Bolting a 160 gallon smoker to trailer?

[rikun]

Hi,

My build is slowly getting somewhere, and I need to start thinking about marrying my smoker and trailer soon... The smoker is around 160 gallons, around 7' long and the completed build will weight maximum of 800 pounds with the firebox.

The trailer is quite small and it has solid plywood floor. I'd want to avoid welding directly to the trailer since it's galvanized and I might need to work on the trailer later on. The trailer also has non-removable sides, which is going to make everything more complicated. I'm pretty sure it's designed in such a way that the sides are somewhat load-bearing, so I don't want to cut them out too much.

If I remember correctly, the trailer has 4 u-channel crossmembers underneath the plywood floor. I was thinking bolting through the plywood to the crossmembers, but I have a feeling those u-channels aren't stout enough. Maybe weld a couple of square tubing crossmembers and bolt to those?

One problem with bolting could be the firebox, it's heavy at around 300 pounds and since it's all the way back it's going to be "pulling" the whole smoker assembly down putting additional stress on the bolts.

I'll post some pics when I'll visit my folks where the build is located.

[Frank_Cox]

sounds like you could take some 1/2" pipe and cut spacers the same length as the thickness of your plywood. drill holes through the plywood big enough for the pipe to sit in. then drill holes in the frame small enough for the bolt to fit through and the spacer to sit on. then mount your smoker to the trailer and it will sit on the spacers and not crush the plywood but be tight to the trailer.

[SmokinFF]

What's the chances of building a new trailer? Then you have what you want and don't have to work on it later.

[rikun]

No change at all since it's mandatory to have a trailer registered in this country. And it's way easier to modify existing one, it's almost impossible to build one and get it to comply with every EC regulation etc etc

Frank that's a good idea, although I'm not that worried about the plywood (it's already a bit rotten). I'm just worried I have nothing strong enough on the trailer frame to mount to.