Trailer Steel

[sbarcewski]

What do you guys think is the minimum wall thickness for 2" square tubing or 2"x3" tubing for fabrication of a trailer for a 14' aluminum shallow V?

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

The tongue of my trailer is 3x3 1/8" thick.

 

[Muleskinner]

1/8" wall is plenty thick for you.....make some small gussets for all of your 90 degree angles and it should hold up just fine with no worries.

 

[crazymanme2]

I would use the 2x3 1/8 wall for the tongue & 2x2x1/8 for the rest of the trailer.

 

[bassboy1]

I'd use channel instead of tube. Unless you get it hot dipped galvanized, you aren't going to have protection inside the tube, and it will start to rust from the inside out.

 

[LonLB]

Keep in mind that the larger the size of the tube, the thinner you can go.

I wouldn't use square tubing personally.

 

[sbarcewski]

Stumbled upon 100' of 2"x3" tube, neighbor up the way is a pack rat and I caught him cleaning out the storage yard! $50 bucks. Shortest piece is 5' and the longest is 10' everything else falls in between. So I guess my decision is made for me. Thanks for the info fellas. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

 

[riverracer]

I agree with LonLB !!! I built a trailer a couple of years ago and almost went with 3/16 thick tubing but realized the bigger the tube the thinner the wall can be, so I went with 11 ga. 2x4 inch tubing for the frame, 1 1/2 x 3 for the cross braces and 3 x 4 for the tongue, it turned out nice .

 

[screwballl]

If you do use tubing instead of channel, make sure there are several drain holes drilled in every few feet, front and back. Also it will help to clean it up inside before you seal it up, then pour in some primer to coat the inside and slow down rust. If it is galvanized already then a thin coat will be fine.

My trailer has 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" tube for the straight tongue, and 2x3 channel for the frame itself.

 

[sbarcewski]

Gave the issue some more thought and did some horse trading at the scrapyard/steel shop. End of story is walked in with the 100' of tube of misc lengths and came out with 40' of standard channel straight across. The guy at the counter said he would be able to move the tubing no problem. To keep his books straight though I sold him the tubing and bought the channel for the same price. (I think he cut a little off the channel price!) While I was there I bought a 20' stick of 2"x3"x3/16" tubing for the tongue. Some scrounging in the neighbors junk yard (the one that I got the original steel from) scored me 2 almost new springs and he made me some spring seats at the same time. Gonna have to take him out to dinner because he won't accept any $ since he knows my boy wants to go fishing on the boat this summer.

 

[willfishforfood]

Very nice of him. 3/16 wall tongue might be heavy but that will help it track