King Cooker trailer build

[rlmax02]

Ive finally decided that I will be using this trailer instead of the larger one I have. Im not looking for and elaborate setup since this isnt for competion. Maybe in the future tho

here she is. I stripped the rollers and the front crossmember already as you can see. the rear member will be coming off
along with 2ft of frame this weekend I hope. Im suppose to take a trip to the scrap guy I met earlier in the week tomorrow
but soccer in the morning for my son and it seems that my daughter will be going to a birthday party in the afternoon and ill be taking her. so sunday seems like the free day for me. Im going to use angle to tie the frame and to extend the sides in the front so it will be squared off. I found the axle to be 3/8 off as well but Im sure ill be moving it anyway. gotta get some fenders too. these are beyond repair. This is the first time i have ever messed with modifying a trailer so it should be a blast.

[Tom_Heath]

What a great start for your rig to mount on.

The axle is a easy fix since your using a boat trailer, loosen the bolts and slide it where you want it. I think this gives you a lot more flexibility.

I'll toss this out there, purely my opinion from my experience in the past.

I would use square tube vs angle to make the cross members.
FIrst reason being since most boat trailers have a ton of flex in them.
Second is that if you use square tube you will have twice the weld area, considering the flex and the thin material of the frame. This would help out alot.

One other area I would check out real close is the area up front there frames all tie in behind the tongue. If its rusted it is easy to tell by tapping around on the steel up there, if its rusty its gonna sound way different then the good steel when you tap on it.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade at all, I think its a great trailer to use. I just want to mention some of the things I have ran into so that its a happy build.

[rlmax02]

I appreciate the advice as always. Ive checked the toungue area aready because Im not to keen on the way its bolted together. like you said a ton of flex. Ill see if my scrap guy has square tube for sure. thanks tom!

[Tom_Heath]

If he has no tubing, you can always look for channel iron as well. Channel isn't quite as good as the tubing but its better then the angle.

Tons of trailers are built with angle, it works and its pretty cheep.
The down side is the flex, the bad part is to take the flex out of an angle iron trailer is to build side rails.

You have a ton of options with the trailer you have for a base.
Keep up the great work. BTW just so ya know I'm jealous that you have a inside track on the steel supply. Thats awesome.

[rlmax02]

If I can ever get to the guy. today got axed because of taxi duties and looks like tomorrow is gonna be a really soggy day here. figures right

[rlmax02]

I got a chance to see the scrap man between downpours yesterday and came home with some good stuff. I got 3"x3"x1/4" angle 2x2x1/4, 6" pipe, a little bit of expanded metal, 1/2 roundbar, and a stainless steel sink, for my buddys shop btw. He did have square tube tom but my budget didnt allow it. Ive decided to use the angle and weld ends on it to distribute the pressure a bit and planned on having sides around most of the rig. Ill post some pics in the next couple of days. I have the scrap guy going through his yard looking for 1/4 plate. He had some diamond plate and I thought about getting it but the pieces he had wouldnt be very efficient cutwise. I have plenty to stay busy anyway.

[Tom_Heath]

Sounds like you got a plan. The angle will work very well with a plate on the end like you described. I would maybe even go so far as to make the plate 3x6 and then have a small gusset in the corner. If the square tube tears after having the plate on the ends then you were probably towing the trailer somewhere you really shouldn't have been. LOL Been there done that on occasion.

Ya just gotta love being able to go scope out a good scrap yard.

[rlmax02]

ive had the chance to work on the trailer for a few hrs yesterday and today. Ive got some cross members cut and
placed along with some angle just to function as a jig of sorts. Im unable to place the last cross member because I dont know how im gonna have to move the axle yet. wont know that till the take is onboard. Im pretty happy so far and am def learning alot as I go. Ill sit and stare at the thing for 15min then work for 5 etc etc. picture in my head looks good tho!





gonna need a some gussets in the front of course and will get some help right down the center in due time along with mounting points for the tank and some help around the tongue and a new spring and new fender and paint and sides and....and....the list grows and grows.

[Tom_Heath]

Depending what you are planning on towing it with, the axle may be pretty close. I know on the lang's, the axle is almost all the way to the back. Most will say that you want a 60 40 split on the axle to allow the correct tongue weight issues. But most smokers dont work out this way.

I would much rather have a tongue heavy trailer then one thats light in the front and gets all goofey going down the road.

I think what you have so far looks great. And I hear ya about looking then thinking and looking again before ya build.

[rlmax02]

I pulled a few measurments and looked at some pics online and your right tom the axle should be pretty close. I lopped 2ft off the end and it seems to be about where alot of the cookers I see online are. I dont want to screw myself by dropping another crossmember in where the axel needs to go but patience isnt a strongpoint of mine so we shall see!

[Tom_Heath]

I can't even count how many times I have had to redo something cause I couldn't wait.

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[rlmax02]

it was just a perfect day on Marylands eastern shore so out to the shed we go....got a chance today to work on the trailer and made some good progress. All crossmembers are in exept 1 around the axle. have to beef 1 up where the front of the tank is gonna sit. Dont want anything coming loose on the highway!. Here a a couple pics to look over.





Happy building!!

[Tom_Heath]

Looking good, your moving right along.

I see the dog in the background checking things out, he knows good food will come from what you are building!!! LOL

I had someone tell me once to kinda watch out for the pets, they see the bright light and not knowing any better they will stare at it. In my opinion 15 or 20 feet is probably far enough to not hurt anything.

Not trying to tell ya what to do or anything like that, just sayin in case someone doesnt realize about pets and there eyes.

Guaranteed, if ya let him out when ya cook, he will keep the driveway clean when you spill.

[rlmax02]

As you can see from the King Cooker post I got the tank on the trailer for a test fit. I boxed out the crossmembers that support the tank to help with holding the weight and removing some flex (thanks tom) and I must say it works perfect. Legs and crossmembers line up perfect. unfortunatly after putting some weight on the trailer I noticed a twist in the frame rails on the forward third of the trailer. now some of this is from a collapsed spring which I already mentioned but some is also from a twisted tongue and how flimsy the trailer is bolted together . doing the whole think for 15 and work for 5 i figured out how to get alot if not all of the twist out. Im gonna cut the tounge bar down to 36" which was gonna happen anyway. I will also be removing the piece of crap factory ties and welding plates at weak points in the front area...add a bit of leverage and a new spring....it should do the trick. A damn good bottle and floor jack 2. Im thinking that when I frame out the sides and top rail everything will tighten up just fine. Free always cost somethin! I owe my friend eric alot on this trailer build. He has helped a ton and is pretty sharp in the engineering department.

[Frank_Cox]

sounds like your plan should work fine. it's always nice to have a buddy like your friend Eric that can come over and give things another look for a different perspective.

[Tom_Heath]

I don't think I ever mentioned it, and its almost to late now but I will throw it out there for future reference to anyone building or rebuilding a trailer.

It sure makes things alot easier to get er right if you can place the trailer on two stands at the rear and one set right dead smack in the center of the tongue.
At this point I like to check for levelness and square. If its out of level, it can be adjusted with jack stands and shims.

I did this with my current trailer, I left it on the stands until all the frame and roof work was finished.
If its level to start with then its easy to build to level.

Careful tho, I did some work the other night and built it to level and it looked off. Well that was the point where I remembered its sitting back on the rubber and its far from level.

If you still have alot of flex in it when you are finished, just let me know and I will give ya the run down on building a torque tube for it.

I built one on my trailer and I have 100% Zero need for stabilizer jacks on the front of the trailer.
I park on blocks to come close to level side to side and then just use the tongue jack to bring the front up and down.

I can jump my hefty 230 lbs on the corner of the trailer and it may twist up to 1/4 inch at the most.
They use these on most gooseneck trailers to stop the deck flex.

I will build one on each and every trailer I build from here on out.

[rlmax02]

Since theres no new photos of the King Cooker i decided to work on the trailer yesterday. I made some good progress starting with a new tongue and modifying the jack by cutting the wheel off, welding and 8x8 plate on and attaching it to the frame.





With all of that being done it was time to start stiffining the tailer up by adding some sides.







All in all i got alot done yesterday and was looking forward to spending a majority of today moving the axel and finishing the sides up but....




somehow winter has showed up again and spoiled the fun

[Tom_Heath]

Looks like you have made nice progress with the trailer. In general the boat trailers have a lot of flex but from what I can see so far, I don't think you will have any problems.

Nice work!

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[rlmax02]

thanks tom. ive been thinking about the flex monster through the whole build so the side will end up being attached to the tank when its time. Im a bit worried that I should have taken another 2ft off but I want the space for future add ons. one way or the other ill get it though, gotta make another trip to the scap man this week to get some more angle and pieces and parts. any other advice please shoot it my way!

[Tom_Heath]

The only thing I can think of that would help ya out more would be to use expanded metal to fill in the open space between the stakes and the top rail. It won't make a tremendous difference but it would help a little bit.

You could also put two stakes on the front right above the trailer frame, go from the top of that stake down at an angle to the lower corner of the stake at the side of the trailer. That one is gonna help out alot.

Not sure what your plan on the tongue is but I think I would put a piece of 1/4" plate on the bottom side and weld all three pieces of frame to it. Then I would also cut some triangle pieces and weld them on on the top side of the frame.

BTW I really like what you have done with the trailer jack.I need to do that with my tandem mowing trailer, poor thing sinks right thru my gravel driveway every time I unhook it.

[rlmax02]

i did weld the 3 pieces of the frame together at their meeting point and had planned on the plate as you suggested as well. im not sure i understand what your explaining by the stakes though. I did put bars in the front 2day to match the sides. 3 total. 1 in the center and 2 more towards either side. I also thought about going across the trailer into the back of the tank at rail height about a 3rd forward of center of the tank and using the space created as a wood box. thanks for the advice my friend. much needed as usual

[Tom_Heath]

I will sketch a little pic to show what I mean for the front, its kinda hard to explain.
I really hope our snow melts by morning.

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[Tom_Heath]

The part in red is what I was referring to. I also added the x brace in the center.

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[rlmax02]

ohhhhh sweet. i applaud you on such a quick little sketch hahah. I will def incorporate that into the build. thanks alot!

[rlmax02]

the rains finally went away this afternoon which gave me a small window to work on the trailer abit. I finished closing in the side and rear other than in front of the tank. gotta go to scrap man tomorrow so I hope he has what I need. I snapped a couple of pics just for gp. check em out







pics went a bit big on me but you get the point