Thread: $500 6x4 'Light duty' trailers - what are they made of?

Hate to say it, but it sounds like scrap metal to me.

Reuse the guards and hitch perhaps?

Like jatt, I think the trailer from there is crap, for the money, welded front tailgate etc. About 40 years ago, we had a place in Adelaide that made trailers similar, for $99.00. Basically they got an oil tank from somewhere, cut the top out, 25mm welded angle around the sharp edge, threw on some guards, spring hangers were welded directly to the floor and some 50 X 50 X 5 angle welded on for the drawbar. You shovelled the dirt in and you shovelled it out. I was charging $190 for a trailer with dropped gates front and rear, way too much was the reply, so they went there and on the way back guards fell off etc. etc. 3 leaf springs are about 200 Kg capacity.
I recently repaired a trailer for a friend new floor $65, axle $105, rims $20 for 3 off them, he bought new LEDs wire and tyres.
Do it up and have a decent trailer.
Kryn

From the Trik web site:

Standard Duty. Basic Trailer designed for light duties, fixed front, smooth floor, 3 leaf spring. Good for push bikes, tents, prunning's etc

Doesn't sound like something you would want to load up with fire wood or machinery to me. But for $500 you could probably find a better used one. Try Gumtree. As for the project, how much does it owe you? If you can't walk away, can you patch it up enough to flog off for 2 or 3 hundred? I mean if you were.... unwise enough to buy it, probably someone else would be too.

Originally Posted by Bryan

From the Trik web site:

Standard Duty. Basic Trailer designed for light duties, fixed front, smooth floor, 3 leaf spring. Good for push bikes, tents, prunning's etc

Doesn't sound like something you would want to load up with fire wood or machinery to me. But for $500 you could probably find a better used one. Try Gumtree. As for the project, how much does it owe you? If you can't walk away, can you patch it up enough to flog off for 2 or 3 hundred? I mean if you were.... unwise enough to buy it, probably someone else would be too.

Agreed on loading up the light duty with heavy gear - the question is, what is the chassis construction underneath said trailer? After all, if its just bits of angle iron underneath too, then its probably worth rebuilding my current one with say 40x40 RHS, as obviously I'll end up with something considerably stronger. On the other hand, if the chassis of the Trik (or similar) is made from 40x40x1.6 for example, then there's no point me spending a hell of a lot of effort to end up at the same point for the same cost.

I can certainly patch it up enough to be quite fine for tip runs of garden prunings and cardboard. Although the angle iron construction looks pretty flimsy it's obviously been strong enough to last a good number of years as is, and that part is actually fairly solid still.

Typically, I mentioned to a mate I was going to pick a trailer up the day before I went, and he turns around and says he's got a 7x4 (or something around that, I forget) he is going to sell because he doesn't have space for it and doesn't use it. From what he describes it should be a far better proposition, but I'll wait and see - and see how much he wants for it.

Have you got any photos of the one you've got J&H?

For a new 6x4 trailer, work on the $1 per Kg mark.
A $500 trailer will be good for about 500Kg capacity.
A $750 trailer will get you a half decent trailer that will carry its 750Kg unbraked limit all day, every day.
A $1000 trailer should get you a decent trailer with brakes that you can put a Tonne in.

Anything is fixable.!!
But how cost effective it is depends on your own skills, your contacts to buy materials at the right price, and your tool kit.

Originally Posted by Jekyll and Hyde

Agreed on loading up the light duty with heavy gear - the question is, what is the chassis construction underneath said trailer? After all, if its just bits of angle iron underneath too, then its probably worth rebuilding my current one with say 40x40 RHS, as obviously I'll end up with something considerably stronger. On the other hand, if the chassis of the Trik (or similar) is made from 40x40x1.6 for example, then there's no point me spending a hell of a lot of effort to end up at the same point for the same cost.

I can certainly patch it up enough to be quite fine for tip runs of garden prunings and cardboard. Although the angle iron construction looks pretty flimsy it's obviously been strong enough to last a good number of years as is, and that part is actually fairly solid still.

Typically, I mentioned to a mate I was going to pick a trailer up the day before I went, and he turns around and says he's got a 7x4 (or something around that, I forget) he is going to sell because he doesn't have space for it and doesn't use it. From what he describes it should be a far better proposition, but I'll wait and see - and see how much he wants for it.

I haven't closely looked at a Trik Trailers trailer, so I can't tell you anything about their build quality. Generally, a new $500 6x4 will be made from really light material, and from the sounds of what you want to do with a trailer, would not be suitable long term.
Your mates 7x4 sounds like a much better option (depending on its own build quality), and I'd just tart up the one you bought, and sell it to get your money back.
Having said that, a trailer made with an angle iron chassis is not all that bad. Angle iron can be painted on all sides, and wont rust from the inside to out like RHS can. It can be a little weak where it's allowed to twist, such as the cross beams and/or drawbar, but for the perimeter chassis it can be perfectly fine.
You could replace the bowed cross beams, and I wouldn't go any smaller than 75 x 50 x 2.5mm RHS for replacing the drawbar, and a 39mm solid axle is cheap.

My sister recently got offered an old 6x4 trailer for free - the owner hadn't used it for ages, it was looking decrepit - they took it to one of the local trailer manufacturers and the quote for repairs was close to a new one, so they bought a new one.

When I saw it, my attitude was that it fundamentally wasn't that bad, particularly for my sister's uses. It was an old Tuza, box frame and drawbar were 35 or 40 by 3mm angle with a torsion suspension axle. It had rust around the base of the box where the sheet metal metal floor and sides met the angle. The crossmembers and drawbar were slightly bent from the mandatory overloading of such trailers, but didn't look terminal.

I spent about $45 on new LED lights, cable & plug, $25 for a new hitch, $20 for a stamped chain, $6 for a rated shackle, $37 for a bearing and new seals, $15 for grease caps and $35 for paint.

I had to take it to the same local manufacturer for its inspection (it was changing state) who, surprisingly, weren't as bigger turds about it as I thought they might be - they pinged a few holes in the floor and a noisy bearing, and they didn't like the length of the bolts I'd used on the hitch - all easy to rectify, although migging a rusty hole can be a challenge. So with the $58 inspection fee, it cost $241 to put on the road.

The rust around the perimeter of the floor is still there, but it isn't into the chassis, and with the new paint on it, shouldn't get any worse.

All that said, having worked on the assumption that my sister would never do anything particularly taxing with it - the odd trip to the dump etc - nothing more than maybe 300-400Kg, she's now talking about getting a load of gravel, which I suspect is the exact thing that kills these kinds of trailers.

Haven't checked back on this thread for a while, figured it had just died a natural death. Glad to see Yonnee has replied, I was hoping to get your thoughts on construction when I started this thread.

I actually poked my head in to find out some other information, as my mate has just deposited his 8x4.5ish trailer here, in exchange for some folding stuff. Needs work, but mostly of a cosmetic nature, and the underpinnings are considerably better than the 6x4 (although the 6x4 looks in far better nick from any distance!). The 8x4.5 has a square solid axle (and it's straight!), fitted with 5 leaf springs. RHS rails form the sides of the chassis, with angle iron cross rails set up so that both edges of the angle support the floor - slightly bent, but nowhere near as bad as the 6x4. Tyres are good, hubs and bearings were replaced not too long ago with minimal use since, and is fitted with LED lights (working!). Also has some gal RHS stands bolted to the top of it for tying timber to, which to be honest I may well just cut up and repurpose, and as an added bonus came with a fair few sticks of rhs (slightly bigger than 20mm) in the tray which were 'scrap metal' from the bloke who had been storing it for him.

The negatives are that the gaurds are pretty beaten up, the floor doesn't appear to be particularly thick (hard to tell with the thin layer of concrete its accrued!) although intact, and the drawbar is made of angle iron, which I'm not that keen on. However, it's all stuff that is mostly time rather than money, and it's perfectly usable as is. Given that its primary purpose in the short term is likely to be moving 2 dirtbikes around, the extra length is also a bonus over the 6x4. The supports for the floor are easy enough to beef up if I need to, likewise changing the drawbar.

The only possibly big issue with it is to do with the registration. My mate has never paid registration on it in the time he had it. It does actually have a numberplate on it, and a 11 digit chassis number. I haven't found a manufacturers plate anywhere yet, but I'll look again when its light. The issue is, neither the chassis number nor the number plate return any results on the Vicroads rego enquiry website. So I'm wondering how exactly I'm supposed to fill out the registration forms, whether I'd be better to start from scratch and call it a 'new' build, or attempt to retrieve the original rego details from Vicroads. Or whether I can simply get away with putting 'Unknown' in the boxes for make, model, year built etc... ATM I should be able to figure out. This is what I actually poked in here to try and dig up more on, as I can't imagine this is a particularly unique situation...

With regard to fixing the 6x4, I'm perfectly capable of doing the work, the issue was the money I'd spend vs the end product. $65 for a floor, $25 for lights (probably add a bit for wiring, I suspect it's not the best). Probably $80 for tyres, unless I could scrounge up some S/H ones. $50 for an axle. Maybe $75 in steel to replace the chassis and drawbar. That's $295 there, added to the $150 I stupidly paid for the thing in the first place gives a net result of $445. I'm only a set of bearings and a new hitch away from the cost of a brand new 6x4, with a lot more effort, given the only original parts of the trailer left would basically be the panels, springs and wheels. Tyres, I could probably dig up second hand fairly easily, but 'scrap' RHS or big bits of plate, I never have much luck finding, or if I do, its barely cheaper than retail. For someone who had the right bits lying around spare, its a no brainer. That isn't me in this case.

Even tarting it up (which I now need to consider) I don't think is really going to be that easy - the upper panels look fine, reasonable coat of blue paint, they're straight and solid. From any distance, it looks quite good. The floor is knackered, and I wouldn't feel particularly comfortable selling it with the drawbar that's on it. The lights are faded and one is broken, none work. If I just left it at fixing that, I'm maybe into it by another $120, and a lot of hours in cleaning up the angle iron chassis and repainting. Meaning I've got to get about $300 for it just to break even, with bald tyres and a bent axle....

I'll try and remember to take photos of it in my trailer farm tomorrow if its still light outside when I get home - maybe I'm overthinking it. Shades of The Castle here at the moment - need to move the 8x4.5 to get the 6x4 out so I can get the car trailer out...

In the meantime, these are the photos from the Ebay listing...

$_59.jpg$_60.jpg$_57.jpg$_61.jpg$_58.jpg