Aluminum skinned trailer worth?

I'm surprised it still has tires on it. Being from the 50s, I'd save all re-usable items, the old running lights in the photo for example, and give em a shot on Ebay, Craigslst, FB Swap Shops, etc. If it has one of those combined sink/fridge/stoves in it, those are pretty cool for tiny apartments too

Hek, if I could get any of those aluminum sheets off there in any re-usable condition I'd give them a shot at better than scrap too, that old might be airplane grade

Originally Posted by KzScrapper

That thing looks like a Mobile Prison.

Looks like a camera on top pointing towards the door to their warehouse, might of been used for the office or something

With a trailer that old be wary of the axles--they may use an obsolete braking system that will make getting parts difficult.

Jon.

Originally Posted by miked

I have to state the ovious, check it with a magnet to ensure it is Al. Mike

Haha! I did plan to do that, but I'm sure some people have eaten it on something like that before by not checking.

I know there would be a good amount of trash for me to haul off. Quite a bit of work tearing it down. As for trying to get it to come off nicely, I'm sure I could go about drilling out all of the rivets, I'm just not sure my time would be worth the extra bit I could possibly get on the private market vs a scrap yard.

I didn't think to keep all the lights and such and try to sell those. Actually, I build enough trailers, I could probably just keep them around and use them on future projects.

Luckily, here in the southwest, we don't see a whole lot of rust. I'll check to be sure, because I don't know that this was a New Mexico trailer all of it's life.

As for the axles, the guy said it still pulls fine and has 3 decent tires and one new tire. I don't know that I would keep the axles anyway, since I would like to build a trailer that would be able to haul around 10k. Those old axles are usually only good for 3500lbs each. I need 6k if I decide to keep this one for myself.

Anyway, as far as the skin goes, might anyone have a guess as to how much is there? 38' trailer, 8' wide and I'm guessing around 7' tall. My estimate would be around 800sq ft. Obviously I don't know the thickness, but maybe some of you guys who have been doing this longer could shoot me a guess as to weight. I've read 1/3lb per sq ft on yahoo answers, but I don't count that as much of a worthwhile answer. But, if by chance that is correct, seems at current market prices, that would be about $175 in scrap. That sound about right to anyone?

My advise to not waste your time to much trash and labor the aluminum your recover will be 4-5 hundred lbs,we scraped one simialir to that one that's what we got,but the customer payed me 200.00 to get it off his property that old sheet just doesn't weigh anything.

you can tell what gauge it is by looking along the seams. It looks like a fairly sturdy gauge there, you could tell by poking a pocket screwdriver into a seam and twist a bit to see how tough or thick it is. 4-5 hundred pounds could right for certain gauge, but from what can be seen it might be a little heavier gauge sheet than a newer one would be. Depending what part of the 50s it could still be leftovers from WW2 or still manufactured the same. If it was closer to, or into the 60s, that's about when quality began fading, and cheap began taking over

Still not allowed to post a link, but found a site here vBulletin Hosting | Forum Hosting | vBulletin Support. (statelinesupply) .com/Handbook/Aluminum/Sheet-Plate.aspx that estimates 21 gauge at .456lbs per sq ft. If my 800 sq ft estimate were to be correct, that would be about $250 in scrap aluminum. Probably $50 in dump fees. So if I could pick it up for around $3-400, and put $200 back in my pocket from scrap and have a decent frame to work with, that may not be so bad.

how did you come up with the "21 gauge" ?

I just googled aluminum weight by sheet and came up with that website I posted. 21 gauge was the thinnest they mentioned on there. I still haven't looked at the trailer, so it may very well be something entirely different. I'm used to dealing with thick steel, so below 16 gauge, I'm not familiar with anything honestly.

I'm guessing less than 21 jt, more like 16(and since you know what 16 is, what is it? maybe tween a 32nd and a 16th?), but that's only my guessing, and only due to the way things were made back then. They made things then to last

I scrapped one just like that a few years back. It took me two days to strip all the aluminum sheet off,which got me 290$ in low copper aluminum. I was going to use the frame for a trailer,but it turns out it is made from thin wall square tubing and no good for a trailer. I was in a remote location,so I just kept a small fire going and burned all the wood.These trailers are made so that the actual body is the backbone to keep it all together and once I removed the body,the rest of it had a decided sag to it. The axles are heavy duty and would make a nice car hauler if I ever had time for that project

Originally Posted by hmburner

I scrapped one just like that a few years back. It took me two days to strip all the aluminum sheet off,which got me 290$ in low copper aluminum. I was going to use the frame for a trailer,but it turns out it is made from thin wall square tubing and no good for a trailer. I was in a remote location,so I just kept a small fire going and burned all the wood.These trailers are made so that the actual body is the backbone to keep it all together and once I removed the body,the rest of it had a decided sag to it. The axles are heavy duty and would make a nice car hauler if I ever had time for that project

haha, so true, I guess looking at that aluminum makes me wanna thing it's got Al framing too. nope! wood and glue. I needed a 4x4 piece of paneling once and went to an old trailer not far, every piece i tried to pull off the wall wound up in shreds because it was all glued together

Originally Posted by Bear

I'm guessing less than 21 jt, more like 16(and since you know what 16 is, what is it? maybe tween a 32nd and a 16th?), but that's only my guessing, and only due to the way things were made back then. They made things then to last

It's gonna be much thinner than 16 gauge. 16 gauge is .051. 1/16th is .063 and 1/32nd is .031. I'd venture a guess that at its thickest, it would be around 21 gauge or .028. I still haven't gone to look at it yet. Maybe tonight or maybe tomorrow.