a simple trailer build

Once again, my shop's chain fall hoist system is invaluable, in this case for picking the trailer up and flipping it around. Having this ability is real handy for all kinds of projects and one of the best shop mods I ever have done.

The support is regular wood trusses, based on the snow load for my area, but the trick was in the extra cross webbing I put in when framing the place. Any load is spread across a very wide area, not in one spot. I had another shop with the exact "system", for 28 years and had zero issues. Obviously, done wrong or abused, it could cause problems! I do limit the chain fall size to 1/2 ton units, and limit my overall picks to less then 1500 lbs., and that is rare, most uses are a few hundred pounds. Priceless...... When I was still making my living as a builder, before I got into crane work, I set several different customers up with the same setup, no one has reported any problems. To this day, when I see a large high ceiling shop being built (with me setting the trusses with my crane) with NO provision for an over trolley chain fall system, I just shake my head!

The fenders I had hoped to use are just too goofy looking, though appearance is way down on my list of things I care about. The torsion axles are much closer together then normal leaf spring axles, so I took these back and got 4 separate fenders.

Then, once back in the shop, I realized the new 4 were much too narrow for my tires, a fact I had failed to notice at the trailer supply place, and would hardly be legal plus again, look real goofy. A third trip for 4 individual but wider fenders, somehow scabbed together, should do it.

Meanwhile, I got an education on the "Dexter EZ lube hubs", the type with the zert fittings? A little internet research showed the #1 problem with these things is EVERYONE over greases them, just because of that handy zert. Then the inside seal fails when the grease gets hot and expands, and you have grease on your brakes........, sure enough, mine had enough grease to lube my crane for a year, handfulls of it. I cleaned it all out, since I am also installing new brakes (the complete assemblies, springs etc. all mounted on the backing plate, at $35.00 each pretty cheap, cheaper then individually chasing down the needed parts piecemeal, just unbolt the old backing plate with all the old parts, and bolt up the new assembly), and I will be going old school and simply repacking the bearings by hand. No need for a half tube of grease per each axle!

Then I started thinking, why leave the old seals? They are cheap, and in stock at my local well supplied trailer supply outfit (though it's 20+ miles away), so out with the old seals (a quick and simple way to remove them:cut them with a good pair of tin snips, thin enough to be easy to cut, then clamp on with a good pair of vice-grips and simply lever them out, took about 30 seconds per seal, learned that method on youtube) then I hit the brake drums with a wire wheel in my grinder and they cleaned up nicely, no need to turn them down. They were rusty looking but now are bright and shiny and look like the inside of a brake drum should look again.

10", the tractor tires have no problem, but remember the primary use is my U25 mini X.

The 4" steel wide flange runs along the ridge line, and is supported by 3/8" steel flat bar rest on double 2x4's up in the attic that are nailed into the trusses kingpost and also bearing on the bottom chord. All thread extends down from the flat bar, through the finished ceiling, then the wide flange was hoisted up against the ceiling, and it's welded on flat bar, already drilled to receive the all thread, so just a simple matter of tightening up the nuts. The flat bar is 48" on center, so any point loading is spread out over a very large part of the roof trusses, not concentrated. In addition, I also zig zagged additional 2x4's on the kinpost, transferring some loading to the gable end walls.

Took it for a test run today, I wanted to make sure of a few things before wrapping it up, so far so good. Weight: less running gear (axles and tires)and ramps, 703 lbs. With the tires and wheels 989 lbs (less then 1000!) Counting the axles and tires and the ramps, the all up wieght rolling down the highway, 1309 lbs. More then a ton less then my dump bed trailer, and why I will use it, I don't need to be hauling extra weight unless i need the dump bed, just moving the mini around this will be my way to go. Living on a mountainside does that to you, I don't even carry a spare in any of my cars or trucks, and haven't for over 30 years! The light weight of this trailer also means I can tow it with my Toyota RAV4 (1500 lb. offical tow rating), NOT with the mini on it of course, but just as a way to move the bare trailer, so no need for the gas hog 1 ton sometime. Still have one side fenders, lights and brake wiring to wrap up.

One thing about this type of open frame trailer/equipment hauler, is you can tie things down about anywhere, as opposed to a full deck. But there is still enough structure there to spread to load out.

Getting a few last details taken care of:

At 1309 lbs., it's light enough to easily tow behind the 4 banger RAV4. Handy for pre positioning it, loaded, I'll use the one ton Chevy. I have some expanded metal filling in the V formed by the hitch angle, a good area to carry binders etc. Plus the emergency breakaway switch battery system. though not legally required (not until an empty weight of 1500 lbs., in Idaho anyway), for 40 bucks I figured what the heck. Also some real heavy expanded metal on the beaver tail (or whatever it's called, the angle thing on the rear that serve to lower the loading height). Plus a quick and easy way to secure the ramps, which I won't need for the excavator, but will for the tractor. I had some black paint going to waste, so got a little fancy with the fenders.

I towed it on the highway, empty, for the first time, at 50 mph even zigging and zagging it tracked perfect, so it seems like all the obvious things are correct. I'm having a local trailer outfit (not an RV place, work trailers.....) I bought a lot of components from (and a flatbed for my truck, they do real nice work and resonable too) do the final wiring, though I installed all the lights. They do it every day, so lot's quicker then me, also having them check the e brakes adjustment.

Those are for 2 chain binders, modified with open hooks, not the usual chain grab hooks. the binders are screw types, and one end will directly engage the holes in the mini's blade (these holes are expressly meant for tieing it down) and the other binder end will directly engage the welded on tie down. So no chain required, nice and simple. If they rattle at all, I won't hear them over the usual road noise, tires etc., not a factor in the past when I've used them before anyway.

The new trailer does tow well behind the 4 banger Toy RAV4, empty of course, that is an unplanned bonus.

One detail: I got a PM from a member here about my build, quite helpful, it was pointed out that stresss risers can occur when the top of the angled hitch members (where they pass under the trailer frame itself) are welded, due to the way the frame is bound to flex. Also, it was pointed out I needed to weld a plate underneath the welded on hitch, to help handle the flex loads there also.

I had already welded everywhere I could on the hitch members, so I'm not worrying about that at all, though in time it will be a good place to eyeball, easy enough to do, visible anyway. The last couple weeks everytime I saw a factory built trailer (I'm on constructions sites all the time, doing crane work) I'd run over and eyeball it for: hitch member welding, and a plate underneath the hitch itself. Out of 20 or 30 trailers, ALL were fully welded, stress risers be damned! Also, ALL had plates under the hitch, on the bottom of the frame where the jack cyliner protrudes. So, that little tip was appreciated and makes perfect sense (I should have thought of that....), but the jury seems to be out on the whole where to weld thing.

skeets said:

Nice build,,, but one question ,,, how do it stop loaded when some soccer Mom yappin on her cell phone drinking a moco lata pulls out in front of you?
Just wondering,, pulling is one thing, stopping something else

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Not sure what you're asking..... you mean loaded, and pulling it with the 1 ton? Or empty, and pulling it with the RAV4? Either way, I stay on secondary, 45 mph roads, drive defensively, and never assume anything. Riding motorcycles taught me that, and to this day when I go through a green light, even in my 54,000 lb truck crane, I look both ways! Both axles have brakes BTW.

You are correct sir! A rider National, with a counter weight, somewhat blurring the line, after 4 boom trucks before this one, it's more crane like, at least to me. To me, a boom truck is mounted behind the cab, doesn't have a 360 degree load chart, continuous rotation, a CW, and the operator stands up while craning (?) his neck to keep the load in sight. BUT, whenever I am confronted with someone like you who is a REAL crane guy, I immediately agree, it's a boom truck. A nice big tricked out boom truck though. I have never heard a cogent explanation on the difference in terminology, and what about the newer "boom trucks" that are 60 to 80 ton? It gets tricky when I get a call for a job, and I have had a few instances when I pull up and have heard "oh, thought you had a crane", but since I first asked what the load was and how far it had to go, to be sure it was in my chart, I still have happy customers. Heck there's a guy in my town with a stand up 14 ton boom truck, who refers to his business as a "crane service", so no way (until around big crane guys) am I going to call my superior rig a boom truck!

But like the small aircraft I fly, when a guy with a much bigger airplane scoffs, I'll point out it gets me high enough to kill me, like my boom truck lifts enough weight, high enough, to be potentially deadly, so still a serious business. 99% of the gen public look at my operation, and think "crane", so I let it slide, for sure I freely admit it sounds more impressive then boom truck. How about "almost a crane?"