June 2024

Something different this time…

This was an old U-Haul rental trailer that somehow found it’s way on to a farm not far from home.  And I found it in an estate sale.  I’m told it’s been sitting here for many many years.  Yup I’ll agree with that. The plywood is rotten. The tires are shot so it’s not going home with me today.  Price reflected the sad condition, and it’s still solid except for the plywood.

These are the only photos I have for now..( I’m so busy looking it over that I forget to take photos).  I need to go back and load it on a trailer to get it home. And he needs to clean out his stuff stored in there.  By the way that stuff is dry !  Yes the roof is in good condition. This will be a fun and different trailer project.

June 19 2024

Today I made the trip back out to the farm to bring the trailer home.  I don’t have a flat deck trailer nor could I rent one.  So I made the decision to get it road worthy.  Two things needed to work out for that.  The old rusted wheels had to come off, and the coupler had to work ! (in other words stay on the hitch). I brought lots of tools and a jack with some blocking. First thing… see if the wheel nuts will come off.  I soaked everything with WD 40 and the first one came loose ! But the second one broke off.  Yikes..  But as luck would have it all the rest came loose.  Here’s a quick video I made when I got to the farm and started that process.

Jacking the trailer up was not fun.  The duff on the ground was 4 inches deep.  And the trailer wanted to head down the hill.  So with the wheels in the car I headed to the nearest tire store and had them install new tires.  It’s crazy that these wheels are 6 stud 16 inch load range E tires. What you would use for a car / equipment hauler..  not a little trailer.  Anyways got the new wheels on and the coupler working.  Off we go.  Towed good ! full speed down the road no worries.

Made it home..

And here it is … Big wheels …Little trailer.  I forgot to say ..I took the tools to re-grease the hubs.. but even after sitting so long they turned smooth. So I left them as they were. However now after the trip home they are a tad loose.  No big deal.. It’s not going anywhere till it’s had it’s make over, and those hubs are only for those big wheels.  After all that I’m seeing the things to change for sure..  Those wheels are not needed. 15 inch or even 14 ‘s would be a better fit. But to do that the axle would have to be changed, because the hubs are big old 6 stud ones..  We’ll check it out later.

This hast to go..  Those old couplers come loose when you hit bumps.  and we hit bumps. It’s nice that it’s raised a bit so the trailer tows level. All I need to do is cut the old one off right behind those ears and …..

Here’s a proper 2″ coupler that will bolt on. I will also need to figure out a tongue jack.  And while we are up at the front of the trailer… Check out the old 14/2 house hold cord and plug they used for the lights.

Farmer fix for sure !  Plus there is no ground wire, just the lights. They used the coupler as ground… Okay that works (maybe) when everything is new and not rusty.  Not sure what would happen if you plugged that into a 110 socket, and I’m NOT doing that !  The way the trailer is right now there is no tongue weight at all….None.  You can lift it with a finger.  And that translated to a lot of rattling while towing. I will mount the spare (when I get one ) to the front of the body. And while we are talking wires…

The “extension cord” to the left side is broken.  That’s why I have a set of tow lights.  Oh and I weighed the empty trailer at the scales on the way home.. 1000 lbs !  EMPTY.  That tells me that it should have a 3500 lb axle at minimum. Check out the springs…

Count em… 9 leafs !  I don’t know what to think about that.. good or bad ?  The axle is however just a 48 ” spring centre drop axle.  And there’s that “extension cord”  so it must be from the factory.