I won't bore you with a lot of details about the project in this post because most of that stuff is covered down in the previous post about it. I just wanted to let you know that I'm calling this one finished. I mention in this new video that the trailer is not a lightweight racing machine. I then had to weigh it out of my own curiosity and with the tongue attached it weighs in just over 23lbs. I have no idea if that's heavy or not for a bike trailer but it seems reasonable enough to me.
Since the last post here are the things I've checked off the To Do list to wrap it up: 1. chopped up and welded on some rear reflector mounts 2. added a decent reflector to the right wheel (original was all corrupt from UV punishment) 3. bolted the floor down to the frame and 4. sorted out the reinforcement for the hitch
Project Trailer Trash is nearing completion and has been a load of fun so far. Here's the basic story: I found this bike trailer looking like a bag of hammered crap in the garbage but thought the basic frame looked good enough to salvage. Here's how it looked when I adopted it:
As you can see... pretty rough shape. Those side hoop parts that would normally form the roof support for the trailer are NOT supposed to fold down flat like that. It's almost as if some lunatic Ikea worker went on a coke-fueled bender and decided to convert this thing to flat-pack.
All of the nylon/canvassy stuff was weather-rotted and/or ripped so I cut that off and started work on the bare steel frame. There was a fair bit of stomping, pulling, and hammering to make the frame mostly straight in most directions but it came around. After getting it shaped up I did some repair welds in a few places and also shortened the centre crossbar because of how I was going to mount it... My welds must be getting better because I cut 3 inches out of the middle of that bar, welded it back together, and it would take my weight right on top of the weld.
Axle mounting was a major re-engineering job. The crushed original wheels had stupid proprietary axles so all of that original stuff had to go. In it's place I've fitted a couple of chunks of angle iron (bed frame rails from the garbage), a 26" steel mountainbike fork that has been split in half (from a garbage bike), and a couple of 20" alloy replacement wheels off of some other garbage bikes. This part is detailed in the video much better than I could do with text.
Once the frame was sorted out I turned to the hitch. I had seen other DIY builders online use lots of combos of the hardware I used for a hitch so I used several different ideas to employ whatever I had laying around for my hitch. The end result is here:
A swivel caster, an air-hose connector, and the end off of an air hose (from the garbage). It's almost self-explanatory but to get a real feel for how it works check it out in the video I'll post here somewhere.
I slapped together a plywood load floor out of some scrap wood and am now deciding how to mount it to the frame. Engineering has stopped at this point for some paint work to pretty the trailer up. I'll hopefully have another update soon showing the trailer completed and in action.
Hello world? I'm speaking to you from one of my favorite places: inside the internets. My other favorite place is my garage where I spend countless misguided hours tinkering, inventing, destroying, and otherwise messing about with tools and junk. Most of what I use or work on comes out of the garbage. I think I have some kind of sick fascination with reworking and reusing things that other people have thrown out. It might be because I'm cheap and free stuff is more fun than stuff I had to pay for.
In any case This blog and the accompanying YouTube video channel are going to serve as a visual documentation of some of the foolish stuff I waste my time on out in the garage.
We'll start this little journey with a bit about one of my shop tools: 4.5" angle grinder. One of my favorites in the arsenal. Some time ago the plastic handle broke off so I epoxied it back together and got another few months out of it till the inevitable happened and it went all to crap permanently. I looked around the shop and saw a new handle laying in wait. A little bit of wire wheel in the drill and a touch of mig welding later and I had the following new and very strong handle:
Yep. That's a railroad spike from an abandoned section of rail. That's how I roll. If you like that, stick around. We may just get along. Check out my YouTube channel over here: Froshmasta on YouTube
