[79vette]

Then I mocked up a full-wrapped tongue, where the 4" channel piece making up the tongue sits underneath and supports the deck, which is an entirely separate structure. The tongue was extended back to the front spring hanger, hence "full wrapped". This is a much better design to support the most highly loaded section of the frame in the front half of the trailer, essentially making it an 8" channel section.


Then I had to play with the forklift briefly to get at the bottom of the new front crossmember to finish welding it.


The next step was to fit up and weld all the floor crossmembers, which are 3" channel on 14" centers. This is way overbuilt, and if I were to do it again I think I would use 2" channel instead with the same spacing to reduce weight.




The guy I bought it from was using it to haul steel. Compare these junk bolted angle "crossmembers" to the new pieces. Using this trailer in its old state to carry anything seems unsafe to me...