adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

I'll have about $900 in mine once complete - I've been keeping a fairly acurate spreadsheet of the build costs.

Of course I'm skinning mine with metal instead of painting - and that was about a $285 cost alone.

And Edwin - to answer your earlier question, the metal sheet I bought is a roofing material 26ga galvanized steel with a white coating on it called Kynar I think - it's the same stuff used to roof industrial buildings - most of the places that do the roofing carry the flat sheets. My place in town had it in a 41 and 15/16ths " by 10ft sheet for $29/sheet I was able to use 3 sheets to do the front, rear, and both sides. Then they sold me 10ft sticks of right angle trim for about $11 a stick - it is 1.5" x 1.5" - needed 12 of those I think. For my 4'x8' top I had to look elsewhere since the sheets were well short of the 48" width. Another roofing supply place 100 miles away had a 48" sheet but it was $40 and I would have had to have pulled my utility trailer over to carry it back - eating a $40 tank of gas. Instead I called a local 18-wheeler place that does repairs to the trailers - they sold me a sheet of the aluminum used in trailer building that was about 49" x 110" for $85, and I didn't have to leave town to go get it. I cut everything down with a jigsaw and am in the process of getting all of the pieces on the trailer. I possibly could be done this weekend.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

How about some pics. I'd like to see the metal installation.
Edwin

adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

sure thing - once I get home tonight I'll take a few pics - if the weather is decent enough - it's been raining every afternoon/evening this week. Wife is ready for me to get this thing completed and moved out of our 1 car garage.

Matter of fact she's ready for me to get my quarter-scale Giles build off her dining room table as well.

tsk - women!

adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

well - sure enough it started raining 10 mins after I got home from work.

I took a few pics under the garage - but the lighting isn't so good- and my digital cam is ancient.
trailer looks better in person than in pics - you can see where I have a swing away rear door built into the rear.

adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

Here's a few pics I snapped this weekend - metal shop still hasn't gotten thier shipment of the angle pieces that I need to finish the top, so I decided to just start using the trailer as is for transporting planes to the field. It's holding my U-Can-Do 60, a 65" wingspan Edge, my beloved Shoestring, and a great planes .46 Ultimate. My 72" giles fits where the String is, and string and edge can swap places.

I added a Contico storage box to the tongue it holds my toolbox, radio case, fuel and cleanup supplies etc. Originally I was going to strap some of that stuff inside, but this box fits the bill perfectly and allows me another plane or a monster truck or something.

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

Here's what I did with my Harbor Freight 4' by 8' flatbed. The sides are removable and the trailer can be used to haul planes, lawn mowers, dirt, mulch, just about anything.

There is a custom built vinyl cover that fits snugly over the top and sides to protect the contents. The white PVC bows keep the cover from flapping while driving.

People ask me what I do when it rains.

I don't go flying!!!

BTW, that's a 33% Balsa USA Fokker DVII inside the trailer!

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Is'nt it funny. I got asked that too. Looks like a lot of HF trailer frames are being sold.
Edwin

adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

what kind of air pressures are you guys runningin your tires? My trailer bounces a good bit on rough roads. I was runing ~50psi in the tires, but I backed it down to 35psi - that helped a bit - but it seems that the trailer's suspension just doesn't have enough weight on it to move. I'm probably putting 200 lbs on a 1400+ pound rated frame.

I've been told I can pull the short leaf out of the springs and that might soften it up a little.

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

Mines got 45lbs in them. I havent noticed any more bouncing than I expected. Maybe cause I drive a truck. I estamate my box weighs around 100 lbs. Just speculating. Dont forget to put more axle grease in the hubs. There are grease fittings on the backside of my hubs.
Edwin

adrenalnjunky

My Feedback: (18)

Yep - I greased mine pretty well with Mobil 1 grease when I built it up - put a little too much in I think - have a little bit that has seeped out the cap and slung all over the right side wheel. Seems to have stopped seeping though.

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

Wow, that's really cool stuff guys. As I'm a trailer-wanter/needer, without dough or a ton of storage for one, this is pretty cool to see. Hat's off to you for going to town on these things and ending up with a nice looking trailer there. You provide some hope for me to carry all this stuff I collect.

Mike

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

The final real McCoy test happened on sunday. Took the trailer out for its first trip to the field. And naturally I got hit by a small summer shower. At home and at the field it was sunny and bone dry. The inside of the trailer was dry and no evidence of leaks. I'm a happy camper now. Just need to get the hitch put on my honda. Wife wants her little truck back.
Edwin

Edwin

My Feedback: (2)

I just thought I would give a quick update on the trailer. Its about 5 years old now and holding up fine. I had to replace the hinges for the top cover. The others were too light duty and one broke. I also had to replace the axle. I have no idea how it got bent, but I can tell you it ruined those tires pretty quick when it happened. I bought a new spring axle from www.redtrailers.com and all is well now. I still use the 4 cylinder honda civic to tow it and get 27mpg while towing. The civic has 130,000 on it now and has had the transmission serviced 4 times (once just recently) and no evidence of abuse has been noted by the dealer.
Edwin

Forgot to post a pic.

ARUP

Great thread! Thanks for posting. I need to build a trailer and this info is priceless!