Trailer frame made of wood?

[d_lairson]

Hi All,
I've spent my evening working on tear plans and reading old scans of tear plans from the 30's-50's. One big thing stands out... Almost all of them use custom built wood frame trailers with some iron for support or "rigidity".

Is there a reason this cannot be done now? I don't know if something like that would even be allowed on the road but I thought I'd ask.

[PaulC]

Hi (place christian name here), I think you'll find it's not allowed today.

Cheers
Paul

[CPlater]

There is at least this one in dwgriff1's gallery.

[doug hodder]

I'm no expert, but I don't believe that MOST trailers of that vintage had a wooden frame on them. Many were, but not MOST, kinda like the cars...there was a manufacturer that did wooden frames...Singer I think. There were lots of plans both pre and post war for tears suggesting the use of white oak or other similar materials for the frame. I've yet to see a surviving original done in that manner, the ones I've seen back to the 30's had steel under them.

Dwgriff has accomplished it and it looks great however and he hasn't reported any issues. Jiminsav has done a stub axled tear on a wooden frame as well. I don't know if it would matter to your local DMV...might be worth something to check into. I would think that your joinery techniques ought to be well thought out and attention paid to getting some really nice wood. Wood is just not the same now as it was 70 years ago so pick carefully, species and grain is important. Just my opinion. Doug

[PaulC]

Hey Snoop, what about the Morgan cars. They still do one model with a timber chassis.
Cheers
Paul

[len19070]

Some people have considered, or have built on a frame like this,



I wouldn't consider a build on a frame like this to be a "wooden frame", but there would be a lot of structurally important wood on it.

Happy Trails

Len

[dwgriff1]

You can build a wood frame successfully, and you can build frameless successfully (all current automobiles I know of are frameless), BUT you have to pay attention to details and you have to know what you are doing.

My build has gone through 4 seasons I think (time goes quickly, so I must be having fun).

It is going into the shop for some updating and refurbishing, but with a great deal of use and a good bit of abuse there is no sign of any failure on the structure.

The trailer is quite light however (580), so less stress is put on the frame members.

dave

[moreforles]

I would think its from a weight issue, for the same strength as metal, wood would probably weigh more. Also rot vs Rust, metal would likely last longer without as much maintenance. Although now with the newer plastic wood (decking lumber, etc) it might be worth re investigating its potential

[d_lairson]

Dave,

What wood did you build your frame out of? Where did you get your wheels/axle? The plans that I was reading just assumed that one would know the right kind of wood and easily be able to get an axle...

[d_lairson]

I just did some thinking in the shower (my best thinking spot) and I realized that all of the plans that I read that had wood trailer frames came from the 1946-1950 period. Putting my $22,000(which I'm still paying off) history degree to work I remembered that happened to be after a major world event that used up just about all of the available steel in the US. It took several years for steel to become more readily available, so of course the plans are going to call for a wood frame, they could not get anything else!
That of course does not mean there is anything wrong with wood frames...

Cheers,
David

[Lou Park]

There is absolutely no reason you can't build with a wooden frame. I know of no laws that would stop a person from doing this, a manufacturer, maybe, but not a person. The problem you may run into is cost. Unless your getting your axle, hubs, wheels for free, it might cost you more to buy everything separate rather than buying a bolt together or ready for use trailer. If you make your floor out of 2x material with ply on top and bottom, bolted to 2 pieces of 2x3 steel in a V shape to pull the trailer, it should work fine.
Lou

[mikeschn]

There is also a liability issue if you ever do have a problem, and someone gets hurt.

Mike...

[d_lairson]

There is also a liability issue if you ever do have a problem, and someone gets hurt.

Of course, this would be an issue with anything home built, not just a wooden frame. But I do see your point.

My thinking on the matter is I want total control over the design and construction, and I don't like having to tinker with other peoples work to make it suite my needs. And since I don't know how to weld, and I am not willing to pay someone to do it for me, a wooden frame does seem like a viable alternative.

Plus I'm trying to keep weight down as much as possible, and using a wood frame could cut 150-200lbs off.

This is going to require some thinking on my part...

[mikeschn]

Kevin always said a strong bolt is better than a weak weld.

So why not bolt together your chassis? Either a HF one, or a custom design. You could even do an ultralight chassis from Andrew's design library, combined with a wooden floor/sub-floor. The best of both worlds!

Mike...

[dwgriff1]

Dave,

What wood did you build your frame out of? Where did you get your wheels/axle? The plans that I was reading just assumed that one would know the right kind of wood and easily be able to get an axle...

Most of the long members were glued up oak. The center piece goes in one glue up from the tongue to the back. The cross pieces were joined with stub tennons.

I have thought about Andrew's ultra light chassis, but on this build the tongue would be too high and I don't know of any drop receiver for the hitch style I have.

The axle was a #8 Torflex, sprung for 800 pounds. The wheels are what my tire guy call "snow tire wheels" that are bored for 5 100 as well as 5 4 3/4. I wanted to use the same wheels as TV, 5/100, but the central hole for the TV is much smaller than the Torflex, and I did not have a good way to make the hole larger.

Anything you build and use has some liability issues. You should see the footbridge at my place!

dave