I posted this on yotatech but then I realized there's way more people on here building/modifying trailers so I started an account. Hoping to get some opinions from people who build/run these bed trailers, I've never messed with one before.
I've got a '75 Pickup so when I saw this thing on craiglist I couldn't resist... Same era, but it's a long bed. The reason I was looking is I'm about to drive Maine-Louisiana and I've got a little bit too much stuff for my truck so I wanted a little utility trailer. Ended up with this, oops... I'm not going to put much weight in it, maybe 700lbs (also towing with a Tacoma not the '75 4-banger) but I need to get it highway safe for the trip. Figured I'd see what people think.
It looks rough but the frame is actually fine, nothing but surface rust anywhere on it. The bed is rotted out a fair bit but that's an easy enough repair, for now I'm just going to beef up the frame mounts and screw down some 3/4" ply.
I'm putting on new shocks (Gabriels, nothing special). I also pulled the brake drums and inspected the bearings, they feel nice and smooth I'll probably pull the pads and the rest of the brake hardware out while I'm in there. Then there's the obvious stuff - lights, a plate, check the safety chains, new tires. Hitch is solid with a new latch.
I pulled the U-bolts to get a closer look at the plate on the underside that they go through (last picture). These have some heavy pitting. I could fix em by welding filler into the worst pits and adding a 3/16" backing plate but if anyone knows where to buy new ones that would be a lot easier (Toyota calls em 'Spring Assembly Seat,' I've also seen em called leaf spring plates or u-bolt plates). This is the toyota kind where the shock mount is welded to the plate.
Am I missing anything? What would you do to consider this highway safe? Am I crazy to pull a truck bed trailer long distance? I know people mostly use em for around town and off-roading but I'm hoping if it's fixed up good and not heavily loaded it will pull fine. I guess the issue generally is with the higher weight distribution and softer springs of a pickup bed there's more sway/body roll? Don't really want to put the work into installing a trailer axle unless I stumble across a free one.
Also curious if anyone thinks it's worth cracking open the pumpkin and pulling out the internals of the differential to reduce drag? Is it possible to do this without opening the bearings and pulling the axles? Is there any reason not to in terms of controlling side loads on the bearings (ie. does the gearing in the differential help keep the axles in line with with bearings)?
I've got a '75 Pickup so when I saw this thing on craiglist I couldn't resist... Same era, but it's a long bed. The reason I was looking is I'm about to drive Maine-Louisiana and I've got a little bit too much stuff for my truck so I wanted a little utility trailer. Ended up with this, oops... I'm not going to put much weight in it, maybe 700lbs (also towing with a Tacoma not the '75 4-banger) but I need to get it highway safe for the trip. Figured I'd see what people think.
It looks rough but the frame is actually fine, nothing but surface rust anywhere on it. The bed is rotted out a fair bit but that's an easy enough repair, for now I'm just going to beef up the frame mounts and screw down some 3/4" ply.
I'm putting on new shocks (Gabriels, nothing special). I also pulled the brake drums and inspected the bearings, they feel nice and smooth I'll probably pull the pads and the rest of the brake hardware out while I'm in there. Then there's the obvious stuff - lights, a plate, check the safety chains, new tires. Hitch is solid with a new latch.
I pulled the U-bolts to get a closer look at the plate on the underside that they go through (last picture). These have some heavy pitting. I could fix em by welding filler into the worst pits and adding a 3/16" backing plate but if anyone knows where to buy new ones that would be a lot easier (Toyota calls em 'Spring Assembly Seat,' I've also seen em called leaf spring plates or u-bolt plates). This is the toyota kind where the shock mount is welded to the plate.
Am I missing anything? What would you do to consider this highway safe? Am I crazy to pull a truck bed trailer long distance? I know people mostly use em for around town and off-roading but I'm hoping if it's fixed up good and not heavily loaded it will pull fine. I guess the issue generally is with the higher weight distribution and softer springs of a pickup bed there's more sway/body roll? Don't really want to put the work into installing a trailer axle unless I stumble across a free one.
Also curious if anyone thinks it's worth cracking open the pumpkin and pulling out the internals of the differential to reduce drag? Is it possible to do this without opening the bearings and pulling the axles? Is there any reason not to in terms of controlling side loads on the bearings (ie. does the gearing in the differential help keep the axles in line with with bearings)?
