Trailer Repair

I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of a cheap utility trailer. It cost me $50 and a mason jar of white lightning. It was an interesting time in my life. 

In its first build it had a 3 foot by 8 foot box with 2 foot sides. It hauled a lot of firewood. One time I filled it with 4.5 gallon jugs of waste veggie oil. It was pulled my old Mercedes diesel converted to run on waste veggie. That load of oil got me 3000 miles without having to stop for more fuel. 

Eventually the wooden box had gotten pretty battered. Then it was rebuilt to haul my homemade 4 X 12 foot boat. That got hauled all over the country. Once the hitch pin fell out of the van releasing the hitch and letting the trailer got off on its own. Much to my surprise it stayed upright and was found hundreds of feet off the road. The boat was undamaged. 

However, the trailer had a rough time. A cross member had to be replaced to get home. A couple of springs had broken and it sorta listed to one side for the next 2000 miles. Still, it make it home. That ain’t nothing. 

So it got new springs a couple years ago. Last year the wheel bearings were replaced. Yesterday I finally installed new tires. The beauty of cheap trailers is that they can always be rebuilt. There’s a lot of junk that needs to be hauled to the transfer station so it’s good have it road worthy. 

-Sixbears