Making a trailer from a Pickup

[KrazyRay]

I have built hundreds of these trailers. I personally use a 3/4 ton with coil springs with a hydraulic dumping bed. I have hauled 5000lbs of gravel in it. With a coil spring trailer, you need to have good shocks or it will sway all over the road. For best performance, cut your axle shafts off and bolt the end plates back on. Next, remove your dana 60 3rd member and weld a plate to cover the opening. Add gear oil to keep your hubs lubed. You now have a full floating straight axle. With an eaton axle, you can simply buy an additional pumkin cover and use that to cover the opening instead of having to weld a plate. You can also sell the eaton 3rd member for $100- $150 which will cover all costs to construct the trailer.

[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by sleepertruck72

I dont think you need trailer brakes if the brakes in your truck are in good working condition. It has worked for me with heavy loads no problem (2-3K#) You may as well invest in a tranny cooler if you dont have one already, or new brake pads for your truck etc. As for the diff, I would drain it out, replace gasket and refill.. Just my 2 cents

Here's a pic of mine.. very similar color to yours

Nice rig, I was thinking of adding a ladder rack like that too. My tongue is longer though to help with backing up and also to clear my larger toolbox when backing up sharply, have more room when getting things into back of SUV, ect. Also a little more stable at speed on the road.

No brakes won't be an issue when pulling this with the 2500hd but I will be pulling this on occasion with my honda Pilot and lets face it, its not a real truck and could benefit from brakes, especially with the traffic in the minneapolis area. This trailer has new brake lines and non rusty parts. I bolted on a standard coupler for now and will see how she works before buying a hydraulic actuator.

[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by KrazyRay

I have built hundreds of these trailers. I personally use a 3/4 ton with coil springs with a hydraulic dumping bed. I have hauled 5000lbs of gravel in it. With a coil spring trailer, you need to have good shocks or it will sway all over the road. For best performance, cut your axle shafts off and bolt the end plates back on. Next, remove your dana 60 3rd member and weld a plate to cover the opening. Add gear oil to keep your hubs lubed. You now have a full floating straight axle. With an eaton axle, you can simply buy an additional pumkin cover and use that to cover the opening instead of having to weld a plate. You can also sell the eaton 3rd member for $100- $150 which will cover all costs to construct the trailer.

What holds the axle ends if you cut part of them? Why not just remove? Also if the axles are not turning the gears why bother removing the pinion gear shaft? Good to know on the Eaton cover. If you have an extra I'd be interested. I plan on building a second trailer from an Eaton coil springC20.

Got the wiring hooked up. Sure is easy to use the original lights and they are nice! Now if I could incoorporate the backup lights that would be awesome.

Also tempted to hook up a hand parking brake on the tongue and use the parking brake feature too. I know some will say don't bother but why not if they are in good shape and stay that way since I won't use this in the winter and salt them up.

[KrazyRay]

The axle end plate is part of the axle shafts. I just cut the shafts right by the plate and bolt the plate back on to seal the axle housing. I remove the eaton 3rd member for the purpose of selling the parts. I guess you can leave the pinion on a dana since it does not have much value for parts. If you step up to a 7 pole connector, you can use your reverse lights. I did that on my trailer because I needed the extra wires for the hydraulic dump. A member in Grass Valley, CA uses the 67-68 parking break for his trailer. I have not bothered to because I'm on flat ground; he lives up in the mountains. There are some old threads about these trailers and he has a pic of his e brake setup.

[Vintage Windmills]

Thanks guys for the advice. I got it on the road and works great. I replaced the tailgate, rear bumper. I also redid the shocks and aired up the tires so it rides better than my standard 9' utility trailer now. The longer tongue makes it stable and ride better. Also removed the axles, redid the gaskets and put fresh gear lube in. Just need to straighten out the tailight area, mount the truck toolbox on front, and prime and paint everything. Oh, and maybe wire in the backup lights.

Got about 300 in parts it so far but Its capable of high speed cross country hauling heavy loads. Not too shabby if you ask me.

[CG]

That looks great. I don't know enough about rear ends to totally get what you did. Guess Ill look at a parts break down of one so I can figure it out.

I'd really like to know the specifics about where you did your bends, how long is that extra bar you welded in for the tongue? Just a little more detail when you have a minute.

[Boog]

CG here's a link to building a truck bed trailer I ran across. Looks like a solid deal to me. Of course there are a number of ways to build the tongue.
I am saving a 97 truck to do just this with.

[sleepertruck72]

Originally Posted by Vintage Windmills

Thanks guys for the advice. I got it on the road and works great. I replaced the tailgate, rear bumper. I also redid the shocks and aired up the tires so it rides better than my standard 9' utility trailer now. The longer tongue makes it stable and ride better. Also removed the axles, redid the gaskets and put fresh gear lube in. Just need to straighten out the tailight area, mount the truck toolbox on front, and prime and paint everything. Oh, and maybe wire in the backup lights.

Got about 300 in parts it so far but Its capable of high speed cross country hauling heavy loads. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Nice job on the trailer... looks like that puppy is heavier than the mulch With a toolbox and a rack for lumber, etc. these trailers are awesome !!!

[too much stuff]

Now if you would just fix those tail light and back up lenses you will be set!

[Vintage Windmills]

Eric, A nice guy stopped by on Saturday and helped me pull out the dents around the tailights

Originally Posted by sleepertruck72

Nice job on the trailer... looks like that puppy is heavier than the mulch With a toolbox and a rack for lumber, etc. these trailers are awesome !!!

He is a little over 100lbs now so it must have been close! And he's still in the process of bulking up for winter I would love to get a nice ladder rack for this. I've got the toolbox, just need to fix latch and mount to frame.

Originally Posted by CG

That looks great. I don't know enough about rear ends to totally get what you did. Guess Ill look at a parts break down of one so I can figure it out.

I'd really like to know the specifics about where you did your bends, how long is that extra bar you welded in for the tongue? Just a little more detail when you have a minute.

I didn't get the rear end thing either until I tore it apart. Basically, on the Dana 60 8 lug, the axle shaft has the end plate that is on the outside of the hub. So, you take those bolts out and the axle comes out. You then cut the end plate off, and bolt it back on. This way, you remove the axle but retain the original end plate. You don't even have to take the wheel or hub off. This is because the bearings are on the outside of the axle tube between it and the hub.

I'll take some measurements on the bends and let you know. I don't know if its the best way, I just know it was pretty easy and this pulls great with no sway or hopping but I did put new shocks on also.

[69C-owner]

Originally Posted by Vintage Windmills

Wondering now if I should remove the axles from the Dana 60 so it doesn't have to spin them?

Take the easy route and just leave the rearend alone, tearing into it u will cause lube problems for the axel bearings and end up with a locked up wheel on the side of the road
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[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by CG

I'd really like to know the specifics about where you did your bends, how long is that extra bar you welded in for the tongue? Just a little more detail when you have a minute.

I took some pics today of the way I did it. Like Ray, I notched the frame and allowed the top and bottom rails to overlap a little so its a lap joint instead of a butt joint.

I'm going to do the permanent wiring with some cord that runs through the rectangular tube tongue.

[Vintage Windmills]

more pics. Tape is measuring from the box bracket edge in the 1st pic below

[CG]

Thanks for the extra pics and info!



Mark

[mcmlxix]

I picked up one of these long bed coil spring trailers... I just registered it on Friday. The guy I bought it from overloaded it and broke the panhard bar and the spring retaining plate... I hope to fix those two isses next week. I just need to find some tires....

[68 SHORT-STEP'N]

Fine looking trailer you made there V W . Has anybody done this with a short-stepside bed w/o the extra room for a toolbox ? Also someone mentioned a " how to " link . I would hate to cut my frame too short . Thanks !

[Boog]

I think that was me. I should have gone back and put this in later. While V W's looks good there are several ways of going about it. I found this one some time back and liked it. Cannot deny it's strong.
And yes trailers have been made using short stepside beds. There is a member here with a real nice green one although i cannot remember his name at the moment. Maybe he'll see this and post it up for you.

http://sweptline.com/blog/2009/01/20...-pickup-truck/

[cool1972gmc truck]

how do you license these trailers??? i have one made out of a 1970's ford pickup and im not sure how to register and license these. I live in colorado if that makes a difference.

[oldgold70c10]

Originally Posted by 68 SHORT-STEP'N

Fine looking trailer you made there V W . Has anybody done this with a short-stepside bed w/o the extra room for a toolbox ? Also someone mentioned a " how to " link . I would hate to cut my frame too short . Thanks !

Ya mean one of these?

[CG]

I know its easier to maneuver with a longer tongue, but it seems if you get it too long you are going to lose stability without enough weight on the tongue. Trailer could get pretty squirrely back there.

[Vintage Windmills]

Originally Posted by cool1972gmc truck

how do you license these trailers??? i have one made out of a 1970's ford pickup and im not sure how to register and license these. I live in colorado if that makes a difference.

Minnesota doesn't do anything special for these and they don't care about the Vin on there either. They had me register this with the standard utility trailer (less than 3500lbs) lifetime permanent registration. Your state may be different but it is pretty simple here, the only thing I had to submit was a form stating components and value of them so they could tax it appropriately Its nice I don't have to ever buy tabs or pay again though.