I got a free trailer, now I need to restore it

[Dirtydog]

Sorry guys not very good in the headline department.

Anywho, i have been given a tandem axle trailer, unfortunatly it needs a fair bit of work to get it back to good condition.

Pro's:
Tandem axle
6 Stud hubs (just happen to have a spare set of them)
Quite big for my needs
Strong construction
Room to extend out the back
Great height for my Camry to tow

Con's:
Rust
No sides
No mudguards
No electrics
Wheel nuts seized
Only 2 of 4 hubcaps (old chev rims on it)
No Deck

not too harder project, just lots of rust removal to do, repaint, New wood and making the sides etc.

im tempted to extend the back a bit, but dont know what the rules are.

I will be having a go at arc/stick welding and of coarse testing my patience.

without further ado heres the pics with some examples of the rust:






Ive changed the title to save confusion, sorry folks,

[safaripete]

where are you??

[CLUMZ1]

where are you??

Gore.

[safaripete]

hmm it too far me thinks

[hippy_]

How wide, long is the deck area??

Price??

Has it got rego plate/ownership details??

[NJV6]

I read it as, I got a free trailer, now I need to restore it.....

[Jay]

And I read it as "Come and get a free trailer, if you want to restore it"

Got all excited for a second there... lol

J

[skid]

And I read it as "Come and get a free trailer, if you want to restore it"

Got all excited for a second there... lol

J

Read it like that to start with, but then read about him welding etc etc and changed my thinking to read it like this.....

I read it as, I got a free trailer, now I need to restore it.....

So I think hes trying to fix it up himself now

I am doing the same thing, but all I've done so far is buy the trailer and hide it in the corner

May be the author could change the title to avoid our confusion

[Gnarly Dude]

When you put the lights on go LED they will give you hardly any trouble.

http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/roadc ... ments.html

[Dirtydog]

i didnt think that was the right title, Sorry guys.

I went with normal bulbs for now, as the led ones are quite a bit more expensive.
So far the restoration is going good, ive gone through one grinding disc already, and thinking about getting a mini sandblaster instead, seems the easy way to go.

I read up on what the legal dimensions are for trailers and found out i can extend the trailer another 3 meters from the rear, but its a bit excessive so i think i will only add another 1 meter behind it.

[3VILC]

That almost looks like it could be an old caravan chassis

[callum007]

I would suggest you dont extend it more than 600mm otherwise it will drag its ass everywhere, and you'll always find you load it unevenly. Personally the drawbar looks way too light weight. I recently snapped a 75x40x4mm one on my car trailer. while its in bits, add rockers to the leaf suspension, and if your insistant about increasing its size, add brakes as your still only legally allowed to carry 700kg (on most vehicles) without trailer brakes, so if the trailer is 3-400kg.. that leaves you enough for 8 bags of cement.

[Dirtydog]

cheers for the info there Callum,.

Ive been looking at it and i dont think i will extend it at all, the deck at the moment is the size of one plywood sheet, which will be good for my needs.

I will however widen the deck around the wheels, for a little more space.

i also have a spare tyre holder to go on it, probably on the draw bar.

ive just been reading on the nzta website about trailer brakes, and it says if a trailer has a gross laden weight of under 2,000kg it doesnt need service, parking or brakeaway brakes.



Back to the subject of restoration, i will be getting a spot sand blaster to get rid of the rust as it will probably be easier and better at getting rid of it.

I have also found half a 4 ltr tin of matt black kill rust paint, so that will be my top coat, and im going to get a kill rust primer before hand.

i was looking at it today and the axles are out of an old chevy truck, with the tierod cut in half and welded to the axle to keep it straight. anyone know if the 6 stud chev is the same as common 6 stud 4x4s?

Sorry theres no pics yet, but not much has changed.

[callum007]

I wasnt trting to be negative sorry fella. The rule about not needing brakes is correct. but what is the rating of the drawbar on your camry. $5 says its unbraked 600kg braked 1200kg.. which means that until you put brakes on the trailer, your vehicle is only capable of stopping an unbraked trailer of 600kg.
new hilux is 700kg unbraked, 2500kg braked..

run it past your local garage and ask their opinions on it if your unsure

[Dirtydog]

i wasnt saying you were being negative, i was just confused about it.

i have noticed there are alot of rules about vehicles which say one thing in one place, and something else in another.

Will have a look at my vehicle today to see what the verdict is.

If it needs brakes for the camry will probably tow it with the terrano if it can.

[wjw]

from memory a terrano is 750KG unbraked

[rokhound]

Have fun restoring/rebuilding it. But you will find that by the time you have finished, you could have built a new trailer to the exact dimensions you wanted for bugger all more.
I have just finished a 4.1m x 2.45m transporter that is rated to 3000kg capacity with brakes etc for around $3500 (no labour included). That was all up including 16" alloys and teardrop guards.
Not trying to put a downer on your project, (bloody good on ya for having a crack if you haven't done this sort of thing before), just pointing out that it probably not a full on cost effective way of going about it

[3VILC]

I thought they looked like an old truck front beam axle..in which case there must be some form of brake already present..all you need is to plumb them up and add a master cylinder hitch and your halfway there Hopefully they welded the tierods dead straight so it doesnt crab and chew tyres up Someone correct me but I think chev is a different pattern to the common jap 6 stud.

[jonossiksilvia]

Have fun restoring/rebuilding it. But you will find that by the time you have finished, you could have built a new trailer to the exact dimensions you wanted for bugger all more.
I have just finished a 4.1m x 2.45m transporter that is rated to 3000kg capacity with brakes etc for around $3500 (no labour included). That was all up including 16" alloys and teardrop guards.
Not trying to put a downer on your project, (bloody good on ya for having a crack if you haven't done this sort of thing before), just pointing out that it probably not a full on cost effective way of going about it

If ur talking bout the yellow one u were towing today it looked bloody awesome for a trailer grant

[rokhound]

Have fun restoring/rebuilding it. But you will find that by the time you have finished, you could have built a new trailer to the exact dimensions you wanted for bugger all more.
I have just finished a 4.1m x 2.45m transporter that is rated to 3000kg capacity with brakes etc for around $3500 (no labour included). That was all up including 16" alloys and teardrop guards.
Not trying to put a downer on your project, (bloody good on ya for having a crack if you haven't done this sort of thing before), just pointing out that it probably not a full on cost effective way of going about it

If ur talking bout the yellow one u were towing today it looked bloody awesome for a trailer grant

Wasn't sure if that was you or not John. Yep that is the one I was talking about. It is a hellish amount of trailer for the cost eh?

[jonossiksilvia]

Have fun restoring/rebuilding it. But you will find that by the time you have finished, you could have built a new trailer to the exact dimensions you wanted for bugger all more.
I have just finished a 4.1m x 2.45m transporter that is rated to 3000kg capacity with brakes etc for around $3500 (no labour included). That was all up including 16" alloys and teardrop guards.
Not trying to put a downer on your project, (bloody good on ya for having a crack if you haven't done this sort of thing before), just pointing out that it probably not a full on cost effective way of going about it

If ur talking bout the yellow one u were towing today it
looked bloody awesome for a trailer grant

Wasn't sure if that was you or not John. Yep that is the one I was talking about. It is a hellish amount of trailer for the cost eh?

Sorry grant was day dreaming and didn't see ur logos till last minute. Id expect to pay twice the amount for a trailer of that quality. Rims looked good on it and that (looks like leftover decking) wood where wheels go is a unique touch of class and to top it off ur famous yellow paint. Throw a pic of it up as others will be jealous.

[Dirtydog]

lol,

im pretty sure its got drum brakes so might have to see what the options are there.

Also, on a side note the camry is 500kg unbraked.....

Ive got at least 6 weeks before it could be of any real use (moving house) so got plenty of time to work on it for now.

As for the mud guards i was thinking of making up some thick plastic ones, out of the stuff they make tractor flares out of, simple one length over both tyres.

As for the extending out im gunna see how much its going to cost and see if it will be worth it or not.

Unfortunately didnt get any work done today as it was quite frosty and had other things to get done.

[mike77]

Everything about trailer weight said is 100% correct,

But even though ......... if we all followed car manufacturers recommendations, there shouldn't be any 5-6m fibreglass boats on unbraked trailers in the country, yet most of them are.

As long as your tow wagon can stop in 7m at 30km/h I reckon go for it. (Don't know about that camry doing that) Car trailer weight recommendations IMO are only so you don't brake the car and give the car manufacturer a bad name.

This is only my opinion, and if my tow car was either under warranty, or towing a heavy trailer was something done on a regular basis I'ld get it braked no matter what.

[Pedro]

So far the restoration is going good, ive gone through one grinding disc already, and thinking about getting a mini sandblaster instead, seems the easy way to go.

drag it to a commercial sand blaster, far quicker and better job, get everythnig blasted, take wheels off first so they can get right around it, then hit it with a good etch primer, unless you want to get it galved


pedro

[Dirtydog]

the main problem is i dont think we have a commercial sandblaster around here, apart from invercargill, but dont really want to take an un registed/warented trailer for a 45 min drive.


And i could definitly use the sand blaster on heaps of things too, my brother has a xb falcon he wants to restore, thats got alot of panel rust.

[3VILC]

In that case i'd say put brakes on it..if its already got drums why not thats the most expensive part done. Add some pipe and a hydraulic hitch and your away. I 'think' you only need to brake one axle on a tandem from what i've seen, don't know why you couldnt do both tho. Depends what condition the drums are in i suppose, but still at worst what maybe $40 for new slave cylinders and $30 for a cheap set of shoes. Be worth it i reckon..nothing worse than the shunting feeling of a heavy trailer trying to push you along

[Dirtydog]

considering i can tow unbraked 500kg and thats about the weight of the trailer itself seems like the way to go

but had a look, the drums are still there but i dont have anything here to get the seized nuts off....

Im also having trouble trying to figure out what vehicle the axles are from exactly.

both 6 stud, one has a ribbed drum, one has a plain. And ive been told that they are chev... but he wasnt sure about that, it just had chev hub caps on it.

so the hunt continues....

[pruggerdore]

Im thinking that due too you not being very experienced in this sort of thing, not saying your not capable but you have something that isnt very far of usable so too chop it up with big plans and then find you have bitten of more than you can chew would sux. ballance of a trailer is important so maybe not extent the back. If a peice of 8x4 plywood fits in it then thats a good size. what do you intend to use it for is an important consideration. your camry wont want to pull much weight so brakes may not be that important. I would suggest rebuild deck to what you want with out huge mods. clean up axle with whats there wire it get it legal and see what you think. If you want to put brakes on later on you can. If putting brakes on I would bin that chev truck crap for several reasons. you dont know what it is so wheel bearings brake shoes slave cylinders etc etc could be a night mare. also the idea you are going to bolt a hydraulic master cylinder on and have breaks that are going to behave is pretty unlikly. a master cylinder brake coupling and the slave cylinders and disks are matched to each other and very unlikly that 1960s drum brakes will match. so would get new axle kits with proper trailer brakes normal size type wheels and know your not going too have any issues. and now days not that expensive. trademe to give you an idea. a good trailer is a very good investment you wont regret. trailer will probably be around long after the camry is gone. my 2 cents

[Dirtydog]

the way its going it looks like i will only be extending the deck around the wheels and spare tyre rack.

I will keep the axles for now but if i cant find brakes for it i will defintly change it.

or restore this one and sell it to get another one more suited.

[Dirtydog]

well i have found out some information, the axles are from a 1937 coupe/sedan and a 1946-1952 3/4 ton truck.

so now i can get parts for them (if i can find them).

Looks like ebay is going to be my friend here.