Got A New Trailer

[idropem96]

I decided to buy a trailer, its an 18 foot dovetail. I am mounting 2 tool boxes on it, a warn m8000 winch, a 2 1/2 gal air tank with a 380 comp, and 3 sets of flood lights

rear flood lights


deck lights

front flood lights

interior lights inside tool boxes


relocated brake away battery inside tongue box

all the parts

the winch, air tank and comp, and the battery will all be mounted inside the tool box

[comics22]

damn nice. obviously your building this trailer with some use for all this i assume? ATV? 4x4?

[idropem96]

i bought it to tow my s10, and i figured if im gona have a trailer it should be ready for anything i decide to put on it

[2dxtreme]

not a bad looking trailer. how will the lights on the back and the ones pointed back from the box gonna activate? does the trailer have dual axle brakes or just single? only weak link i see is the swing-away tongue jack but i see in the pic whoever made the trailer ran that piece of c-channel all the way up to the tongue covering up the possibility for a tongue jack

[Kansas Dime]

Nice! Looks like your gonna have quite the set up.

[deathphoenix99]

As stated, that tongue jack might give you issues, mine is welded to the center section, which is nice, but means I can't really have a box on there like you do. THat winch is overkill though, I've used a 3K winch to pull a 77 3/4 ton dodge onto my trailer and it worked fine. So a 5-6K would be plenty big for pretty much anything. Either way, looks good!

[Got-20z]

good looking setup... I would like to have something like that

[deeznutz]

Damn that's a nice trailer!

[idropem96]

all the wiring is finally done



the lights and air comp are controlled by these toggle switches, they are marine grade and have a rubber boot on them to help protect them from the weather


this is where the stock jack went, as you can see it had to be removed for the tongue box


this is where I would have liked to put the jack, but it is welded up


the jack that is on there is temporary untill I decide what I'm going to do. I ordered a weight distribution system and the arms will connect where the jack currently is. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[1BadElky]

Damn that wiring looks clean! nice setup man.

[xtucking22s]

damn thats a nice setup you got there

[SCIVIC94]

PUNCH THAT HOLE OUT AND INSTALL THE JACK YOU WANT.

[idropem96]

thanks guys
I'm not too sure about punching the hole, I have thought about it, but I didnt design this trailer, and I'm not sure if it would compromise any strength if I removed the welds on that bar

[idropem96]

Quote: Originally Posted by deathphoenix99

As stated, that tongue jack might give you issues, mine is welded to the center section, which is nice, but means I can't really have a box on there like you do. THat winch is overkill though, I've used a 3K winch to pull a 77 3/4 ton dodge onto my trailer and it worked fine. So a 5-6K would be plenty big for pretty much anything. Either way, looks good!

The reason I went with such a large winch (other than just to have it) was a warn 4700 at 4000 lbs pulls 277 amps, the warn m8000 at 4000 lbs pulls 145 amps. My thinking is because of this I will be putting less stress on the winch motor and on my battery. I'm not 100% sure if I'm right or not, but it made sense to me.

[idropem96]

got the winch and solar battery charger installed

[Tim89]

why not take a piece of square tube and weld if right in front of the plate where the hole is and weld the center bar to it. puts a cross brace and gives the center bar a mount too?

[idropem96]

what I have been thinking of doing is make another jack mount just like that and weld it behind that one offset to one side

[HOTRODSURFER]

nice job!!!

[weldpipe81]

Great looking trailer there bro. I wouldnt go punching that hole out for that jack unless i had something to reinforce it pretty good when done. It doesnt look like that center bar runs much farther up after that weld. I could be wrong but then you would only have that 2" weld at the top left to hold it. If theres more weld under there we cant see, go for it

[idropem96]

my thoughts exactly, the weld you see is all thats there, think ill just make another plate right behind it for the jack

[idropem96]

got the solenoids for the winch mounted and everything wired up


Air tank and comp installed


connection to air


everything is now installed and working

[xtucking22s]

That is the sweetest open trailer setup I have ever seen. Nice work man! you can be your own AAA towing service with this setup haha

[idropem96]

thanks man, I'm pretty excited about it, I've always wanted one

[Sngleman]

I agree! Great job!

[MaveRankus]

That is badass.

[mesterz2889]

<--- totally jelly

[mazdawg09]

with the jack thing why dont you move the one that is on there now to the middle bar wouldnt that be the same as a center jack

[idropem96]

I could, but then there wouldnt be room for it to swing up so it would hang down too low

[mazdawg09]

i never realy thought of that. the only way i guess it will work is if you section a little of the box

[2dxtreme]

what kind of weight dist bar set you going with? i use to install those systems all day long and should be able to help you out with anything on them. shoot me a pm and we can figure something out

[idropem96]

I'm using a curt manufacturing weight distribution system with a sway bar, I had to order the reese bolt on chain hangers because the snap up brackets need to go where the tongue box is.

I've pretty much decided what to do about the jack, I am going to use the non swing tongue jack, but instead of it going through the hole where it normally would it will just be off set right behind it. I'm going to mount it a tad high so I wont have any problems with it dragging.

[idropem96]

Quote: Originally Posted by 2dxtreme

not a bad looking trailer. how will the lights on the back and the ones pointed back from the box gonna activate? does the trailer have dual axle brakes or just single? only weak link i see is the swing-away tongue jack but i see in the pic whoever made the trailer ran that piece of c-channel all the way up to the tongue covering up the possibility for a tongue jack

it has dual axle brakes

[91sonomast]

If you punch that hole out, stick your jack through, weld it in place with the flange it comes with, then get underneath and weld around the perimeter of the jack tube, welding it to the trailer frame, I don't think you will be giving up much in the way of strength.

[Hoosier Rick]

Measure the tube on a new jack. You might be able to cut a hole through the center large enough to put the tube through without cutting out the welds.
I can't believe nobody has asked you to pick up their truck or borrow your trailer yet. LOL

[mhilt13]

bad ass trailer. need to add all them goodies to mine the cheep harbor freight winch i bought sucks!!!

[idropem96]

I decided what to do about the jack. I had some 1/4" plate layin around, so I made a bracket, cut the original bracket off the jack that came with the trailer and welded the new bracket to the jack and then to the trailer tongue



worked out great

[2dxtreme]

not bad good idea. you gonna weld that seam between the tongue and jack plate?`

[idropem96]

no, I couldnt push it up flush because of the welds from the factory, the two welds on the side will be plenty strong enough

[idropem96]

got my chain hangers in yesterday, so I finally was able to set up my weight distribution hitch and sway bar

[2dxtreme]

looks good. any whole truck and trailer pics on flat ground?

[idropem96]

thanks, next time i have it hooked up I'll take one

[cpolaris502]

Very cool. I'd also look into a gaurd of some sort for the solar panel. It looks like it's in a pretty open place for things to hit it, or even hail.

[layinbody31]

Wow, wicked awesome trailer man!

[spike10]

MAn I just can't believe you didn't put an electric jack on that thing .....

I'm just sayin....

[Slammed83Mazda]

If you don't mind me asking how much did the trailer set you back and what you have in it total? I'm going to look into a trailer very soon and nice bright lights will be a definite.

[deathphoenix99]

I love the set up, but it looks like you have almost no ground clearance, good luck going over any bumps with that thing. I've thought about WD hitch and sway control, but honestly, my trailer pulls right behind me and never sways so I can't complain.

[idropem96]

The trunion bars have about 6" of ground clearance, I tried moving it up more, but then the trailer didnt set level. So I'll just have to pay attention where I'm going. And Honestly 6" is more clearance than the sierra will have soon.

[idropem96]

Quote: Originally Posted by Slammed83Mazda

If you don't mind me asking how much did the trailer set you back and what you have in it total? I'm going to look into a trailer very soon and nice bright lights will be a definite.

the trailer was about 3,000, I had a few things for it already, probably have around 2,000 in it. Just make sure you shop around and take note of the thickness of the material used to build the trailer, and things like 4" channel as opposed to 6" channel. The lowest priced trailer isnt always the best to go with, but the most expensive doesnt mean its the best either.

[idropem96]

Quote: Originally Posted by spike10

MAn I just can't believe you didn't put an electric jack on that thing .....

I'm just sayin....

I would have loved too, but I reached my spending limit. It is definitely something I would like to add one day.

[doored454]

Trailer is badass man, and I thought my setup was sick haha. I used to have a winch on mine but it took a shit. When I get some money saved up I'm putting wider axles on mine and pushing the fenders out, plus adding a new winch and some lights and whatnot for when I have to tow other peoples junk around. Very sick though.