The Home Machinist!

Hi all,

Taking the engine to the NJLS this weekend there seemed to be a fair bit of interest in my utility trailer setup. I've attached some pictures should this help anyone out or give some ideas.

The trailer is a 6 x 10ft aluminum utility trailer from Legend Trailers with home-built modifications to suit the traction engine. Next year I'll add 7.25" rails down each side so that I can haul the loco and cars, the E-Track is installed in readiness.
More pictures to follow,

Best regards
Steve

A few more to follow,
Steve

Best regards
Steve

Nicely done, Steve. I particularly like the folding ramp, the tracks with the movable chocks, and how the use of straps to hold it all down.

Do you attempt to balance the load around the trailer's wheels, or do you try to put a bit more load on the trailer tongue?

Everything's arranged to give a little over 10% of the total weight on the tongue Ed. When laying things out I used a scale on the tongue in order to determine where everything needs to go fore-and-aft.

For clarity, the Erickson chocks are not movable they're bolted down to the trailer frame. I roll the engine over the first chock.

Best regards
Steve

Well done! I like the way you used the tie down track to locate the chocks, lets you balance the load with other things in the trailer. The cover setup so rain doesn't pool on top of it is also a great feature what did you use to make that frame? I've tried PVC that looked the same size for my lake boat and it folded up on me on the freeway.
They say 5% tongue weight or at least 50#'s, but can be more depending on your tow vehicle. Anytime I've ran zero or minus(just couldn't load the trailer any other way), things swayed back and forth anytime I encountered a gust of wind or passed a semi.
The customizing part of a new trailer is always the hardest and often expensive part of the purchase, I have a 8.5'x20' enclosed that was my divorce consolation prize, and I must have spent another $1,000 on shelves, a workbench, straps, ties downs and tie down track, D-rings, etc.

Thanks!

rkcarguy:
The tarpaulin bows are made from standard 3/4" schedule 40 pvc pipe and fittings.

The uprights and horizontal cross-pieces were made and installed initially (see first picture). The approx. 20 degree bend at each end of the curved portion was formed by holding the piece in a vice, softening the pipe locally with a hairdryer, and pulling by hand until the bend was 'about right'. The bow was then sprung into place on the trailer with the usual pvc primer and glue to keep things together. The tension in the curved bow provides plenty of strength to resist flattening - the tarp is also pulled fairly taught and helps add to the overall rigidity. This seems to work well so far.

When planning the trailer I came across the following Youtube video that nicely demonstrates the importance of tongue weight and the perils of having a tail-heavy trailer. It's worth a watch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jk9H5AB4lM

Best regards
Steve

Schedule 40 PVC bends pretty easily. I was able to bend a nice S curve to go around a place where the joists overlap under my porch. I used a heat gun.