Well, I have my 3 major projects lined up for the summer. I am going to tear down my Blade sled and do what I should have done the first time. Instead of painting the tunnel, I am going to be powercoat the chassis and remaining parts. It will also be getting a new custom wrap from Jordan at ArticFX.

I will also be (finally) getting the stereo equipment in the Tacoma. It is getting the front windows tinted, a stripe down the middle, leather seats and seat heaters.

My third project is a trailer I bought. I have been looking for this specific type of trailer for over 2 years, now.

It is a 1997, R&R 18' clam shell trailer. I got it from an insurance company. Someone hit a deer with the front right corner. I picked it up in Oak Brook, Il (outside of Chicago) a few weeks back. I took it to Black River Falls, WI on my last trip. The trailer pulls like a dream behind my Tacoma.

It does need a lot of work. I will be putting two new axles under it, new electric brakes on both axles, new marine grade decking, stainless tiedowns, a new lift system, new aluminum rims and tires and reskinning the sides after I straighten out the frame. It will then get all new wiring and LED lighting inside and out.

It will also be getting a new A-MAIZE-ING KUSTOMS graphic package for the whole trailer.

Here is the Floe trailer I am modeling it after:

I have all the parts lined up and just need to get the project going. It will have to wait until the weather warms up.

Well...I just got the LED lighting in the mail today.

I ordered brand new 7", 5 on 4.5" drum brakes with 1 1/16" bearings.

I ordered the new torsion axles with E-Z Lube spindles.

I ordered 4 new electric brake set-ups.

I also ordered 6 new aluminum, 10" slotted rims with 10-ply tires. 4 for the trailer and 2 spare tires.

I still need to order up the 3/4" marine grade plywood, the slides for the tie downs.

I also have a guy working on the side graphics with my company logo.
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I thought I would update the pricing, and where I got the stuff. It pays to shop around, and not just buy everything at one place.

In addition, I have ordered AVM lift supports. They are 75lb at full extension, and 250lb fully compressed. The trailer will have 4 of them, two in the front, and two in the back. Those are $80 each with $12.90 shipping. Total cost $332.90.

The side sheets I am getting from next door neighbors sign company. I can get a 5' X 10' .030" black/natural sheet of aluminum for $87 each. 5 sheets will run $435.

I got the LED lighting from ebay. Yellow and Red side marker lights were $3.96 each. There are 8 yellow, 10 red (with the tripple set on top and bottom as indicator lights) for $71.28.

I also got the LED tail lights from the same place. They are 10 LED lamps. A set of four of them ran $24.95.

I am also putting reverse LED lamps on the inside of the trailer. I got 6 of the 10 LED lamps for the inside. Those ran $7.95 each for $47.70.

I also got a LED license plate light for $7.95

Total for all the lamps came to $151.88 with $16.75 shipping for a total of $168.63.

I still have to get a new wiring harness made, get new locks for the front access door, get new pins and lanyards for the pins, redo the ramp, get new chains and get the side company logo.

That comes to $2396.45 for what I have ordered to date. I paid $1800 for the trailer. That comes to $4196.45. I always alot about 10-15% for unexpected stuff. That leaves a grand total in the trailer of $4825.92 total investment.

I have to head out to Storm Steel this coming week to get aluminum to make the new lightweight ramp. That is going to run me about $80. I am then going to TIG the whole thing together myself.
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OK...so I have been thinking about this project.

The cost of the 250lb lifts are $80 each. That would run $320 for 4 of them. Then I have to remake the supports, or buy them. The supports are $94 each, so that would run $376. So just to rebuild the supports and stays would run $696. I thought that kind of money could be put to better use.

I am going to pull the entire skin off the shell. Raise it to the same height as a Floe trailer and make both ends into Gullwing type entrys.

I have a buddy that has a Floe trailer. I am going to head out to his house and take a bunch of pictures and measurements.

My next door neighbor owns a sign building company. I went over and talked to him today. We put together an order for all new sheeting and some 1" aluminum square tubing. He has tubing that can bend square tubing so I can get the rounded edges just like a Floe.

The stays for those I can get off ebay for about $18 each. I can then make a T-handle for both ends and still be money ahead AND I don't have to worry about getting the snow off the top of the trailer in order to get my sleds out if does snow.

I did manage to get the crappy yellow decals off one side today. It took about 2 hours with a heat gun and drill eraser. Here is the before and after.

Before

After

I LOVE doing this kind of stuff. LOL

Got confirmation the axles were being made by manufacturer.

My tire/wheel packages were shipped out today.

I called Floe today. I talked to the tech guy. They don't sell the parts direct to the public. I called two Floe dealers in Iowa, and neither of them wanted to help me.

So I called back and spoke with the tech. He gave me a place that he knows sells rebuilding parts.

So I called them. I ordered the following stuff:

The front and rear gull-wing hinges.

The front and rear T-handles with keys, double control with lock rods

The upper and lower edges with inserts.

The upper and lower weatherstripping.

The front brush gard to keep snow out from front of door.

The front and rear door center trim with insert.

I spent 2 hours last night searching for stuff that would work. I couldn't find anything so I though why not just get the stuff directly from Floe and be done with it.

I will post pricing when he gets back to me tomorrow.
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I thought I would update the pricing, things have changed since the orginal list

I got a call back from AVM, they don't make this particular lift, so I canceled the order. So the $80 each with $12.90 shipping. Total cost $332.90 goes back into the pot.

The side sheets I am getting from next door neighbors sign company. I can get a 5' X 10' .030" black/natural sheet of aluminum for $87 each. 5 sheets will run $435. I found that by going with .040" black on one side and white on the other, the price is only $64 each. So that adds $115 back to the pot.

I got the LED lighting from ebay. Yellow and Red side marker lights were $3.96 each. There are 8 yellow, 10 red (with the tripple set on top and bottom as indicator lights) for $71.28.

I also got the LED tail lights from the same place. They are 10 LED lamps. A set of four of them ran $24.95.

I am also putting reverse LED lamps on the inside of the trailer. I got 6 of the 10 LED lamps for the inside. Those ran $7.95 each for $47.70.

I also got a LED license plate light for $7.95

Total for all the lamps came to $151.88 with $16.75 shipping for a total of $168.63.

I still have to get a new wiring harness made, get new locks for the front access door, get new pins and lanyards for the pins, redo the ramp, get new chains and get the side company logo.

That comes to $2396.45 for what I have ordered to date. I paid $1800 for the trailer. That comes to $4196.45. I always alot about 10-15% for unexpected stuff. That leaves a grand total in the trailer of $4825.92 total investment.

I have to head out to Storm Steel this coming week to get aluminum to make the new lightweight ramp. That is going to run me about $80. I am then going to TIG the whole thing together myself.


So taking the $4196.45 and subtracting the $332.90 and $115 back out. That comes to $3748.55, the add back the $422 for the Floe parts, and 3 more sheets of aluminum at $192 and total investment comes in at $4362.55. I am still within my thoughts of doing this thing for under $5000. I still have a cushion of $637.45
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I just got the wheels/tire combos from UPS. They look awesome. I will get some pictures a little later.

The guys are just finishing up the new roof. She-La would not allow me up on the roof with my new knees, so I had to hire that out.

I dropped Olivia off to have her spring sampoo and cleanup.

I got the new 7" brake hubs in the mail and stripped down and out to Cool Concepts to be powder coated.

I got the new Dexter 7" electric brake setups. I got those stripped down and out to Cool Concepts for powder coating.

I got the in-floor tie-downs. I got 10 of them. I am going to use them instead of the E-Z slide system from Triton. The slide was like $160 per side for an 18' section.

With using this as a 3 place, I won't be able to position them exactly over the sectons anyway. So I am going to put 5 different tie-down positions in the trailer. I have those broken down and out to be powder coated. I also have backing plates to mount under them for support.

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OK.

The roof is completely done, and the guys are gone.

Olivia is back home and back to being snow white.

Here are the pictures of the new wheel/tire sets.

I had a lot of part getting powder coated and on order.

I didn't get the pictures of the door support stays, but I got 4 of them, with 13mm ball joints and nuts.

I got the 10 hold downs and plates, 4 brake backing plates and 4 hubs back from powder coating.

I also got back from Redneck Trailer Supply in Hampton, IA. They made the axles to order.

I got them home and they measure up perfectly, complete with E-Z lube axles.

I got the new roof on the house and paid for, so placed the order for the Floe trailer stuff.

The aluminum tubing and sheeting is at the neighbor's shop. All that is left is the marine plywood to order.

Here is the stuff back from Cool Concepts:

Here are the new axles from Redneck Trailer Supply:

Just a couple of updates:

I got the yellow and red marker lights on Friday, along with the lighed license plate frame:

I got some more stuff for the trailer in the mail this weekend.

I got the tail lights. I will have one set mounted up high, and on set mounted down low.

I also got the two from front marker lights that are going on the front of the lift door.

I got the 3 LED center light for the bottom.

I also got the 4 lift stays for the doors.

I am just waiting on the white LEDs for the interior and all of that is here.

Also, just waiting on the delivery of the 5' x 10' aluminum sheeting and I will be ready to roll.

I have decided to do my own coating for the decking. I am going to be using SEM Pro-Tex truck bed lining.

5 sheets of 3/4" x 4' x 8' marine grade plywood was $96/sheet. That comes to $480.

The SEM stuff is $186 for materials. It cover 120-125sq ft. That is 10mm thick. I am only going to put it about 5mm thick on this ply wood. The gun I can get for about $40 from Eastwood. Regular pressure treated 3/4" plywood is $29.99 per sheet.

So doing it this way will run about $375.95 for everything.

The Line-X guy wanted $70 each for the axles to coat. I should have enough to coat them, also. That was another $140 for them.

Things are slowly moving forward with the trailer. Not real worried about it as I won't really get started on this until after the sled is finished up.

I did get the aluminum sheeting ordered up. I decided to skin the whole thing. I ordered 14 sheets of 5' X 10' aluminum sheeting with black on one side and white on the other.

I also ordered up the 1" x 1" X 24' for the frame work.

I also bought a truck bed liner gun off ebay for $18.96 shipped to my house. I will be applying SEM Pro-Tex liner to the plywood sheeting.

I did get the axles back from Advanced Blasting so they are ready for primer.

It was epoxied to the steel frame so I had to chisel it off with a wood chisel. Here is what is left of the door skin:

Here are the outer frames and inner frames back from Cool Concepts:

Here is the outer frame complete. I have to wait and do the inner frame when the door panel is skinned.

It has a really nice lock, not only the level locks, but it also has a dead bolt. $142 shipped to the house.

Things are starting to line to start work on the trailer.

I just have to finish up a customer's sled this weekend, then it is full tilt on the trailer.

I got the proof of the wrap back yesterday. I REALLY the look Gail from Stratford Sign came up with.

I had them make a small tweek to the wrap. I had them put a little white around the lettering to make is stand out a little more.

Probably about a month out to get the wrap in hand.

Here is the final proof that goes to print:

LOL...that's the idea.

It is a little steamy out, but I have strarted the major tear down.

I just need to finish up getting the top off, but all the hard tear off is done.

I should have more pictures this evening....if I don't sweat to death. LOL

Here is pulling the skin off

I had to torch off the bolts holding the 6 handles on. They were rusted so badly there was no other way. Since that section is being replaced it didn't matter if the aluminum was shot.

Here is some more of the sheeting coming off

Here is where I left it yesterday and where I will be picking up today.

It was a bit steamy today. I was going to take off work tomorrow, but it is still supposed to be as hot.

Here is the teardown and ready to start cutting up the frame work. Maybe tomorrow after work after it cools off a bit.

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