New Trailer

[sped1111]

Made this trailer at work. Modeled it off of one I saw on the internet for $2400 brand new, this cost me $900. It's ten feet long and 52 inches wide inside. Fits all my gear and plenty of room for a bigger mower in the future. An added bonus for me is I live in the city and I am one of the lucky ones with a drive way, everyone else parks on the street. So for me wider would not have been better. Pulls like a dream and the shock absorbers I put on smooth out the bumps nicely.

Attached Images

	trailer tuck12.JPG (448.4 KB, 59 views)
	trailer truck23.JPG (514.2 KB, 74 views)

[CHEESE2009]

Lawn care business tips

That looks great, and you saved enough money to buy some fancy signs to hang on it! I use zip-ties to keep my signs on my trailer. If you've got the skill, why not add another box above the hitch of the trailer? You could put your trimming cord, oil, etc in there.

[PineHillLawn]

Originally Posted by sped1111

Made this trailer at work. Modeled it off of one I saw on the internet for $2400 brand new, this cost me $900. It's ten feet long and 52 inches wide inside. Fits all my gear and plenty of room for a bigger mower in the future. An added bonus for me is I live in the city and I am one of the lucky ones with a drive way, everyone else parks on the street. So for me wider would not have been better. Pulls like a dream and the shock absorbers I put on smooth out the bumps nicely.

Sweet! How much did the drop gate cost you to make? I have a 16 foot flat bed trailer that I want to start using but it just has removable ramps and I cant stand them. If I can get a friend of mine to weld up a gate for it I'll be in business. I'm using an enclosed trailer now and it gets so hot inside from the mowers and the heat we've been having lately that I want to use the Flat Bed instead.

[Hedgemaster]

Three words...


BIKINI CAGE MATCH!!!

[Sprinkler Buddy]

Nice job, you should make another in your spare time and sell it. I know home made trailers here in FL are easy to get tagged at the court house.

[sped1111]

Tailgate cost me about a 75 bucks. I used 2x2x1/8 angle iron, and a 4*8 sheet of mesh or extruded metal I guess they call it. I remember the mesh was 39 dollars a sheet. The rest and once tax added up was around or just shy of 75 dollars. I made the hinges myself out of some 1 inch hot rolled steel. Cost a couple bucks. To buy one place wanted 75 dollars each due to the load rating required. As a side not I used the axle off of a dodge mini van. Oddly enough I know the engineer who designed it and he says it's capable of carrying quite a bit although I only intend on putting my mowers and gear into it. Definitely recommend the shocks. Smooths everything out. I got the axle, tires (were new) rims, springs and spring mounts for 150 bucks at a wrecking yard in the area. A tool box was mentioned. Great idea, I might opt for a box for my truck. I am currently using a Ford Ranger with a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder 5 speed manual. Not sure I want to press my luck on additional weight. It currently pulls really well, no bouncing, swaying or anything odd, just have to down shift when climbing hills or wanting to accelerate rapidly. Thanks for the great comments, great to just roll everything out and in. Makes the process so much faster.

[wat5150]

Nice job man. The only thing I would probably want are tabs with a slide lock on both sides of the ramp to keep it locked when its upright. Looks sweet.

[PineHillLawn]

Originally Posted by sped1111

Tailgate cost me about a 75 bucks. I used 2x2x1/8 angle iron, and a 4*8 sheet of mesh or extruded metal I guess they call it. I remember the mesh was 39 dollars a sheet. The rest and once tax added up was around or just shy of 75 dollars. I made the hinges myself out of some 1 inch hot rolled steel. Cost a couple bucks. To buy one place wanted 75 dollars each due to the load rating required. As a side not I used the axle off of a dodge mini van. Oddly enough I know the engineer who designed it and he says it's capable of carrying quite a bit although I only intend on putting my mowers and gear into it. Definitely recommend the shocks. Smooths everything out. I got the axle, tires (were new) rims, springs and spring mounts for 150 bucks at a wrecking yard in the area. A tool box was mentioned. Great idea, I might opt for a box for my truck. I am currently using a Ford Ranger with a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder 5 speed manual. Not sure I want to press my luck on additional weight. It currently pulls really well, no bouncing, swaying or anything odd, just have to down shift when climbing hills or wanting to accelerate rapidly. Thanks for the great comments, great to just roll everything out and in. Makes the process so much faster.

Thanks for letting me know that cost! I am definetly gonna do that on my flat bed trailer!

[Steve]

That is fantastic! How did you design it all? Did you have to draw it out first or did you just put it together?

[sped1111]

I designed the basics. A trailer company Big Tex is the actual designer. I did a google search and they had a page that gave the materials list and pretty much everything you'd need to know to build it, axle location, tongue dimensions etc. If you can weld it's a pretty easy project and a great money saver.