Trailer Help

[NevrKnow]

Wasn't sure where to put this so the Mods can move it if necessary.

I have a 21' trailer which has what looks to be a 1and a half inch bar on the back that holds the fold down ramps. My "kids in law" loaned it out and YES! you guessed it. The bar holding the ramps got bent. My question is, when I go to find a new one? What type/kind of steel am I looking for so this doesn't happen again? It's a nice heavy duty trailer I inherited, needs a new bed ( 2x8"s on it now and I'm thinking of getting someone to just put steel on it.) fold down ramps, 2-5/16 ball on it. Tandem axle and I haul my New Holland 3930 Tractor on it. And the occasional car. Like I said, a good sturdy trailer, till that ramp bar thing. May as well add this in. I got my bushhog blades sharp, now whats the best paint to redo all my other farm equipment? Just surface rust but I want something that will last. Thank you my friends for any input. John

 

[ponyexpress94]

This seems like a good location for your question.

So if I'm understanding the description of your trailer correctly, the ramps are held in the vertical position for moving the trailer? If so, you could try to find some chromemoly steel flat bar, or maybe just some mild steel angle iron so that it limits the flex some.

If it was my trailer I would keep the wood deck. If you break a board you can replace it easily, but you would need to weld in patch panels if it was steel. Wood decks also are more forgiving when transporting things like equipment and they might rot but they don't RUST!!!

As far as equipment paint I have always used OEM paints from the specific equipment manufacturer. Maybe someone will have another suggestion.

Hope this helps you.

 

[NevrKnow]

Exactly. I have a round 1- 1/2" Im guessing round bar that my ramps rotate on up and down. Don't know how but the bar got bent and I'm looking to prevent that in the future. I'm looking for the strongest generic bar I can get without going into the ozone on price. I'm not like Bama and haul all the time. It gets used maybe 4 times a year. Yet I don't want to have to replace it every 2 years. AND at the same time I don't wanna fork over for titanium (sp check LOL)

 

[NevrKnow]

pics

 

[BJS]

for the bar you standard mild steel that you can pick up anywhere is what came stock and if it were me I would replace it with the same thing. When you go with something with more strength the weak point becomes the tabs or welds holding the tabs which are still mild steel, or the ramp itself.

As for paint if you strip the old paint off and do a good primer I have found that the Rustoleum Professional High performance protective Enamel

works very well and holds up to abuse. I can say that I used this on the steel rails for my mom's front porch 8 years ago and they still look brand new, shiny and everything. I am currently working on my little utility trailer to refinish it using the same paint. As for primer I use the primer from the same product line if I'm doing a large area or usually I'll just buy good primer in a spray can since my surface prep is usually only in small batches and it's too much work to spray it with the air sprayer and and the clean up after I'm done takes longer than the spraying.

 

[iracemine]

yup. Id go with what he said. mild steel, same exact paint, and new trailer specific wood ( HAVCO Wood Flooring ) for the boards.