Found a trailer. Should I try to deal with the rust?

[Seth Kendall]

Driving home from work I found a military trailer (looks like m100, though I very much could be wrong) in what looks to be a scrap yard. Stopped by to ask about it, but no one was there. Took a look at the trailer. Looked to be in relatively good condition (surface rust) until I peeked under the bed at the frame. Most of the frame still looked okay, but the left side by the wheel had a large rust hole right through the frame.

I am wondering if this is a project worth looking into if I am someone with zero experience welding. I would love to build one of these up, but don't want to get hundreds of dollars into it and not have a solid platform in the end. What do you think?

I will post pictures as soon as I can take some.

 

[alosix]

Depends.. do you want some experience welding?

The frame of those tends to be the easy part for a 'garage fabricator' to make. The bed, without a decent brake, is hard. If you've got the time and want to learn how to do some basic fab work, this might be a good project.

Jason

 

[mjm]

Sometimes you don't know the extent of the damage until you sand blast it. If you are not doing a strict restoration, you have a lot of options. Look closely at the tub.

 

[stomperxj]

If the tub is in good shape and its cheap enough, go for it. Building a new frame is not that hard and not too expensive if you know someone who can weld...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Photos would help. Welding is not overly difficult but the machines are expensive. With a couple hours training from a buddy you could at least be proficient to cut out and replace the big rust hole'd areas. But regardless, it won't be cheap.... And it will take time or lots of time. Once in a blue moon you come across a frame for sale, it is a good question...

 

[highlandercj-7]

IMHO, though I'm a welder, It is easier to fab a new frame for this type of trailer. To me the c channel leaves lot to be desired. A couple sticks of 2x3 3/16" box tubing and one afternoon, you'd have a brand new frame.

 

[lowenbrau]

Seth, this isn't specific advice to you but more general to guys who are thinking about taking on a trailer project.

The fun thing about trailers is that they are so simple and relatively cheap that taking on your first projects on them is far less daunting than doing projects on the SUV that you are making payments on. Welding, wiring, bearing jobs are the kinds of things that you might be hesitant to do on your Daily Driver but will tackle with some help on your trailer project.

For the $500 difference between a primo military trailer and a roach. It hardly makes sense to buy the cheaper one except for the satisfaction of building it yourself, the way you want.

I bless the day, years ago, when I saw a rusty old diesel Cruiser for sale on a bulletin board for $700. I learned more about wheeling and wrenching from that old rig that I could have imagined. Some of my favorite cross country trips were with it and a backpack knowing that if it gave up I could literally take the plates off and hitch. I put over 100,000 km on that rig.

 

[ntsqd]

IMHO, though I'm a welder, It is easier to fab a new frame for this type of trailer. To me the c channel leaves lot to be desired. A couple sticks of 2x3 3/16" box tubing and one afternoon, you'd have a brand new frame.

I don't know about just an afternoon, but I'll echo this comment. It would ultimately be less work to start from scratch than to fix a frame in bad shape, and you'd end up with a frame made from better materials.

You'll never get your money out of it if you're looking at it as a financial investment, but the investment in yourself will be priceless. Unless it's a total toad I'd say go for it.