Thread: Burnsy's Trailer Rebuild

Mike I have my mill in the back of a dual cab ute.

At times I have needed a trailer to cart sawn timber after milling, even hired them at times. I often get 'free' logs and slice them up for timber we need at home, then I have to cart the timber home on my ute, off load it at home, then drive back to get the mill and pack it up then drive home again. This works alright fro jobs close to home, but means I lose out on perfectly good timber a bit further afield, which if I had a nice trailer would have found a new home here

The draw bar looks to be nice and sturdy. A good cleanup and no one else will know.

Hoping for your sake the subframe benieth the tray is ok and the steel used is of a reasonable guage. Have these nasty flashbacks of trying to work with heavily rusted steel (ie welding). Eventually conceeded defeat and replaced with new stuff. Safer too.

Bit worried about the amount of $ u would need to spend to bring it up to scratch, compared to starting over and then building to ur specifications.

Only my opinion.

almost quicker to buy the back end of light truck and fit axles and wheels off trailer after its had a sand blasted

or Mike you could sand blast what you have and go from there almost staring fresh

Originally Posted by jatt

The draw bar looks to be nice and sturdy. A good cleanup and no one else will know.

Hoping for your sake the subframe benieth the tray is ok and the steel used is of a reasonable guage. Have these nasty flashbacks of trying to work with heavily rusted steel (ie welding). Eventually conceeded defeat and replaced with new stuff. Safer too.

Bit worried about the amount of $ u would need to spend to bring it up to scratch, compared to starting over and then building to ur specifications.

Only my opinion.

It is a solid subframe, heavy gauge as you say, rust looks bad but is just surface, Am thinking that maybe I will rip the floor and sides off and add a new foor so it looks like the picture below, just not as long.

Can anyone tell me how much length I can add to the rear without extending the front?

From what I can see it does not look like any electric brakes I have
work on, and that is a bunch.

Electric brake drums have a machined flat on the inside and I don't
see it on yours.

Check the yellow pages for trailer manufactures, we have several
here that make custom trailers. They can most likely help with
the ID on the hubs and what you need to get brakes. I is normal
to only have one axle with brakes, keeps the trailer behind you on
slick pavement.

I would not consider anything but electric, if the trailer is going to
sit any amount of time, the self activating surge brakes go bad
pretty quick when not used often.

It looks like sand blaster time, own one? rent one?

Here's a pic of an electric brake drum:

http://www.northerntool.com/images/p.../124998_lg.gif

Originally Posted by Papa

From what I can see it does not look like any electric brakes I have
work on, and that is a bunch.

Electric brake drums have a machined flat on the inside and I don't
see it on yours.

Did some research last night and it looks like i would be better buying an electric brake kit including new drums anyway, especilly seeing these ones need machining anyway.

Wish I had a sandblaster, I am afraid it will be wire wheel on 4 inch grinder job for me

Can anyone tell me what the 65mm stud centre wheels are off? Have tracked down six tyres and now need an extra rim for the spare.

Originally Posted by Burnsy

With my thoughts being to buy a Lucas and start a business on the side I have also been thinking that an upgrade of my current 7x4 single axle trailer will be in required. A week ago I spotted this trailer parked up in the local industrial area and my initial interest was raised by the hay on it as I wanted it for my garden. A little more though had me thinking the trailer was solid and maybe I needed that as well. Knocked on the door, handed over $150, they guy helped me pump up the tyres and we shot off home with another project in tow Emptied the hay off and made the potatoes happy then I was into it.

It is an 8x4 with load sharing springs, 45mm square drop axles that measure 1570mm back of hub to back of hub with a 1330mm drawbar. Front spring mount is 450mm back from the front of the trailer and the rear spring mount is 400mm from the rear. It is real heavy gauge and the drawbar is c section.

I want to convert it into a flat bed, as big as I can make it, maybe sourcing an old light truck tray about 1800 x 3200 to put on it. There are no brakes on it and it looks like it may have had electric brakes fitted at one stage. The front hubs are still drum but with no guts. Can anyone tell me if it is a simple matter of machining the drums and buying the guts to fit onto the exiting mounts you can see in the photo? If not, what is the best option to fit electric to it, new disk or drum setup? The wheel studs are 65mm centres, can anyone tell me what these wheels are from?

This will be a longer term project I am keen to hear what people opinions are in relation to converting it to flat bed. Build it up to have a tray over wheels or just get rid of the rusty sides, put a new base and wheel arches on it and keep it as is? Also how far could I extend it's length without extending the drawbar? If I was to fit a light truck bed onto it to say 3200mm long, how long should I extend the draw bar by?

All opinions and comments are welcome as I have only just started thinking about it and am keen to hear others experiences and ideas.

Burnsey, try a site called eTrailer.com.au, it has everything you need, It's Australian too.

Shayne

Mike that flatbed you showed would be just the ticket to help on those freebie jobs, where you can tail straight onto the trailer, pack the mill in the back of the ute then drive everything home in one trip

Originally Posted by Sigidi

Mike that flatbed you showed would be just the ticket to help on those freebie jobs, where you can tail straight onto the trailer, pack the mill in the back of the ute then drive everything home in one trip

That is what I thought, that particular one is from an ebay seller, can't remeber the price but on the wrong side of the country for me, think it is listed as a car trailer. I had the same thoughts as you and mine will be the same, just smaller using the existing trailer frame. I still think you could have a 1500kg log craned straight onto gluts laying across the trailer, drive it home and back it straight in under you mill and mill the log on the trailer if you design the trailer right.

Saw a fantastic tri axle flatbed yesterday that you could stack 6 metre lengths on with the Lucas carrage across the front.

Have a look at this Burnsy, you might find it helpful

Thanks Echidna, I will keep an eye on it. LOML might kill me though if I buy it, just had a massive cleanout via ebay this week. Amazing what you can get for stuff you have been hoarding and no longer want, think I will have another scrounge around and see what else I can dispose of before Chistmas, place looks a bit like steptoe and sons at times

Originally Posted by Burnsy

Can anyone tell me what the 65mm stud centre wheels are off? Have tracked down six tyres and now need an extra rim for the spare.

65mm sounds like Early Holden, studs should be 7/16'' if that's the case.

Here's a list of some of the more common sizes

Ford - 1/2" UNF studs - 5 Studs - PCD 114.3mm - 68mm from stud to stud

Holden HT / Early Holden - 7/16" UNF studs - 5 Studs - PCD 108mm - 65mm from stud to stud

Holden HQ - 7/16" UNF studs - 5 Studs - PCD 120.6mm - 72mm from stud to stud

Commodore - 7/16" UNF studs - 5 Studs - PCD 120mm - 72mm from stud to stud

Gemini - 7/16" UNF studs - 4 Studs - PCD 100mm - not available in braked kits

Toyota - 7/16" UNF studs - 4 Studs - PCD 114.3mm - not available in braked kits

Mini - 7/16" UNF studs - 4 Studs - PCD 101.6mm - 5 1/2" hub - not available in braked kits

Landcruiser 80 series - 1/2" UNF studs - 6 Studs - PCD 139.7mm - 70mm between studs

Landcruiser 100 series - 9/16" UNF studs - 5 Studs - PCD 150mm - only available in drums

Thanks DJ, I see you have a dual wheel trailer similar. I am contemplating whether to leave it as is, just repack bearings, new tyres and a bit of a tidy up or rip the sides off, repack bearings, new tyres and tidy up at the moment as I really don't have the extra cash to throw at it. Need to really get the feel for how the new business is going to pan out before I spend too much on a trailer that might not be suitable.

What has been your experience sides vs no sides? Bear in mind I already have a heavy duty 7x4 single axle and will be only using this dual wheel trailer for carrying logs, boards and later on slabs.

Burnsy