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Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:43 pm
by firebug
Thanx guys. Drawbar was salvaged from the original trailer and is 50x50x3mm

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2018 5:12 am
by moley
Good job mate,
I'm in the process of building another one, definately more work than you think

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 9:55 am
by F3ARED
firebug wrote:Thanx guys. Drawbar was salvaged from the original trailer and is 50x50x3mm
Ta. Im looking at grabbing a tradies trailer soon and converting it into a camper trailer. Most of the cheap ones ive seen have s%*tty angle A frames on them so planning on building the A frame/chassis for the suspension and then welding the box body onto it

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Tue Dec 18, 2018 10:28 pm
by moley
F3ARED wrote:
firebug wrote:Thanx guys. Drawbar was salvaged from the original trailer and is 50x50x3mm
Ta. Im looking at grabbing a tradies trailer soon and converting it into a camper trailer. Most of the cheap ones ive seen have s%*tty angle A frames on them so planning on building the A frame/chassis for the suspension and then welding the box body onto it
Is it not cheaper for you guys to build one from scratch?
I sold my tipper trailer for 2k more than it cost me to build after 3 years of abuse

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:30 am
by F3ARED
Probably would be but time is a massive factor with me at the moment. Need to balance family time with all the other s*#t i need to get done [another house to reno, need to build the land rover, need to rebuild the gemini etc] so buying the tradie trailer would be a massive shortcut. All id need to do is build a stronger chassis for it, bolt a rooftop tent to the roof and drag it to work and let the boys fit it out with the rest of the s*#t. Have access to everything needed given I work in caravans....

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:42 am
by firebug
moley wrote:Is it not cheaper for you guys to build one from scratch?
I sold my tipper trailer for 2k more than it cost me to build after 3 years of abuse
Specialized trailers usually always fetch more than they are worth in material. However I used to build trailers from home years ago and it got to the point where I could buy a basic trailer brand new for around the price of materials I had access to. I admit there is a fair gap in the build quality, but the affordable market I was aiming at was overtaken by mass produced trailers built with cheap imported steel, or complete trailers imported from China. I should have got on board that train in its early days but I didn't. :(

This build was more about resurrecting something that had a little bit of family history (not my family but a good friend's) with my son, to pass on a few skills and basically just have a little project together. I did a quick add up of the bits we had to buy retail and it's in the $600 bracket give or take. Not including mig wire, gas, electricity, labour, other consumables etc. We didn't have to buy springs, axle, shackle bolts/u-bolts, bearings, hubs, rims, jockey wheel or coupling. I supplied some of the steel from my off-cut pile. Some rego also came with this trailer which is a huge bonus.

Could have bought a mass produced 7x4 local for around $800 + rego, but there is no story to go with that... :)

Re: Box Trailer Rebuild

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:57 pm
by moley
Yeah Nick I can't even find the work and not working balance, I put on another guy and still run off my feet.
Yeah firebug I got that's why you were doing it, was just trying to give nick some ideas, I had to weld up one of those Chinese trailers the other day, the steel had cracked in two places, the steel not the welds, was scary told him to get rid of it.
Your right though, the gear adds up and there is a big difference in quality