Livestock Trailer Side Panel Repair/Replacement

Help Support CattleToday:

4x4dually

Well-known member
Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
241
Reaction score
24
Location
Mulhall/Orlando/Stillwater, Ok
I was just wondering if anyone has repaired the rusted sides of a steel trailer before and what you found as economical solutions.

The Circle D has done its time and needs some love. I have a new rubber floor to put in it waiting on my in the barn. But the first step is to fix all the holes in the sides. I figured I could get some sheet metal sheared and put a new piece inside and out along the bottom and pop rivet it through all three pieces then weld the outside layer back to the frame.

Has anyone done it and found a better way? As usual...the search function failed me so I started a new thread.

IMG_2782_800x600.jpg


I also found a local place that would sandblast and repaint it for $2800. Does that sound like a fair price IF they do it nicely?

Thanks.
 
to fix it correctly you got to kill the rust first. There are several products you can use to do that. your method of repair would work. Im not sure about the sand blast and painting price. If I could get it sand blasted cheaply I would paint it my self.
 
Agreed. I have considered getting it sand blasted first then fixing everything in the shop and hopefully keeping it from flash rusting until I got it done. Then I could paint it. My father has a body shop but the booth is not long enough....but I have the air and guns to do the paint myself. Inside the neck would be a biddy. I'm only 41 but I am definitely at the point in my life where I enjoy dropping something off and picking it up completed. LOL

This week I'll work to get the old floor out. The rubber floor will require the addition of more support underneath so more angle iron is in store first.
 
I have repaired a lot of rusted out things. Overlaid, plated, buffed, etc.

You have to know how bad it is, how much metal remains.

My uncles was the worst I ever repaired. I added 4 new vertical stringers out of rectangular tubing on each side. Then I sandwiched new strip plate on the inside. My cousin (his son) buffed with a wire disc and sand blasted out the remaining rust. Wire welded the sides to my strip plates. It is not pretty, but it is solid. Effective. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Your trailer looks a bit longer than what my uncle's was.
 
Don't waste your time with sheet metal. You will be right back where you started. Get some 6"x 1/8 or 1/4 flat bar and cut 3-4" off the sides around the whole bottom. Wrap the flat bar all the way around. Buff it, sand blast it, ospho it, and get a good, off shore, industrial paint and go to town on the whole thing. :nod:
 
have ya priced sheetmetal jory? I did a bushhog and the 2 4x8 sheets of 1/8 blk iron cost me 550 bucks. plus 5$ per cut. youll need decent stuff round the btm. ok to spend on that trlr but too pricey for the mower...
anyways id get a grinder and start cutting it off from the inside bout a cpl inches above the highest rust. shear the plate to the width and trim the length with a cutoff wheel.
dude you built the storm cellar and the feed trlr and that stuff..this is a piece o cake.
 
You need to find somewhere else to business with DB. Steel is selling for less than a dollar a pound now.
 
I spent a romantic evening with the wife and a pair of crow bars. The screws that were put in through knots were lovely.

IMG_4196_zps6cevw3vu.jpg


The rust doesn't go very high....so it shouldn't take much to get above it once I get it killed and covered.

IMG_4198_zpsjqw4pnre.jpg


And I understand that being an electrical engineer for 18 yrs and ex-electrician that my expectations of wiring are probably a hundred degrees above normal....but my Lord. They used scotch-locks, .25" male-female tabs, and just bare stapled the wires to the underside of the boards. No protection, no insulation, nothing. I'm so glad I'm getting to re-do this retarded mess. It just pains me that manufacturers can't spend an extra $50 on supplies and train someone to cover wires and hide them in tubes so they can't get torn out or moisture in them. ARGH!!!!! [/rant]
 
Brute 23":19hwxh7m said:
I'd beef that floor up while I was in there. Having those runners tie in to the sides makes me nervous. Are there a couple runners from front to back?

You could get a good 2"x6" angle iron and go back in the corners front to back.

Yes, I have to add an angle between each one that are already in the trailer. The rubber floor will sag in the hot summer if you don't. I HATE the way they welded the angles under the main runners. There aren't any front-to-back supports other than the outside rails. If one weld breaks....it will domino and dump bacon-burgers all over the road. Not a fan. A smart person would have notched the angles so they lay on top of the side piece.....but why think about it. That would cost money to notch them all. Cheap. If I built trailer for a living, no one could afford them. LOL I might notch the ones I add and lay them on top. I'll try to see if you can notice the floor being up and down. Surely 3/16 won't make it look bad if I alternate one up and one down.
 
That's not bad. If it were me I would wire brush it and Por 15 the wall and angle then use a strip of 6" flat stock and tack to walls at the top. The new wood will keep it secure on the bottom. I would also suggest that once wall repair is done order you some DIY spray bed liner and cover the repair and up 20" or so
 
you got snowed in for months..why ya doin this now?

even if the weld broke the wood will keep anything from falling thru.

if it pains you aluminum panels might do ya better on the floor. mine has them. alum ribs are exp but ya only do it once. the rest of the trlr is rotting away around em. get the grinder out and trim the rust of w/a cutoff wheel and then blast it and get to work. i wouldnt get carried away with doing it aqny diff. its how they all are built and it lasted ya 20 yrs right?

inknow bout the electrics cuz yer mental like that..but how much trouble did they give ya

yer almost as bad as me..nothings ever as good as it should be til ya do it yerself
 
I'm using rubber. I bought the flooring a few years back with intentions of this for a long time.

I think the problem is that a gap needs to be left down the sides. The previous floor was forced right up to the wall leaving no room for water to drain out. It just pooled up and set. I take care of most of my junk. I will only haul cattle once a year now that we've went to cow/calf and the trailer will be washed out after that haul. What started these mods if that the girl will be able to show pigs next year and I'm trying to clean it up so we might have the 2nd to junkiest trailer at the shows...but not the 1st junkiest. LOL I guess the gap would allow chips to pile up and keep moisture in as well, but at least the gap in the back would allow for them to be washed or blown out. I'm also at a loss on the spacing of the new flooring. For cattle, I'd put a half inch between them so it could be washed and drain easily, but I don't want it that big for pigs since the chips would fall out. So I think I'll use a 1/6 penny nail or 1/4" bolt for spacing and then leave an inch or two along the sides so it can drain and dry faster.....or listen to any ideas you all have. If I had funds I'd buy an aluminum show trailer and a new stock trailer...but that dog won't hunt.

As far as the "electrics"... it will get done right and better. The mice have a cubby hole in this design behind the tail lights. They like to make nests in there and eat the wires. I'm done with that business. I also need to add cabin lighting for shows...and maybe a disco globe.
 
dieselbeef":2n1pjdoq said:
you aint got no junk jory

Are you kiddin' me? '68 4020 that is worn to Hades and back...twice. This rust bucket. No farm implements that were produced post 1985. A '79 dump truck with a blown motor (the next project). A 4-wheeler that was built in 2001. :lol2: If it weren't for my truck that I still own on and a new flatbed trailer I'd be poor. LOL


I kid, I kid.....I just get sick of having something broke every week of my life. It could be worse.
 
Myself I'd just weld some 1x3x 3/16 flat bar right on top of the angle iron on 1' centers. The most important part is keeping your trailer clean and sprayed down with oil.
 
4x4dually":2ai1dwn4 said:
dieselbeef":2ai1dwn4 said:
you aint got no junk jory

Are you kiddin' me? '68 4020 that is worn to Hades and back...twice. This rust bucket. No farm implements that were produced post 1985. A '79 dump truck with a blown motor (the next project). A 4-wheeler that was built in 2001. :lol2: If it weren't for my truck that I still own on and a new flatbed trailer I'd be poor. LOL


I kid, I kid.....I just get sick of having something broke every week of my life. It could be worse.


join th club..wife said almost the exact thing the other day bout ll our old stuff....too much of it was my answer.. :deadhorse:
 
Im not too fond of using the sides to hold the floor up either. Are the springs attached to the sides also?

It wouldn't be that hard to put two or three long square or rectangular pieces of tubing in and run them from to back. Tie them in up front and in back. Notching all those angle irons would be a PIA but it would be solid.

At least the next time you would have a good solid base to work from. ;-)
 
Re-Wired the brakes last night. I found that the passenger side was torn loose, both of them. The ground was missing. The front driver's side had both wires ripped out of the hub. The only brake found to be functional was the driver's side rear. I chalk this up to trailer OEM's being tight wads.

NO.

IMG_42061_zpsdf5qatdp.jpg


YES.

IMG_42051_zpsymurow8t.jpg


That's how anal retentive electrical engineers wire trailers. Rubber gasket'ed loop clamps, crimp splices, shrink tubing, and over braid. :lol2:
 

Latest posts

Top