The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[sgtsandman]

Other than giving the Ranger a bath, I just have to pack clothes. I’m holding off on the truck bath as long as I can. Like everyone else, I’ll be smashing bugs on the way there.

JohnnyO says he’s bringing stuff to do a touch up once we are there.

 

[Rick W]

Other than giving the Ranger a bath, I just have to pack clothes. I’m holding off on the truck bath as long as I can. Like everyone else, I’ll be smashing bugs on the way there.

JohnnyO says he’s bringing stuff to do a touch up once we are there.

Holy crap, I have to bring clothes too?

 

[Curious Hound]

Holy crap, I have to bring clothes too?

Yes. PLEASE bring them AND wear them.

 

[sgtsandman]

Holy crap, I have to bring clothes too?

The general public would appreciate it. I’m sure the forum members would agree. I doubt many of us has a body anyone wants to see unclothed.

 

[Shran]

My PJ car trailer has pressure treated pine 2x6's for decking... it has held up exceptionally well over 11 years that I've owned it. I used Thompson's Water Seal on it once although that is now flaking off and looks terrible. I would NOT use engine oil or any used oil for that matter, that is going to be a mess. If you use wood, leave it alone and let it weather for a few months and then either do deck stain or boiled linseed oil (not raw.)

Problem with treated wood is that it is HEAVY. Untreated 1x material might be a better option if you use boards... plywood (treated right away) would be much lighter. My little trailer has two pieces of 3/4" plywood sandwiched together for a deck and it's held up very well.

To revisit this - I cleaned up my car trailer yesterday, to give you some idea how treated wood holds up. 95% of the Thompson's has weathered off or came off with the pressure washer. Decking cleaned up super well for being 11 years old and covered with about 6 years of dirt, tree sap, oil and whatever else dripped on it. There is zero rot anywhere. If it doesn't rain in the next couple days I am gonna linseed oil it and that should keep it in great shape for years to come. More pics to come.

 

[Rick W]

To revisit this - I cleaned up my car trailer yesterday, to give you some idea how treated wood holds up. 95% of the Thompson's has weathered off or came off with the pressure washer. Decking cleaned up super well for being 11 years old and covered with about 6 years of dirt, tree sap, oil and whatever else dripped on it. There is zero rot anywhere. If it doesn't rain in the next couple days I am gonna linseed oil it and that should keep it in great shape for years to come. More pics to come.

View attachment 96156View attachment 96157

Looks good. I’m a big fan of pressure treated as well, but I don’t do anything as heavy duty as that. I’ve gotten away with deck boards before.

I like the fenders too. I kind of like anything diamond plate. That was my original vision for the Road Ranger, but I got the half round fenders for dirt cheap with a pile of trailer stuff, and I’m very happy with the results. As much as I love diamond plate, and I have visions of what I wanna do, I’m a whore for things that are cheap…

 

[Rick W]

It’s 11:03, and I just came in from wiring on the trailer. Whose stupid idea was it to build this thing anyway? I wanna have a word with him!

I got all the marker lights on the sides in, and I got the strobes down both sides. I got the driver side all wired. Tomorrow will be the passenger side and the lights on the tail, and making the pigtail to the truck.

I did a dozen things on the punch list. I’ve been dying to put the wheels on just to see how it looks, it’s on jackstands now, and thank goodness I didn’t. The rear light panels double as the mud flaps. I got them painted, but not installed. When I was doing the wiring, I realized I have to pull the fenders back off for one screw on each side. That’s not really a big deal, but it would’ve been if I had all the tires on it.

The plan is to finish up the trailer tomorrow (as much as it is going to be finished.), and then Wednesday will be to put the CB in the truck and do some wiring on it.

I also have to go get the license plate tomorrow.

Tick-tock!

 

[Rick W]

So Lincoln and I went down to the county tag office today in the Missing Linc to apply for the new title and get the tag. Apparently it was the first time they ever did a used trailer tag, so it only took a couple hours. And it took three of them. In the middle, I got a little confused and I thought I was in the post office.

The good news is I got the prestige/vanity plate I wanted: “RD RNGR”. It’s supposed to be here in about a month. I needed to spend that extra 50 bucks like a hole in the head, but it was just too good to pass up.

I’m not happy with the speaker wire for the strobe lights. It’s so fragile I’m afraid of vibration breaking the circuit. I don’t have time to change it on the driver side, but I went to Harbor freight and got a box of wire for the passenger side and the tail lights. And I already had some heavy duty wire for the brakes, but I’m not hooking them up yet.

Most times when I wire circuits like this, I run the circuit in a loop. I start and run down one side, then across the back, then up the other side, and I tie it back into the source. That way if the Coupler fails and the trailer bounces around real hard and one side dies, I’ll still have lights on the other side is it sails into the woods.

 

[Curious Hound]

Ok. I’ll bite. If the coupler comes loose and the trailer is sailing off into the woods, where are the lights getting power from?

 

[Rick W]

Ok. I’ll bite. If the coupler comes loose and the trailer is sailing off into the woods, where are the lights getting power from?

Perhaps I was a little fantastical in my explanation. The technical point is that if the circuit is broken anywhere, everything will still work (until the trailer goes flying into the woods). But I could add something like a motorcycle battery so we could find the trailer after that.

 

[Curious Hound]

Perhaps I was a little fantastical in my explanation. The technical point is that if the circuit is broken anywhere, everything will still work (until the trailer goes flying into the woods). But I could add something like a motorcycle battery so we could find the trailer after that.

And you didn’t think we were really paying attention.

 

[Rick W]

And you didn’t think we were really paying attention.

On the contrary, you are a bunch of hawks !

 

[Rick W]

I just finished the passenger side wiring. I’m tired and I keep making stupid mistakes. A little break and then I’m off to the tail lights. Carrie and Willie are helping a lot. Elvis said he’d jump in later.

 

[sgtsandman]

So Lincoln and I went down to the county tag office today in the Missing Linc to apply for the new title and get the tag. Apparently it was the first time they ever did a used trailer tag, so it only took a couple hours. And it took three of them. In the middle, I got a little confused and I thought I was in the post office.

View attachment 96218

The good news is I got the prestige/vanity plate I wanted: “RD RNGR”. It’s supposed to be here in about a month. I needed to spend that extra 50 bucks like a hole in the head, but it was just too good to pass up.

I’m not happy with the speaker wire for the strobe lights. It’s so fragile I’m afraid of vibration breaking the circuit. I don’t have time to change it on the driver side, but I went to Harbor freight and got a box of wire for the passenger side and the tail lights. And I already had some heavy duty wire for the brakes, but I’m not hooking them up yet.

Most times when I wire circuits like this, I run the circuit in a loop. I start and run down one side, then across the back, then up the other side, and I tie it back into the source. That way if the Coupler fails and the trailer bounces around real hard and one side dies, I’ll still have lights on the other side is it sails into the woods.

Congrats on the plate. As far as I'm aware, we can't get any kind of vanity plate for trailers here.

 

[racsan]

Havent seen any vanity plates for trailers here either. Licenseing is simple though, just bring a weigh slip in and depending on its weight determines the fee. When I built the ranger trailer I weighed it with as little on it as possible, shoulda pulled the bed too and would of just been the frame & axle. The axle weighs a lot less now since its no longer a original truck axle but a galvanized straight axle meant for a lightweight boat trailer. Some states its a real headache and they want vin #’s if built from a vehicle and a detailed bill of materials with receipts. My old flatbed I never did license, just borrowed the plate off the box trailer or ranger trailer if it was being used on the road.