We purchased this 5 year old 55 Ton Lowboy a year ago with the realization that it needed a new paint job. Some of the main structural members were starting to get quite pitted from the winter salt on the roads. We pulled it off the road a few weeks ago & stripped it down, removing the old planks, air reservoirs, hyd cylinders, loosened all air valves, air lines etc & went to work blasting the frame. We took it to a local company that has a 60' long spray booth for priming & painting. They did a great job on the painting for us. Just got things back together & on the road yesterday. A lot of work, but it should be worth it in the long run.
These were the before pictures.
Looks great. Trailer looks wider than 8'? Looks like its got a lot more tie down points than my talbert does. I've got a paint job on my list of near term projects also.
It is actually 9 1/2' wide. It was not so evident from the outside but the trailer had considerable corrosion on the inside & underneath. The previous owner bought it new & it ran steady all the time, so he had no time to strip it down like we did & paint it.
Looks good! Your trailer neck's top 2 pins are the same style as my Rodgers trailer, looks like you've got some shims under them to keep the front of the trailer up a little higher? If so could you post a picture of them? I need to do something similar for mine.
A while back I had made this sketch up for some new shim plates & we got some additional ones cut out. There are small tabs on the gooseneck that fit the little cutouts on either end of these plates to hold them in place & you just add more shim plates as required to raise the front portion of the bed. A real simple concept that really works well. If you want a close-up picture of the plates in place, just let me know & I can do that.
Trailer looks great, I have a pet peeve of guys doing a "quick" repaint, but it's not cheap to do it right ! What's the reason for no fenders on truck or trailer?
Actually the tractor does have fenders on it now (over the wheels), but the trailer I prefer it without. If the rear wheels are enclosed with fenders over them, I think it is harder to keep them clean inside, under the fenders, thus more rust. Also, harder to deal with when blasting & painting I think. Around here there is a lot of road salt used.
Looking again I can see the fenders on the truck now, great! I haven't gotten them put over my rear axle yet, unfortunately, it's driving me nuts. On my scissorneck I put axles on all 3 axles, steel on the front two and removable aluminum on the rear. I need to get something for my tandem lowboy, which will likely just be rubber. I agree it's harder to clean in the fenders, but it's better than chipping up the paint, windows, and covering with road grime all the equipment you're hauling!!
It's nice to see someone do a little preventive maintenance .Most companies I've worked for run their stuff into the dirt then complain about price to repair or replace.
Nice job!!! Should do well for you for many yrs to come