Repurposing a foldable trailer

So my friend Mike, who I milled the walnut tree for, gave me this trailer for helping w the removal and the work turning his tree into live edge boards. He didn’t have a title so he couldn’t use it on the road. I plan to customize it for firewood duty. If I like it more than my wood wagon, I’ll keep it and give said wagon to dad. If not, dad will get the trailer.

Any who, he delivered it today. He put down the fresh treated deck. Wiring will get stripped.


I have a stash of old treated wood laying around to use. Want to see how 3’ sides work out.


I had a bunch of old pool deck boards from probably 15 years ago. Got 6 cut for each side and 5 for the front. I’ll find another to make it even. Didn’t have the right screws to put it together, so that will have to wait for another day.


Looking at it more, 3’ might be too high. I don’t want enough weight to push those little skinny tires into my yard. I guess that’s one negative vs my wagon. I can always make it shorter so we’ll see.

 

3 foot high sides will hold a bunch of wood. What are you pulling it with?

Not sure how you typically use your wagon/trailer, but I think 3 foot high sides might also make loading big/heavy pieces from the side difficult, or almost impossible.

 

Hey thats cool! Nice get.

Any way you could put wider tires on there?
Fully loaded to 3', would that exceed whatever the gvwr is?

I put 2' sides on my 4x8, and that is as tall as Id want to go unloading brush or splits from the sides. Most of us here are taller, so reaching is ok. Any taller sides though, we'd be dropping the tailgate to get stuff off the floor.

I'll be looking forward to finished pics though!

Sca

 

That’s where my thoughts are too. I pull up beside my basement door to unload from the side and reaching down in looks to like it will be a pain. I’m going to leave the 2x4’s that tall but only put 1/2 the side boards on and see what I have. My wagon is much taller as well.
Just a thought I had, I could simply pull the side board on the unloading side to ease removal. Hmm.
Pulling won’t be a problem. My Wheel Horse will pull my 4x8 trailer around the yard fully loaded.

As noted, I should be able to remove a side to unload. That would also allow me to load lots of brush when needed. We have a couple shrubs that need yearly trimming. Wider wheels/tires would definitely be a welcome mod. The fenders come off easily if I had to. I’ll do more research there.

 

So my old man built a wooden trailer for logs and brush, flatbed, metal stakes instead of sides. It worked well. His cordwood was 24" tho. He tied the larger brush loads down, the back was open, so length wasn't an issue, just cut and stack, brush trailing out behind

Removable sides is an awesome idea. Maybe a way to remove them from the outside...useful when its full of thorny brush? Or maybe a way to pull an entire side off, and let the brush kinda barf out the side?

Man, have fun designing!

Sca

 

Nice little trailer. Yes, I think 2' sides would be tall enough. That will hold a good bit of wood.

 

I think you will be right. It was given to him and he put some time into painting and new deck wood, only to get pulled over to realize any size trailer needs to be titled. Not sure where his thought train was going but he seemed to not desire to chase down getting one, so it was of no use.
He did say it wouldn't fold with the lumber he put on it, due to being too thick. It has casters to stand upright and the front tongue V swivels down. If I'd want to do that for storage, I'd have too slot the swivel holes or..

I always line my trailers with old plastic truck bed liners so next thing I'll do is start looking for one. Plan to pick up 2" screw on my way home to get some sides and a front on it.

 

Not to derail this thread but speaking of Wheel Horse, I've had my eye on them for a bit now. Just started actively looking again on FB and CL for one. I use my Craftsman riding mower to pull my wood trailer, utility, trailer, and small bass boat around. It does the job but it's just a matter of time before I blow it out. Looking for a true garden tractor and those older wheel horses are the perfect fit for me with it's solid framing and price range.

BTW, nice repurpose job. I did one similar last year and it made a huge different in cutting down the amount of work to haul wood around. I was doing with a small gorilla cart, I can prob fit 8x times amount of wood in my trailer vs. that cart.

 

Mine desperately needs a new seat but it's an awesome wood hauler! I have hopes of some day doing a light resto.

 

FWIW here’s a design I came up with years back. The front boards were able to be lifted up and out. I double up the stakes with a dado in the middle. Requires a strong system. I messed mine up one night by getting the trailer hung up on a Boulder in the woods. Hence the pipe clamp.
Maybe it will give you an idea.

 

Stopped and got screws on the way home but no progress. One day looking produced this.


So I seized opportunity and picked it up. I like to have these liners in my trailer and wagon so I’ll make this fit when the time comes.

 

I have another one you can have but shipping or the cost of the trip may make it a non feasible thing…

 

A former neighbor bought himself one of those foldable trailers and liked it. It suited his needs just right.

 

Missed this thread. Great repurpose Jason! I love doing stuff like that. In the throw away society we live in more and more like this needs to be done.

Have a small deck demo coming up and will salvage some of it for log racks etc.

 

Thanks. Wish my tires where that size. As long as I can reach over the rails to the bottom, it’ll be ok. But the possibility of just removing is even better. Do you know how tall yours are?

Fold-ability is intriguing for off use stowage but not required. Now I’m off to google to see how much weight they can carry. Can’t be much.

 

i love getting free stuff too! Nice grab. Wanna see pics of the retrofitting.

 

Definitely not the throw away type for most stuff. I let it hang around for a year or two and if I still can’t see ever using it (whatever it is), I’ll get it gone. Couple years after we moved in, one of our two willows fell on a pool deck and smashed the pool. We decided to significantly reduce that deck due to insurance not covering replacement cost. I’ve had these darn long deck boards laying around ever since, knowing some day I’d reuse them. Surprisingly they are still in decent shape.

 

Not sure if your looking for the height of the tires or trailer sides. Tires are 36” and side height is 4’ 6”. Way too high for a short guy like me to do much with.
In years past we tended to load 2-3 rows of rounds in the front. Then 6-8 foot lengths in the back for the cordwood saw. Loading larger rounds from the side eliminated lifting them onto the back and then lifting them again to stack in front of the trailer. Saved my spine a lot of lifting from ground level. For me the hardest part was getting them from feet to groin. Once there I don’t mind raising them to chest level and heaving them wherever they need to go.
That pic from 2015 was about the last time I used that trailer. Probably only used the side load method a couple seasons until I decided to forgo the longer lengths and cordwood saw. Then I could just roll the big guys on the trailer and toss the smaller rounds on top. No neat stacking just toss it all on there and head home.

 

Stopped at 23”. I can always sawzall it shorter if needed.





And to cut the liner I used my circ saw.




I can just throw wood in there without a worry and the plastic will take the abuse much better than treated wood would. Kinda wish I did have a title. Wonder how much of a pain it would be to get one? Anyone ever do that?