Rutdigger
Watch This!
Hello everyone. Some of you might have seen that awesome trailer in Australia called the UEV 440. If you have looked at it then maybe you have also seen the price tag on that beast; YIKES :Wow1:! Anyway, great trailer but not practical to buy, so I decided to use that as a model and build a DIY version as close to the original as I could get by looking at the pictures. So anyway, this is my version of that great trailer.
My build began in Sept 2013 and as most can attest it was an on and off project with some weeks hitting it hard and then some taking months off for life. So here we are just over two years later and I have got it almost 95% done. Of course there will be little projects to add or change along the way but, that's how it goes when you build your own stuff.
I stated with a great 4000# axle find for 100 bucks. Local trailer shop had it sitting on the shelf for years from a warranty repair that did not fit the application so the owner sold it to me for cheap. Has 12" brakes on it also. i will be cutting this up later to make trailing arms.
I decided to make the frame out of steel. I do not have the equipment to use alum and so far I have gotten with in the same range and the commercial trailer of this size and shape that are made out of alum. Here is the frame coming together:
The frame is upside down to allow me to work on the suspension mounts and mock-up.
Now in this pic I was trying to be cheap and I used scrap metal left over from a project I had done earlier. It was a mistake because after finishing the arms one of them bend inward over the 900 mile drive from Colorado to Texas. I ended up totally pulling them out and making trailing arms the right way as you will see in the pics later on. Here are the pics of the wrong way to make arms so don't do this:
Ok so I got those done and was able to flip the frame over and start welding the rest of the frame together. I needed to do this in order to be able to start framing the walls and such. I know it is hard to see in the pics with all the background things, but you gotta work where you can, right?
Skeletal walls going up:
Frame for kitchen slide out:
Ok, I just got the message telling me I can only post 10 images (thank you for implementing that admins, some boards don't) so I will continue this post in other segments...more to follow.
My build began in Sept 2013 and as most can attest it was an on and off project with some weeks hitting it hard and then some taking months off for life. So here we are just over two years later and I have got it almost 95% done. Of course there will be little projects to add or change along the way but, that's how it goes when you build your own stuff.
I stated with a great 4000# axle find for 100 bucks. Local trailer shop had it sitting on the shelf for years from a warranty repair that did not fit the application so the owner sold it to me for cheap. Has 12" brakes on it also. i will be cutting this up later to make trailing arms.
I decided to make the frame out of steel. I do not have the equipment to use alum and so far I have gotten with in the same range and the commercial trailer of this size and shape that are made out of alum. Here is the frame coming together:
The frame is upside down to allow me to work on the suspension mounts and mock-up.
Now in this pic I was trying to be cheap and I used scrap metal left over from a project I had done earlier. It was a mistake because after finishing the arms one of them bend inward over the 900 mile drive from Colorado to Texas. I ended up totally pulling them out and making trailing arms the right way as you will see in the pics later on. Here are the pics of the wrong way to make arms so don't do this:
Ok so I got those done and was able to flip the frame over and start welding the rest of the frame together. I needed to do this in order to be able to start framing the walls and such. I know it is hard to see in the pics with all the background things, but you gotta work where you can, right?
Skeletal walls going up:
Frame for kitchen slide out:
Ok, I just got the message telling me I can only post 10 images (thank you for implementing that admins, some boards don't) so I will continue this post in other segments...more to follow.
