Have frame...

[saladgirl]

Hi, I am a newbie. I have an old trailer with a very heavy but imperfect metal frame. It has leaf springs and is made of square metal(I suppose steel)that is rusted through in parts. It has sides that are unique(look like guardrail)that also has pig fence panels(heavy metal, not fencing)to keep small items from falling out the side. It was a hinged welded wire tailgate. It weighs a bit over 600 lbs. due to the 2 inch thick treated wood board floor. The farmer who had it in his field I bought it from for $100 said he had hauled a small bulldozer on it(like a Bobcat).
I would like to keep it for hauling as well as making some kind of trailer, but I want to make sure the frame rusting is either negligible of fixable by welding some steel plates on(someone else, I don't know how to weld but know a welder).
Does anyone know where to get a trailer blasted with sand or whatever to remove old paint? I would need a clean surface to inspect/make alterations.
Thanks for any advice.(I live in the middle of Ohio-8 miles from it). Sally

[teardrop_focus]

Dear saladgirl, you'd not only be throwing good money after bad, but starting with too-heavy a trailer chassis for what you need.

If you're willing to have welded to this old beast of a trailer some new steel pieces, then, you're in a postition to have a good teardrop trailer chassis built from scratch.

Think as you have been, "strong", but also "light weight".


Welcome to T&TTT!

[bobhenry]

Have your welder guy look at it and decide for you if it needs attention. I simply used spray on bed line in the rattle can and prettied mine up.

My 5x8 is about the same weight as yours

I remover all the rails except at the fenders and this saved several pounds. The 2" floor add quite a bit of weight but if your are going to use it as a dual use trailer you will need for it to remain.

[saladgirl]

Thanks for the advice guys, after looking it over today, I think its a lot more than surface rust-2 spots at least were rusted through in the square metal pieces. The welds are not pretty either, it looks like a lot of chopping and bloppy welding was done. I think by the time I got it the way it needed to be I could buy a $200 HF one for a deal less.
I wish mine looked as nice as that picture, its more beatup than I realized. I think I will wait a while till I have some cash also and see if a homebuilt pops up somewhere that's a starter. If you saw a pic of my 'beastie' you would see what I mean, it's disintigrated over winter. Still road-worthy but would needs lots of patching and grinding down of welds to look decent. Sally

[48Rob]

Sally,

You have made a wise decision to wait until a better frame can be had.

In the end, you'll be very pleased you didn't settle for "whatever might work".

Rob