Pickup bed trailer

While it may look redneck; with the price of new trailers I have been thinking of building a trailer out of a pickup bed.

So school me on the plus and minuses of doing this over buying a new 5x8 trailer.

Is it better to use a 6 foot bed or 8 foot bed?
It looks like the 6 foot bed would be better because the axle is more centered under the bed giving the 8 foot bed more tongue weight.

I see most just use the truck frame to make the tongue.
This might add even more tongue weight over cutting the frame at the front of the bed and using 3 or 4 inch channel iron the make the tongue.

I have a Ford extended cab with about a 6 foot bed; a Ford single cab with 8 foot bed; and a small Toyota; to choose from to do this project.
 
good evening john, I have built 2 pickup box trailers, one 8ft. from a gmc truck and one from an old mazda pickup, both just used mainly around the acreage here. cut the frame at a 25 degree (approx.) on each side, heated and pulled them toghter, trimed up the frame ends to slide in a 2x3 square tubing for the hitch, cross brace tying in the frame and the end of the tubing. I find the 8ft. great for chores around here, but the 6ft. mazda is handier to pull around with my side by side or the case tractor.
 
I?ve built a couple over the years, the first one was a Datsun pickup bed, and the other one I built was a LWB F250 bed, I liked it better as I had more room, don?t have either one now
 
I'm all for using what's on hand to save money and clean the place up in the process. As far as the red neck look,no problem unless you sometimes work for hire. From the utility side,high deck height is the main problem but high center of gravity can also become a problem if load get's much higher than sides. As you mentioned,frame is commonly bent and used for tongue,and that result's in longer than needed tongue. The amount of money and labor invested is the main attraction.
 

I built one out of a 59/60 chebby pick up its handy around the farm towing with a tractor. Out on the highway behind my pick up I don't like it at all. It has coil springs what would help would be to make the suspension rigid to take the sway out of it when its loaded heavy. I have hauled 4K pounds in it to the scrap yard several times but take it slow...
 
I have one made from an old '66-'67 period Chebby short flareside. Floor rotted out and I just put some cattle panel over it, 3- 55 gallon drums with diesel and pump. Put a long tongue on it out of 2 ⅞ drill pipe as cutting the frame and bending it into a V and installing a trailer hitch makes it wwwwwwway too short. No way can you back that thing. Braced the pipe off the edges of the frame (a large V) with some 1" angle. Had it 30+ years.

The running gear is stock, just removed the drive shaft. Check it periodically to ensure it has plenty of 90w oil. Having the OEM springs, it rides real smooth.
 
Mark how is the tongue weight with the longer tongue.
Tongue weight is what I am most worried about.
That and sway from a from to long or short of a tongue.

I can back up a dolly that goes between 2 trailers and is shorter than this pickup bed trailer will be while in is hooked on the back of a 28 foot trailer so I do not think backing up will be a problem.
 
You should ask the King of Obsolete. He's got all kinds of those things. He'll probably have the answers to your questions and will be more than glad to tell ya.
 
Put a couple of good shock absorbers on the trailer to help keep it more stable. When you make a trailer out of a pickup you lose the leaning side to side stability the front axle on the pickup provided. I hauled a lot of fat hogs to market in a 8 foot pickup trailer with a stock rack 40 years ago or so. It was surprisingly stable with a dozen fat hogs packed in there but if I hauled a single rambunctious stock cow the trailer was really a Rockin.
 
John, read up on your Louisiana law first. It's my understanding the State is strict on licensing "home-made" trailers; it may have to be built by an approved manufacturer.
 
1: Check the state laws. Carry capacity may be a lot less than that of a manufactured trailer.

2: Pickup bed trailers are considerably heavier than the same size manufactured trailer. Could exceed the tow capacity of the towing vehicle.

3: They most often will not pull as well.

4: Should something unthinkable happen and the trailer fail resulting in serious injury or death you may be held accountable.

Now would I use a pickup trailer on my own property? Sure. On the highway?????

Me? I'd buy one before I built one for on road.

Rick
 
John,
I know a man 50 years ago took a 1950's or 60's 4x8 international step side bed, put a square axle under it and made a great trailer. He did a good job, it tracked perfectly. I purchased it before I had a truck. Pulled it with a car. I used it until the fenders fell off it.

I THINK as long as you are under a certain weight, think it 3k, you don't need electric brakes.
3k just about exceeds the tire rating.

Using the rear end from truck might pull a little harder.

I've seen pick up trailers where they used the truck frame, bent both sides to the middle and attached the hitch. A lot of redneck engineers where I live. They drink a lot of beer to get their creative ideas.

If you need a trailer, do it. Post your handy work.
 
When I lived in Anchorage I must have built at least 50 of those trailers. A guy I knew bought junk vehicles at auction and parted them out. I would buy the back half of the pickups from him. Got so I could take a complete PU and have a trailer done in half a day. He would then come and haul the front half away.
Made my fun money that way.
Sold most of them to people from Elmendorf AFB who were getting transfered back to the lower 48 and needed a cheap one way trailer. Little Jap pickups sold the quickest -
Toyotas, Datsuns, Chevy LUVs, Mazda, etc.
Full size PUs were slow sellers.
Once I moved to a new place across town and had 3 Jap trailers to haul over. They all just happened to have good bumpers with a 2" ball on them so I hooked them all up and daisy chained them over in one trip behind my Datsun. Musta looked funny to passers by...
 
"I've seen pick up trailers where they used the truck frame, bent both sides to the middle and attached the hitch."

That's the way I built the ones I sold.
I used the weld-on angled couplers and computed how much of the frame I needed to make the angles work. Was quicker to build and it saved the cost of buying a piece of tubing for the tongue.
 
I have had a couple they're OK but not nearly as handy as a flat bed for me as they are higher and harder to load and unload plus the fender wells are always in the way.
 
Ultradog ...... When we were in Alaska, I kept seeing ATV trailers that were built in a square U shape. Probably 4X6 feet. The tops of the fenders made a place for people to sit and the U shape added strength. Never got close enough to one it know if it was fiberglass or steel. I have googled them and have never seen anything like them here in the lower 48. any idea of a name for them?

Bill
 
I now have two pickup box trailers. I have had several before and have built probably about a half dozen. I use the entire frame for stability, backing ease, the ability to carry long cargo in the towing vehicle and on the trailer, and to reduce the tendency to bob up and down at the hitch. On the two I have now I have a short flatbed in front of the box. That flatbed is where we carried the riding mower when we did lawn care with the grass going in the box. On that trailer I built a dump hoist under the box. The other one is out of an old Datsun. The flatbed is low because of the pickup frame design and is very handy. I also use this trailer when I buy steel in 20 foot lengths because I can put it on top of the box from close to the towing vehicle to out the back and the load is pretty well centered. I do need a flag on the back, but that is easy. I usually pull this with my Toyota Corolla.
 
My dad and uncle both built trailers using pickup beds that pulled great. The trailers were built to each haul two outboard motors, insulated fish box, fishing tackle,grub box and every thing we needed for a two week fishing trip we took every year to Canada.
 
I'd use the 8 ft pickup bed. If it's a 2wd 3/4 ton that would be great. 1/2 ton won't have near the capacity due to weaker springs, tires, & shocks. You need tongue weight on your towing vehicle whether it's a car, truck, or tractor. Make sure the springs are in good shape, no broken leaves or coils, shocks in good shape. I'd wire up the tailights so you have tailights, stop lights, and turn signals, side marker lights too. When you cut and bend the frame rails to make the hitch gusset it anywhere you can. That's the weakest point of any trailer.

You still have to load the trailer reasonably. Guy hauling a single steer to butcher made me laugh. Dad drove for local livestock hauler, when we hauled a steer to butcher we just went over and took his 1964 C-60 truck with a 20 ft livestock rack. We would gate the steer up front and the truck still swayed as the steer moved around. I would NOT have hauled a second steer in a pickup box trailer whether it had a stockrack or not.
 
We have hauled two steers in pickup box and if you put eyes up front in floor of trailer and put halters on steers and tie them side by side they can't do a lot of moving around.
 
I have several and buy them all the time to make movable hay feeding trailers out of. As far as load capacity and durability most 5'X8' trailers are not built out of much, maybe 2'' X 3/16'' angle iron while a 3/4 ton pick up bed trailer will haul what ever the former truck would. An 8' bed is good if you use the whole frame so the tounge is long enough, easy pulling and easy backing.
 
The trouble with hauling two steers is they are stepping and stumbling on the wheel wells. The advantage to hauling two steers is they don’t have enough room to romp around if they are untied.
 
I have built three of them. The first was a Chevy with coil springs. Don't build one with coil springs. Top speed only 50 mph.
The second was a Toyota. I made the tongue a little to short. Top speed 55 mph.
The third one is a Toyota also. Longer tongue; good at any speed. The trouble with the small trailers, is that you can't get enough tongue weight. It is best if you make the hitch a little higher than the hitch on the tow vehicle, so that when you brake hard, it doesn't lift up on the rear of your tow vehicle. In other words the tongue should slope down, or at least level When it is hitched up. When you buy the truck box, make sure they leave enough frame to make a long tongue. This also makes it easier to back.
 
First off check the laws regarding home built trailers. When I went in to register my first homebuilt in 1987 they asked if it was a pickup box trailer. It wasn't so I was good. Laws are different in every state. On this trailer I just transferred the registration and plate so there were no questions. My FIL built one in MN 30 years ago. When he went to get it legal they gave him a serial number that he had stamped on sheet metal and then riveted it to the frame. No identification needed in IA.
I used to have a Ford half ton box trailer. Got it for $50. Not pretty. I got a lot of use out of it. However it was light on the tongue. It got to the point that the frame rusted off ahead of the rear spring hangers on one side. When a friend had a 3/4 ton super cab Ford with no box (originally 8') to get rid of, I jumped at it. I took the box off the half ton and decided there wasn't enough left of it to use on the 3/4 ton frame. I took off the cab and front axle and everything else that didn't look like a trailer. This frame was probably 1 1/2' to 2' longer than a standard cab pickup frame. I notched and bent and welded the frame C channels to meet the 3x3x1/4" steel tube coupler mount that I salvaged from the old frame. I made sure the hitch height was compatible to my pickup and the coupler mount tube was on the centerline of the frame square. I used a string line and measured and re-measured. I added gussets where necessary and some that were not necessary. The ball is 50" ahead of the box and about 9' ahead of the axle. The axle is 12" behind center length of the box. The trailer is a little heavy to lift to up so I put a jack with a wheel on it that I had squirreled away in the "Future Projects Parts Bin". I measured the frame and decided to build a wood box. I had a number of good used 2"x10"x10' treated for the floor and enough used 1x6 treated for the sides. I went about 30" high for the sides. I thought about making it 7' wide but my son said you rarely need one wider than the pickup and then you have to remember it is wider every time you go around a corner. It is 6' wide x 10' long.I bought some 4x4 pine treated for the cross members on top of the truck frame. I left the step bumper on it, but wished I had left a little more stick out. I used 3/8" carriage bolts to hold everything together, except I used a few 3/8" lag screws where it made sense
I used 3/8" log chain for the safety chains. Bolted and double nutted to the frame. I used 3/8" quick links instead of "S" hooks on the towing vehicle end.
Since this was a full floating axle, I pulled the axle shafts out and made caps and bolted them on the ends of the brake drums after repacking and installing wheel bearings. This way there would be no gear drag. I left the differential in the housing as no reason to take it out. I suppose it would take a little weight off. I pulled out the brake mechanisms to get them out of the way. If I wanted to at some time, I could buy new brakes and a surge brake actuator. It had 16.5" rims and poor tires on it so I went to a junk yard and bought 3-16" rims and went to my junkyard neighbor and he happened to have 3 good load range "D" tires out of a set that I bought from him. I usually bolt the spare rim and tire thru the front wall out of the box. That way it is always along, easy to check tire pressure and also adds a little to tongue weight. It nests nicely between the frame rails. I bought new trailer lights and wired them in "Conduit" using old 5/8" rubber garden hose. I used plastic pipe and conduit fittings to make junction boxes. All the wire joints were soldered and either taped or wire nutted with electrolytic grease in them. It was a winter project and I think this is the third summer with it. The specs on the pickup said the axle was about a 6000# rating and the tires matched closely to that. With the long tongue it trails beautifully down the road and is pretty easy to back.
I had stake pockets from a yard sale and made the sides removable. I Just took the sides off last week for the first time. My son is getting roofing steel this week and after we put a couple pallets in it, he will be able to slide it forward 3' to 4' of the box front to help balance the load.
I do agree that the load height is higher than desirable. I also had to make some wheel wells out of sheet metal and lumber to get adequate tire clearance. For the money I have in it, I really don't have many regrets. Unfortunately I don't really have enough use for it. My son and I have a light weight 4'x8' trailer that will pull easily behind a compact or midsize car. That saves a lot of gas. However the heavy one is there when necessary.
 
Try again with a picture.
a273681.jpg
 
Much prettier than mine but my criticism is this: Usually you need tongue weight of 10% total weight to get it to follow correctly (and that can get to be devastating if it gets out of control...seen it happen). Second compare the hitch to axle distance to the front to rear wheel spacing on the towing vehicle. You can't back up a short tongue trailer with a P/U.......without lotttttts of effort.
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top