Rickracer
12-31-2011, 01:30 PM
I posted this in my Vega thread originally, but decided to make the trailer it's own thread since I'm working to get it road worthy again now:
Started working on my old trailer, I built this thing from scratch about 20 years ago, I designed it to haul a 3300 lb race car, and made it light and flexible, with solid mounted axles, and 4 wheel braking so it would pull nice behind my 79 Cutlass, that part was a HUGE success, I could run 80~100 mph with the old Vega on it, and hardly even know it was back there. Then after I sold the Vega, I sold the trailer to Krazy Vern, (Krazy Vern's Car Wash, Krazy Vern's Pawn shop, Krazy Vern's Storage, Tyler Communications), about 12 years ago, he said he was just gonna haul Christmas trees with it. Next thing ya know, he's hauling Ditch Witches, Bobcats, and small backhoes for his Cable laying business. In a few years, he'd pretty much trashed it. When I got serious about the Vega and started the backhalf, I went and bought it back from him. This is the beginning of the restoration, (and the kinda stuff I do when I'm temporarily outta money for race car parts, :D
I wasn't too happy to find that somebody down the line had removed the rear axle brakes and put just plain hubs on it, and one of them is broken nearly in half, (only 3 studs on a 6 lug hub), so I'll buy at least one drum hub, and add another and rear brakes later on.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal001.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal002.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal003.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal005.jpg
The big piece of I beam is my frame and axle straightening Jig, borrowed from Preston's Auto Salvage (just scrap I beam, but straight, and long enough), with some chain and a stout hydraulic jack, I can straighten just about anything, including both axles that were bent all to hell.
At some point, he had somebody put springs under it, and they did a really crappy job, (or their "nice" work got trashed by abuse, kinda hard to tell at this point), I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep the springs or not, but if I do, it will get all new hangers and hardware.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal006.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal007.jpg
All those pics were taken weeks ago, now I'm on it again...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3369.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3370.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3371.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3372.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3373.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3375.jpg
New pics and info.............................................. ...................
Had to replace a couple of 2' sections on the outside rails that were bent beyond straightening...
Note the "fishplate" on the joints... I didn't bother with that on the rear splices as they won't be carrying any weight going down the road, only while loading...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3376.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3377.jpg
Now the frame is all back together except the section of the rear crossmember on the right side, that the ramp passes through, gotta go get some more 3" channel to make a new piece to go in there......
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3378.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3379.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3380.jpg
I didn't take any pics of the tool box up front, but you can see it in the pic below, it will house the winch, battery for the winch and break-away braking, the tie-down gear, a track tool box, and maybe some fuel.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3381.jpg
Slide out ramps, one original, one new, (one was missing when I got it back)....
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3382.jpg
Turns out the springs that were under this when I got it back are some kind of oddballs, wider and longer than the standard ones, they don't fit the hanger kit I bought, and most of the bushings and sleeves are shot as well, so it looks like I'm gonna go ahead and do all new springs too. $21 each, not too bad. I was gonna wait on adding brakes back to the rear axle till later on, but I've found some good deals on drum/hubs and loaded backing plates as well, and free shipping on everything if I do it all at one time, (all of this stuff is pretty heavy, so shipping would be a major part of the cost if I had to pay it), so I'm gonna go ahead and go that route. :cool4:
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how well this old thing has held together with all the abuse it's had in it's 25 years or so of hard use.
Started working on my old trailer, I built this thing from scratch about 20 years ago, I designed it to haul a 3300 lb race car, and made it light and flexible, with solid mounted axles, and 4 wheel braking so it would pull nice behind my 79 Cutlass, that part was a HUGE success, I could run 80~100 mph with the old Vega on it, and hardly even know it was back there. Then after I sold the Vega, I sold the trailer to Krazy Vern, (Krazy Vern's Car Wash, Krazy Vern's Pawn shop, Krazy Vern's Storage, Tyler Communications), about 12 years ago, he said he was just gonna haul Christmas trees with it. Next thing ya know, he's hauling Ditch Witches, Bobcats, and small backhoes for his Cable laying business. In a few years, he'd pretty much trashed it. When I got serious about the Vega and started the backhalf, I went and bought it back from him. This is the beginning of the restoration, (and the kinda stuff I do when I'm temporarily outta money for race car parts, :D
I wasn't too happy to find that somebody down the line had removed the rear axle brakes and put just plain hubs on it, and one of them is broken nearly in half, (only 3 studs on a 6 lug hub), so I'll buy at least one drum hub, and add another and rear brakes later on.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal001.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal002.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal003.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal005.jpg
The big piece of I beam is my frame and axle straightening Jig, borrowed from Preston's Auto Salvage (just scrap I beam, but straight, and long enough), with some chain and a stout hydraulic jack, I can straighten just about anything, including both axles that were bent all to hell.
At some point, he had somebody put springs under it, and they did a really crappy job, (or their "nice" work got trashed by abuse, kinda hard to tell at this point), I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep the springs or not, but if I do, it will get all new hangers and hardware.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal006.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/VegaSheetmetal007.jpg
All those pics were taken weeks ago, now I'm on it again...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3369.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3370.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3371.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3372.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3373.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3375.jpg
New pics and info.............................................. ...................
Had to replace a couple of 2' sections on the outside rails that were bent beyond straightening...
Note the "fishplate" on the joints... I didn't bother with that on the rear splices as they won't be carrying any weight going down the road, only while loading...
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3376.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3377.jpg
Now the frame is all back together except the section of the rear crossmember on the right side, that the ramp passes through, gotta go get some more 3" channel to make a new piece to go in there......
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3378.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3379.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3380.jpg
I didn't take any pics of the tool box up front, but you can see it in the pic below, it will house the winch, battery for the winch and break-away braking, the tie-down gear, a track tool box, and maybe some fuel.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3381.jpg
Slide out ramps, one original, one new, (one was missing when I got it back)....
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i4/Rickracer/Car%20Trailer/My%20Old%20Trailer%20again/DSCN3382.jpg
Turns out the springs that were under this when I got it back are some kind of oddballs, wider and longer than the standard ones, they don't fit the hanger kit I bought, and most of the bushings and sleeves are shot as well, so it looks like I'm gonna go ahead and do all new springs too. $21 each, not too bad. I was gonna wait on adding brakes back to the rear axle till later on, but I've found some good deals on drum/hubs and loaded backing plates as well, and free shipping on everything if I do it all at one time, (all of this stuff is pretty heavy, so shipping would be a major part of the cost if I had to pay it), so I'm gonna go ahead and go that route. :cool4:
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how well this old thing has held together with all the abuse it's had in it's 25 years or so of hard use.