Thread: help me get the measurments right????

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

Maybe so, but you had to buy them in the first place, so they are a legitimate cost to include as you will need to replace them before you commence your next project.
Anyway, back to the original question.
That trailer is really not worthy of conversion to anything as it was originally a very lightly constructed trailer and since it's run in with the dreaded cancer is even worse.
If you extend the drawbar then you will need to rewire at least to some extent, so figure on doing a complete job as plugs and lights etc are often not salvagable. $350 does not buy much steel anymore and I assume that you would intend putting a steel floor in, leaving little to cover your drawbar and coupling mounting plate, (if not, a timber floor will quickly eat up $$$$). AND you reckon you will build a crate included in this price as well! Have you factored in new rated safety chains or coupling (if required)?
I appreciate your budgetary constraints, but the chances of that sows ear changing to a silk purse are minimal I'm afraid.
Many people are trying to dissuade you from wasting your money, but it seems that your mind may already be made up.

Hey karl,

Mate some valid points there for sure...But, My sow's ear will stay a ear till i can get some more coin in for a new one! im hoping to be able to cross transfer the cage and a few other custom touches to the new trailer once it comes round so hench ill plug away with this one for the time being...and yes it will carry clippings from my mowing business some i dont think ill every go over 600kg tops as its rated too... so far the most ive carried is 400 give or take a keg...

cheers again TONNER!!!

Originally Posted by Bazzmate

My two cents . . .
I might be wrong but will continue on the assumption that you want the trailer for a mowing business? If yes, there are a couple of ways you can get yourself a trailer that will last a year until you save to buy a new one . . . which is the result you are after.

Plan A - You continue what you are doing and good on you for that. It's great that you have the talent and the time and are willing to put effort into rebuilding the trailer. There is a lot of satisfaction to be gained from doing that sort of 'therapy'. The unknown factor in this plan though is the budget and if the trailer will cooperate with you and stick to whatever your budget is ($350+). If you blow the budget, it would be money that could've gone to Plan B. The other factor which only you might know, is the time it will take you to do up the trailer. Time (off the road) is money and time that can be better spent on doing other things (see Plan B).

Plan B - You sell your freebie trailer on Ebay for say $150(plus?). Here's a tip . . . a single, from a distance, and slightly out of focus photo might pull in an extra $50 . Add the auction proceeds to whatever cash you can scrape up (trailer reno budget money) and you should have $500+(?) to buy a second hand, registered and ready to go trailer. $500 to $600 should get you a trailer that the will last a year? Instead of doing a MAJOR rebuild of an old trailer, you will have also freed up your time to concentrate on other equally important areas of your business like going out and getting customers . . . e.g. letterbox drops, quoting, website development, etc.
If I was wrong about the mowing business, please disregard the above and enjoy your trailer reno. We'll all be here waiting for your updates (with photos!) Thanks for sharing.
Cheers.

Hey Baz,

Thanks for the input mate...COIN is the biggest problem here mate ive had to buy most of the equiptment from scratch and its quickly added up plus the cost of the dual cab pushes the investment into this buisness at 8 to 10 gorillas so far... thanks for the reply and i will use a little bit from colum A and B if you dont mind in the future


TONNER!!!

If all you want to do is carry the mower on the A-frame, and it's just a temporary arrangement, and if you haven't already bought the metal, if it was me I wouldn't bother building a cage for it. I'd probably re-use the current A-frame, but shift it forward 10 or 12", and put in a few more SHS crossmembers to attach it to.

If you do the drawbar you're planning on doing, it's going to have a very heavy towball hitch because most of the weight will be in front of the axle. You'd definitely need to use a jockey wheel if you have the mower and cage in front of the box, and a jockey wheel won't work well on pebbles.

To make the box-with-a-cage-in-front design balanced, you'd need to start with a trailer that has the axle further toward the front than a standard box trailer does.

Rebuilding "rome" tomorrow..hahah ill post up some pics as i got hopefully! also grabbed a reciept the other day from my steel merchant for proof to the nah sayers that it cant be fixed under 350.00 so far im up to 275.00 for the steel which also should be 10% cheaper but the invoice instead of the usual cashie price i get...

TONNER!!!

....And if you have an ABN it's going to be tax deductable anyway... and instantly tax deductable if you keep ALL purchases under $300.00.

A new trailer that costs $600.00 will have to be written off over several years.

Man, I have rebuilt a lot of what people call 'crap' over the years. Yes, if you have the money it is usually easier to buy new... but what do you learn?

You can also build it better. Most budget trailer companies build rubbish. For the same price or less you can build a trailer they would charge heaven and earth for.

Making do with less makes you more resilient in the long run. I have proof.

You go for it son! I would probably prefer to rebuild the thing with a beefed up RHS frame and use a Mig, but to each their own.

Sometimes it is not the destination but the journey which is more important.

I also suspect that people 'in the trade' want you to buy expensive gear so that you cannot be as competitive as them...