Wanted: Open Trailer

They say if you keep racing long enough, you will break everything. I didn't know that meant my trailer. I found cracks in the frame rails of my trailer. Both sides. All the way through. The only thing holding the front and the back of my trailer together is the sheet steel decking welded across the span of the cracked section. I broke my trailer in half...

Anyway, I want/need a new open trailer to haul my car around on. Anyone have one or know of one for sale? Anyone thinking of upgrading to an enclosed trailer that needs a little push?

Anyone have any use for a bunch of scrap steel? Normally scrap steel is heavy and hard to move around. This scrap steel is specially set up with wheels and lights...


Richard P.

Richard-bring it to the track. I know a guy who will weld it up for you...............Pranav!!!!

I will keep my eyes open.

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Originally Posted by bryanl

richard-bring it to the track. I know a guy who will weld it up for you...............pranav!!!!

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there's nothing on this great wide earth i can't weld with my hobart 110v!

Richard what size frame rail/channel is your trailer? Mine's strong enough to ride the dovetail edge rollers with all 4 wheels off the ground when going up/down steep driveways. Well it hasn't cracked yet doing this...

I would love to see some photos of the failure, I have heard of this happening before but I couldn't imagine it happening with my trailer.

It's not really a strength issue. It's more of a design/fatigue issue. The main frame rails on both sides cracked right at the edge of the weld where the tubes for the trailer tongue stopped. So we have a discontinuity of geometry going from double height tubes to a single tube, a stress riser from the edge of the weld, and a heat affected zone all at the same spot. Add in a bit of corrosion from about 20 years of mostly sitting outside and the thing couldn't take the cyclic loading from a bit over 20k miles of towing my racecar around. Disappointing because I don't want to pay for a new one but not really a surprise.

Richard P.

Section the frame rail 1" shorter and weld it back together...

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Originally Posted by marshall_mosty

Section the frame rail 1" shorter and weld it back together...

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I don't know....I see a lot of Gulf Coast Cancer. Looks like more than just surface rust.


JJ

If this is the same trailer that I remember, Richard deserves a new one.

It is too bad he doesn't know a structural engineer and also a welder.

Throw some JB Weld on it... that should fix it. ;)

I would probably try to section it, but it might be more hassle than it is worth.

Why not just keep driving it like that and always have Jerry follow you in his RV. Don't hook up the chains and let him deal with it when it finally lets go. Have it and the race car insured and you could then get a new featherlite and Boss 302.

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Originally Posted by Rob Liebbe

If this is the same trailer that I remember, Richard deserves a new one.

It is too bad he doesn't know a structural engineer and also a welder.

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It's fixable within my available resources but it would be a lot of work. It certainly wouldn't involve sectioning, though. Unfortunately, it would merely delay the inevitable. The rest of the trailer is a bit of a basket case. It also has tags that expired in December and wouldn't pass inspection because it lacks a trailer break away brake system. It would take money and time to be able to use it even if it wasn't broken in half. It's time to move on...


Richard P.

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Originally Posted by BryanL

Why not just keep driving it like that and always have Jerry follow you in his RV. Don't hook up the chains and let him deal with it when it finally lets go. Have it and the race car insured and you could then get a new featherlite and Boss 302.

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Ha Ha