Flatbed Trailer Lovin
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 7:32 pm
Earlier this year, I decided it was time for another refresh on my beloved little flatbed trailer. As the story goes, I built this trailer back in 1998 when I was still in college at Arizona State University (welding in Arizona in the summer is not advised, just for reference), and it’s got at least a million miles on it at this point. It has been in just about every single state West of the Mississippi, and has carried everything from grass and leaves to a Bobcat skidsteer, but the vast majority of those miles have been hauling a Jeep of some make/model (or the occasional Bronco). It has seen several refreshes over the years, including two prior re-decking and complete paint jobs, as well as several tire and wheel combos, brake services, spring and shackle bushings, and one complete axle replacement. This summer it was due for another deck replacement and some fresh paint, and I also took the opportunity to rewire it (again) and add a couple items that had been on my wish list for a while…
Here it is all torn down with the fresh deck lumber awaiting in the foreground:
Freshly painted with top of the line Rustoleum semi-gloss black
And here is the brand new deck installed, with galvanized lag screws coming up from the bottom through the crossmembers to hold the lumber firmly in place:
A couple trips later, I went back in and finally installed a hidden spare tire, using a pickup truck underbed spare tire winch that I had salvaged from a Ford F-series pickup many many years ago:
One of my 3/8” Craftsman universal joint socket adapters gave it’s life to the cause, allowing the jack shaft to make the transition over the tire to the pillow bearing plate:
And voila:
While the glue gun was out, I bent up some 1-3/4” tube and made a quickie light bar to finally add some rear facing task lighting. I can’t tell you how many after-dark recoveries having these lights would have been handy for
The basic idea:
Added my patented light tabs:
Complete with (4) 55watt halogen rubber body farm lights:
And the payoff:
The last item on the list was to re-install some reverse lights. I had added a reverse light circuit several years ago, but the plastic housing 3x5 rectangular halogen lights I was using kept breaking off their mounts and I quit replacing them at some point. Whilst perusing the aisles at O’Napzone the other day I stumbled across a nice looking set of extremely low profile LED fog lights and figured I’d give them a try:
Should be good for a few more years
Here it is all torn down with the fresh deck lumber awaiting in the foreground:
Freshly painted with top of the line Rustoleum semi-gloss black
And here is the brand new deck installed, with galvanized lag screws coming up from the bottom through the crossmembers to hold the lumber firmly in place:
A couple trips later, I went back in and finally installed a hidden spare tire, using a pickup truck underbed spare tire winch that I had salvaged from a Ford F-series pickup many many years ago:
One of my 3/8” Craftsman universal joint socket adapters gave it’s life to the cause, allowing the jack shaft to make the transition over the tire to the pillow bearing plate:
And voila:
While the glue gun was out, I bent up some 1-3/4” tube and made a quickie light bar to finally add some rear facing task lighting. I can’t tell you how many after-dark recoveries having these lights would have been handy for
The basic idea:
Added my patented light tabs:
Complete with (4) 55watt halogen rubber body farm lights:
And the payoff:
The last item on the list was to re-install some reverse lights. I had added a reverse light circuit several years ago, but the plastic housing 3x5 rectangular halogen lights I was using kept breaking off their mounts and I quit replacing them at some point. Whilst perusing the aisles at O’Napzone the other day I stumbled across a nice looking set of extremely low profile LED fog lights and figured I’d give them a try:
Should be good for a few more years