Welding Tips and Tricks

Well guys, here's another job me and a buddy did just recently.....
He just had back surgery so he needed a grunt who can weld and works for cheap.....Funny.

Anyway, this is a 8'x12' single 3,500lb axle deck-over trailer.
We're gonna make it a 22' deck, with dual 3,500lb axles.....

We cut the rear off 8" from the end, added 4 10 feet long sticks of 5" channel, and then put the back back on.
Fish plated the 4 joints over the axle with 4"x1/4" flatbar.
3/32" and 1/8" 7018 used, on an everlast 250ex.....

The cross members are 3"x3/16" angle.
That cross brace in between the axles was supposed to be centered at the joint, but oh well....
We moved the jack to the middle too.... Ramp holders as well.

That's about the size of it..... Right after we finished, it got loaded up with a rhino, wheeler, and wagon and went for a 100 mile round trip, on the highway at 55-65mph....

She has brakes on both axles, and with the controller only set on 3, she really can get you slowed down....
Still need to get the marker lights on the 4 corners.

That evolution raptor evo380 is awesome, and I don't know how I ever lived without those 4 strong hand clamps....
Anyway,

Enjoy the pics.

~John.....

A talented friend to have "you are"

AK
i love the way you document your builds.
great clear photos and nice detail.
just like a text book project.
about how long did it take you
to build?
craig

Nice job John! I have done a bit of trailer stretching myself. Its alot of fun. Great pics and as usual..great work!

Another great job!

The only pick I have is the plate you strapped the web with at the stretch... Square corners and straight lines create stress risers.

While a fish plate should ideally be an ellipse, here's a more practical design that takes all the straight and square out of web reinforcements...

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=wel ... ajaxhist=0

If you use a shape like this in your web joins, you greatly reduce the risk of corner cracking from the stress rough roads put a loaded trailer through.

I'm not picking, as I think you do great work. Just offering ideas to add longevity.

Steve S

rick9345 wrote:A talented friend to have "you are"

Thanks.

exnailpounder wrote:Nice job John! I have done a bit of trailer stretching myself. Its alot of fun. Great pics and as usual..great work!

Thanks.

motox wrote:AK
i love the way you document your builds.
great clear photos and nice detail.
just like a text book project.
about how long did it take you
to build?
craig

Lets see, one 9 hour day and one 8 hour day.....

Thanks.

Otto Nobedder wrote:Another great job!

The only pick I have is the plate you strapped the web with at the stretch... Square corners and straight lines create stress risers.

While a fish plate should ideally be an ellipse, here's a more practical design that takes all the straight and square out of web reinforcements...

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=wel ... ajaxhist=0

If you use a shape like this in your web joins, you greatly reduce the risk of corner cracking from the stress rough roads put a loaded trailer through.

I'm not picking, as I think you do great work. Just offering ideas to add longevity.

Steve S

I'm sure it's good practice to make diamond or oval shaped fish plates, but square will work just fine for this light duty trailer.

She won't be loaded with a lot of weight.

Thanks.

John...I want to tell you how impressed I am with your work, especially because your so young. Most guys your age don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and here you are doing pro work. The fact is MOST people aren't good at much of anything except showing up for a job and then it just doing enough to not get fired, but you will tackle about anything and do it the way it need to be done. My hat is off to you Sir!

exnailpounder wrote:John...I want to tell you how impressed I am with your work, especially because your so young. Most guys your age don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and here you are doing pro work. The fact is MOST people aren't good at much of anything except showing up for a job and then it just doing enough to not get fired, but you will tackle about anything and do it the way it need to be done. My hat is off to you Sir!

I still argue for a "like" button!

Steve S

exnailpounder wrote:John...I want to tell you how impressed I am with your work, especially because your so young. Most guys your age don't know their ass from a hole in the ground and here you are doing pro work. The fact is MOST people aren't good at much of anything except showing up for a job and then it just doing enough to not get fired, but you will tackle about anything and do it the way it need to be done. My hat is off to you Sir!

When ever people tell me stuff like that, I ask them, "So you mean if I was older, I wouldn't be very impressive?"

Trailer work is actually quite easy....

Thanks.

Yep.

John, if you were 30,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLNAkPsjAEk

Not really, but funny.

Steve S

Why does the black pick up truck have a red top? If I was sitting at the bar and someone asked me to do a project like this, I would just advise them to go get a trailer stretching tool.

Seriously, nice work! I really like and appreciate the picture documentation! I will be showing them to my students, so they can get an idea of what 'custom fabrication' can look like!

Thank you!

Boomer63 wrote:Why does the black pick up truck have a red top? If I was sitting at the bar and someone asked me to do a project like this, I would just advise them to go get a trailer stretching tool.

Seriously, nice work! I really like and appreciate the picture documentation! I will be showing them to my students, so they can get an idea of what 'custom fabrication' can look like!

Thank you!

Is that like the board stretcher? Or the left handed cresent wrench? Or the bucket of steam?

"Bucket of steam" oh man ... I will be laughing about that all night ... oh man!!

Boomer63 wrote:"Bucket of steam" oh man ... I will be laughing about that all night ... oh man!!

I've used them...
Steve S

At my last job, I tried to stay away from the "bucket" of steam. Outgassing LOX made for all sorts of interesting hazards if you weren't paying attention.

The supervision also had a cow if someone played with the LOX, though stories were around involving various things being supercooled with it, including at least one frog that supposedly hopped away once it thawed... The employee didn't walk away without getting a bit chewed off for the experiment, though.

I do have to ask, are there any build pictures of the welding cart shown in the middle of the project pictures?
It's an interesting layout, compared to some of the other designs that I've seen around.

Talent/expertise has no age restrictions and it shows up in the most unusual places.

She just got back from a 600 mile round trip on the hwy.

She's one solid trailer.

Never underestimate 7018....

Never underestimate someone who can weld. Give those 7018s to a mongoloid, and you'll have a pile of scrap beside the ALCAN.

weldin mike 27 wrote:Never underestimate someone who can weld. Give those 7018s to a mongoloid, and you'll have a pile of scrap beside the ALCAN.

I think Mike said it all! Good job, nice welds!

John,

Howgozit with the fire up there? You guys in any danger? Looks on the map like Willow ain't too far to the NW of you.

LDB

ldbtx wrote:John,

Howgozit with the fire up there? You guys in any danger? Looks on the map like Willow ain't too far to the NW of you.

LDB

It seems to be heading away from civilization. I don't know much tho. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cre ... ka-n375366
Hopefully they get it shut down quick.

I'm actually in Pennsylvania right now, on vacation.

Here's the updated report.

http://www.ktva.com/homes-being-evacuat ... illow-871/

I hope they can get it shut down soon. I've been way too close to several wildfires in my life, and the devastation they leave is a terrible thing to see.

LDB

Still going strong.