*Trailer Modifications*
New is not good enough
By: Jaden
02 August, 2008

What’s the first thing a Rubiconner does when they buy something new? Modify it of course.

I recently picked up a brand new 4x6 tilt bed trailer for a very good price. I also bought a spare tire, but not a carrier for it. I wanted to be able to haul 4 gas jugs without losing any deck space. After doing some measuring I decided I could put 1 jug on each side forward of the fender and 2 jugs on the front.

Me being me, I drastically cheated when it came to making the components. I threw some scrap on the water jet and started cutting. Each piece cut in less than two minutes. It sure did make short work of cutting the steel especially when having to cut a 45 degree notch in the end of a piece of steel so that it would fit on a piece of angle iron.

Starting the cut
Almost done
The prizes

The spare tire carrier is nothing more than a piece of all thread welded on to the gas jug rack. The all thread has a back nut and matching round plate, then the tire goes on and is held on with two nuts. One is just used as a jam nut.

The side racks only stick out about 4” beyond the fenders.

Throw on a bungee cord and it’s good to go

With the tire and added metal I’m going to say that I added about 30 pounds of tongue weight. On this trailer that’s nothing.
Oh yea… just as a mental note. When doing a project like this make sure you don’t weld the carriers to the tongue and to the angle iron frame or you won’t have a tilt bed anymore.
Yes, this one still tilts.
Jaden



www.alpharubicon.com
All materials at this site not otherwise credited are Copyright © 1996 - 2008 Trip Williams. All rights reserved. May be reproduced for personal use only. Use of any material contained herein is subject to stated terms or written permission.