Gotta old Snowco trailer, last fall its a 1 ton SA, with a wide enough flatbed deck to handle a 66" mower, though mine is only 61" deck... Anyway it has a flip up ramp that is a little heavier than I like lifting 4-5 times a day! So I was lookin around youtube, to see what I could find for adding springs to it. Can't do the old garage door spring trick on this one, cause it don't have a rail. Can't do the under-mounted torsion spring thingy either, cause the gap between the ramp and trailer is a little too wide and awkward for that. Found this guy from Australia, who thunk it out better'n I ever could... Now alls I gotta do is to start measurin, and collectin parts... Well maybe.... Fried the clutch in the new lawnmower, today, I guess that takes priority, but I will get to it...
Did get out to the junkyard, yesterday, found a spring long enough(any 250 model truck, ford, chebby, dodge, 4wd solid front axle). Anyway, $75, and I'm on the way to making this mod. Worried about that lawn mower clutch, for no reason, took the bolt off, and it practically fell off! Still waiting on parts, but it looks like once I get the new part, looks like 45 mins, to get that one all together!
Looks pretty slick....
Well, some progress, got the clutch at 9A, yesterday, by 10A it was on and the machine is buttoned up and back to work... Now I can work on improvisin the lift spring, in my spare time. As much as possible, in this 90º heat and 75%RH, anyway...
Well, got the holes drilled for the front mount, went right through the flatbed floor, and through a cross member, using a spring plate to mark the hole locations. Got it pretty good, for free-handing a cordless drill. Got some longer square bottom U bolts, and another spring plate to strengthen the trailer floor, while I was on the road, today. Progressing slowly...
Only had a half hour, today, in the heat, to work on it. As trailer was parked in the shop, by the steel pile, I found 2 pieces of uni-strut (love that stuff!) anna piece of 1/4" plate, to mount the cut off end of the spring on the ramp. Got it all clamped up, and ready to weld, but am waiting till early Sat morning, to tack it together, and see if I got it right...
Pics of your work?
Can't post pics, refer to above video, pretty much a direct copy of t'other guy's idea. Spring and trailer are different, that's about it...
Well, update, sorta. Got the spring mounted underneath the trailer, been kinda busy, and hadda do it in a coupla bites. Got a couple shackle U-bolts, drilled through the floor and one cross member. Bodged up a piece of uni-strut, to act as a floor support, and to even up the 2 u-bolts, that was a bite.( hour at a time, early mornin, in this heat!) This mornin, I took a piece of 3/8 all thread, shoved it through the spring, and through a hole I had drilled in the floor, and through another piece of uni-strut (to keep the floor from bending) and tightened the whole mess up, till the spring was flat enough to mount, along with a couple of shackle plates, to the U-bolts. Then I undid the all thread mess, and crawled out, soakin wet, after just 45 minutes. Spring is stickin out about 5 inches, below the center of the tailgate, and when I let the gate down, it DID make the first foot of lift a lot easier. So I know it will work! alls thats left is the rear bracket, and the drop shackles, to connect it to the door. Won't happen tomorrow, but will, soon...