1989 Car Hauling Trailer Refit

those "toyos" look like they are the 13" fiero wheels

It took me a while to find, order, and purchase the fenders. But...I have and they're installed now,

Next step is paint on the majority of the trailer. I think I might wait to paint the tongue until I put a winch mount and such up there...

Clem

I've been seriously dreading the paint portion of this project (just like I did on the bottom paint...now it's time for the top).

I bought tractor paint from Tractor Supply for about $25. I also got catalyst/hardener to go along with it (another $15). Small foam rollers from the paint section at the low-nard-depot were used to apply.

It does not look great, but it looks much better than it did in my previous post, I hope you'll agree:

[yes, I did shuffle it around the yard with the Subaru. No, I won't be making a habit of using the Subaru to actually tow this trailer]

Many bugs have been incorporated into the paint job. "We lost a lot of good bugs out there."

The fenders have three coats on them now. The first coat was utterly disappointing, but it gets much better on the second coat.

I still need to put a second and/or third coat on some areas...and a first coat on a few areas...but it's getting there.

sweet. Good color choice!

Rob R.

In reply to wvumtnbkr: It ended up being a little more toward the Smurf end of the spectrum than I expected/wanted...but it's better than it was before.

Looks a million times better! And you found paint that was neither JD Green nor Barn Red at TSC!

By now, I've got most of it painted (even the frame forward of the deck). I need another coat on some areas and then it's time for wiring and lights. I'll try to remember to get some photos of that as it comes together.

I could use some BTDT advice/recommendation on a quality set of crimpers to use when wiring this with the small gauge wire. I prefer to use non-insulated crimp connectors (that's just the way we did it on the race cars when I learned). I don't have a good soldering iron yet, and I believe soldering gets mixed reviews anyway. So...I'm looking for a crimper that will make a quality crimp, but I'm not going to be doing it every day (so I don't need a Snap-on or whatever else).

Thanks!
Clem

In reply to ClemSparks:

napa's higher quality one is nice

As usual...the tool was pressed into service before it's completely ready ;).

I used it to drag home a Brush Hog last night and tonight, I should be picking up a "Title Donor" '78 Malibu.

This past weekend, I started working on mounting the lights and the junction box and began routing the wiring. I should have it wired for lights before the snow flies, lol.

As it sits, now:

I'm on the lookout for a (second-hand) draw bar with about 4-6" of drop. It needs to be just a bit lower in the front.

Funny, we were just talking after Chump Pittsburgh about getting a trailer for the Lemons/Chump car and painting it "safety blue," to match the interior and some exterior of the racecar......which is about the same color you used on yours. Looks great!

Yes, there are two different types of blue tractor paint. Old Ford and New Ford (New Holland, I guess) and one of those also says "Safety Blue" on the label. I believe that's what we see here on the smurf trailer.

it's grabber blue. Boss 302 graphics FTW.

RE: crimping electrical connections . You need Klien tools 1005 crimping pliers. I picked up my last pair at HomeDepot. Amazon has then too. I think greenlee has a very similar tool. I use mine almost everyday, they are good for 99% of the crimps that I need to make.

For connectors you should use the type that have heat shrink insulation . I don't like soldering connections, on things that move around and might be exposed to moisture.

BTW the trailer looks great

Funny thing...when I posted about crimpers, I had forgotten I have a pair like those Klein/Greenlee ones above. I've been using them on a few things since I posted and they are working acceptably, so far. It's been a long time since I've done much crimping.

Lights are mounted now...as you can see in this photo:

Next step...wiring the lights.

Dumb question, but is mounting the brake/turn/marker light that far forward legal? I thought you needed the rear lights as far back as possible with another rear (red) and front (amber) side clearance light on the widest part of the trailer (wheel wheels).

(Not that my trailer is set up that way, of course, but I'm looking at a re-wire job over the winter on it, and I was researching what the lights need to be to be considered legal so I can do it right).

The fact that you have researched this at all puts you leagues ahead of me as far as trailer light knowledge goes.

This trailer was evidently built with lights in more-or-less the location that I have them installed.

My experience towing sketchy, non-lit, non-licensed trailers over the years is that nobody around these parts actually seems to enforce trailer laws.

I seriously got a ticket the other day for passing someone on the shoulder in a traffic jam while pulling the most horrendous looking borrowed trailer with non-functional lights. They didn't even glance at the trailer while walking past. It might as well not have been there.

That said, I'll probably get pulled over for no lights or license this evening when I pull it 1 mile across town...

It's going to feel real nice to finally pull one with working lights, lol. As soon as they are working.

Just a smattering of things this has hauled home since it was rebuilt.

There was a 1994 Caprice (that I didn't get a photo of actually on the trailer) that is about as much as this trailer should haul:

Then we bought some property and I've moved just about every non-running project I own out there with the trailer. '87 Toyota 4x4, a bare rolling G-body Chassis, The worn-out stock car shown in the 1st post of this thread, An '85 Merkur XR4Ti, and likely others that I'm forgetting.

Recently, I hauled these home on it

1983 Mustang GT:

The 1987 Toyota Truck that had the engine for the project above:

I should be adding another tomorrow...

just noticing how amazingly low that trailer seems to be. Ever have clearance issues on driveways or whatever?

In reply to irish44j:

Yes, it's quite low. It'll drag on stuff and you can't open the doors on the car once you've loaded it in most cases (Suzuki Samurai and Lifted Toyota 4x4 are the exception). But it's the trailer I've got, so I deal with it best I can.

As a matter of fact, today I drove around the Ozarks and got off into some unkempt campgrounds with it and was able to navigate ok. We had to lock it in 4x4 to climb out a couple of times. You just have to take it easy on the transitions and plan ahead.

I wouldn't buy or build one this low again, to be sure (this one was a Smokin' deal 16 years ago...)

Today was an adventure.

I loaded up this Merkur XR4Ti and headed south for a trade.

What was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour trip to the meeting place got bumped to three for a small side trip. Then the guy I was trading had truck trouble and I needed to go an extra hour or so to make the trade. Since I was going that far, another stop to buy a $50 outboard for the '58 Richline boat seemed like a no-brainer.

Finally, I get to the little town where the breakdown occurred (now loaded down with 8 bags of horse feed, 1 40 horsepower Evinrude outboard and surprisingly good attitudes) and we unload the Merkur and load up this:

A '78 Fiat 124 Spider.

13 hours driving around the state in a truck, it's been fun but I'm tired

I'll continue to post, from time to time, things that have ridden on the trailer.

'89 Chevy Shortbed project I acquired in October:

A '95 Mustang (parts donor for the '83 GT posted above) that came home like this:

And went away to the crusher like this:

1965 Buick Skylark rode home 1/16/16.

How is the pair holding up? It looks like as often as not vehicles with less than 4 rubber shoes have been drug onto and off of that thing