New Trailer Project

[KimsJeep]

A friend of mine had one of these trailers and I really liked it. Then I saw one at Bugorama over Labor Day and I told hubby that we should tell our friend that if he ever decides to sell his, I am interested. So a week goes by and I was browsing a auction website I follow and there it was! I ended up winning it and we go pick it up tomorrow!

I shared it on my FB page and another friend told me that it is a Sears trailer. I did a search and I found out that it was supposed to have a clam shell on top. I guess I need to start learning how to weld. The other friend that has the one I liked, just paid a lot of money to have a top made. I want to attempt to make one myself. For now though, the plan is to sandblast it and get it cleaned up, weld a piece back in the front to fix the slot the PO made in it, and then paint it. It will still be useful even with out a top. Perfect for my Jeep and my Bus.

Here are a few pics the auction company took.

You can see on the tailgate that there is a latch, and also a bracket on the front where it used to have a clam shell. I'm going to look around when I am at the place to see if I can see it laying around.

Can't wait to start on it. As of right now I think I want to paint it white, then put the rest of my purple pin stripe material on it. It would match my Jeep really well and also still look good behind my white VW Bus.

 

[Chris]

A good media blast, some proper paint, new tires, and it should be looking good!

 

[ac_]

I am interested to watch it grow. I have a trailer with a roof top tent. I purchased it already built, but I have a want to build my own. Wifee signed off on it, so when we get in my house, I am thinking about starting a new trailer project too. I am looking forward to watching your progress.

 

[JEEPCJTJ]

That is a great find. The clamshell top would be very cool.

I wonder how much it would cost to get a used soft top modified. You could have a soft top Jeep towing a soft top clamshell trailer.

I also wonder what it was used for that it ended up with the "slot" in the front.

 

[KimsJeep]

That is a great find. The clamshell top would be very cool.

I wonder how much it would cost to get a used soft top modified. You could have a soft top Jeep towing a soft top clamshell trailer.

I also wonder what it was used for that it ended up with the "slot" in the front.

The slot in the front was most likely cut for hauling a motorcycle. It also has a tilt frame which I don't think is original to a Sears Clamshell and the tongue is extended. I'm going to be cutting down the tongue.

 

[KimsJeep]

We went and got it today and I started working on it right away. We discovered it does not have a tilt. Somebody welded angle iron on the sides of the tongue to reinforce it, most likely to haul an MC. We found out that the tongue actually extends out. In person, it was fine the way it is in the pics, not sure why it looked so long in them. LOL

Here it is on the tow truck ready to come home.

We got it home and flipped it over to start taking all the old wiring off and to see how bad the underneath was.

Some surface rust but not all that bad. Then I started taking stuff off so we could start getting the paint off.

Hubby had to grind most of the bolt off. I can throw the little stuff in the sandblasting cabinet, so that will be the easy part.

We pulled the tongue out so we can clean it up too and make it work like it is supposed to, pull in and out without having to use a sledgehammer to beat it out. LOL

I was going to buy new tires but hubby said he had some. He did but not exactly what I was thinking. He says these will make it tow a lot better and won't have to go 200mph when being towed, like the smaller ones would. LOL I think it kind of loses the "cuteness" of it, but hey, can't really complain to much as he is at least helping me rebuild it.

We went with using paint stripper, but it just didn't do like I wanted it too. Honestly, I think Easy Off oven cleaner would have probably worked better. LOL Hubby even tried using a big torch. That worked a little better.

We gave up on the paint removal and hosed it down and put the wheels on it so we could take it to the garage next door. (We have 2 houses side by side, live in the one house and garage is on the other house)

He did pull out a sandblaster that uses air, but it was almost out of sand and we didn't have a good area set up for it so sand went all over of course. He wants to try a wire brush, but I think we should set up a tarp type area to put the trailer on and in, then use the sandblaster. That way we can catch the sand, sift it, and reuse it. Either that, or just get some new discs for the air sander and sand the thing. LOL

One thing about it, the tires make it a lot taller.

So tomorrow we will go to Harbor Freight and look at some wire wheels and see what may work the best and go from there. I work nights all this next week so I will probably wait till the end of the week before I mess with getting the sandblast cabinet out to do the fenders and smaller pieces. It's going to be a project in itself. The protective cover for the glass came off during a sandblasting session and the new one won't stick now. I will have to pull the glass off and clean it up so I can put a new cover on it before I can use it.

 

[KimsJeep]

That is a great find. The clamshell top would be very cool.

I wonder how much it would cost to get a used soft top modified. You could have a soft top Jeep towing a soft top clamshell trailer.

I also wonder what it was used for that it ended up with the "slot" in the front.

I don't know how much a soft top would be but my friend paid somebody 700 bucks to have a metal one made for his. Ouch!!!

I will always be keeping an eye out for one, but for now hubby just wants to make some side extensions using wood and we would make it so I could put a tarp or canvas cover over it if needed. I will probably have a canvas top made for it though. I think it would look cute with one made to fit. It's all about the cuteness you know! LOL

 

[KimsJeep]

Day 2 of the project.

Today we went to HF and bought some sanding discs for the air sander and also some wire wheels for the hand grinder ( not sure what it is actually called, LOL) I got most of the rest of the paint off going between the 2 different tools. We will have to set up some sort of booth to use the sand blaster to get to the little areas that I just can't get too.

I was able to get a lot of the rust on the bottom knocked off with the wire wheel.

I will use some acetone to kind of clean it up a bit, then hubby wants me to hand brush on some black rustoelum (sp) paint. That will be another day though. I have to work nights all week, so I don't know how I am going to feel during the day. I usually just vedg on days I have been up all night. LOL

We also bought a new coupler for the tongue. I got the bar sanded down and just need to use some acetone on it to get the WD40 off that was sprayed on it trying to get it out of the trailer. I'm going to paint it with spray paint and before we put it back in, probably use a little grease of some sort to make it slide in a bit easier. Should be a little easier anyway because it doesn't have 3 layers of paint on it anymore.

Then hubby added a bar under the rear section that the tailgate is attached too. It was bent forward pretty bad, so this was his way to straighten it up a bit. Looks a lot better.

So that is where we left off for today. I think if anything, I may try to go out in the next few day and at least take the sandblasting cabinet apart so I can clean the glass off and make it so the protective vinyl will stay stuck to it. Then at least I can blast the smaller things. Will update when I do something to it again.

 

[LukesfirstJeep]

hubby wants me to hand brush on some black rustoelum (sp) paint.

Good advice. I built trailer 20+ years ago for my brother. I used rustoleum rusted metal primer, and rustoleum black paint as a top coat. The trailer sits out 27/7/365 and the paint is holding up nicely.

I found the remainder of the black top coat in my stash and used to touch up a few spots on my Jeep frame. After 20 years, it took a few days to actually dry, but otherwise seemed to work well.

 

[Alex01]

As of right now I think I want to paint it white,

Who are you and what did you do with @KimsJeep

then put the rest of my purple pin stripe material on it.

Ok I guess it's you.

Fun looking project. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[Kiwi TJ]

Wow that trailer has allot of character..I like those tail lights.
Its not going to be Purple is it ?

 

[KimsJeep]

Who are you and what did you do with @KimsJeep



Ok I guess it's you.

Fun looking project. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Too funny!

I did change my mind on the color of the tongue and frame. I won't say what color I went with, but here is a picture to kind of show it. LOL

That is about all I got done to it yesterday. I did fix the sandblaster cabinet and tried to clean some parts up but it wasn't taking much off and when I told hubby about wanting a different tip, he said that sometimes it gets plugged and to hold my finger of the the tip. So, today I will probably go give that a try, and see if I can clean the parts.

 

[bobthetj03]

I always like following a good trailer build. Proceed.

 

[Kiwi TJ]

Nice work so far ...we all knew you couldn't keep away from the purple rattle can....

 

[KimsJeep]

Got a little done today.

Hubby welded the patch piece in the front, then we set up a spot for me to sand blast some of the harder to get areas. We bought a pretty neat little helmet so I could see but not get sand all over me. It worked pretty good till we started having issues with the sand blaster and I was gettin hot. I took the helmet off to get some air and of course that is when the sand started coming out again. LOL So I went to the beach with out going to the ocean.

We ended up giving up on the sand blaster for now. We will get some new sand tomorrow. We were trying to sift the sand and reuse it and I finally got tired of it seeming to plug up every 6 inches of blasting. I think if we just use clean sand it will work a lot better. At least I hope it does. LOL When it did work, it seemed to take off the old stuff really fast.

Hubby was trying to figure out how much sand was down in there. LOL

If all goes well tomorrow morning, I'm hoping to be able to at least get the black paint on the bottom.

 

[KimsJeep]

Sand blasting is done. Thank goodness. LOL We finally figured out the issue. We need to get a new 'dryer" for the air hose. We are getting to much water in and it is causing it to clog. The dryer we have just wasn't doing the trick anymore. I got it done enough so we can just finish the inside with a air disc grinder.

Hubby got this pic of me blasting. LOL No, I'm not the skinny sexy blonde. I'm the chunky one. LOL Wish he would have told me he was taking a pic, I would have sucked it in.

Here is a close up of the helmet. Pretty neat but fogs up when you get hot and breath at the same time. LOL

Depending what I end up having to work tomorrow night, I will be painting the bottom black. Then we can finish up some sanding on the inside and prep it for some primer. Hope to have it in primer by the end of the week, but that all depends on my hubby's schedule and mine. If anything it will be in primer next weekend.

Here it is ready for the black paint. My little helper is in the pic too. Lucy Lu! Just noticed my other helper is in it too. The brown dog to the left is Buddy.

 

[Baltimoreed]

Never heard of a Sears trailer so I looked it up. Interesting.

 

[KimsJeep]

Never heard of a Sears trailer so I looked it up. Interesting.
View attachment 115466

Yah, I have actually seen them with the clam shell, but mine didn't have it. We did look around the farm that we got it from but no luck. I would love to have the top one day and I will keep an eye out for one, but hubby is just going to make some wood side for it. Kind of like a picket fence thing. Then I will probably either get a piece of canvas and try my luck at make it fit over sides or have one made. LOL

 

[KimsJeep]

I think hubby got tired of working on the trailer. LOL He decided to primer and paint it today. LOL Didn't even give me a chance to do my purple stripe. Oh don't worry, it will still get purple on it, just not like I had originally planned.

I will have to go back through and touch up the black on the springs and all. That won't be that hard since it is just brushed on. Don't have to worry about overspray.

I still need to go get some oven cleaner so I can try to take the ugly paint off of the wheels. Then we will need to run wires and put in the lights.

 

[KimsJeep]

Almost done. Well with the main part. Will still need to paint the spare tire holder and find a spare for it. All I need to do now is go to the hardware store and buy some new bolts to mount the fenders.

I cleaned up the wheels. Amazing what EasyOff oven cleaner can do!! I didn't have a good before pic but you can see the tire way in the back ground against the fence.

This image you can somewhat see it, its the taller one.

After cleaning them with the oven cleaner,

Here is a sneak peak of the trailer and fenders. Can't wait to get it put together and take a pic.

Next pics will be of it put together, all except the spare tire.