New Summer Project - 18' Trailer

[Maize]

OK.

We started on the center frame. That is all mocked up. The interior height will be 57" on this trailer.

This week we will be gettin the rear door done up.

I am thinking a little bling with some electric door actuators from and rear with remotes. We will see what comes down the road.

Here is today's progress:

[Maize]

We got the rear door all mocked up and tack welded.

It started to rain so we called it for the day.

Here is the rear door ready for the hinges. We will see what the weather tomorrow brings. If it isn't raining, we should get the hinges finished up and then we can start on the front door.

Here is what we got done today:

[Maize]

We couldn't work on the traler yesterday as it stormed all day, and into last night.

We did clean the shop out enough today to work, just in case.

We got the hinge mounted and ready to roll. It will open and close smoothly. We still do all the finish welding and put the torsion bar in the upper part of the door next to the hinge.

Here is the rear ready for the finish welding:





Here you can see the gap we left for the seal. There is a block in the bottom of the door and there will a piece of anlge under the rear lift part.

This keep the door from crushing the seal not only on the sides, but also across the back under the bottom.



We kind of mocked up how the front door will be made. Tomorrow we start on that. This might take a couple of days as we made a jig for the bends.

[Maize]

We got a lot done today.

We got all the front door bows bent up, the frame welded and the bows put in place.

Here is the frame together, and you can see the door partially open.





Here is the door with all the bows on it





Here is the door open and you can see how much clearance there is in the front now:



[img]http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/4493/4sept4.jpg[.img]

[Maize]

Well, just a couple of updates:

We got both axles cut off tonight. The bottoms of the bolt heads were completely rusted so the wrench just spun on the head.

We ended up cutting them off with a sawsall.

When we put the fuel tank up, the guy did add the 1.5" for the ribs on top of the tank. He failed to mention that part, and we can't move the crossmember because of where the seam is for the sheeting.

We we are going to notch out the crossmember and box the notches in and it will be good to go. There are only 4 ribs so it will be fine.

I got the door handles, fuel gauge and main electrical cut-off in the mail today. I got the brake controller, the 100' 4 wire strand and then new heavy duty 7pin connector.

The speakers should be here tomorrow or Wed and the LED flood lights should be here before the weekend.

Here are some pictures of the sheeting we are using. The stuff is called Ecopanel. The sheets of aluminum actually sandwich polymer (it is the same stuff they make recycled milk jugs with).

Here you see the com*****on with a sheet of 0.043" that we were going to use. It is only marginally heavier and a 5' x 10' sheet with gloss black on one side, and white on the other is only about $18 more than the 0.043" stuff. It is going to take 12 sheets so the total cost is only about $226 more.

With membrane still on it:



Membrane removed:



Here it is compared to a the 0.043"

[Maize]

We got the frame work finished up today.

All the ribbing is in, and the doors are complete.

Tomorrow, we drop both axles out and put the side access door in.

Once the axles are out, the fuel tank will be fitted and the gravel shield will be fit.

Here is the front with the whole bracing put in place:





Here is the front door open:



Here is the decking removed:



Here is the rear door finished and all the ribs in place:

[Maize]

LOL....thanks!!!!

We will see how it goes.

I got some pictures of the axles I got coated with the Raptor liner coating.

Here are the axles shot with Raptor truck bed liner:







As promised, here is the rubber edge rail we will be using. The ridge part goes on the top and flat side goes on the side.



Here is the rubber seal that goes over edge rail to cover the screws.

[Maize]

We got that last engineering feat done today.

We made the impact shield/mount for the fuel cell today.

The shield goes completely under and onto the front and rear of the tank.

There is a 3/8" closed cell foam spacer between the tank and shield.

The shield is made from 0.090".

In order to get it to fit, we had to cut into the frame. We then cut one side out of a 2" X 2" tubing and welded that into frame after cutting channels in each hole.

We then welded in 1.75" X 1.75" tubes between the scallops to support the tank.

We then bent a lip on the shield, bent that all up and mounted the tank in position.

We then mounted the axles in place.

Here is everything mounted up.





Here is the underside with the impact shield in place:

[Maize]

Well....I just got home from the shop...got a lot done today.

I got the axles cleaned up, the brakes put back together, got the backing plates on, got the hubs on with bearings, set the bearings, adjusted the brakes and put the rims/tires on.

We then went around and did all the finish welds, ground the outside flat to accept the panels, rounded off the rear corner and got the mid-section panels fit:





















We are heading over in the morning again. More to come tomorrow.......

[madam328]

Built in fuel cell.......SWEET!!! How many gallons?