BOOYAH!!!! I got a trailer!!!!!!!!!!!

[IdahoScrapper]

drilling 3 or 4, 3/16" or 1/4" holes in the rails will in no way compromise it's integrity.

I know it won't. I was thinking more along the lines of cosmetics, but who am I kidding. We are scrappers!



Hey NA, in looking at your trailer a bit closer...would it work to put your sides up and then come in from the bottom of those pockets with your "stake" and fasten into them with deck screws? If it works like I think it would, it would be fairly secure.

[Bear]

I was thinking more along the lines of cosmetics, but who am I kidding. We are scrappers!

Uhmmm...You are joking?...Right?
Somehow I didn't think so, and why you would be wishing to slur is beyond me, frankly I thought better of you than this, Idaho.
I had considered just letting it be, something like "New, I give up, good luck", and let it go, and was going to excepting for one thing. It was not a slur to me. but to every scrapper who ever fit a trailer, or anything else for that matter.
You used a term from the engineering department while suggesting methods of an amateur. Cosmetics?

If you don't want to drill holes in your frame, use square u bolts.

Square U-bolts on angle iron? Cosmetics? You might see a square U-bolt on an angle iron out in the field, but you'll never find such a thing specified on an engineering drawing. No, we're not engineers, but we're not slop either, and I think you'll find a thousand threads here advising us Not to be.

Why you'd find Square U-bolts, or 2x4s wedged into the frame, more visually appealing than direct bolts to the frame is another thing I can't figure, but then, I truly don't wish to know the method at which you arrived at this conclusion. Bolts, and vehicle frames just go together, look at any vehicle on the road.

There is nothing wrong with bolting directly to the frame. It's more rigid, more secure, and will be more durable than anything you have mentioned.

In my 40+ years of being a builder, I have long been aware of the hundreds of ways to do most anything. Some are definitely better than others, and sometime it doesn't make a bit of difference, but to slur one, while suggesting another, is uncalled for, especially when it definitely isn't any better, structurally, or architecturally.

The 2x4s will work fine, if properly done, long as the pocket brackets will accept a full one. It won't be as durable or as rigid, but will get the job done, and I suppose that's what matters

Good luck with it New