I recently bought a 5 ton equipment trailer that has a slight twist it in. I have not yet had it in the shop on the concrete yet, but you can still see on the back left side there is a slide downward slant towards the back. My plan was to weld to 1x1 square tubing onto the bottom on the rails that the deck boards are sitting on in an X format to try and give the trailer some more support and strength. Does anyone think I should use something different on the bottom maybe some C channel, or would you support it a different way? Also the boards are a little beat up on the top but they are not rotten at all. My plan was to just flip the boards over and get a few more years out of them? Anyone done this with their deck boards before? I have crawled all underneath the trailer and I do not see any cracks or bends in any of the trailer cross members.
Why? does it bother you that much? If you don't see anything in the tires, springs, or frame that's causing it, then it's probably tweaked a little bit. pretty good for what it is.
i guess I am just looking to fix the problem right and just be done with it, I just don't want it to get worse over time. That was the same thing I was thinking, maybe someone overloaded it at one time and slightly tweaked it...
Every Trailer flexes, HAS to or they crack and bust to hell. Stiff is not necessarily all that great where we in the 1970s trucking industry saw 'Technologic Marvel' stiffened frames do just that, now Dodge trucks have a severely stiff frame and I suspect the cracking will start up within three years of the first productions.
Load it heavier on the other side, after time it will match.
The tail is bent down because it was loaded heavy with no support under it. Could also have been run heavily tail loaded and beat it down while moving. Many trailers look this way. Crib the tail when loading. Rather then adding any steel, clean and paint the bottom to keep it from rotting out. If in the cleaning process you find cracks then make proper repairs and add support to the cracked area. I would avoid box steel, water gets inside and stays there and rusts it from the inside out. Add drains or leave open ends. Better yet use channel or I beam.
Maybe it was a 5-ton trailer that at some point in time had significantly more than 5 tons loaded over the back end without adequate support as was mentioned before..? Trying to make something more rigid is not necessrily the best long-term solution IMHO. It might be better to just make sure both rear corners are adequately blocked when you load/unload it in the future.
Once you start 're-engineering' the design you will most likely have issues down the road with things cracking... like others have said: they are designed to flex... once you change where that happens all bets on the design are off.
I appreciate what the input from everyone. Instead of trying to weld any support on it what does everyone thin about trying to bend it back straight? I agree I think at one point in time the trailer was probably most likely over loaded and abused more than once sadly...
I would leave it be Adding stress into already stressed metal actually increases chance failure.
Ah, the good old engineer's term "bend it straight" - a great oxymoron if I ever heard one. The problem is that every time the structure is bent it takes some of the strength out of the material. Bend it back and forth enough times and it will eventually fracture. I'd just leave it as it is and try to ignore it.
Put supports on the loading ramps or block the back of the trailer when loading it. If it really concerns you a place with a frame machine may be able to straighten it. It looks like a channel frame. When you replace the deck you could take flat bar and box in the channel on the back of the trailer. If the channel is say 6", get some 3/16 or 1/4" steel sheared 5 1/2" wide and you can do a nice fillet weld top and bottom on the channel. You could use a zip disc to cut down 6" flat bar but a cutting torch might warp it badly if not done right. It will add a lot of strength even if you had to use a little heat to get it straight. That's what they do to strengthen the frames when they make hot rods out of old cars. Drill a few small holes to drain any water that gets inside the boxed in channel.
Block the side that’s bent down and not the high side, load it a time or two, it’ll straighten out...
An update as to where I am at...With everything going on work has been crazy so I have not had time to work on my new trailer as much as I would like to. I finally got all the deck boards off and decided I am going to replace them all with pressure treated southern yellow pine. I am also going to cutoff the old fenders and replace them, here some more pictures that will hopefully show the twisting a little better.
Looks like the whole trailer has a little twist in it but a channel frame will do that. You could try blocking the low side and driving something heavy on it or put something heavy on and jack up on the low side a little higher than it needs to be and leave it overnight. It might straighten a little. That's a job where having an anchor in the floor would help.
I think I have heard you should not use pressure treated lumber on a trailer. I forget the exact reason. Could be that is corrosive and will rust the frame faster. Maybe someone can confirm this?
If you use it need tar paper or something between the steel and wood. The chemicals in the word eat up the steel. Never saw that on a trailer but metal building siding. Just sharing the idea.
The regular pressure treated lumber like they sell in lumber yards and home depots will eat and regular steel it comes in contact with!!! this includes screws/bolts going through the wood to fasten it to the trailer... you will need stainless or heavy galv fasteners. I have seen fences with 16d nails into 4x4 press treadted posts only a year old and there is nothing left of the nail Normally they don't put treated wood on a trailer because it splinters /falls apart...etc... and just doesn't hold up to loading/unloading cycles... however I don't know about treated southern yellow pine??? if they use a different (green) preservative on it or not...
The "interim" green treat chemical was extremely corrosive, the current one is not quite so bad, maybe not any worse than the salt in NY. Still, I'd prefer untreated hardwood over treated SYP. SYP will crack and splinter, hardwoods are mostly tougher, even if they're not stronger than SYP.
The pressure treated boards that I took off did pretty much eat the carriage bolts... That being said the portions of the frame where the deck boards were resting on do not look any more rusted than the rest of the trailer. The salt up here in NY is pretty harsh stuff! I was thinking the pressure treated SYP after looking at the PJ trailers site. All of there trailers come standard with the treated SYP. What would be my next best option for decking boards? I have also thought about just doing the whole deck in diamond plate but I wasn't looking to spend all that much on the decking. From PJ website: Our pressure treated No 2. Southern Yellow Pine is our standard lumber. This wood is native to the Southern United States and has great loading bearing capacity. It is one of the hardest pines and provides very good durability for trailer decking.
Black Locust heartwood or White Oak heartwood. If it's going to stay inside out of the weather mostly, then there are lots of tough hardwoods that would work, but don't have the rot resistance.
Are you going to put any rust converter/protection on the frame before the decking?
I agree on not going with Pressure treated but a reasonable hard wood or a rot resistant weatherable lumber. Pressure treatment is for bug damage more than rot and tends to be metal damaging.
There was a thread on here awhile ago where guys swore one of the best things for trailer decks was cottonwood. Goes by a few different names depending on where you live. I have yet to try it but they claimed as long as it was not in contact with the ground it didn’t rot. Claimed it also didn’t get slippery or splinter like oak. Supposed to be nasty to mill and many guys won’t cut it.
I preferred Cottonwood when I was reflooring big equipment trailers, Posted that on that thread. Hard to find sawyers that will cut them to lumber as wet, springy and tends to squeeze down on blading causing overheat.
Huh, cottonwood is trash here. You can slip a little in a load of pulpwood, but even they won't take much of it. I wish I would have known, I took a bunch off a landclearing job a while back, and my brother has a Woodmizer mill.
We put some on a trailer here last summer.... already has some holes in the deck I think the 'How great it is' rumors around here get started by the guys that are very cheap and get the stuff for nuthin' so in that respect it is great!!!
Different varieties of CW, the stuff here is more like Cypress, dries hard as rock but develops a patina skin like redwood, cross-grained does not like to split and stays flexible.
Yep, the stuff around here is more of a weed.... you could saw a board - lay it on the ground and it will start growing
We have Eastern Cottonwood. Worst firewood there is. Tons of clinkers if it burns at all. Turns to mush if you leave it on the ground. They break off high up and are a hazard to your health.
Welder Dave: Yes I am going to wire brush it as smooth as I can get it, then spray it with rusty metal primer and then a coat of black paint. So it is sounding like I would be better off going with an untreated hardwood... I called my local lumber yard and they have untreated Douglas Fir 2x8x16's. If I used those and put some sort of water sealant on them would those hold up pretty good?
No, by hardwood, I mean deciduous trees, like Oak, Elm, Hickory, and yes, Cottonwood. most coniferous/softwood woods are more brittle and splintery than hardwoods, but stiffer and work better for structural uses. I've suggested Cottonwood sometimes, that or Elm are so resistant to splitting and splintering that they are good for utility uses. Doug Fir is the WORST for splintering and sticking your finger or ankle with sharp spikes. Go with green treated SYP over Doug fir every day of the year. Cotton wood is not oak or apitong, you need to cut it 50% thicker than the SYP you took off, when it dries it will still be lighter than the old planks. The toughness and shock resistance makes it great for scaffolding planks, etc.
I can see that. Other parts of the country love locust fence post that are good for 50+ years. The variety of locust here is worthless for post. We prefer local oak for floors. Oil timers would drain engine oil in a bucket. Set it on the trailer and use a mop. Retreating once a year during the slow time and getting ready for next year. EPA approved no doubt?
Locust
You couldnt use it hauling stuff with rubber tires.
? I do not understand. Just a comparison of different wood types. Wood for posts not floors.
A friend had what was left of a old saw mill, and he cut a bunch of locust planks for his Hyster 20 ton tilt and his lowboy 30 years ago. The wood is still there and both trailers {well both have seen better days}
Have you checked that your right rear spring is up to snuff? That could cause your "twist" too. Check out etrailer.com for parts, they're very reasonable and fast delivery.
There was untreated yellow pine on my car hauler when new. I got ten years out of it and it was still solid but I broke up it abusing it hauling 18 ft. firewood logs home and also snagged it with the log loader. I put yellow pine back on both that one and my gooseneck a couple years ago. Looking good so far. Tough life on them in Minnesota here also.
We have two varities of locust here A minimal thorn Black Locust is closer to Hedge as far as durability have one ten tear old stump shows NO signs of rot beyond some surface degradation and the Honey Locust which is thorns Ass to appetite top of stump to tip of higheat branch Drop one of these and the tree rots like styrofoam but the thorns last seemingly forever
One other note CAN burn either in a stove but NOT a fireplace Full of oily sap that causes the logs to snap and pop throw pieces like a roman candle Burn SMALL amounts too as burn hotter as can imagine will turn a stove to a blast furnace
Because of the thorns. Me dad built a house were they were thick and he left some because he didnt want it to be bear . You can burn the thorns off them by starting a fire around the base but they come back. There is a tree here that he burnt that has thorns over 6 inch long. It was a nightmare mowing the yard for years couldnt keep a tire up on the lawn mower.
I was out moving my tank storage unit today and went to pickup something in the leaves there was a thorn it poked my thumb it almost went under my thumb nail.
Everytime I work in them end up with thorn tips working out over weeks, little needle points break off pretty deep and end up being rejected infected messes before get them back out.
The honey locust thorns can kill you if you don't get them out. Nasty things with all sorts of bacteria, kinda like mother nature's punji sticks. I knocked out some of the trees earlier this week that had thorns on thorns. Some of the shaggiest trunks I've seen.
I thought the thorn had come out but when i got home it hurt so bad i thought there must be a some in there. It was one of deepest splinter i ever removed i got it out.
That's why I like living here in the NW, way less crap to stick or stab, bite or sting you. No tornadoes, no hurricanes, no wild hogs, Way less major flooding, no lake effect snow And No honey locust covered in fire ants. Just a volcano and a ground shaker now and then.
Family of ours lives in GA, they found a cure for the Fire ants during high water, a little squirt on the Ant Raft of Dawn soap and they sink/drown as if made of Lead!!!
I would find a local sawmill and ask what's local that they could recommend. I'd go with oak, preferably white if they could get it.
It's what Ironsides was made out of.
Red Oak will do almost as well as white, just do not accept Swamp Oak as that rots like sycamore.
Hi all! Sorry for the very late update on this I have been very busy! I managed to get the trailer just about 100% straight by simply pushing down on the corner with my dozer blade. I ended up contacting a local saw mil and was able to get some nice rough cut white oak boards. I let them dry out and treated them with a water sealer. I ended up painting the trailer with rusty metal primer, and them a gloss black finish. (after it was fully sanded down of course.) I ended up re doing all the lighting and wiring, including a new break away battery and cable, and a new 7 pin connector and junction box. Also brand new fenders as the old ones were just about rusted to nothing in some spots. Overall I am very please with how it came out! It hauls my 3000lbs mini around no problem!
Looking good