18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

I'm sure I'm not going to get any arguments from this crowd.....but I decided I needed a trailer! I was tired of renting trailers or borrowing friends trucks to move long loads of lumber.

So I started to shop around and found out that apparently used trailers are made of gold, because people want a fortune for them! So I figure I can build something like this (for about half the price including adding a winch). Will end up being a 18ft trailer with a 2.5ft dove tail at the end made out of 4" C-channel for the outer frame, 2x2 angle iron crossmembers, and 2x6 wood planks for the floor.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...ps8h4gt60a.jpg

But before I got started, I ran into a little scope creep issue...where to store the trailer? So first order of business was to rip down my old rotten fence and put in a new swing out gate to park this thing on the side of my garage. (But I got busted by the wife and ended up having to replace all 110ft of the fence around the house to make it all look new. And build a new gate door with pergola arch. And the fun part of staining everything)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psnfr4tmme.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psuen3bti3.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psoqx75gki.jpg

Well now that all of that is done....back to building a trailer.

Craigslist score of (2) 3500lbs axles, wheels, and springs
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...pslvtc1mji.jpg

pre-prep work of priming the metal (not sure if this was a good idea)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psxk6xhl0o.jpg

Squaring up the frame
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psvywl5tk4.jpg

Determining width for axle placement (ended up at 81.75")
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psi4euukgd.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...ps8lkd7axp.jpg

Working on mitre joints for welding
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psjac1ihs6.jpg

All spring mounts tacked on (also see the finished painted swing out gates)
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psbvkugkys.jpg



Now I'm going to start cutting and welding in all the crossmembers. Then I'll need to find a way to flip this sucker over!

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Got the perimeter frame all together.

Started working on fabricating the tongue.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...ps7x4anjic.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Got all the spring hangers and crossmembers on and welded on the bottom.

I need to add on my dovetail on the back, but since I set up to close to my gate, I have to pull the trailer out a little.

Once that is welded in place, I'll have to find a way to flip this over and weld on the top side.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psoygre422.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Nice Work, thought about doing the same thing. How much do you think you will have in supplies?

Azle

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

I should end up around $1600 with all the extras and mods I'm planning (brakes on both axles!, stake pockets, winch mount, spare tire mount, tool box, D-rings, straps, LED lights, adding a brake controller to my truck, etc)

Some of my friends said I should have just bought a used trailer and fixed it up. Right now those are around $2 - 2.5k for 16ft (and it will need new wood, paint, and usually tires)

The 18ft trailer in the picture in my first post I'm basing my off of is $4300 (plus tax, and DMV fees)

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Was able to move the frame out so that I could install the dovetail. 30" dovetail with a 7degree drop makes the step about 3.5" lower than the frame. I think that will be enough to help out but not too much that I'll drag the rear.

I'm going to weld in a 1/8 diamond plate step on the behind the rear fender so that should provide some strength to that weld. I might make a small fishplate for the outside rail "just in case"

This weekend I'll flip it over and weld all the topside joints. I estimate the weight right now at about 600lbs

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psn4yagykg.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Got it flipped over.

On paper it seemed like "only" 600lbs of metal, but in reality it seemed like a lot more when we were trying to flip it over!

Lots of topside welding to do. Also have some small fabrication stuff to finish up (stake pockets, steps for the sides, front roll bar, ramps and ramp storage, etc)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psuadrsnmp.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Starting to look like a real trailer...

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psi41ioay5.jpg

Any advice on the equalizer for the double suspension? I have 2 of them, the bigger one is about 7.75" between the eyes. The little one is about 5.5" between the holes.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...pssdjxxvay.jpg

Suspension with 7.75" equalizer
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psqnnd754b.jpg

Smaller 5.5" equalizer
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...ps9tkoeh8h.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Latest progress.

Got the fender mocked up and front tongue braces measured and welded in. That made a HUGE difference in stiffness. Have to cut some diamond plate and weld down, which should also help.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psvm18myxw.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

It looks great so far , I just bought a nice 16 ft car trailer for $900 with 5 new tires .

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

You are going to have a nice trailer. Ours was built in 1990 and is still going strong.

Did you decide which rocker? The longer one "looks" right.

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

definitely use the longer equalizer. .those short ones will trip on you and its aggregating to try flipping them back..especially with a load on it

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

any updated on this one?

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Had to move this to the back burner to work on the honey-do list a little.

Built a pergola on top of our deck and then pressure washed and stained the old deck.

I'm planning on rolling the trailer out this weekend and try to finish it up.

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Nice work on the deck!

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

VERY nice work on the trailer!

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Got a little more done on the trailer.

Mounted the fenders. Fabricated the rear step with an integrated taillight housing. Also got a bunch of the stake pockets tacked in place.

Still need to fab the other rear step. I also have some fab work left on the front with a bar and tool box/winch mount. Then just paint, wiring and then the DMV

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...ps8py4dmvc.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Still plugging away. Got the diamond plate for 3 of the 4 steps on the trailer cut and welded in. I blew out the tip on my plasma so I have to order some consumables and finish it up the last piece. Maybe this weekend I'll wire brush and paint this thing.

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Finally broke down and made a decision about the Photobucket mess and switched to Imgur.

Also finally set some time aside to spray a gallon of primer and a gallon of gray on my trailer.

Amazing how paint really changes things.

https://i.imgur.com/Gtx31ozh.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Painted, wired, and registered at the DMV.

Need to go buy some wood for the top.

It pulled pretty nice on the way to the DMV.

https://i.imgur.com/bvpIdULh.jpg

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Well done!!

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

that turned out nice..

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

Looks really good. I like how you did the front bar, gives the trailer some flare.

If you don't mind, about how much do you have in the trailer $$ wise minus the axles?

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

I think its amazing what a little paint does to a project!

Minus the axles, wheels & tires....just shy of $1100

Going to use the trailer to go buy a load of 2x8's to finish off the decking.

Re: 18ft Car Hauler trailer....
 

only thing I see you may regret is the jack...those flip-up jacks aren't very stable especially if you use it while the trailer is loaded.. ive had em twist off before..