Trailer Trashed -- Shelf Transferred to New Trailer

[Don52]

My customer, Sam, was minding his own business driving down I-75 with his dump body pickup and landscape trailer, A motorist cut him off. Sam was able to stop, but the car behind him wasn't and plowed into the back of Sam's trailer hitting it on an angle. The impact bent rear ramp and the side rails and pretty much every part of the old trailer. It pushed the trailer sideways so the wheel was wedged against the curb and bent the axle.

Sam decided to replace the trailer, but wanted to keep the front shelf that I had fabricated for him three years ago. The first five pictures show the damage to the old trailer.

1. Shelf on Front of Old Trailer
2. Side Rail Bent
3. Axle Bent
4. Right Side of Ramp Bent
5. Left Side of Ramp Bent

[Don52]

This set of pictures shows transferring the front shelf from the old trailer to the new trailer and welding it out. A carbon arc gouger would be the best way to un-weld the shelf, but I don't have one. Instead I cut it off with an abrasive cut off wheel and a Sawzall to give me a nice clean cut to weld to, The top of the old trailer was far from planer. If you look carefully in the upper right hand picture you can see a 1/2" gap between the post and the upper rail of the trailer. It also shows some of the welds. I used my Lincoln LE 31 MP to TIG weld extensions to two of the legs, because I had better control of the heat with the TIG process on the small parts and I typically leave the LE 31 MP set up for TIG. I used the Lincoln 210 MP to MIG weld the shelf to the new trailer, because I leave this welder set up for MIG and the 3/16" metal would be a little too much for the smaller welder. I could have done it all with the 210 MP but I was too lazy to switch it over from MIG to TIG and back again.

6. Shelf cut off of old trailer
7. Shelf Positioned on New Trailer
8. Gap under Upper Right Hand Leg
9. Weld 1
10. Weld 2

[Don52]

This set of pictures shows the rest of the welds and the shelf welded to the new trailer.

11. Weld 3
12. Weld 4
13. Shelf Welded to New Trailer

[MAC702]

Nice pictorial. Thanks for sharing the project. Hopefully the rear-ender had to pay for it all.

[Don52]

Actually the person who hit Sam didn’t have insurance and in the commotion left the scene of the accident.

[ryanjones2150]

Figures.