for a frame for months then got quotes from local small shops and made the easy discission “Well, looks like I’m gonna learn to weld”. I can tell you that I watched a ton of YT videos on how to MIG weld to have a general understanding of what I was going to do. I was fortunate that my neighbor lend me his welder and showed me the basics. I read what I could here which really gave me inspiration and confidence, but the #1 thing was practicing. I decided on .125 thick tube steel so I practiced with .125 steel till I had the confidence. Only took a few hours. I have a good woodworking background which was very helpful. I grinded off mill scale and chamfered all joints. I checked measurements, square, plum, miters, clamps, magnets 3-4 times before tacking. I think I have about $1900 in the frame including the used 35”and I am very happy with it and found the whole process very rewarding and have added welding to my skill set to boot.

[bdosborn]

I've got a blue welder too! Great job on the trailer!

Bruce

[twisted lines]

NO Blue gun's

[tomhawk]

I decided to fabricate my own chassis as well. Knowing nothing about welding, I enrolled in a class at the local junior college.
It was 8 weeks for 3 hr every Saturday morning. I and a retired farmer were the old guys. Most of the other classmates were much younger folks trying to get qualifications for employment.
The shop had all kinds of interesting equipment. I really enjoyed the experience.

Afterwards, I had a 220V, 60 amp line installed in my garage and I bought a DC stick welder.
I did a few little projects before the trailer. I made a welder cart first. Then I made a steel post driver out of a bit of scrap pipe. I figured if the post driver did not fall apart, my welds were pretty good. It is subjected to a lot of stress when you pound into hard ground.

postdriverA.jpeg (84.65 KiB) Viewed 703 times

Aside from the process of building the chassis, I wanted to learn more about metal working. I got a piece of railroad track for an anvil and made a charcoal forge driven by an old hair dryer. With that and the welder, I have made some custom hardware to attach to the trailer.

I used ideas from https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=51991#p956707 to design my chassis. Since it was going to be light I chose 1 X 2 in tubes for the A frame portion.
Andrew's charts indicate it should be fine. The axle was bolted to a short piece of 2 in square tubing. The outer rectangular portion is 1 in angle. 1/8 in metal throughout. The finished trailer is 510 lb empty.

chassis.jpg (104.25 KiB) Viewed 703 times

The whole project was pretty slow for me but we got it on the road this past Fall and had a nice first trip.

Tom

[theicomguy]

That chassis looks awesome. If had time thats what we wanted to do. Ended up ordering a trailer but really wanted to build one from ground up. Maybe next winter.