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Classic Ellis Trailer "Budget" Rejuvination

Backlash

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Good evening Folks!

After wearing myself out for the last two days on house projects, I finally snuck in a little time on the trailer. I was able to cut off some of the leaf spring hangers that will no longer be used. I removed the rear leaf spring hangers and the pivot hanger between the two leaf spring hangers. All that will remain from the original build will be the front leaf spring hangers. I also ground down the welds holding on the old steps and the old fender supports. I didn't have a ton of time to spend on this but like the rest of these updates, every little bit helps! ;)


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In this picture you can see the yellow paint that was originally on this trailer. I thought the rootbeer brown was a little ugly until I saw the yellow. No worries it's all coming off anyways. Hahaha!

Hopefully I can get some more time tomorrow to tinker on this mess. :D

As always, thank you for checking in. Stay safe out there!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good evening Folks! :D

Wow its been forever since I did anything on either this trailer or the Howard! I've just been so busy with work and house projects and short on free time. Anyhow, I managed to get all the old spring hangers cut off of one half of the trailer and the main rail ground smooth. I got the old steps and braces cut off and am almost finished smoothing things out. Tomorrow I'll try and get the hangers on the other side cut off and things cleaned up.


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Hopefully I can get back on these projects and start making some headway. As always, thank you for checking in!

Stay safe!

Henry
 

ka0tyk

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i think the yellow was a primer used back in the day. its all over my competitive trailer and its THICK and takes forever to strip off. thank goodness for harbor freight flapper wheels.
 

Backlash

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Thanks for the laughs George!! Hahaha!!! Between working full-time (And some weeks an extra 20-30 hours O/T), remodeling a house and spending time with the kids and family, it's impossible to find any time to work on this sucker! :D

ka0tyk, primer or not, it's nasty! But whatever they used back in the day seemed to work pretty damn well. There isn't a ton of rust on this trailer that really concerns me. I've been using the composite sheets in 50 grit on a grinder and they seem to hold up better than the flap wheels. The price is a little better too. I just try to remember to grab some whenever I slide in to the big boy hardware store. :D

Thanks you guys for checking in and making me laugh. I honestly do appreciate it!! ;)
 

Backlash

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Good afternoon Folks!

I hope everyone is having a safe and enjoyable weekend! I snuck away for a few minutes here and there and made a little more progress on this trailer.

Joe finished up polishing the last of these wheels and I picked them up from him. They really turned out great and I couldn't be happier!! While working on them, he noticed one wheel had a slight bend in the lip so he pointed it out and we added that to the list of things to repair. Of the six wheels I now have, one is bent, several have studs in them that refused to come out which I finally cut off with a grinder and the rest just need to have the center cap mounting holes chased and re-tapped. So I loaded them up and headed over to Jason's Wheel Repair in Chino.

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I got to his shop shortly after he opened and we discussed the issues above. If you haven't found a good contact for wheel repair, I would highly suggest you give him a shot! Super cool guy who knows what he's doing even if PVHCA shared some of his character traits with him over the years! :D

Just busting your chops Phil! Thanks for the reference! ;)

After leaving Chino, I stopped by the steel yard and picked up a 20' stick. I brought that home with a Subway sandwich and started cutting things down to size. ;)

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Yesterday I started cutting out the cross members on the trailer that were initially set up for a v-drive. In all honesty, I could have left them the way they were, but then it would look like I slid a flat bottom v-drive trailer underneath a semi-v with an outboard. :D

Don't want that. Plus the cross members hung down lower than I wanted, so off they go!

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Some point during the last 40 years, someone lost their nuts. I think I found them. :D


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I'll start fitting in the new cross members one at a time. I don't want to remove them all at once and give the trailer frames an opportunity to twist. By replacing one at a time, any twisting or distortion should be kept to a minimum.

So there we have it. Not a huge amount of progress but progress nonetheless! As always, thank you for checking in and following along.

Stay safe!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good evening!

I'm making some slow progress on this trailer project but every little bit helps. After cutting out the first cross member, I needed to grind the remnants of the old cross members flush with the frame rails. Out with the grinder! :D


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And this is how things are looking. I'm pretty happy with this so far. I am a little surprised that this cross member wasn't welded 360?. When I get ready to weld the new pieces in, I'll finish welding these up too. ;)


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Tomorrow I'll start on the patterns for the new cross members. As always, thank you for checking in!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Good afternoon Folks! :D

Today I was able to get more of the remnants of the old cross member ground flush and the front cross member pattern made. I cut a scrap piece of 3/4" ply that fit between the inner rails. Then I just used a level to carry the same angle from the outer main frame rails to the inner rails. If you notice, the left and right side are slightly different. If I keep the exact same angle as what is shown, one section of this cross member will be a little longer. I'll adjust this when I get the steel cut. Once everything was marked on the plywood, I ran round the frame and sanded the surfaces where I've been working to knock off any rust. Then I laid down a couple quick coats of primer just to protect these surfaces. This will all come off later but for now, I'll just leave it as is.


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Next step is to get the new cross member cut and fit. I could have easily just cut a piece of 2x4" steel and welded that in between these two inner frame rails. But I thought it would look less "Ellis-like" if I did that. My plan is to cut this piece, notch the center of the tube to create this angle and then get it fit into place. It will look more similar to the forward cross member which will hopefully make it seem that this was how the trailer was originally built. ;)

As always, thanks for checking in on me! :D

Stay safe and have a great weekend!

Henry
 

Backlash

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Not much of an update but an update nonetheless! :D

I finally picked up my wheels from Jason out in Chino. He was able to remove the remaining studs from the wheel centers. Some needed to be drilled out, the material filled and then the center cap holes re-tapped. There were a few wheels that needed his expertise along with one wheel that had a slight bend in it. I told Jason I was in no hurry and he took his time getting these repaired. Thank you Jason I appreciate it! They turned out great and the pictures don't do them justice! ;)


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So there you have it. Not much of an update! :D

Thanks for following along and checking in!

Henry
 

warpt71

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Not much of an update but an update nonetheless! :D

I finally picked up my wheels from Jason out in Chino. He was able to remove the remaining studs from the wheel centers. Some needed to be drilled out, the material filled and then the center cap holes re-tapped. There were a few wheels that needed his expertise along with one wheel that had a slight bend in it. I told Jason I was in no hurry and he took his time getting these repaired. Thank you Jason I appreciate it! They turned out great and the pictures don't do them justice! ;)


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So there you have it. Not much of an update! :D

Thanks for following along and checking in!

Henry

I have a set of slot mags that need the same treatment, good info!
 
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