deepNdirt
Veteran Member
I had the perfect size trailer for my CUT tractor, Trailer being size 5' x 13.6 dove tail with hinged ramps dual axle, brakes on 1 axle, 14" bias tires. this medium to heavy duty trailer towed great,
It's original owner had been using it to haul his Ditch-Witch trencher & spool of cable,
I've been using this trailer for a couple years to transport my compact tractor. Although this size trailer only haul the tractor with its FEL along with only 1 implement, I have found times that I need to have another tool but no space to haul it,
So! Decided to seek out a trade for a larger trailer, Perhaps someone would trade even-steven? Last week this such person contact me and said he would trade and explained that he no longer has a truck large enough to pull his 6.5 x 16 ft. trailer and would be glad to trade down to my smaller trailer.
He also advised me that his trailer is just like mine only larger, This had me very interested so I decided to go take a look, His trailer was sitting in tall weeds and looked good from the tops side and tires were good with no dry rotting, Basically all I could see is it would need paint and some boards replaced........ turns out this would be the least of my problems
I go ahead and make the trade for a 6.5 x 16
I realized there were going to be a few trade offs in features, My trailer had dovetail with ramps ... this 16 ft'r did not have ramps or dovetail, my trailer had 1 axle brakes... this other trailer had no brakes at all, My trailer had heavy duty diamond fenders... this other one had thin cheap metal stamped fenders, my trailer had all good wood floor boards,... his would need 4 boards replaced... I was willing to make the trade to gain a much needed and larger trailer,
after getting the trailer home I could better inspect it, I didn't like what I found, The tongue had been replaced and not a very good job done I might add, I called him back on this and he act as though he had no knowledge of this and advised me he never had any trouble with it this way, but all he had ever hauled with it was firewood logs,
Apparently the tongue had been bent at some point and time, bad enough to needing cut off and replaced, the material used was 3x3 angle iron, when looking back under the trailer I could see it used to have 4x4 angle iron, I wound up re-welding the tongue from the tops side and bottom side, and welding a diagonal pc. from top rail to the tongue to try and reinforce it for now, Later i will weld onto the tongue some 4" channel,
I then moved to the rear of the trailer and cut at the next back cross-member in order to lower and build a dovetail into the trailer making it much easier to load and unload things,
I primed and re-painted it although I will now need to get electric brakes for at least one axle's, even though I had to do much work to it I now have the size trailer I need to haul necessary implements for any job, although thinking back now I think I could have rather sold my trailer and simply purchased another larger one for less than what time and money I'm having to spend to have this one converted the way I need it,
My story is to let you folks be aware that what you first think might be a good trade can wind up you getting the bad end of the deal,
This person i traded with now has a perfect trailer that he can simply go use,
I had to spend the better part of 4 days getting this other one ready to use,
I guess I'm not too old to learn new lessons
As you can see in the pictures I now have much more room for my extra tools :thumbsup:
actually since taking this picture I have fitted my Box scrape onto the trailer as well,
It's original owner had been using it to haul his Ditch-Witch trencher & spool of cable,
I've been using this trailer for a couple years to transport my compact tractor. Although this size trailer only haul the tractor with its FEL along with only 1 implement, I have found times that I need to have another tool but no space to haul it,
So! Decided to seek out a trade for a larger trailer, Perhaps someone would trade even-steven? Last week this such person contact me and said he would trade and explained that he no longer has a truck large enough to pull his 6.5 x 16 ft. trailer and would be glad to trade down to my smaller trailer.
He also advised me that his trailer is just like mine only larger, This had me very interested so I decided to go take a look, His trailer was sitting in tall weeds and looked good from the tops side and tires were good with no dry rotting, Basically all I could see is it would need paint and some boards replaced........ turns out this would be the least of my problems
I go ahead and make the trade for a 6.5 x 16
I realized there were going to be a few trade offs in features, My trailer had dovetail with ramps ... this 16 ft'r did not have ramps or dovetail, my trailer had 1 axle brakes... this other trailer had no brakes at all, My trailer had heavy duty diamond fenders... this other one had thin cheap metal stamped fenders, my trailer had all good wood floor boards,... his would need 4 boards replaced... I was willing to make the trade to gain a much needed and larger trailer,
after getting the trailer home I could better inspect it, I didn't like what I found, The tongue had been replaced and not a very good job done I might add,
I called him back on this and he act as though he had no knowledge of this and advised me he never had any trouble with it this way, but all he had ever hauled with it was firewood logs,Apparently the tongue had been bent at some point and time, bad enough to needing cut off and replaced, the material used was 3x3 angle iron, when looking back under the trailer I could see it used to have 4x4 angle iron, I wound up re-welding the tongue from the tops side and bottom side, and welding a diagonal pc. from top rail to the tongue to try and reinforce it for now, Later i will weld onto the tongue some 4" channel,
I then moved to the rear of the trailer and cut at the next back cross-member in order to lower and build a dovetail into the trailer making it much easier to load and unload things,
I primed and re-painted it although I will now need to get electric brakes for at least one axle's, even though I had to do much work to it I now have the size trailer I need to haul necessary implements for any job, although thinking back now
I think I could have rather sold my trailer and simply purchased another larger one for less than what time and money I'm having to spend to have this one converted the way I need it,My story is to let you folks be aware that what you first think might be a good trade can wind up you getting the bad end of the deal,
This person i traded with now has a perfect trailer that he can simply go use,
I had to spend the better part of 4 days getting this other one ready to use,
I guess I'm not too old to learn new lessons
As you can see in the pictures I now have much more room for my extra tools :thumbsup:
actually since taking this picture I have fitted my Box scrape onto the trailer as well,
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