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lil_Blue_Ford
Cut & Weld
TRS Forum Moderator
Supporting Member
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TRS 25th Anniversary
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2007
- Messages
- 10,660
- City
- Butler
- State - Country
- PA - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 2000
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Engine
- 5.0
- Transmission
- Automatic
- Total Drop
- 4”
That’s a heck of a story, sorry to hear about your problems!Mine started as a scrapped U-Haul U-shaped axle, with a spring on each side and the angles it was welded to on each side had been cut just beyond each spring. It was advertised in the paper and I went to see. He had a barn yard full of schtuff and I picked an axle and paid the $25.
a couple years or so later I was working on a Spa and Tub showroom and warehouse and as we we wrapping it up, and each company was packing up, the framers had some angle iron to dispose of and I built a ladder rack for the 87 Ranger and hauled a load of it off
I got a tongue, a light kit, and a tongue jack at tractor supply and stowed it away. My unemployment ran out and I took a job with another company building a nature trail, and day one I got stuck with 2 day laborers and a trailer load of 20ft 8x8" soaking wet Ground contact treated posts to cart down the side of a hill and stand up in holes that were already there. It was one helluva long day, and around midnight I came out of bed with more pain in my shoulder than I could bare. A gf told me to go to ER and I got put on 5 lb lift limit.
After a while I began getting more aggressive with using it, but the pain was so intense it was good I had no close neighbors. I had hoped to do a better job with it but wound up with a small HF 220V stick welder and began welding. I used a 10 inch miter saw with a metal blade to cut, and those 1 1/2" 10' angles to build a trailer onto that axle frame.
I had six hole rims on the 80 Chevy LUV that fit the old axle and that got me on the road, but I knew it was not safe, because in case of a flat, the U-bolts on the axle would hit the pavement.
I had set up an appointment to have it inspected and certified by the TN Highway Dept, and even as he asked questions which included any safety concerns I replied "none".
My shoulder was injured permanently, and nerve damage to this day affects my spine and back but I've lived with it. It took all I had to pay off my landlady, that woman carried me the best part of two years, and when I gave her the check she all but cried.
I bought a factory axle for the trailer and tossed the drop axle, and had a safe to use 4x10 ft trailer with 2ft sides all around and a drop tailgate.
So in effect, I built a trailer onto an axle, and then replaced the axleBut, it made 4 heavy duty loads 600 miles to home, and an empty 600 mi back to TN for 4 round trips
And those angles on front of that trailer today are where I go when I need an anvil
We (myself and my dad) bought a small home built trailer that was titled and all for cheap and we knew it needed a patch or two. When I got to poking at it after we got it home, the entire box frame was rotted to junk. Dad wanted to know what to do and if we got screwed but we paid less for it than the axle, springs and title would have cost and all of that was in good shape, it was just the frame.
I got a few sticks of steel, new fenders, LED lights, hitch and tongue jack and went to work. 6.5’x10’ deck (the original deck was like 6’3” but the axle was built for a 6’6” so that’s what it got) and I added a 1’ beaver tail to the end. So it’s pretty close to the original size. I used the big equipment trailer dad has as a rough guide for my design since it’s also a C channel frame. Set the fenders so they only poke up like 4 or 5” above the deck (really wanted to build a deck-over but that would have been really high), but I can build a platform with 2x6 or throw some 6x6 on the deck if I need to be able to clear the fenders for some reason. Put stake pockets down the sides and a bunch of D-rings. Put a ledge across the entire end of the trailer for hooking ramps on and made two ramps.
Tail lights went into protective metal boxes and all of the marker lights are flush mount LEDs. Still need to make something to store the ramps, a spare tire holder, tongue box and want to add some 2” winch straps.
I put an adjustable pintle ring on the front since I hate ball hitches. Mom’s Explorer had a Class 2 hitch from the factory though and nobody makes pintle mounts for those, so I also fabricated my own pintle mount for it.
