St Croix River Road Ramblings

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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Trailer Rebuild

Rebuilding the old trailer--intend to add sides to it too.  I had some
scrap lumber here in Pine Island.  The axle must be old--had some
Alemite pin type grease fittings.  I think it was from Great Uncle
George Hanson originally.  Left are the lights, hitch, sides and maybe
fenders.   There is a Harbor Freight store in Rochester
that has trailer parts that are reasonable cost--so
bought new lights and hitch.  
Very few folks know that you
can remove the pin from an alemite
pintyupe, grease fitting, take out
the spring, turn it upside down
 and it will be
a Maytag gas engine valve that goes
in the gas tank.  We learned that from
Dad when we put the kick start Maytag
washing machine engine on our go-cart. 
 My guess is the axle is from a 1930s car.  It is the front  axle welded so the wheels run straight.  It has actual nickle plated brass hub caps with wheel covers stuck on to make it fancy!

I think I will pull off the wheels and grease them.  I did it back in the 1970s.  Had quit using the trailer when I got my 1987 Ford Truck.  However, the truck is rusting out so bad in the floor on the
driver's side, I have to rest my feet on the
 dash, something still hard to do with my new knee not quite bending as much as the old one yet.

Hardest part is nailing with one eye--keep missing the nail.
The bed has two white oak boards in the center, some fake wood
deck material, and some red elm. 2x4 stringers are treated pine.
Fifteen inch tires.  In MN I have to license it to use on the road. That is $55
for a permanent license.  Luckily, I have the old license plate yet from 1980,
so should be OK.  Otherwise that is more than the cost of the trailer rebuild!
The tongue is a 3x6 jack pine plank. Most of this is home-sawn lumber.
Couldn't afford  5/4 inch 4x12 oak and  red elm boards otherwise.