Gary Chastain Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Building a 48ft (23.04 inch long) four axle drop deck trailer from scratch. Picture for inspiration. Doing an inventory search: Auslow air suspension for four axles☑️, 4 axles with air brakes from Auslow☑️, 8 sets of wheels ( I have chrome and painted))☑️, 16 matching tires from Moebius☑️, 7/17 and 1/2 styrene beams☑️, inventory of fabrication styrene ☑️. Found a couple pics for fabrication. Now the build starts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotnitro? Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Looking forward to your build, you have a good start in supplies 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 21, 2022 Author Share Posted November 21, 2022 Starting mock-upup 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 Nice start Gary as you already know there’s a lot of pieces to cut and fit but it’ll look awesome when you’re done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 22, 2022 Author Share Posted November 22, 2022 2 hours ago, Mopar - D said: Nice start Gary as you already know there’s a lot of pieces to cut and fit but it’ll look awesome when you’re done. Yes sir, gonna take awhile, May build a fixture to drill all the holes in the cross members so they all match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockford Posted November 22, 2022 Share Posted November 22, 2022 Jigs are a good idea, I did a couple on the flatbed I built, makes life a lot easier and the finished job much tidier. I wish I'd thought of a few more places to use them before I got too far along. Looking forward to watching this develop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Impressive project! Never saw a drop trailer with four axles like this; how many of the trailer axles are air lift? I am thinking there would be a lot of tire slide when going around a corner. Neat arrangement. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincen47 Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 This will be another great project for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 23, 2022 Author Share Posted November 23, 2022 12 hours ago, Joe Nunes said: Impressive project! Never saw a drop trailer with four axles like this; how many of the trailer axles are air lift? I am thinking there would be a lot of tire slide when going around a corner. Neat arrangement. Joe I have four air lift axles from Auslow that I am thinking of using at this time. Been debating if two center axles should be leaf spring and front and rear axles are air, or all four axles remain air lift. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 23, 2022 Author Share Posted November 23, 2022 I made a prototype frame to test dimensions. The main frame rails need to be increased to .750inches (18.75 scale inches) between the axles and the uprights, .500inch (12.5 scale inches) frame height for where the axles attach works. The upper platform length needs to be increased to allow turning with a three rear axle truck. I will not cover the trailer tires to allow for lifting, remaining open. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Thanks, Gary. Your idea of using air lift on the front and rear trailer axles and leaf springs on the two center axles would make sense to me, and the forward truck axle could be air lift also. The truck and trailer could then make the corner turn with minimal tire slide and axle twist. The driver would be busy, eh? Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 23, 2022 Author Share Posted November 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Joe Nunes said: Thanks, Gary. Your idea of using air lift on the front and rear trailer axles and leaf springs on the two center axles would make sense to me, and the forward truck axle could be air lift also. The truck and trailer could then make the corner turn with minimal tire slide and axle twist. The driver would be busy, eh? Joe Just seen a newer logging truck running empty that had two of the three trailer axles picked up and the truck had all the axles picked up but the two drive axles (three up, two down). Was doing some research on these trailers and found a new trailer that all air suspension axles under it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Some pretty neat stuff out there on the road today that's for sure. It's been awhile since I spent time in the "rolling office" so I certainly would not be up to date on what is the latest go to design. Good you are doing some research for your model. What would you anticipate being hauled on your trailer? Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 23, 2022 Author Share Posted November 23, 2022 21 minutes ago, Joe Nunes said: Some pretty neat stuff out there on the road today that's for sure. It's been awhile since I spent time in the "rolling office" so I certainly would not be up to date on what is the latest go to design. Good you are doing some research for your model. What would you anticipate being hauled on your trailer? Joe Same here, I learned to drive in a GMC cracker box!!! One of the truck/trailer combinations I seen on the internet was hauling what looked to be a large portable power station (I think). Maybe 10 ft wide by 30ft long (guessing). It a big gray box, flat roof, doors, ladder, stuff on the roof. Another idea is the large injection molding machines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 My first tractor-trailer had the International Transtar leading the way and I liked that old gal. Always made it through the rough weather and such in good form. That portable power station thought sounds like a good idea for a load on the trailer. Looking forward to seeing what you decide. Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 24, 2022 Author Share Posted November 24, 2022 Inner frame rails coming together, set up a fixture to finish sanding 23 cross members that must all be the same length. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 Nice work! 👍 Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mopar - D Posted November 25, 2022 Share Posted November 25, 2022 Nice progress Gary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 25, 2022 Author Share Posted November 25, 2022 Making progress, main frame needs a little detail, cross members are ready to go in. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 26, 2022 Author Share Posted November 26, 2022 Little progress getting 22 cross members installed after drilling three holes in each. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdntrucking Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Excellent work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Nunes Posted November 27, 2022 Share Posted November 27, 2022 Looking great! 👍 Very neat workmanship showing up on this project. I think that you are building a real head turner here. Joe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rockford Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 Very tidy looking work there mate. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted November 28, 2022 Author Share Posted November 28, 2022 On 11/26/2022 at 11:40 PM, cdntrucking said: Excellent work! On 11/27/2022 at 1:54 AM, Joe Nunes said: Looking great! 👍 Very neat workmanship showing up on this project. I think that you are building a real head turner here. Joe 3 hours ago, Rockford said: Very tidy looking work there mate. Well done. Thanks guys, long way to go. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Chastain Posted December 5, 2022 Author Share Posted December 5, 2022 This is really time consuming but two thirds of the upper deck coming together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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