Trailer building...anyone??

[S&S_Work_Saws]

So I needed a trailer years ago and didn't have much money at the time. I scored a $150 camper. Stripped it, added a deck and a gang box, some paint and lights and for the next 10 years had a great trailer for hauling materials. I just recently sold that trailer for $1,200. Not bad for my original investment.





So now I'm back in the market for a trailer but have decided Id like to go gooseneck or fifth wheel this time and I'd like to locate or build a 32' ish flatbed. Anyone ever had any luck building that big of a trailer from scratch or modifying a fifth wheel camper? As of right now I have two options. A fifth wheel camper or a gooseneck car hauler that got the box partially burnt but the frame wasn't really affected. Either way the box will have to be stripped off of the frame and a flatbed deck installed. Both options are super cheap as a starting point.
Any experience anyone or opinions on which route to take??

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Going off the pictures I would pick the box trailer. It’s a Tridem which is nice.
Striping it should. Easier and better scrap value for disposal

 

[Mack 880]

Just out of curiosity, are you going to be able to insure the trailer after you build it?

 

[redline4]

@davidwyby

 

[Bill G]

The one you built looks excellent. I have never known campers to have that great of frames but I guess I must be wrong.

 

[davidwyby]

Whichever has the taller heavier frame. Usually RV frames are flimsy. How much weight you gonna put on it?

 

[Mad Professor]

I've got an S10 bed on a smallnboat trailer.

 

[Dustin4185]

Whichever has the taller heavier frame. Usually RV frames are flimsy. How much weight you gonna put on it?

This! RVs are train wrecks!

 

[Dustin4185]

I would go with the box trailer. RVs are sketchy when they’re new! The box trailer looks like it was at least designed to haul some weight. I’ve built smaller utility trailers, and modified several other trailers, but never one this big.

 

[LAWN BOY]

I built a utility trailer out of a speed boat trailer last year.
That one you built and sold look pretty dang good.
I agree with Yukon Stihl that you should get the box trailer rather than the camper.
I agree with Bill that I have not known campers to have very heavy duty frames.

 

[thompsoncustom]

What are you doing with the trailer? If building a car hauler I would make a tandem axle tilting airbag trailer wouldn't be hard to build and could be made out of a parts trailer you find and if your someone that likes building things I assume you'll enjoy designing it.

If your loading it down with 10k+ for heavy equipment than a triple axle would be a better approach.

 

[jblnut]

I have built a few trailers over the years and a few of them have been out of camper frames. A camper frame is not nearly heavy enough to haul much other than a side by side or two. The couple camper trailers I built were going to be used for exactly that.

I helped built a 36’ triple axle gooseneck a while back and we started with a trailer house frame. That worked very well but was still a relatively light trailer.

It all depends on what your time is worth and what you’re going to haul. If you’re looking for a project I’d say go with the enclosed trailer. It’ll be way more sound when you’re done as it was likely built to haul some actual weight when it was new.

Have you looked at factory built gooseneck flatbeds ? I recently purchased a 32’ straight deck with tandem 12k axles for $7500 that is in pretty nice shape. Not a lot of rust anywhere and brand new tires. Not a bad buy in my book.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

I went with the enclosed trailer. It has three Dexter 7,200 lbs axles under it already. Had quite a bit of flex between the tongue and first axle. I added a torque tube down the center out of 3/8" square stock that's 8" x 8" and doubled the amount of cross members. Next issue...it sat to low when connected to my truck. I plasma cut all the axle brackets and installed a 10' section of 1/4" walled 3" x 4" tubing between the frame and axles. Perfect now. Have to do the fenders and get it painted now and throw a deck in it and it'll be ready to hit the road.
Definitely glad I went the route of the enclosed trailer.

 

[jblnut]

I went with the enclosed trailer. It has three Dexter 7,200 lbs axles under it already. Had quite a bit of flex between the tongue and first axle. I added a torque tube down the center out of 3/8" square stock that's 8" x 8" and doubled the amount of cross members. Next issue...it sat to low when connected to my truck. I plasma cut all the axle brackets and installed a 10' section of 1/4" walled 3" x 4" tubing between the frame and axles. Perfect now. Have to do the fenders and get it painted now and throw a deck in it and it'll be ready to hit the road.
Definitely glad I went the route of the enclosed trailer.

The torque tube was a good idea but they’re usually made out of pipe from what I’ve seen, not box tubing. I’d think it’ll function in a similar way but there must be a reason manufacturers go through the hassle of working with a round pipe vs a square tube.

Either way, nice looking rig so far !!

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

The torque tube was a good idea but they’re usually made out of pipe from what I’ve seen, not box tubing. I’d think it’ll function in a similar way but there must be a reason manufacturers go through the hassle of working with a round pipe vs a square tube.

Either way, nice looking rig so far !!

Round stock is the best for resisting lateral twisting. Hence the reason driveshafts are round. The second best shape being square. I wanted the torque tube to be up under the trailer and not hanging down. So tying a square into the cross members was a lot easier than round.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

Well fellas, not that anyone cares, but I figured I'd finish this story with my trailer. The thing when completed pulled pretty good but I still wasn't quite happy with it. Had to run a huge offset coupler to clear the back of my cab and my truck is so tall it had the trailer sitting pretty nose high. So I did a couple things.
First I picked up a 20' stick of 3"x4" steel tubing 1/4" thick. Cut it in half and used 10' per side between my axle mounts and the trailer frame. Angled the front and rear and boxed the tubing to seal them up completely. That got the trailer 4" taller.
Next I cut the entire neck off of it and over the winter slowly but surely pecking away in my little shop but an entirely new neck out of 12" tall i beam. It's unbelievable how much lighter the new tongue is and actually a lot stouter at the same time. I wanted it up off my bed rails a little more than usual and didn't want to have 4' between the back of my truck and the front of the trailer. I did a lot of measuring on factory built trailers. I ended up settling on building the neck 12" taller and 14" shorter than most factory built trailers. Worked perfect.
Its on the road, pulls excellent, and I saved a ton of cash building it myself. For around $3,000 I ended up with a gooseneck with 6 wheel brakes, 3 Dexter 7k lbs torflex axles, 32' of deck, custom to my needs.
A little paint still to do , mount my winch and build the drive over fenders and it'll be completed

 

[redline4]

Hard to tell from the pics, but does the trailer hitch extend forward where we can't see it in the truck box or straight down?
Reason I ask is if it's straight down, I've never seen a gooseneck hitch that wasn't over the axle.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

Hard to tell from the pics, but does the trailer hitch extend forward where we can't see it in the truck box or straight down?
Reason I ask is if it's straight down, I've never seen a gooseneck hitch that wasn't over the axle.

It goes straight down. I always build my own gooseneck plates. I like to mount the ball a little bit in front of the axle center line. Let's some of the trailers tongue weight be carried by the front axle as well. Usually just a couple inches forward of the axle center line.

 

[Woodtroll]

Well fellas, not that anyone cares, but I figured I'd finish this story with my trailer. The thing when completed pulled pretty good but I still wasn't quite happy with it. Had to run a huge offset coupler to clear the back of my cab and my truck is so tall it had the trailer sitting pretty nose high. So I did a couple things.
First I picked up a 20' stick of 3"x4" steel tubing 1/4" thick. Cut it in half and used 10' per side between my axle mounts and the trailer frame. Angled the front and rear and boxed the tubing to seal them up completely. That got the trailer 4" taller.
Next I cut the entire neck off of it and over the winter slowly but surely pecking away in my little shop but an entirely new neck out of 12" tall i beam. It's unbelievable how much lighter the new tongue is and actually a lot stouter at the same time. I wanted it up off my bed rails a little more than usual and didn't want to have 4' between the back of my truck and the front of the trailer. I did a lot of measuring on factory built trailers. I ended up settling on building the neck 12" taller and 14" shorter than most factory built trailers. Worked perfect.
Its on the road, pulls excellent, and I saved a ton of cash building it myself. For around $3,000 I ended up with a gooseneck with 6 wheel brakes, 3 Dexter 7k lbs torflex axles, 32' of deck, custom to my needs.
A little paint still to do , mount my winch and build the drive over fenders and it'll be completed
View attachment 488039View attachment 488040View attachment 488041View attachment 488042

Thanks for the update. I always enjoy seeing other folks' creativity and problem-solving processes. Nice job on the trailer!

 

[Woodtroll]

Hard to tell from the pics, but does the trailer hitch extend forward where we can't see it in the truck box or straight down?
Reason I ask is if it's straight down, I've never seen a gooseneck hitch that wasn't over the axle.

I thought the same thing at first, but I think the round upright tube (that is hard to see but visible in the second photo, blended with the trees behind it) is actually the hitch shaft/bearing point.