Yeah i thought about doing re enforcing spots. I think I will be doing it now that the weight is something i dont care about really. I knew the expanded steel would be something not many would like. But how i justified this to my wife is a utility trailer. Not just the Mini extrodinare i want it to become! haha. 

I do not mind posting the price. I spent just under $700. After all was said and done. Thanks to Dan (94 touring) paint and all. Id say I spent a total of 10-15 hrs or work on it. I didnt keep track enough of how long. I feel if i had all of the parts on hand i could build one in about a day for assembly and a day for wiring/paint. 

So in my opinion, it was worth it. It was a good busy project for the first week of out of the army. (well off active duty) like most of the projects like this i do its for the experience and to learn something new! 

I can understand the axle being a 4' drop. but the deck height is only 18 inches. I decided to go with that and bigger wheels because of living in colorado and the snow mainly. I like it. so thats ultimatly what matters right! 

Thanks for following guys. ill post more updates when they come. 

cheers,

josh 

 

I belive Spank has the best 2 axle mini trailer ever. I want one badly. To bad i cant upload the pic from the Iphone.

George

 

Watched your build from the beginning- I believe everyone would have done things slightly different but the same was accomplished in the end with a budget in mind. Good Job. Do you care to post up what it cost ya in materials? Steel + axle assy + extras. I understand you have a friend with metal so i'm sure that helped- but does building your own justify the time vs finding a 1500$ / 2000$ trailer?

I like the overall concept of yours- Personally I feel its a little Tall - and I dont like the Expanded steel deck in any way. But as you said- It will improve with time. If I build one- Your General sizes will be taken into consideration.

Have you considered. Boxing off 4 "squares" within the frame of the trailer where the tire stay. connecting existing frame of the trailer and then weld in solid metal diamond plate decking in just those areas. This would express the load better to the trailer vs stretching the expanded steel so much. After your driving areas are reinforced Keep the expanded steel from front to rear, but remove from center totally. Probably a 2 Foot gap could be removed.

Good job - Keep us updated on the progress as it improves.

I used boards on the surface instead of doubleing the expanded steel where the wheels rolled. The steel doesnt bow yet but i can see it doing it over time. The boards where just a little rolling shoring to spread out the load a little more. 

The ramps are 6 ft. No rubbing easy loading and unloading. They store nicely under the mini. 

With the trailer I use, I have found 135 pounds of tongue weight is a comfortable pull.  Josh, how long are the loading ramps?  I see you are using boards on the trailer.  What's the reason for them?

se7en, Spare tire is not planned for now. 

This is the same setup straps wise i used when moving the mini from NC to CO. it worked great. No walking. no paint rub. I expected some on the frame because it was just primer but nothing happened. Caps are coming. My buddy that got the steel says he has some plastic caps for that kind of steel . I used that insulating foam on each end right past where the wiring was. To seal it up for now and to keep the wires exposed because of the always looming electrical issues. Which i had. i first off broke the quick mounting for the lights.... now they are on a steel piece as to make it harder for dings to mess em up. Im going to re design that all together when i get a chance. I was rushed with moving. 

zippy- tounge jack was still down because the car was just attached for the night. I moved/ did my test run with a uhaul. I have not figured out tounge weight because of it yet, but with the "calculations" i did when putting the axle on and the weight of my mini 1500# I think its under 200. I just had this crazy bad feeling that my mini was going to be stolen if i left it just out there on a trailer prime for the taking like that. So I hooked up the BINI and locked it on. Worked great. No theft. I did take them on a test drive stopping distance was really good. feel pretty comfortable with it. I did the ol' step on the tounge test and it didnt drop more then and inch or two. And with the mini weight it was pretty level though i didnt do an exact check just eyeballed it. 

In the one picture of the car loaded, the tongue jack is still down.
What sort of tongue weight did you wind up with? If it's too high, you could wind up with some hitch and handdling problems.
On my setup, I need to keep the tongue weight under 200 pounds. My shade tree method of checking is to measure the height of the hitch reciever without a load, then step on top of the hitch and take another measurement. (I happen to weigh 200 pounds) After loading the trailer, I'll check the measurement one more time to make sure we haven't dropped too much.
The bed of my trailer is a bit more than 12' long so I can easily move the car around to get the balance I want.

Nice work and enthusiasm.  Looks like it was a fun project.  Thanks for posting.  Couple of observations/questions:

Do you plan to weld in end caps where needed to keep the elements out of the inside of the tubes? Also, rodents can and will get into the smallest places

Will you be adding a spare trailer tire somewhere? (BTDT)

Are you considering encasing /protecting the taillight assemblies? (BTDT as well!)

Did routing the straps thru the painted wheels chafe the paint?

Any particular reason the straps at the rear route thru the wheel rim and up front they wrap around a spoke? Also, have you considered cross-strapping for better lateral hold? Did the car "walk" at all on the trailer on your test run?

 

Please post a picture after it's painted!  Enjoy.

 

So the bulk product is ready. Time to iron out kinks. I may add slots for the tires to ride on. I was even thinking of doubling the expanded steel in the spots the tires ran. But the 600 tiny welds it took to place it was a good enough deterent. I still call it the best ever because its the perfect mini size. Primed for now but paint is on the way thanks to 94 touring. Tie downs are in the center one ring each and the sides of the frame have ample locations. I will keep updating as I get more bells and whistles on it. The door opens right over the top of the wheel well. So no need to climb out the window. took her on a 300 mile test run to drop the mini off at storage. In a halfway blizzard. Went great!

And here he is-

Gone 6 years now but still bickering-

BIG AL-

Scargo- Yes it was the same trailer-Yes, l remember that trip, Captin JJ asked me where the ocean was when leaving your place and l said"Look in the rear view mirror" , boy he was pi$$ed at me all the way home-

But he did get to see the ocean on one of our many trips to  the docks in Halifax Nova Scotia-

BIG AL-

PS-

Johnny got his nickname Captin JJ from his days on a fishing tug on Lake Erie, claims he had enough hours in for his Captains papers but the tug owner lost the paperwork-

Yes, that was the way he spelt "Captin" so he became "Captin JJ" and his name still appears on the side of the BIG BMC right under the drivers window-

Al ... I seem to recall quite a struggle to get the red '66 S on the trailer when you came down here with JJ to pick it up. Same trailer perhaps?

Rail to rail is 71.5. Planned on originaly 5.5 feet. Went wider because we had more steel than originally thought. My mini is 5' 2" We have wiggle room.

What is your width between the inside of your fender walls ?

Many years ago, l went to Halifax NS to get a mini pick up from the docks, when l tried to load it, it wouldn't fiton the trailer- It had real fat tyres-

So 1000 miles from home, now what ?-

after looking it over, l told my buddy to stand back and l drove that pick upright onto the deck at full power, the tyres gave enough under pressure to allow it to load-

Believe me, l could have trailere that mini pick up back to Ontario without any tie-downs as it was wedged in so tight-

So after that, l had a 1 inch piece welded in on the deck to give it more width-

BIG AL-

They are beefed up springs well above my 3500 lb capacity. I want to say maybe 5k . either way they are 4 leafs instead of 3 on each side. I asked about it and they said its pretty common for them to be mounted like that. I will give it a go and check the weight. I have extra pads that can be welded on if i need to switch it to the bottom of the springs. 

On to updates. 

Cut outs for fenders. 

A little measureing and leveling. 

test fit. 

tacked on. 

set up for paint

paint. 

I am aware the axle is too large. Once again for expiditing the order this is what was available and its within 14 inches of springs center to hub face. the 4 inch gap i think will be a great spot for the ramps! convinient! Im priming as i go because the deck steel isnt in yet. hopefully will be ready to slap that on tommorrow and be done with it. 

cheers. 

josh

Josh: from your photos with the trailer upside down, there doesn't look like much space between the axle and the main frame rail. I'd suggest you try loading it up (right-side up of course) and see how much clearance you'll have loaded. Don't forget the springs still need room when you hit a bump.

 

Gary.... you know what i mean! haha. yeah above the springs. I will cross that when I come to it. Ramps will be this weekends project. Today im working on the wheel covers, front rail, and hopefully deck if the expanded steel comes in today... updates tonight. 

You mean the axel above the springs?  That is the way the pictures show.  My trailer deck is 13" high, so 5.5' length ramps are barely sufficient, and that is with the rear of the trailer getting pushed down a bit while the weight of the Mini is driven on.  With a stand under the rear of the trailer to not allow it to push down, the Mini doesn't clear.  I use a stand under the rear to allow the trailer to push down a little bit for clearance, but not a lot so as to protect the hitch latching mechanism.  I believe you are going to need really long ramps with the trailer 18" high or more.

I remember talking to John and drooling over this at the CMU meeting in Cherokee last year. Beautiful piece of work!!

They are 15's, i wanted to use a drop axel but the delivery time greatly increased. I figured slinging the axle below the leaf springs would lower it enough, yet still be tall enough to clear the snow and other things. I have not measured the deck height yet, but its about a foot and a half id say. probably taller. I guess this thread shouldnt be called the best mini trailer ever but "my best all around all use trailer with the mini in mind" haha. The first thing this will be towed behind is a u Haul truck, I plan on getting an adjustable hitch to mitigate any drastic issues of sagging. It probably wont be level, thats generally how it works for me. Just another things to fine tune and adjust.