Well I finally got around to doing the trailer changes Ive been wanting to do and getting it all rebuilt basically. It was the last thing really left to do on this whole project from its starting point. This is what it started out looking like with the white painted frame, white fenders, 14" chrome reverse wheels and the spiral chrome caps, regular lights and old bunk boards and side boards.
I decided to just take it totally apart (except the axles and springs), weld up all the old existing light holes and clean up all of the welds all over it. I installed the chrome fenders and they were a little different than the old ones so the steps had to be filled in with sheet metal. Some the step sheet metal had to be repaired after dings and dents have taken their toll.
After installing the new fenders I realized my old 14" steel wheel offset dimension was totally wrong and they were sticking out of the fenders... so I found a set of 15" aluminum wheels (Ford Ranger XLT) and practically new tires for a deal and would fit into the wells just perfect. A little elbow grease and some aluminum polish and they came out nice.
The whole trailer then went down to a sandblaster here locally and they knocked it out in a few hours and I had it back home the next day for the primer coats to be put on... man let me tell you trailers are not easy to paint! Then I sprayed it with an industrial silver coating that should last a good long time and be easy to touch up if needed.
I cut and made all new bunks for it and also made new side fender boards. I coated them all with LINEX truck bed liner before installing all new Marine grade carpet instead of home carpet. That should keep them water-resistant for awhile.
The final product came out pretty decent and I still have a few more small things to do to it like step plates for the side steps and rear steps above the brake lights, and the tie downs mounted on the rear.
I got the "D" rings welded inside the perimeter rails all the way around for a future highway cover too!
No comments:
Post a Comment