Trailer building

[Steved]

So.

I am getting quite bored of welding scrap chunks of metal into interesting shapes, hitting them with a hammer to see if they will break, cutting them into tiny pieces to look at the welds and then throwing them away into the garbage.

I am thinking of building a trailer to haul around my quad. Here is the question and I am sure that I will get many responses.

Should I build a trailer? How difficult is it? Should I be concerned with heat treating etc? When do you know if you are ready to build something like this? Should I stick or TIG it? (Time is not an issue, strong trailer is)

The last thing that I want to do is have a trailer fling apart when I am towing it.

Comments appreciated.

Steve

[walker]

Only you will know when you are ready to build a trailer. Go to www.championtrailers.com and look at the trailer components and I think they have plans available too.
You might try some smaller projects first. Try building ramps to drive your quad onto a truck, these can be reused on you trailer later. Maybe build a Safari rack for your truck/SUV/quad. If you are having success with those then move on to the trailer. When in doubt show some of your work to an experience weldor.

[Tanner]

I know I would stick weld it.

[walker]

Mig welding a trailer is perfectly acceptable, that kind of duty is what mig welders were made for. For the suicide front axle on my hot rod I chose to stick weld it, I also used heavier than normal steel for the X-member, but trailer manufacturers use MIG for all aspects of tralier building. For that matter, the front end that I made is available in thinner steel that was MIGed

[cope]

So.

I am getting quite bored of welding scrap chunks of metal into interesting shapes, hitting them with a hammer to see if they will break, cutting them into tiny pieces to look at the welds and then throwing them away into the garbage.

I am thinking of building a trailer to haul around my quad. Here is the question and I am sure that I will get many responses.

Should I build a trailer? How difficult is it? Should I be concerned with heat treating etc? When do you know if you are ready to build something like this? Should I stick or TIG it? (Time is not an issue, strong trailer is)

The last thing that I want to do is have a trailer fling apart when I am towing it.

Comments appreciated.

Steve

Steve, you didn't list Mig as a choice so I assume you don't have Mig available. There is no reason to waste time tigging the trailer. Stick is more than enough and Mig as already mentioned will do fine also. The weldor is the key with any project involving safety and liability issues.

[HAWK]

Short arc MIG for out of position and spary arc MIG for in position and horizontal fillets is the way to weld a trailer. Time is money. I prefer a good MIG weld over a good stick weld any day. Fewer passes, no slag, and 100% penetration are easier to achieve with a MIG if done properly.

There is no reason not to stick weld a trailer if you must. It is a slow and nasty process. I built a 6'x12' tilt trailer using 3x3x3/8 angle for the frame and welded it with 7014 rods on ac with a Century buzz box. It took a few passes, but the little Century put on a show. The beads were great!

You can TIG a trailer if you are big on patience. I've done a few trailer mods with .250" plate and a Dynasty 200DX. That job worked me and the Dynasty too hard, but we survived.

[fun4now]

haynes manual

i picked up a haynes welding manual to help me decide whitch to get first MIG,TIG,STICK and it covers all of the above and more
anyway my point was they show you how to build a trailor step by step
you might want to thumb through it for tips
they used MIG
manual # is 10445

[wrench3047]

I've been looking for trailer stuff for something to keep me busy.

http://www.plazahardware.com/tools/shop18449/Online/Trailers/

this was one of the sites I found.

[fun4now]

sweet find thanks for sharing