trailer re-deck and other projects

Buried in my super-long car build threads, figures since there's a dedicated section for trailers might as well re-post it here...

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With some trailer-hauling trips coming up, and several nice days, and an open weekend, I decided to finally re-deck the trailer. I bought this thing a decade ago, and it was 10-15 years old then and had been used hard. I've replaced all the brakes, one of the axles, and plenty of other stuff but the deck was functionally fine (if a bit grungy looking). But in the last few years it's been cracking quite a bit and some of the board ends are pretty rotten, so it was a good time to replace. I considered getting some rough-cut oak or one of the fancy hardwoods, but way too expensive and heavier to boot, so rules that out and just went with P/T. I did go get some "better" P/T at the local lumber yard rather than the garbage at the big-boxes though, so at least they'd be straighter. So $230 later, I had 11 16-foot 2x8s.

Let the stripdown begin. Pretty sure this was the original deck , so the screws were rusted in place, but the boards were dry/rotted enough I mostly just cut halfway down and pried them out by hand, and then used my cutoff wheel to knock off all the old rusted screws. Then I painted the whole frame (admittedly a bit half-assedly, but whatever, it's a trailer). 

With the deck off a few discoveries: First the crossmembers for the ramp storage were damn near paper-thin from rust and I broke one just stepping on it. 

Luckily, the extra one I welded in years ago when I got longer ramps was still in good shape. This is probably my fault, as I had long ago wrapped them in old carpeting to reduce the ramps clattering around on rough roads. Lesson learned. 

Also the main wiring.....was basically run over the frame and sandwiched by the wood

I've never had any issues with it, and don't want to replace it all at the moment. So for the new boards I got my router out and just cut some reliefs where the boards go over the wires, and no more problem there (sorry, no pics...)

While waiting on some materials I decided to do the undersides/sides of the boards with some old Penifil I had around from a prior attempt to save the old decking some years ago. Figure protection on all sides will be better in the long run.

With that done, I cut to length (diagonal insert method) and put a few in, and then welded in some new ramp crossmembers

then got the rest of the deck in place, bending the center one to get it in.

I had gotten some self-tapping Reamer-Tek screws last week, but it turned out the ones I got were a bit shorter than I like (only a few threads of bite in the frame crossmembers) so I had to wait a day for Amazon to deliver some new ones. After much elbow-grease (aka body weight) on my drill, I put about 50 of them in .

WIth that done, was able to coat the topsides. I was out of the Penifil, so I got some Timber Oil with stain. I know the "real GRM" would do the old motor oil + diesel thing, but I don't want to smell that or wait months for it to not be slippery. $60 is worth not doing that. So after a couple hours on my knees with a brush, it's more or less done.

Oh, I also addded these little metal half-triangles under the forward tiedown eyes, since my strap hooks had been digging into the wood because of the low mount angle. Hopefully this will fix that issues.

So, decking done

This guy came and visited me: this is an "Assassin Fly" and they're big (like 2" long) and have a moustache. They apparently eat baseically any kind of bugs (even grasshoppers, bees, praying mantis, etc) and hunt in the air, catching their prey on the fly. Pretty crazy...

I'm also doing another trailer project for the upcoming 2-night rallycross down near Ohio/W.Va.. This will involve a couple pieces of DOM, and a couple scrap pieces of the nexxt-size-up DOM.

Large ones in the stake pockets as such, welded in:

The long ones go through those to the ground, and are a bit over 6' tall.

For this project I'll also need a crossbar to connect them. I'm cheap, and don't have any angle iron long enough for the job, so I took four smaller scrap pieces from other projects and welded them together....

(hope you get the LOTR reference...)

So, more on that project when I finish it this week.

Nice! Thanks for the writeup. I need to redeck both my lawn trailer and my car trailer, so this is timely. Couple of questions.

What paint did you use for the frame?
Did you roll, brush, or spray (or a combo)?
Is your storage box big enough to store your winch on the carrrier?
What is the funky vertical receiver hitch mount for? Spare spare tire?
Any trick on getting your screw alignment right from the top? Pop a string line?

Thanks!

Looks awesome, nice work! When I redid my decking it made me want to use the trailer more. It was bad when the tires were digging into the dry rot splinters

what are these self-tapers you used and just drilled through the wood? That would have been much easier than the way I went. 

hobiercr said:

Nice! Thanks for the writeup. I need to redeck both my lawn trailer and my car trailer, so this is timely. Couple of questions.

What paint did you use for the frame?
Did you roll, brush, or spray (or a combo)?
Is your storage box big enough to store your winch on the carrrier?
What is the funky vertical receiver hitch mount for? Spare spare tire?
Any trick on getting your screw alignment right from the top? Pop a string line?

Thanks!

1. Rustoleum in the can, painted on thick. Just the big box store stuff. Frame is fine, just wanted to pretty it up a bit, not worried about rust really....this trailer doesn't see road salt generally, and the frame is heavy-duty (it's a heavy equipment trailer so a bit heavier-duty than regular car haulers.

2. Brushed everything

3. Hm, not sure. It's on a hitch platform into a welded-on receiver in the front of the trailer. And it usually has a hitch lock on it. So if someone wants to go to all that trouble to steal a decade-old HF ATV winch, go for it. WIthout the hitch mount neck, it would probably fit in the box though.

4. Heh....good eye. Years back we thought maybe at rallies we'd want the big tool chest when not with the trailer (like remote service) so that held a hitch basket upright for "the long haul" with the tool chest on the front of the trailer 

Then when at the rally, we'd put the huge tool chest on the hitch basket. It worked, but was more hassle than it was worth, and we carry less tools these days. And when road racing, the trailer is always at the paddock anyhow.

So just recently I actually used the old neck of the hitch basket (the basket itself is on my other home-built offroad trailer now), and fabbed up a holder for two Rotopax (which I steal off my Raider camping/offroad rig) so I can take a couple gallons of gas/water wherever, and not hear it sloshing around inside the tow rig.

5. I just eyeballed it (admittedly, I missed on one and had to re-drill), but yeah a string line would have been smarter lol. Just couldn't find mine. 

In reply to bbbbRASS :

I wouldn't say it was "easy" since the frame is thick on this thing....my elbow and wrist are still sore from doing it. But here's what I used, which are purpose-made for trailer decks (not cheap, but not a single one stripped or broke, and didn't have to pre-drill, so that made it worth it). Here's a link to the correct length . They're called Reamer-Tek: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQ4M96P4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

So let's finish that other project. At multi-day race/rally/rallycross events, I use my 8' awning off the Sequoia with the ARB "room"

The downside is that if you want to run out and get some beer, or breakfast, or whatever, you have to pack it all up sinct it's attached to the truck. Well, I have a 6' version of this on the Raider that I use for 4x4 camping, so decided to make a setup so I can mount it on the trailer for multi-day events, so I can just leave it up if I need to drive the truck someplace. 

So, I had some old DOM tubing sticks, and some old angle iron. DId some zapping, did some bolting, and this is what I ended up with: Janky crossbar with captive bolts, welded with crappy flux core since I'm out of gas...

bolted to the two upright DOM posts, that go in those seats I showed in the last post way up there on the side of the trailer

And took the awning off the Raider and bolted it on here

So since i don't want this up while towing. it comes apart by removing two nuts and I'll just wrap it all up in a 6' long tarp "bedroll" and strap it onto the trailer deck for transits (or something similar)

I have a "notch" on the top that you can't really see that the angle iron kind of sits in so even with one bolt the whole assembly is quite stiff. I may put a ratchet strap from one pole to the other side of the trailer to further stabilize it but not sure that's necessary.

I'll take some pics next weekend with it all opened up and the "room" attached, not any space where the trailer is at right  now. 

A bit more messing around with this concept. The ARB room, when mounted on a vehicle, as an inner zip-out door that allows you to go right into the vehicle. SInce this isn't on a vehicle, it would be good to have a vestibule of sorts to put muddy shoes or other outside stuff, especially with some rain forecast this weekend. So dug out a 6x8 tarp, some rope, and some cheap carabiners and made one that works pretty easy. 

Then I can just roll it up around the awning and cross bar, unbolt the two bolts, take the legs off, and wrap it all together. I could fit this pretty easily inside the Sequoia, but a trailer mount is better in case it's all dirty or wet. I have some ideas about a little "rack" inside the trailer fender wells, but not much time left this week, so just did it the easy way - with some eyebolts through the deck (a bit of shudder drilling into the new wood...). wrap it up with some titan straps, and I think it should be good to go. 

Is your center board not as wide as the others? Did you have to rip a wider board, or just buy one less wide? This as the one you bent into place, correct?

Yeah, the deck is 2x8s, but the center is a 2x6. I could have gotten a 2x8 and ripped it like an inch wider to get rid of the small gap, but this carries a car, so not really concerned with the 1/2" gaps in the middle there. Still have a few other gaps, but a few of the boards were warped and I could only get them so straight using a ratchet strap. I just wanted ot make sure the boards under the car wheels were as tight as possible since they'll shrink a bit in time. Overall, "good enough" for my own trailer haha...