Gary's Welding Trailer Project

[harcosparky]

I know I couldn't justify the expense, but nice tools and equipment is my one vice.

Ya know, I bet there are many hobbyists who have this same vice. I know I do, we just got into welding and are acquiring the best that our money can buy, within reason. ( last 2 words added in case wife reads this )

We are going to be building a nice utility trailer, and it will be built like a tank. For me with my inexperience the first trailer will be a long term project, but I have watched some excellent trailer being constructuce from raw material to rolling down the road and I know what it takes.

I gotta say though, however you classify yourself that trailer is EXCELLENT.

You may not make a living from welding, but I bet you could.

[Portable Welder]

To Harco Sparky, Gary did a buitifull job on his trailer and am sure he made it how he feels he needs it,
I built one like it about 10 years ago for my Miller Big 40.

Whenever I build something like that I draw it to scale on paper so I can catch any mistakes including how much space between cables etc.
Gary has a hitch on the back of his trailer for what I will assume to be a vise mount.
I would encase the tanks and gages inside inside there own roll bar so that I could leave them on and in the event of a roll over the guages would not get ripped off the tanks.

I would also make a rack to hold a couple different size ladders and additional space on the rack to haul some longer pcs. of steel.

When making a spot for your vice remember that many time you may put some thing long in it to grind, it is often handy to have a rest to hold the other end of the pipe even to the bottom jaw of the vise.

I really like the way Gary hid his lock inside that pipe, I caution him to make sure he has extra keys for that lock because he will destroy his box trying to get the lock off if he loses his key.

[calweld]

Somehow I missed this one earlier????

I think the planning and engineering here were excellent, and the finish work is top-notch.

I see the hitch receiver on the back of the trailer, some think it's just for a vise, I also see a trailer wire plug back there, you set it up to haul another trailer behind it?

[martymar333]

very impressive work Gary, extremely proffesional job.

marty

[weld-tek]

what about it gary???????????

[weldone]

Great work. dont call youreself a hobbiest anymore
You and Fun for now should team-up.
Put some feelers out....see what the market has to say.
great craftmanship, attention to detail.Youll blow em away
GOOD LUCK

Dave

[garybdavis]

The hitch on the back is for towing another trailer or mounting a vice. I put a connector back there for hooking up trailer lights just in case I take it on the road with another trailer hooked up. Most likely, this would be my trailer mounted Ingersol Rand air compressor for arcair applications.

I did a scaled CAD layout complete with dimensions before I started construction. I also did front-to-rear center of gravity calculations to insure the tongue weight would be balanced. If anyone wants copies, email me and I'll send them to you. The CAD will be in PDF format so you won’t need special software to view them. The center of gravity calculations are in an Excel spreadsheet.

Davis.garyb<at>gmail.comxx is my address. You’ll have to insert the @ symbol in the proper place and remove the xx. I write it like this to keep the computer trolls from pulling it off this forum and adding it to their spam list.

There are eight-ways-to-Sunday to lay out a welding trailer. This one doesn’t have it all, but I like it’s simplicity. It rarely leaves the farm and will spend most of its working life welding fence bracing, corrals, etc.

BTW, Thanks for all the kind compliments.

[garybdavis]

One last thought. My wife and kids took one look at the paint job and instantly starting calling it the "smurf-mobile". I had this blue tint to my hair from the overspray when I came in from painting it and they started calling me "papa-smurf". When I go out to weld with it, they call me "welder-smurf". When one of my buddies calls to borrow it, they ask the "smurf-mobile". I thought the paint was a good choice, but man...

[lwhiway]

I hear tell that all Smurfettes just love blue machines and blue welders.

[themodernartist]

Hi Gary,
Great work! Looks as if you will be moving down in our neck of the woods.
Peace,
Chaz

[Sberry]

I have a red one about like that, I would have to say yours is nicer though.

[Bobby]

Great job you did

Gary, I've not seen the professionals in my area do any better. Superb job!
Is that a miller Blue? I've not found any paint to match Miller's.
Bobby

[ajcalla]

Flag Fire Water Bottles

I notice you have Flag Fire water extinguishers.
This may not apply to you or you may already know this.
There has been a recall on Flag Fire Water extinguishers purchased between 2003 and 2005. See link http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07507.html
Really nice trailer also.

[Pyro]

Very nice Job, I make my living fabricating custom projects and I must say yours looks very nice. I can't say i've ever had the pleasure of building a welding trailer but I have built my share of custom trailers. If I may, I will post a pic of a blue trailer I built.

[stingmcb]

Copies of plans

Gary-
Please email your cad copies plus cg calcs. Thanks much in advance.
stingmcb@bellsouth.net
Gary McBride

The hitch on the back is for towing another trailer or mounting a vice. I put a connector back there for hooking up trailer lights just in case I take it on the road with another trailer hooked up. Most likely, this would be my trailer mounted Ingersol Rand air compressor for arcair applications.

I did a scaled CAD layout complete with dimensions before I started construction. I also did front-to-rear center of gravity calculations to insure the tongue weight would be balanced. If anyone wants copies, email me and I'll send them to you. The CAD will be in PDF format so you won’t need special software to view them. The center of gravity calculations are in an Excel spreadsheet.

Davis.garyb<at>gmail.comxx is my address. You’ll have to insert the @ symbol in the proper place and remove the xx. I write it like this to keep the computer trolls from pulling it off this forum and adding it to their spam list.

There are eight-ways-to-Sunday to lay out a welding trailer. This one doesn’t have it all, but I like it’s simplicity. It rarely leaves the farm and will spend most of its working life welding fence bracing, corrals, etc.

BTW, Thanks for all the kind compliments.