Polishing The Turd... Harbor Freight Trailer Revamp

My Dad moved into a smaller place and he gave me a small Harbor Freight Trailer that he had.




It was in very good shape and it towed just fine 3 hours to home.
Only problem is the weenie little tires and stance and I am not one to just leave things as they are. So it is time to give it an attitude adjustment. I will use it to haul camping stuff and garbage and yadda yadda

The original wheel hub was 4 lug. I wanted to get it to 4 on 4.5 pattern so i can use Jeep wheels for it.
Northenr tool had the hub bearing combo. Axle shaft diameter is 1 inch. So I bought this hub setup.
Ultra-Tow High Speed Hub — 5 on 4 1/2in., 1250-Lb. Capacity, Single | Trailer Hubs| Northern Tool + Equipment

I got a set of 16x7 steel wheels and found a cheap pair of 305/70/16 tires. Tires are a bit heavy, they are Load Range E. Oh well they are cheap and should keep trailer on the ground

I knew the axle would need to be longer for the new rims. The Harbor Freight axle is an open C channel axle. Pretty cheap but worked. So I had to add 9 inches to the axle. I cut the axle in the middle and added a 9" piece of square tubing and butt welded it together.



After that i had a large square tube that i drilled for plug welds and slipped it over and welded it up. I did not run the sleever all the way to the ends because the Ubolts would not clear. I added some 3/16 plate to close up the left over channel that was the original axle.


The painted axle installed


I put the tires and wheels on. Boy was it a pain the in arse to put on that size of tires on the trailer when the other side was just sitting on a jackstand. The tire just kept pushing the trailer away, instead of going on top of the studs.





I need to get some more steel this week and finish up the box. The floor is going to be plywood again.
Also will make a landing leg, mount the lights, extend the fenders and give it a paint job, might go army with it and paint it olive drab

 

I welded in the sides of the tub today. I found some metal shelving that worked fine for me






I still need to add support brackets to the fenders and think about if i am going to go with a solid back or make a tailgate.
And add wood for the bed, then it will get some bodywork to hide the seams and then paint.

 

I have done the floors with metal before. I changed to wood because i could always replace it when it gets beat up. It was easier to just repalce rather than hammer out dents. I use the trailer for garbage or getting heavy stuff as well as camping

 

Got it all done. I will eventually replace the wood floor, this one doesnt fully fill the floor.









Now I can make room for the Land Rover