Welding Tips and Tricks

Everybody wants to make a trailer and so do I. But I'm looking to make an enclosed cargo trailer to take my Harley on a mountain vacation. Since I'm talking to a forum of welders I thought I'd reach out to everyone and ask if they know where to get a good set of plans for one. In a perfect world I'm looking for plans for a 12' gooseneck w/ drop door/ramp. Aluminum construction is great but thinking that going steel for the main floor would be a good idea. I'm thinking of one 7K axle or two 3.5k axles. The gooseneck is my personal preference to use with my Z71 but I'm not glued to the idea if I'm better suited otherwise. But hey, it's mine and why not go for the Gold Medal right?

Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Tips/tricks?

Thank you in advance. /bow

http://www.trailerplans.com//index.php? ... t&Itemid=2
I have heard great reviews on this page. This is a 12' cargo trailer. I know you wanted a goose neck and I don't blame you. I would probably find the plans for a low deck goose neck trailer and build the hitch that way then just tie into this trailers plans. Hope this helps and good luck.

I'd go for the 16' with the drop doors first but nice find. I'll poke around the site a bit and see if they have something I can meld into what I'm looking for. Appreciate the link.

Here's the other one that looks promising. http://www.trailerplans.com//index.php? ... t&Itemid=2

I bought my 20ft gooseneck Lowboy trailer plans from this company. Excellent plans for the money.

mcoe wrote:http://www.trailerplans.com//index.php? ... t&Itemid=2 I have heard great reviews on this page. This is a 12' cargo trailer. I know you wanted a goose neck and I don't blame you. I would probably find the plans for a low deck goose neck trailer and build the hitch that way then just tie into this trailers plans. Hope this helps and good luck.

Noticed I never said "thank you" to you guys. I never built the trailer but trading up to a OTR rig for the time being. We'll get back to this project soon enough but here's a bump for those looking for the same thing.

Have you a lot of experience in building trailers? Its not as easy as you may think. there are a lot of thing to consider, first what size tow vehicle, how much does the load weigh , by making a goose neck, your limiting this trailer being towed by just a few vehicles, do you know how to align the wheels, and springs to the tongue. if you get this off a little it will not tow correctly behind any car or truck. do you have power saws to cut your angles,, it perhaps not absolute necessary, but it sure is helpful, not trying to bust your bubble, but I have built a lot of trailers, and some were tandem, and one was to haul my dozer on. and some states require electric brakes on at least one axle, and most all require a tandem to have a title and registration with serial numbers that have to be verified by your local police,, just a few things to consider before you get to far down the road. hope this helps I sure wish someone had clued me in on my first trailer, boy what a mess.

Well, Roger,

At least if your axles were not aligned to the hitch and to each other, the trailer would turn that "learning curve" easily! (I work on heavy OTR trailers, including complete suspension replacements with air ride, so I get everything you just said.)

Steve S

Gotta love it... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqWQDFoP07k

There is a wide selection http://www.trailerplans.com.au/

Otto Nobedder wrote:Well, Roger,

At least if your axles were not aligned to the hitch and to each other, the trailer would turn that "learning curve" easily! (I work on heavy OTR trailers, including complete suspension replacements with air ride, so I get everything you just said.)

Steve S

I thought I was bad! LOL Kind of made me yaw-n (get it "yaw") I really entertain myself.

I am probably the most guilty of doing "projects" because I can. If you want to do it for the satisfaction of building it yourself go for it, a couple mistakes, that is how you learn for the next one. I buy over a 1000 tons of steel a year, so I get good pricing. But at the end of the day figuring up all my time it is just cheaper to go down the road to the trailer manufacture and buy it.

The air-ride supplier, in response to our customer's complaints, tried to put the onus on us, claiming we were doing improper installation. I developed a process and a set of documents to prove that every aspect of our installations were within 1/16", meeting (and in most cases greatly exceeding) the manufacturer's specifications. Two years of documenting this thoroughly, and our customer has dropped one major vendor, and selected another. We are now installing the new vendor's product to the old specification, partly because the process is established and easy, partly because it exceeds the manufacturer's requirements.

I guess this is a digression, and the point I was trying to make is that there's a LOT that goes in to building a trailer and it's suspension, making it more economical (and safer from a liability standpoint) to go down the road and buy one, than it is to build one from guesswork.

Steve S

DLewis0289 wrote:

Otto Nobedder wrote:Well, Roger,

At least if your axles were not aligned to the hitch and to each other, the trailer would turn that "learning curve" easily! (I work on heavy OTR trailers, including complete suspension replacements with air ride, so I get everything you just said.)

Steve S

I thought I was bad! LOL Kind of made me yaw-n (get it "yaw") I really entertain myself.

I am probably the most guilty of doing "projects" because I can. If you want to do it for the satisfaction of building it yourself go for it, a couple mistakes, that is how you learn for the next one. I buy over a 1000 tons of steel a year, so I get good pricing. But at the end of the day figuring up all my time it is just cheaper to go down the road to the trailer manufacture and buy it.

No doubt that it's cheaper to buy than build in a lot of cases but unless it's ''OVERBUILT" it is suspect. If I had back all the money I have pissed away on pet projects, I would be retired and laughing at all you guys that think welding is important

I am the king of money pissing.....a toy that shoots back at you while you are trying to shoot it.

DLewis0289 wrote:I am the king of money pissing.....a toy that shoots back at you while you are trying to shoot it.

I would dearly love to know more about that device. Such as, what are you shooting it with, and what is it shooting back at you? Looks like fun, if it's not lethal.

Larry

Ok here I go lol. Years ago I had a very different life than skilled trades. And taking a page out of the Taser handbook, it is "Less than lethal".

It is remotely operated up to 300 meters away and the ordnance is basically a battery of fireworks missiles. The old saying is...."If you have perfect sight picture, perfect sight alignment and are in a perfect isosceles stance, you are not in a real gun fight"

Like Simmunition training this introduces stress (stress innoculation as it pertains to the sympathetic nervous system/fight or flight), however Simmunition is very expensive with the outfitted Glock's and PPE. This is basically safety glasses and any pistol with any ammo within reason. .380 through 9mm all the way to 45ACP.

The contests we have are done from 7yds/21 ft and the object to win is to disable (knock down two paddles)the threat with the least amount of rounds in the shortest amount of time, the whole time this thing is spitting missiles with realistic report/smoke/ and it will hit you lol. Caught one in the knuckle one time and it does sting a little.

It is also fun to camouflage it in the woods and send guys in with the RO watching from a safe distance and deploy in an ambush scenario.

That does look like fun. I just may have to give some thought to devising a similar device. Sure would be good practice.

Electric ignitors, fireworks, 12 volt battery, overhead door opener and a few relay's, you are set.

DLewis0289 wrote:Electric ignitors, fireworks, 12 volt battery, overhead door opener and a few relay's, you are set.

I just may have to start doing a little design work. Thanks.