28
.....Continued
I ordered some weld-on trailer stake pockets and these will be welded onto the trailer around the outside as I do not want to use the built-in stake holders. I bored a hole in the center of each stake pocket for the 1/2" hitch pin. This "drill press" was one of the items my Grandma left me when she passed with a cheap Black and Decker I purchased years ago. Teamed up they did a great job.
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There is something so visceral about welding. To me it is almost primal in nature, I love the feeling of permanently attaching two pieces of metal together. Anyway, the stake pockets now have their bases welded on.
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Primed and painted. I decided to paint these before I welded them on as I hoped the paint would stay during the welding process. This was a mistake as it simply cooked right off.
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The stake pockets were welded to the side of the trailer, primed and painted.
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To transport my ramps I bolted two small stakes to these ramps (from Harbor Freight as well) and insert them into the stake holders I welded on. Plenty of clearance all around and held in with 1/2" hitch pin. To remove the ramps I simply remove the R-clip from the backside of the 1/2" hitch pin. I then remove the hitch pin and the pressure treated 2X4 slides up and out with the ramp. You can also see the front chocks we mounted later on in the project, for now they are eyeballed and set in place. Once again, these are from Harbor Freight and do a wonderful job.
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For attachment points I decided to install D-rings directly into the 2X8s. The D-Ring was counter sunk using a router into the 2x8 and then fastened with carriage bolts, washers and lock nuts. The front bolt also goes through the angle iron I welded on earlier in the project. 5000lb breaking strength on these....the wood should fail before the D-Rings do.
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Strider and I loaded the bikes on the trailer and using a scale with the trailer level we positioned the bikes for both tongue weight and poper spacing before finally attaching the chocks. The weight currently is about 80lbs which will allow for the other items that will be attached to the tongue.
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I really have to hand it to Rust-Oleum as I have been extremely pleased with these rattle cans. The self etching primer has been very impressive in handling the flash rust and gives a wonderfully uniform coat. The enamel is not forgiving on mistakes but I am pretty good with rattle cans so it is doing good for me. If you put on too heavy of a coat it likes to give a crackle effect to the surface.
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For fuel transportation we decided to go with these square VP racing fuel jugs (we got a set). I made a square base for each side which is screwed to the 2X8 decking. The top of the jugs have bungee cords that run through them to the D-rings to hold them in place while in motion.
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I found this very light-weight plastic trailer tongue box which has 6 cubic feet of lockable storage space. It came with 4 self-tapping screws but I opted to not reduce any structural stability with the tongue so I decided to use some U-Bolts. First I drilled through this thick plastic with a spade wood drill bit which did a great job of giving me clean holes, followed by thick rubber around the 'u' bend in the bolt to prevent rusting. You can also see the trailer jack that I put on the front which allows me to easily roll the trailer around with this massive two-wheel jack (overkill really).
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The powder coating on the fenders had already started to show signs of wear when I opened the box and I didn't want my fenders rusting so I used 400 grit sandpaper and did a wet sand over the entire surface. Then I dried, cleaned and followed up with the same self etching primer I used on the rest of this project. I finished them off with truck bed spray paint which is crazy hard to paint with. Normally there is a lot of forgiveness on distance to the object being painted but not with this stuff! If you aren't spot on with the distance then it either puts on a light dusting or it instantly starts to run.
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Finished product with a single bike.
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I ordered some weld-on trailer stake pockets and these will be welded onto the trailer around the outside as I do not want to use the built-in stake holders. I bored a hole in the center of each stake pocket for the 1/2" hitch pin. This "drill press" was one of the items my Grandma left me when she passed with a cheap Black and Decker I purchased years ago. Teamed up they did a great job.
There is something so visceral about welding. To me it is almost primal in nature, I love the feeling of permanently attaching two pieces of metal together. Anyway, the stake pockets now have their bases welded on.
Primed and painted. I decided to paint these before I welded them on as I hoped the paint would stay during the welding process. This was a mistake as it simply cooked right off.
The stake pockets were welded to the side of the trailer, primed and painted.
To transport my ramps I bolted two small stakes to these ramps (from Harbor Freight as well) and insert them into the stake holders I welded on. Plenty of clearance all around and held in with 1/2" hitch pin. To remove the ramps I simply remove the R-clip from the backside of the 1/2" hitch pin. I then remove the hitch pin and the pressure treated 2X4 slides up and out with the ramp. You can also see the front chocks we mounted later on in the project, for now they are eyeballed and set in place. Once again, these are from Harbor Freight and do a wonderful job.
For attachment points I decided to install D-rings directly into the 2X8s. The D-Ring was counter sunk using a router into the 2x8 and then fastened with carriage bolts, washers and lock nuts. The front bolt also goes through the angle iron I welded on earlier in the project. 5000lb breaking strength on these....the wood should fail before the D-Rings do.
Strider and I loaded the bikes on the trailer and using a scale with the trailer level we positioned the bikes for both tongue weight and poper spacing before finally attaching the chocks. The weight currently is about 80lbs which will allow for the other items that will be attached to the tongue.
I really have to hand it to Rust-Oleum as I have been extremely pleased with these rattle cans. The self etching primer has been very impressive in handling the flash rust and gives a wonderfully uniform coat. The enamel is not forgiving on mistakes but I am pretty good with rattle cans so it is doing good for me. If you put on too heavy of a coat it likes to give a crackle effect to the surface.
For fuel transportation we decided to go with these square VP racing fuel jugs (we got a set). I made a square base for each side which is screwed to the 2X8 decking. The top of the jugs have bungee cords that run through them to the D-rings to hold them in place while in motion.
I found this very light-weight plastic trailer tongue box which has 6 cubic feet of lockable storage space. It came with 4 self-tapping screws but I opted to not reduce any structural stability with the tongue so I decided to use some U-Bolts. First I drilled through this thick plastic with a spade wood drill bit which did a great job of giving me clean holes, followed by thick rubber around the 'u' bend in the bolt to prevent rusting. You can also see the trailer jack that I put on the front which allows me to easily roll the trailer around with this massive two-wheel jack (overkill really).
The powder coating on the fenders had already started to show signs of wear when I opened the box and I didn't want my fenders rusting so I used 400 grit sandpaper and did a wet sand over the entire surface. Then I dried, cleaned and followed up with the same self etching primer I used on the rest of this project. I finished them off with truck bed spray paint which is crazy hard to paint with. Normally there is a lot of forgiveness on distance to the object being painted but not with this stuff! If you aren't spot on with the distance then it either puts on a light dusting or it instantly starts to run.
Finished product with a single bike.
