Dump Trailer

[Iplayfarmer]

Is the brush on/roll on painting a single coat application? Do you brush on the primer too?

 

[Renze]

I repainted and totally overhauled a muck spreader 3 years ago. I wire brushed it first to remove all loose rust, then applied 2 layers of RAL 3009 zinc-phosphate primer and painted it in the original colour, RAL 3000 fire red.
Even though i dont clean it as often because i use it all year round, whenever a field is cut or grazed, but even in this very corrosive environment, the paint holds very well on wire brushed steel.

Last winter i rebuilt a 2 ton tandem car trailer for my brother. With just wire brushing i got very nice results, the paint job looks automotive. I just blasted some loads of thick primer and colour paint on it, then put on a shiny finish by spraying a very thin layer of extra thinned paint. the result was a heavy coat of paint with no seepers, with a very shiny finish.

I usually apply wet-on-wet, which means spraying the next layer of paint within about an hour, so that the paint is dry enough to stay in place, but there is no dried skin on the paint yet.
If you spray over a dried skin when the paint under that skin isnt dry enough, either the skin is going to wrinkle like a sweaty d*ck or areas of the skin of paint just sinks down....

 

[AllWaysBreakinSomething]

It is a dump trailer and will get scratched. So a perfect paint job is like driving a new truck to load gravel..

Sandblasting is cheap and easy with a pressure washer with a sandblasting wand. It does more than any air compressor sandblaster I've ever seen. Awesome and the wand is not that expensive. You may be able to rent and will not take you but about an hour.

Definitely use primer and make sure the metal is dry. I mean no moisture in the metal. Don't paint in the sun. Make sure the metal is close to 76 degrees but not over 80 degrees. Also the room or outside air should be about the same. I prefer to paint indoors as bugs like the odors. I like to spray several times for a thick coat. Wait at least 4hrs between coats so they harden and spray again. I would spray a few times to get a thick coat.

If you plan to brush just by the spray primer. It does the job.
Also use foam brushes and do not go back touching up until dry. Paint small areas completely and move out from there. This will leave less brush marks etc.

Hope this helps... If you really want some hard paint use the industrial yellow from CAT or equivalent. That stuff is strong.

Again I wouldn't spend a lot on the paint either. You can always touchup. I do this all the time with my tractor underbody. Noone ever knows it isn't original.


Oh! Cool project and very well documented. I like the pictures along with your progress.

My guess is those lawnmower axles are rated at less than 1000lbs each. I would however check the tire rating. Should in the writing close to the rim. You may have a limit there. Those tires are usually not very thick.

Good Luck

 

[KentT]

Is the brush on/roll on painting a single coat application? Do you brush on the primer too?

Yes, you can brush or roll on the primer too... or you can spray it.

One coat of paint, rolled or brushed on will usually cover.

I'd suggest you get the shortest nap rollers you can find -- and narrower ones, not the 12" ones. That way you can "control it" much better. I have one that is 4" wide or thereabouts.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Thanks for all the responses. Keep them coming. I'm finding my life filling up with other things, and I need to keep motivated to get through this project. I am having a blast building this. It's the first project of this type and magnitude that I've built. It's challenging me, but it sure is fun.

I'm glad I'm posting here too. If nothing else I feel motivated to spend at least a little time whenever I can because I owe it to the forum to show some progress.

Tonight I cut out one set of "stake pockets". It took me about two hours to cut 11 three inch sections of 2" tubing with 1/8" wall. I'll need to cut out another set of 11 to ring the top of the side rails.

Milwaukee sent me an "Ice Edge" sawzall blade in the mail the other day. It cuts like a hot knife through butter, but I got a little carried away early on today and dulled it. Now it cuts like a butter knife through steak. I cut out the second half of the sections with my trusty angle grinder and a skinny wheel.

I looked this past weekend for some more of this blade, but Lowes said that it was a new blade and they wouldn't have any in for 6 months or so. I think that's bogus and someone was just due for a coffee break. I see that Amazon has them. I'd rather not wait for them to ship. I'll probably go to my local hardware store that never fails me and look for them there. If they don't have any, I'll order them from Amazon.com

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I'm back to fabrication now. I went to my local hardware store, and though they didn't have a Milwaukee 'Ice Edge" blade, they did have another brand of demolition blade. It wasn't quite as good as that ice edge blade, but it worked faster than waiting for shipping from Amazon.com.

I got the pockets all cut out. There are 22 in all. I've attached pictures of the stakes set loosely in place to give an idea how this whole thing is going to look. The stake pockets are just tacked on for now until I get the frames of the bed sides all fabbed up. I already had to take the first two off. I forgot that I was going to drill a 1/4" hole in each pocket to allow for bolting the sides to the base. It was a whole lot easier to just break the tack welds and drill them on my drill press rather than try to drill them in place.

 

[AllWaysBreakinSomething]

Iplayfarmer,
I used a discarded feon container for my hydraulic fluid on my log splitter (not too small or too big). It's the only thing I could find in a container that wasn't dangerous to weld on. Make sure to use wire welder as it's thin.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Iplayfarmer,
I used a discarded feon container for my hydraulic fluid on my log splitter (not too small or too big). It's the only thing I could find in a container that wasn't dangerous to weld on. Make sure to use wire welder as it's thin.

I think the small tank that came with the hydraulic pump is going to be good enough. Since I'm using a dual acting cylinder the actual displacement of fluid is pretty minimal.

The one thing about it, though, is that it didn't have a cap when I bought it. I got a regular old pipe plug for it, and I hear it "hissing" now when I actuate the cylinder. I will probably get some kind of vented cap for it eventually.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I've got meetings tonight, and I'm taking my son camping tomorrow night. I probably won't post much progress until later on Saturday.

In the mean time keep any comments and suggestions coming.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I got the side frames welded today.