An excellent customer story about a complete trailer rebuild. We talk about it once in awhile, and we give some advice, but this is the first customer story that is truly about doing a full rebuild and reformat.
This story comes from Ericg81 via our project submission form. Here is the story in his own words.
Customer Story:
A Trailer Rebuild Story – from “Ericg81”
I recently purchased my second ATV and didn’t have a two-place ATV trailer to haul them to destinations. I picked up this snowmobile tilt-trailer for $200.00. Brought it home and took off the old deck for replacement. Unfortunately, I found the trailer was all rusted through, the axle was bent, and tires were rotted. I thought, well now is as good a time as any to learn to weld. My background is automotive engineering, so knowing where to place the new parts would be easy, and welding was a skill I was ready to learn.
I replaced the axle with a 93 inch, 3,500lb Dexter axle and springs, then upgraded the tires from 8 inchers to 12’s. All new wiring with LED lights. Dark hunter green Rustoleum paint. And I added gussets to the frame which made a world of difference in the rigidity of the frame. I’m six months into the project and nearly finished. Mechanical Elements has been a life saver. I have learned a lot from this website, and just plain enjoy the articles. I like to show others that I am a capable millennial that enjoys real life challenges and not the ones found in video games.
Thank You For The Story
Well, thank you for the compliment about the website. That is the intent, so I am very glad to hear that our efforts to write have the value we hoped for.
The trailer you are building looks great, and we really appreciate you taking the time to send the photos with your story. What an exciting change in the trailer rebuild, and a terrific newfound welding skill as well. That’s totally awesome, so Keep on Welding and improving!
The photos are great. I have included them for everyone to enjoy below in roughly date order based on the camera assigned file name. It’s a great documentation of the project progression. We need just one more picture when the trailer is all complete and loaded with the ATVs!
Looks like it’s taken a great chunk of your COVID quarantine time, which is fantastic. Learn a new skill, keep busy in a safe place, then end up with a great trailer. You can’t beat that! Good job.
If you’re looking for inspiration, then this trailer rebuild story can be it. Or, if you don’t have a trailer to rebuild or convert, then we have plans for building a new ATV Trailer. (Or, another project.) Then, when you’re done, you can submit your own customer success story. Thank you for visiting Mechanical Elements.
More Photos of the Project
Enjoy.
Excellent photo documentation of the project, hopefully we’ll get one last photo of the complete, finished trailer rebuild. The before and after make a pretty stark difference.
Next Up: More customer stories of DIY inspiration are here to read. One is a unique cart trailer build, and another is an interesting teardrop trailer build. Try them both.
If you are interested in something a little more technical, try the article about trailer aerodynamics.
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