Low Cost Old Skool Alternative

[Purple Frog]

I decided for local events I needed a trailer that was easy to load.
No reason to use the enclosed trailer for short trips on nice days.
I saw nothing on the market that was affordable.
Looking at the Interweb I saw that in Europe where gas prices are high and they tow with small sedans... they build light weight open trailers.
So.. I built one this weekend.
I had a goal of $1,200.
I'm in $1,400 with LED lights, paint, spare tire, etc.
I could have probably saved some if I shopped more careful.
I was in a "get er done" hurry, so i just went retail on the purchases.
Ready for paint.

4" drop axle
It is a 15' tilt bed. No pesky ramps to fool with.
Electric brakes.
Took 2 and a half days of puttering around with the MIG.
Plan to add a front windscreen.

Attached Thumbnails

[Rick Kirchner]

nicely done! My friend Marc Crocetti has something similar he used to tow a ACSV behind a Tacoma (before they got to be a mid-size truck).

What always freaked me out was how hard it teetered back down - probably made worse because with the SV he couldn't slip the clutch a lot to approach it low-speed - he had to just run it up there and hit the brakes. Always wondered if there was a way to damp it.

Without the drop axle, his had a steeper angle and more drop in the bed.

[EYERACE]

Impressive !

ln Fla. you get the trailer weighed at a truck stop scale - go to DMV and tell 'em you built a trailr and show 'em the weight to get a tag - trick is how do you get it to the scales without a tag ? !!

Nice yard -watch for bears

[Jnovak]

Sweet! Just right!

[Stan Clayton]

A nice 3-view dimensioned sketch would be awesome!

[Roux]

25ish years ago I had no cash, an RP16 and a Volvo 240 that I bought for $10. I did just about the same thing. Box tubes, triangles, wood planks and a drop axle from the junkyard. The rear axle of the first gen dodge caravan van was $100 with wheels, tires and brakes. Cut that bad boy right in the middle and tigged an improvised center section to get the right width. Towed all over the place with that little trailer. If I recall I painted it with a brush!

Thanks Frog for taking me down memory lane!!!!

[Steve Demeter]

Very nicely done Mr. Frog. You should go in the trailer building business. I think people would pay for that kind of quality.

[Purple Frog]

Stan,
i'd loose money building them. I spent so much time scaling the car, calculating C/G, etc. Then laying out the trailer and the pivot point. About 8 pages of drawings before I started up the MIG. Folks won't pay for the design time. But, my current measurements would work for any mid-engine car between 800 and 1800 lbs.

I could have easily used an axle 12" narrower. But, with the deck so low, the top of the trailer tires are way up above the deck. The wide deck makes it easy to open doors. (i know, real race cars don't have doors, but i'm getting to old to be always climbing in through the sunroof.)

The secret sauce was seeing how the lads in England were doing the pivot. The pivot point is actually ahead of the front spring perch.

We are expecting rain, and the new shop is smaller than the old one. And i haven't painted the trailer yet. So... Mrs Frog came out and we pushed the car on the trailer and rolled the whole deal into the shop. I can move the whole mess around by hand,

Oh yeah... to keep it from crashing down when rolling on.... Just mount two shock absorbers into the frame. They only need about 4" of travel if you mount them right. easy peasey.

[Purple Frog]

EYE,

We live in North Florida. Trailer tag... just throw an orange triangle on the back and call it a farm implement.

Actually I have 5 trailers, so I can probably find a tag in the back yard. (yes, there is a reason i can't live in a neighborhood with restrictions. )

Yes, occasional black bear comes by. But mostly deer. Mrs Frog has a deer feeder and salt lick at the back of the property.

Oh yeah, when calculating C/G the driver makes a big difference in these light cars. Just saying, the driver may get out of the loaded car and watch the trailer tilt back. Hum... how would i know?

[romoman]

Oldy but goody - I think you did the it backwards. Beetle tows the trailer https://youtu.be/SpwH9WeVEfU

[dereklola]

In the early 1960s in the UK we never used to bother with trailer suspension - too many £££s
UK roads were smooth and there was a 50 mph speed limit on trailers. Typical trailer had
rolled steel channels with about three angle iron crossmembers - channels served as frame
longitudinals. No suspension, no axle, load height was about 4", no ramps needed. Happy days.

[LFFR]

Mr. Frog,

Your design looks great. I love it. But, if I could I could make a small suggestion.... tie your extended light pods back to the frame, with a diagonal. It will help to guide saplings and other small obstructions around the light pod.

John Mihalich Jr.
Lotus 61/FF28
RMVR #61

[Purple Frog]

Sportsfans,
We used the new trailer for the first time today.
I am very pleased.
Tows like a dream. The electric brakes make stopping a non-event.
Being so low at the ball, it doesn't want to lift the rear of the truck under braking.
Loading and unloading is a pleasure. No ramps to manhandle. No piles of loose lumber to make everything work.
Just drive on and hook up the straps.
To unload, undo the straps and lean on the car for a second. It just rolls off.
Both are a one person operation.
Now I know at $1,400 is more costly than a landscape trailer.
And.. if i was towing a nice race car 500 miles through the rain it would be a bad fit. (I'd use my enclosed trailer)
But, for day trips nearby it is a great tool.

I did end up locking the car down farther forward on the deck than planned to get the tongue weight I wanted. (10%) That was because the two back rails I covered with steel skid plate. (to be able to drive the car on if it was wet out) It works great for loading because you don't want the whole deck to start pivoting down before the rear wheels are on. Easy formula... the deck from the very back to the pivot point needs to at least equal the wheelbase of the car. For reference the deck of this trailer is only 15' long.

I plan on carrying a spare tire in the tongue of the trailer to help with the tongue weight.

[EricP]

You didn’t paint it Purple?

[ChristopherBernard]

Did prep and painting take as long as the fabrication? And did the red paint cost rival the steel costs?

[Purple Frog]

Yes, the prep and application of the primer ate up a lot of time. Almost as long as the cutting/welding.
Ot helped some that all the steel was new, and had not been in the weather.
Primer and paint was about $60 for a gallon of each. (that is a wholesale price).
Steel was ~$435. Axle, lighting, hardware, tongue jack, wheels, tires, chains, fenders, etc. were the big cost.

Weather got in the way of actually putting on the final color. We went Saturday with just red primer on it.
Final coat is planned to be PPG alkyd Safety Red. Of course, because its old skool... we are doing it with a brush.
With it now being summer here in the swamp, no telling when we will have the next no-rain day.
The trailer with the car on it fits in the shop, something i can't do with the larger enclosed trailer.

[Purple Frog]

This is the thread that sort of pushed me over the top...

https://www.apexspeed.com/forums/sho...Parker-trailer

[EACIII]

Well now you have to go find a Silver Cloud to tow it with