You have came to the right place for all the good information you will need as you proceed with your smoker build. That 60 gallon tank will make a great smoker.
Yes, people have put them on trailers but most guys make them into patio models.
Here's the cool thing. Your the builder so you can build it to suit your needs.
started cutting out the legs for my smoker
Does anyone have a idea how wide the base should be at the moment I have it set to be 36" with the cc being 20" and the lowest cook grate at 40" from the ground
As long as you have a grease dam on your BP you can make it as low as you want, if not you need to leave at least an inch or so to keep the grease out of the FB. I usually work from my bottom rack down if I have room. Rack to BP 3''-4'' and make my opening below that.
Scraped up some stuff for the fire box on my smoker going to be a lot of cutting but still cheaper than buying steel the grill off our bulldozer is nice and thick has holes in it perfect for the bottom of the fire basket (the dozer had water above the stacks during a 100yr flood about 10yr ago so it's scrap) this old sluice box head will have the plate I need for the fire box
Nice scores! Re-purposing is great. I just got a quote for new steel and was in for a rude awakening as I was getting my company's discount at my last job. I just spent some time filling some holes on a piece of plate I'm gonna use for the bottom of my FB. However, it is REALLY nice to work with new steel.