Check Your trailer Hitch, PLEASE!

[frankeeski]

Here is the back story. Quite a few years back I got a call from my nephew that he needed his car towed. Julie and I figured we have this nice Ford Dually, why not use it? So we go down to U-Haul and prepare to rent a trailer. Well, because the truck is lowered the trailer would not be level and the guys there suggest we install a receiver hitch. About $550 bucks and 3 hours later we are on our way down to San Diego to tow the nephews car on a U-Haul trailer back to our place. I even remember the guy installing it saying, "this is all the trailer hitch you'll ever need" and then he mumbled something about 12,000 lbs.

Fast forward to a week or two ago. I crawl under the truck to check the rating of the hitch just to double check that it is going to be up to the task of towing our existing trailer with the upgraded steel diamond plate deck and the new enclosed car hauler trailer we ordered a few weeks ago. What I found when I looked at the tag was this; 5,000 lbs. max rating with 500 lbs. tongue weight and 8,000 lbs max rating for weight distribution with 800 lbs. max tongue weight. Ahhhh, where is the 12,000 lbs hitch I was led to believe I paid for? Being as anal retentive as I am, I dug up the receipt and sure enough the part number on the receipt is the one I payed for so I at least don't feel cheated. But really, where did this kid come up with a 12,000 lbs. rating? I may at some time use a weight distribution system but I don't want to be at the limit of the receiver every time I tow. I called a local wholesaler and got a brand new 10,000 lbs receiver hitch with a 12,000 lbs weight distribution max for $165. A very good deal I think and I already have a 12,000 lbs rated rise ball mount and a 10,000 lbs 2-5/16" ball. Now the entire system is up to the task.

Here is a snap shot of the U-Haul receiver I removed. Anyone looking for a hitch? It's universal mount.


And here is a picture of the new Curt 14001 that replaces the U-Haul receiver.


Here are a couple pics of the new one installed.



The point of this thread is to ask you all to check the rating of your hitch before you tow. You may think you are within the limits of your vehicle and the trailer hitch and may be surprised when you check. Don't find out when something breaks. I feel as though I dodged a bullet on this one.

[fastthings]

Nice save, but since your on the subject. I bet more people ingnore the tire preasure, and load rating of the tires.

[David Hodgkins]

Good catch Frank! I still have to make the call on our new trailer, BTW. I'm being lazy...

[frankeeski]

Since I alluded to the re-deck of our existing flat bed trailer, I thought it would be nice to include the progress I have been making on it in this thread.

Since we are changing the deck material from 2"X6" wood to 11 gauge steel diamond plate it was necessary to add a bit of reinforcement to the under structure to the trailer. I basically added 2"X3" angle at 12" intervals in-between the existing angle originally at 24" O.C. I did this only in the areas that a vehicle would be resting when loaded on the trailer.

Being the thrifty individual I am, I used every bit of material I purchased, splicing the end of this one support.

Another bit of good old fashioned Yankee thrift, I also used some material in the shop and manufactured another piece of 2"X3" Angle for the splice on this support.

I figured while I had the welder all warmed up it was a perfect opportunity to add a spare tire carrier to the trailer as well.

Here is a shot of the business end of the spare tire carrier.

I still need to rewire the lights and electric brakes and pick up a new break-away kit as well. After that I am going to give the entire thing a coat of rust preventative primer and then paint all of the areas underneath. Once the new decking is welded on the rest of the trailer will be primed and painted.

[weendoggy]

That'll add some weight to your trailer and tongue wt. as well, but because you have the dully, it shouldn't have a noticeable effect.

[Someday I Suppose]

Frank, looks like good progress and a fun project. Going to be like new when all said and done!!

Scott

[Mike N]

Hey Frank.

How stiff is that spare tire mount? Mounted to the top flange of an open channel like that I'd be worried that it would flex and move around a lot due to road vibrations and maybe fatigue the welds. Can you box the channel or triangulate the mount somehow?

Also, what welder do you have? The welds look really nice.

[frankeeski]

Frank, looks like good progress and a fun project. Going to be like new when all said and done!!

Scott

That is the plan Scott. We should have just spent the extra money on the steel deck when we bought the trailer to begin with . Price and inexperience played a part in that. Let's just say I am a bit smarter now.

Hey Frank.

How stiff is that spare tire mount? Mounted to the top flange of an open channel like that I'd be worried that it would flex and move around a lot due to road vibrations and maybe fatigue the welds. Can you box the channel or triangulate the mount somehow?

Also, what welder do you have? The welds look really nice.

What you can't see in the pictures I posted is that the DOM tubing I used is fish-mouthed cut on the corner of the c-channel. The c-channel is 1/4" thick and I have no fear it is going to fatigue or flex. The DOM is 2" and .120 wall thickness so no fear there either. I achieve very good penetration with the welder and I have great faith in the welds. That doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on things, but I am not too worried about it.

The welder is an Airco DIP/Stick welder that is probably 30 years old. I bought it second hand and refurbished it. It is a true 50 amp, 220/240 volt welder. I have added a new Tweco torch to it and it makes great welds. It doesn't have any of those new digital readout or nonsense. Really old school and I love it.

That'll add some weight to your trailer and tongue wt. as well, but because you have the dually, it shouldn't have a noticeable effect.

It is surprising how much the wood actually weighs, wet or dry. In my calculations the difference in weight is actually minimal. The wood 2"X6" per board foot is 2 lbs. This is really only 11"X12" as a 2"X6" board is only 5.5" in width for a total weight of 4 lbs. The steel diamond plate per square foot is 6.16 lbs. at a 1/8" thickness. I'm using 11 gauge which is a bit thinner and lighter but 6.16 is close enough. The trailer is approx. 7'X16' for a total of 112 square feet. That number multiplied by 1.16 (the difference in the two materiel weight) is 129.92 lbs total weight difference in just decking. The cross supports I added do add another 160 lbs. So the total weight difference is 289.92 Pretty minimal in the grand scheme of things. The trailer remains balance front to rear as it was before as equal weight has been added front to back. The tongue weight difference should be less than 50 lbs added to what it was before.

[RM1SepEx]

Nice work! Brings back fond old memories, built our first trailer when I was in high school in 1975! I still have the little red Lincoln 225 amp arc stick welder in the garage. It was cheaper to buy the welder and materials than buy a double snowmobile trailer...

[johnnyb26]

Hi frank, I use to sell trailers and hitches and parts have sold some things to Factory Five make sure you also check your drawbar that you use in your hitch they are also rated and the average is around 5,000lbs but you can buy one much heavier double check yours to be safe sounds like your going to haul a nice ride John B.

[frankeeski]

Hi frank, I use to sell trailers and hitches and parts have sold some things to Factory Five make sure you also check your drawbar that you use in your hitch they are also rated and the average is around 5,000lbs but you can buy one much heavier double check yours to be safe sounds like your going to haul a nice ride John B.

I hear you. Check my opening comments about the ball mount (you call it a draw bar) and ball. The ball mount is a 10" rise ball mount from Convert-A-Ball rated at 12,000 lbs and the 2-5/16" ball is a Curt rated at 10,000 lbs. I also have a 10,000 lbs 2" ball from Curt as well if you can believe it, it wasn't easy to find.

[frankeeski]

Mike, here is a picture of the fish mount cut. It is very well supported on both the top and down the side. Took this picture this afternoon while I was outside starting the priming.

[Mike N]

Frank. That looks very good but if it were me I would box the back of that C channel or add a web inside but I agree that it might be overkill. I do structural design for a living and tend to be picky about these things.

[frankeeski]

Since the trailer upgrade seems to interest quite a few of you, I will keep updating this as I continue working on it. I managed to get the trailer all prepped and primed this past weekend. I am going to also paint it with 2 coats of gloss black paint before I weld on the decking. That way I will only have to touch up where the heat from welding affects the paint, rather than spending hours on my back painting the trailer from underneath. Here is a picture of the trailer after this weekends work.

[frankeeski]

More progress. First coat of gloss black on the trailer. My back has been giving me fits for the past week or two so progress has been a bit slow lately. We have also had a few car shows lately and that has been dipping into my free time. Trailer is really starting to take shape.

[Mike N]

That black paint is just beggin' for a some pin stripes

[frankeeski]

That black paint is just beggin' for a some pin stripes

Mike, you're a trouble maker! If you look, you can see the stake-bed sides leaning against the block wall in the bottom picture. We also use this trailer for our business hauling debris so I don't think she will be seeing any pinstripes. I should be ordering the diamond plate for the decking this week. I hope the price of steel has not gone up considerably in the past few week since I quoted it.

[Movieman]

Nice work but the most important part of this thread is you stuck into peoples minds to look and check.
That I will say Thank you very much for.

[frankeeski]

Nice work but the most important part of this thread is you stuck into peoples minds to look and check.
That I will say Thank you very much for.

Thank You for the kudos Movieman. I am not here to lecture anyone, just gentle reminders.

[Movieman]

Thank You for the kudos Movieman. I am not here to lecture anyone, just gentle reminders.

And that is how I took it..I meant what I said, you made us "think" to check something that most of us would never think of.
That is more important than anything I can think of..Thanks again.

[frankeeski]

I figured it was time for an update on the trailer rebuild. All is now ready for the diamond plate decking. The new trailer lights are all installed. I will say that I was a bit hesitant to use the LED trailer light kit from Harbor Freight. However, they were on sale for $29.99 and I went down to take a look at them. It looked as though, through the packaging, that they were no worse than the quality of the Peterson lights I had on the trailer previously so I went ahead and grabbed a set. Below is a picture of the LED taillights.
.
The side marker lights are a bit of a different story. While the LED's in the lights are OK, the housing is a bit flimsy. I'll just have to see how well these hold up.

I did upgrade all of the wiring throughout the entire trailer and went ahead and loomed all of the wiring with split loom. This should help the wire last a bit longer. While the old wiring held up fairly well it was beaten up in a few areas around the wheel wells.

The last thing installed for the new wiring was the break-away system. Another gentle reminder here; there is a battery in that little black box that requires maintenance. I seemed to have forgotten about the maintenance part and the battery was cooked. Rather than replacing just the battery, I replaced the entire system. Amazon is great for open box items and I got the entire system for $25 plus free shipping. Most places wanted at least that just for the battery alone. So it was a no-brainier to replace the whole system. Besides that, the break-away switch was not in good working order either and needed replacing. The new system came with a new break-away switch and tether. Another plus to the new system is it has a built-in charger that charges the battery when connected to the towing vehicle. Still need to maintain the battery when the trailer sits in the yard at our shop for months on end but nice to have it change when connected to the truck.

Some Factory Five building skills came in handy when fabricating the aluminum mounting bracket for the break-away system.

[frankeeski]

One thing you can see in the picture above is that the license plate is on the fender rather than hanging below the left rear tail light. I nearly lost the license plate some time back because the plastic bracket that held the license plate got a bit brittle and when it would scape going in and out of driveways, especially my own, it would drag. I caught it right before it broke off completely. The state requires a light on the license plate so I picked up a light locally, not and LED, and wired it in through the fender. Again, protecting it with split-loom, it was wired into the running light circuit.

[frankeeski]

Work continues on the trailer. Today I cut down the sheets of diamond plate to the measurement I needed. I got the first three sheets of diamond plate laid down across the supports and tack welded them into position.

[frankeeski]

Here you can see where the cut-outs in the diamond plate were made to allow the tie-downs to lift up. 3" hole saw did the trick for the holes.

[Someday I Suppose]

Frank, looks good!!!

Curious if anyone has a thread on maintenance on the battery brake systems, I've googled a few times to see what else I should be doing with mine and haven't had a lot of success as far as best practices.

Scott

[frankeeski]

Frank, looks good!!!

Curious if anyone has a thread on maintenance on the battery brake systems, I've googled a few times to see what else I should be doing with mine and haven't had a lot of success as far as best practices.

Scott

Scott, for the record, I never even knew my trailer had a battery on it. I often wondered how in the hell the brakes would activate when the trailer found itself disconnected from the truck. I found the battery and the control box hidden under the deck when I started this project. I feel really stupid having never checked. That aside, my plan on the trailer this time around is to maintain the battery with a Battery Tender. I am going to add a pigtail and have it hang out of the battery control box so that once a month or so I can hook up one of the tenders and bring it back to full. I plan on doing this with the new trailer as well from the start to keep that battery maintained from the beginning. I will say that one of the nice things about this new controller is that it has a status button to tell the condition of the battery.

[frankeeski]

I had some time this evening after work to tinker on the trailer a bit. I got the last sheet of diamond plate cut and fit. I still need to cut the holes in the sheet for the tie-downs to poke through and I should be able to get to that later in the week . Then it will just be a matter of tack welding it in to place. I did manage to cook a $9.00 grinder from Harbor Freight cutting this sheet down to size. RIP

[frankeeski]

It was a good Saturday today. I got a good majority of the decking perimeter welded. I ran through a bottle of gas for the welder and had to change bottles just before I was done for today. I still need to perimeter weld 3/4 of the other long side and will probably get to that on Monday. We will see how it goes.

[Ray]

One thing you can see in the picture above is that the license plate is on the fender rather than hanging below the left rear tail light. I nearly lost the license plate some time back because the plastic bracket that held the license plate got a bit brittle and when it would scape going in and out of driveways, especially my own, it would drag. I caught it right before it broke off completely. The state requires a light on the license plate so I picked up a light locally, not and LED, and wired it in through the fender. Again, protecting it with split-loom, it was wired into the running light circuit.

Just a heads up, 5201.
(a) License plates shall at all times be securely fastened to the vehicle for which they are issued so as to prevent the plates from swinging, shall be mounted in a position so as to be clearly visible, and so that the characters are upright and display from left to right, and shall be maintained in a condition so as to be clearly legible. The rear license plate shall be mounted not less than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground, and the front license plate shall be mounted not more than 60 inches from the ground..."

Now, in 29+ years I never wrote a citation for this nor did I work with anyone who did. However, you may run across someone who is having a really bad day....

Ray

PS: Trailer looks great!

[frankeeski]

Had one of by police buddies tell me the same thing, followed by "a plate in view is better than no plate at all". As you know Ray, most LEO's have better things to do but there is always that chance of like you say, "a really bad day". Funniest thing after reading the above Section is the lower than 60". Here is a picture of our new trailer and the manufacturer mounted the plate bracket and light well above that.


And,
Thanks for the kudos, I think the trailer is turning out very nice!

[conmech]

Mike, here is a picture of the fish mount cut. It is very well supported on both the top and down the side. Took this picture this afternoon while I was outside starting the priming.

Frank, the trailer looks great. As mentioned by Mike, I too think that there may be a future issue with the spare tire carrier. FWIW, get one of these kits and check the welds around the base/mount.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPO...U63?Pid=search

If you do an initial test in the near future and one either semi annual or annual, you could put it down as "just in case". Also, please box the back side of the mounting area. As a retired Navy mech who STILL works in the same field (26 years total), I have seen a couple of trailers with kind of similar mounts flex the upper portion of the channel, actually allowing the base weld to fail from the up + down force of the tire weight. Just my $.02

[Someday I Suppose]

Frank, thanks for the response, I love that the unit on yours has an indicator on the battery condition, and the maintainer sounds like a good plan for sure. I need to set some time to go through mine as well and make sure all is good.

Scott, for the record, I never even knew my trailer had a battery on it. I often wondered how in the hell the bakes would activate when the trailer found itself disconnected from the truck. I found the battery and the control box hidden under the deck when I started this project. I feel really stupid having never checked. That aside, my plan on the trailer this time around is to maintain the battery with a Battery Tender. I am going to add a pigtail and have it hang out of the battery control box so that once a month or so I can hook up one of the tenders and bring it back to full. I plan on doing this with the new trailer as well from the start to keep that battery maintained from the beginning. I will say that one of the nice things about this new controller is that it has a status button to tell the condition of the battery.

Scott

[frankeeski]

I haven't updated this thread in a while. I did end up finishing the perimeter welding on the trailer. However, with all of the other things that have been going on, I just have not been able to get back to the trailer project until today. I ended up going through the 2nd bottle of gas I had on hand finishing the perimeter. I still have a few odds and ends to weld here at my shop but today I ventured out to Pasadena for some assistance from my good friend Dan Ziol. Dan has a very well set up shop and has a forklift, something we don't have at our shop. I may start looking on craigslist for one. Anyways, the forklift came into play as we wanted to place some stitch welds on the bottom of the diamond plate. Not only to quiet the trailer down so it wouldn't sound like a tin can running down the highway but also to keep the diamond plate in tension. Below are the most recent pictures, taken today.

This picture shows the trailer literally stood on end to make welding a bit easier.

Here is a picture of Ziol finishing up with the welder. If you scroll back up to post #8 in this thread, I have the same Airco welder that Dan has. As a matter of fact, after using his at his shop the first time when fabricating my hydraulic tubing bender, I sought out a used Airco welder for my own shop. This was a great choice, best welder I have ever used.

And here is a picture of the culprit smiling for the camera.

I can't put into words what it is like to have a dear friend like Dan. He had plenty of other things to do today. But when I told him I had some time between jobs today he told me to pack up the trailer and bring it out. Thanks Dan!

[Someday I Suppose]

Frank, awesome update, great to see the trailer on its side like that. And indeed, nothing like good friends. My wife doesn't always agree with me, but I am of the mindset when a friend needs a hand, you drop what your doing and go help. Besides its always more fun to work on other peoples projects :-)

Scott

[riptide motorsport]

Looks great............now I have to go out and paint mine, darn you!

[frankeeski]

Frank, awesome update, its always more fun to work on other peoples projects :-)

Scott

Sure is, When you screw it all up it's parked in your friends driveway.

[frankeeski]

First coat of gloss black paint on the diamond plate decking. Really looks sharp. Still needs another coat on the decking and some touch up in some other areas. Also need to pull the wheels and tires and paint the inside of the fenders and wheel wells.

[SoCalMike]

Frank, you did a great job on that trailer. It came out really nice.
Mike

[frankeeski]

Frank, you did a great job on that trailer. It came out really nice.
Mike

Thanks Mike. I'm hoping I can get it finished up this weekend or next. You should come bye and take a look.

[frankeeski]

All of the painting is done!!!! Thank God. First picture is of the painted wheel wells. Pulled the wheels, scrubbed all of the crud off, then primed and painted. Silver wheels look as though they belong now, never was really excited with silver wheels on the white trailer.

Next one is of the finished painted bottom of the trailer. I ended up using the engine hoist to raise the front of the trailer high in the air and was able to sit up under the trailer to paint it.

Took the hook portion of the tie-downs out to paint. Just a little tip for all of you would-be welders out there. Take all nylon locking hardware off before welding. The heat makes an absolute mess out of the nylon. Ask me how I know.

Last picture is of my helper guarding the trailer. Good Boy!