First Build. Cart first or later? Centering door

[Chukknob]

Those wheels look heavy

Lol. Those are weights.


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[Chromeski]

Those wheels look heavy

Lol. Those are weights.


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That's exactly what I thought they were

[Chukknob]

Those wheels look heavy

Lol. Those are weights.


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That's exactly what I thought they were

I’m not using those as wheels btw. They were just there in my way.


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[Chromeski]

Ok , no worries.

[Chukknob]

Made a big mistake today. Apparently I know not what I’m doing. Aside from other obvious issues I mounted this too far back. Now I need to cut out all the cross members I put in and scoot this forward quite a bit. Too much weight at the rear.


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[Chukknob]

Probably need to move it forward at least a foot or more.


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[Dirtytires]

Yes. I would go at least a foot. You want a fair amount of tongue weight as a rear-weighted trailer is difficult/dangerous to pull.

[Chukknob]

Yes. I would go at least a foot. You want a fair amount of tongue weight as a rear-weighted trailer is difficult/dangerous to pull.

Is there a way to calculate this or am I just eyeballing it?


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[Big T]

Tongue weight is normally 9% - 14% of the total trailer weight. If you aren't adding anything to the front of the trailer, then the FB is usually very close to the axle. I made the same mistake on the first trailer rig that I built using a trailer very similar to yours. I bought new spring mounts from the local supply store for less than $10 and moved the axle back. It sounds like a lot of work but it was quicker and easier than cutting the cross members loose and moving the whole assembly forward.

[Chukknob]

I’m gonna add some weight to the front but it won’t be nearly enough. It already has 3-45 lb weights on the front to keep it from flipping!

I’ll research the new leaf hangers and see what I can come up with.


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[Dirtytires]

That’s not good....it’ll flip right off your ball hitch every time you hit a bump.

Moving it forward 20-24 inches would shorten your overall trailer as well as put the wheel/fender mostly out of the way of the cook chamber so you won’t kick it every time you walk up to it. I would start with the back of the firebox even with the ends of the frame-rail and go from there.

[Chukknob]

Thanks everyone. I’m almost there. I added a new cross member and this time I tacked some flat bar on top of the square tube so I can slide it across the rails to test fit everything. My buddy Aj’s Cookers gave me that tip. The door was removed so I threw it in the cc to account for the weight. I’m very close. Next I will add another cross member to the front and relocate the front mounts. I wish they weren’t so ugly but they’ll be hidden by most of the accessories.


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[Dirtytires]

Nice....the extra effort to do it the right way will pay off.

[Chukknob]

Much better. Redid the cross members and now the tongue weight seems to be right. It’s heavy up front but not heavy enough to lift. I realized the firebox door wasn’t on, the cc door and the racks. I mocked it up to balance it out. I won’t weld it down until it’s all done.


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[Chukknob]

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[mp4]

That looks to be perfect - I like it!

[Big T]

[Dirtytires]

Great job...it even looks better, in my opinion. Nice how it shortened your total legnth up. You could get rid of those frame rails behind the axle by putting the tail lights on the fenders and it would cut another couple of inches.

Nice progress.

[Chukknob]

Great job...it even looks better, in my opinion. Nice how it shortened your total legnth up. You could get rid of those frame rails behind the axle by putting the tail lights on the fenders and it would cut another couple of inches.

Nice progress.

Thank you. I remember someone commenting that I would need to shorten the trailer at some point. Lol. Guess they were right.

The plan is to chop off the rails behind the fenders and then weld a crossmember directly the the firebox to more sturdiness.

Where would you put the lights on the fenders? I cut them off already and just planned on using the same mounts just relocated where the newly shortened rails were.


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[Dirtytires]

I’d put them on the back, middle of the fender. Tuck them up clean against the frame rail.

[Chukknob]

Do you prefer the firebox door flanges welded on from the inside or outside? Inside looks cleaner but I’m not sure the welds will interfere with the door closing.


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[mp4]

Do you prefer the firebox door flanges welded on from the inside or outside? Inside looks cleaner but I’m not sure the welds will interfere with the door closing.


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I like them on the inside. I weld them on the inside so it doesn't interfere with the door sealing.

[Chukknob]

Do you prefer the firebox door flanges welded on from the inside or outside? Inside looks cleaner but I’m not sure the welds will interfere with the door closing.


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I like them on the inside. I weld them on the inside so it doesn't interfere with the door sealing.

How exactly do you do that?

Do you notch out the door and put the welds there? I already welded them on the outside but I’m curious. My door ended up warping a bit. I did 2-3 inch welds on the flat bar and when I got to the third one the tack broke and the door sprung. Maybe if I had already put the X bracket on the back of the door that wouldn’t have happened?


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[mp4]

My bad - I was thinking cook chamber, not firebox.

[Chukknob]

Anyone know how to flatten a firebox door that warped a bit? Probably 1/4” overall.


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