My trailer redo

[thelonerife]

I have been looking for an 18' car haulin trailer for a while and had priced a new one. The local dealer seemed to never have them in stock so I could look at them. So I just browsed Ebay and looked there but they were kind of far away. So a buddy turned me on to one that was for sale on another truck site and I wound up buying it. I picked it up and got home with it and quickly put it to work. I loaded up a frame for delivery. Delivered it fine and on the way home a tire tread flew off and bent up a fender. my spare was flat too.Luckily I was close to home.

My plans are to redo the wiring,lights, pressure wash it, new fenders and paint it, go through the bearings and brakes. get some new wheels and tires and spare. The wheels are 5x5'' pattern but they were drilled also for 4 3/4'' to fit the hubs and were a little off to say the least.

I also have to get a trailer brake controller for my truck.
Heres a pic of its first job,hauling the swb frame.

[LEEVON]

nice find, I just finished a little rehab on my Dad's 18 footer. Be sure to look under the planks, ours was rotted on the bottom and looked perfect on top, we didn't find out till my truck put a hole in the deck. Quite a surprise.

[thelonerife]

I sure will. thanks for the heads up.

[Scootin 81 C20]

That shorty frame looks like a tight fit, you shouldve found ya a 22 footer for LWB trucks. Looks like a good working trailer though.

[red69ss]

looks like a nice trailer I just bought one last year, one of my best purchases. it was one I had borrowed several times and had the chance to buy it. heres a pic of it unloading a longbed . earlier this year I pulled it 500 miles round trip with no issues . before we went I decided I'd pack the wheels and found one was missing the cotter pin and was lose so deffinently a good decision to pack the bearings.

[thelonerife]

I picked up some wheels today for it. Some alloy camaro ones. I got a spare too. Picked up some more lights and that reflective tape stuff. And a long shank lock. New wiring for the lights too. paint too.

i do have a question. the axle with the brakes, Do you just take the nut in the center of the hub off to get to the brakes?

[trixter99]

Yes you just undo the cotter pin and nut under the dust cap then pull off the drum.

[thelonerife]

Thanks trixter, I appreciate it.

I bought some fenders for the trailer since these on it were bent up and since one of the tires lost a tread it looks worse now.

[LEEVON]

funny, I lost a tire on ours going about 65 last weekend and it beat the crap out of a fender. How much were new fenders for yours?

[thelonerife]

They were 25.00 a piece. at Rural King.

[thelonerife]

fender pics

[thelonerife]

I have some pics of the brake drums and re greasing the hub.The spindle looked a little funny when I first saw it. Seems that when it was forged it didn't get all the material it was supposed to on it, Good thing it isn't any where that is important though. I put the bearing back on to make sure and its just in the middle part of the spindle. The other spindle that doesn't have a brake was a little the same. I will do the other side tomorrow.

The brakes looked good. I don't think that they were used. A little surface rust but they do work. I got a brake controller for the truck and installed it.

[thelonerife]

I got the bearings greased and all of it put back together. Next I'll probably clean off the surface rust and get the new fenders on and get it painted. (myself of corse)

[kyull67]

Nice wheels!

[thelonerife]

Their just Camaro rims. I did like that they were alloy/aluminum so they won't rust and the tires wouldn't leak as much hopefully. Got em off of ebay. The tires are pretty good. I thought 200 wasn't bad considering if I bought stellies I'd may have to buy tires too.

[thelonerife]

A friend here in town used the trailer to pull his truck to SC and he said it pulled great so

I did a little on the trailer. put a toolbox on the tongue. Sanded and painted the front of it.

[thelonerife]

I got the sides painted and the fenders on. Ones painted. Still working to get the other one painted. I'll post pics soon.

[thelonerife]

I got the metal on the trailer painted now. New lights installed. Diamond plate on tongue and side steps.

To do list:
sand and paint rampsDONE
paint wood
get 8000 lb. wenchDONE
get new lug nutsDONE
install new red/white reflector tape3/4 DONE

[thelonerife]

before and after so far;

[oldblue1968chevy]

nice! is there $ to be made fixing up trailers? lol what paint ya use?

[thelonerife]

no. lol. I just did it cause it looked ratty. and I used rustoleum.

[jb1016]

That's looking good!

[thelonerife]

small update, I did paint the ramps and installed locks on them. Had a buddy get his ramps taken so I hope mine stay put. I also put new tires on it before Rus and I went to St. Louis to pick up Tonto. I also bought the reflective stickers for the rear and sides. I think I need another pack of those to finish it right though. I still need to buy a winch for it too. My come-a-long is getting tired. Bought a lock for the hitch too. So when it warms up I'll probably pressure wash it again and paint the wood. It pulls great and the brakes work good too. I need to get a brake controller for Tonto so he can pull it. Hes got a hitch now.

[cubber]

cool.

[Rusbuilt]

Man I had no idea that trailer was so rough before! You've done a nice job fixing it up!