trailer question

[Chuck Craven]

GPW the 2 ½” X 2 ½” X1/4” angle stock will work just fine for the frame and the cross bracing. For the tong you will need seg-40 or 80 black iron pipe. Seg-80 would be better. And put in V bracing for cross stress in the tong. As long as the welds are good the frame will be strong enough for a 2000 lb trailer. Which is a heavy weight tear. Good luck on your tear!
I have seen utility trailers made of ¼” angle iron that was bolted together with 8 point screws that have over 100k miles on them.
Chuck

[GPW]

Chuck , Guys !!! I found a perfect boat trailer , the right size for 350 bucks ... But next time , (listen to him, next time ....hahahaha) I'm gonna build a frame .... went to the steel yard , found out steel is still cheap ... lots of stuff to build overly strong trailers with .... I was particularly interested in this 1"X4" channel he called "purlin' ".... Cheap, 14 bucks a 20' stick .... Cool !!!

[Chuck Craven]

GPW
I am not familiar with "purlin' ".... But 4” wide channel is a bit too big. 3” may work better.
Put the channel on edge and use angle iron as cross braces. You could drop an insulated floor in to the frame. I am using 3/16” 2” square tubing with 2x3 angle iron cross bracing. This will be under the square tubing. The tong will be 2 x 3 square tube with 2 x 3” angle for the V bracing. My floor pan which will be 1 ½” insulated with ¼” ply wood bottom and ¾” ply wood top will drop in to the 2” square tubing. The 3/4” plywood will sit on top of the frame. I will be using ¼” stainless steel carriage bolts to bolt the sides to the floor pan. The floor pan will be bolted to the angle iron cross bracing. This way if something happened to the frame the body can be removed for repair. I am building the tear for some off road / dirt road use.

Chuck

[madjack]

...the purlin's in question are used in roofing on metal buildings...................................................