A Few Trailer Mods

[3RRL]

About a year ago I bought a standard utility Carlson Trailer with ramp gate.
It's 7,000lb dual axle 16' car hauler type and 8' wide on the outside. It's got a 1 foot tall steel railing around the bed, equalizer leaf springs, electric brakes on one axle and 2" x 6" wood planks.
I think it weighs about 1,600lbs or so.



I bought it to haul boxes and furniture and other miscellaneous things, mostly to move some personal belongings to my rural property. I don't use it to haul my big Kama around, but I did use it to pick up my wife's 284 Jinma and a bunch of implements. I got that size because at the time, I had a full size Chevy Blazer, but now I have a 2500HD Silverado with diesel and Allison transmission. I would have gotten a 10,000lb 20 footer if I had that truck before. But this one really tows nicely loaded or empty. So far I've only got about 3,000 miles on it but it's come in very handy.
Rob-

[3RRL]

Anyway, I did a few mods to it to make it a little easier to work with.
My rural property has no lights at this time and when there's no Moon, it's super dark when I arrive. I added some back up 55w backup lights to it which really help. I also added some "D" rings around the sides for tying down heavier pieces. I got a 2,000lb electric winch to help pull loads into it, so I also added a brace where I can attach the winch. It's one of those kinds you could put over your trailer ball if you wanted. I can put a 1" leader pin into this brace to hold the winch.



It didn't come with any spares so I bought two just recently. I bought those Harbor Freight spare tire mounts for like ten bucks and welded them to the outer railing and a brace on the bottom to the frame. I had to make a little bracket out of 1/2" thick steel because the bottom hole didn't line up with my lug pattern, but it turned out real sturdy. I save a bit there because other spare mounts were like 40 bucks each.



I mounted the spares so I could still work the winch in between them. They don't get in the way when I'm completely jackknifed, so they should be alright. We've been going up to the property about every other weekend for about 4 years now, but the future trips will all be with the trailer. I figured spares were a must have. I mounted 2 (lockable) side tool boxes in the Silverado that's full of chains, binders, straps, hitches and misc safety stuff like flares, tire repair kit, jumpers, tools and such. I keep the small winch in them too.
Rob-

[GuglioLS]

Nice set of mods there Rob. The wheels you got for spares sure are fancy. Are you going to do a 6 wheel tire rotation? That's what I would do to try and keep the tread wear on all six tires about the same and to use the tires up before they rot out. Got any locking lug nuts? Where did you get the heavy duty D-rings? I noticed Harbor Freight now sells some 1/2" weld ons.

Larry

[3RRL]

Thanks Larry,
That is a good suggestion about tire rotation...using all of them into the mix. The ones on the trailer are just like those spares with the same exact rims except these are white and the ones on the trailer are silver. They were a hundred bucks each.
I thought about locking lug nuts but don't have any yet. Where do I get them at ... a PEP boys or Napa? Oh, and what do you use them for? To lock the lug nuts or something?

I got those "D" rings at AW Direct where I get all my towing supplies and weld on grab hooks.
Scroll down...
AW DIRECT "D" RINGS

[GuglioLS]

Hey Rob,

The D-rings at H/F are 5 bucks.
H/F D ring link

As far as Locking lug nuts go, I suppose there used for locking the lug nuts? That way when you get a flat you can't remove the wheels because you can't find the key. It will run you about 20 bucks for that feature.

Larry