Trailer Widening

patooyee · Jan 22, 2014

I have a very heavy duty 20' bumper pull trailer that I really like except for the deck is too narrow and it doesn't have drive over fenders. I am going to widen it to the width of the current fenders and build drive over fenders for it. I thought I saw a thread either here or on pirate recently that someone did this and had some really cool ideas built into it but now I can't find it. Anyway, has anyone done this and have any advice? I want it to look professional. The deck is wood but I was thinking of making the extensions tread plate.

Blase · Jan 22, 2014

This thread?

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/tow-rigs-trailers/826239-its-all-about-little-things-trailer-edition.html

There's a couple of guys that widened trailer cleanly in this thread.

patooyee · Jan 22, 2014

No, but that is a good thread, thanks. The one I recall seeing had someone posting pics of their rig or something and someone else noticed the trailer widening and said, "Thanks, I'll be stealing that widening idea," or something like that. It pisses me off when I know I've seen stuff and then can't find it after.

TBItoy · Jan 22, 2014

Re: Re: Trailer Widening

The factory built Larimore i had just had 12x1 C channel from front to back.

I think they call it the "car hauler special"

"Good for wide track jeeps" according to larimore molaugh

grcthird · Jan 22, 2014

That thread on pirate Blasé posted makes me look at my trailer and go "What a piece of ****!" There's some nice ideas in there.

I was at the steel place this week and was checking out their catwalk grate material. You could get a continuous length cut whatever width to go down the side of the trailer, have a stupid amount of tie down places for small straps and bungies, and have a grippy tread surface for tires when it's wet. I know somebody that redid an entire trailer out of that stuff, its stupid heavy but works great.

patooyee · Jan 22, 2014

This may have been the pic in the thread I was talking about but its not from the post I was thinking of. Maybe it got re-posted in more than one thread.

paradisepwoffrd · Jan 22, 2014

Re:

I recall M&M fab widened a trailer in one of his buggy builds. He used round tube though.

Edit: here it is:
http://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?topic=10404.msg174894.msg#174894

patooyee · Jan 22, 2014

I like the round tube extensions, I may do that. Going to post his pics here just for easy reference.

paradisepwoffrd · Jan 22, 2014

Re: Re: Trailer Widening

I used the same idea on my gooseneck. Just need to be careful when you climb out to hit a tube.

I have thought about adding expanded metal on top to give the flat floor.

ridered3 · Jan 22, 2014

Ain't pretty, but it works pretty good in my opinion.

http://www.hardlinecrawlers.com/forums/index.php?topic=21676.25

bbone · Jan 23, 2014

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/tow-rigs-trailers/826239-its-all-about-little-things-trailer-edition-7.html

SPOA87YJ · Jan 23, 2014

I did tube on mine years ago with expanded metal. Use the strongest expanded you can find...mine seemed sufficient but has gotten dented/beat up more than expected over the years.

04rubi · Jan 23, 2014

I took my fenders off and built the backing plate out of 1/4 inch plate then wrapped them with two pieces of 1/4 inch flat stock. Also stuck one piece under the fender between the tires for an extra brace. Works great. Can drive over and they never budge.