Made ya look!

As you may know, I need some skids on my trailer between the airbag shackles and the frame so that if/when the trailer tires fall off the edge of the ramp, the skids will allow the trailer to 'slide' up the ramp until the tires get there...

I WANT steel skids, but all of a sudden ma nature is looming large, and I'm running out of time. HIGH temps are supposed to be like 40° this weekend, and it never gets much better when that starts happening. Tuesday thru Thursday the weather's supposed to be pretty good so I'm hoping for an 8 am yank one of those 3 days while there's no wind...

Anyway, I decided to go with a set of 3-wide 2x12 wood skids. I've been wondering how to mount them, and decided that I can just drill 6 holes above each one in the frame, and drive some lag bolts into the wood. If the skids come into play, it will only be for a couple of seconds, and the trailer shouldn't be doing any side-to-side moving, so that should be sufficient.

To keep the ramp from gouging into the wood, I started looking around the basement for some aluminum, and that's when I got lucky! I found this in the trash bin:



It 1/4" thick, and started out as one big plate, with a middle section about the same size as whats left that I cut out. All the holes are in the perfect position, and already countersunk, so I can just screw the plates to the ramp edges, no hassle! The plates are 5-1/2" wide and 20-1/2" long. My ramp edges will be just over 23" long, I'll just put the short end up, and I should be fine!

Graphic pictorial of what I'm talking about, the graphics are to scale, the picture is 'pretty close'



I only need a 6' long 2x12 too, so with materials and hardware I should be done for less than $25...

Occasionally we all get lucky. Nice when it happens, I just wish it was more often.

Nice find FR.

Got the wood, had Depot cut it to length (I'll cut the diagonal at work on the radial arm saw), got all the hardware I need, $17-something. I'll probably drill a single hole near the bottom of each shackle so I can run a bolt into the bottom of each skid for extra support. Hoping to get 'em on and do a test dunk saturday.

and i thought we had a short boatnig season in the northeast. there ought to be a law against that kind of weather this early.

I thought there was going to be pics of a successful haul out of the beast posted here.

That'll happen in a few days!


In the meantime, got the lumber pre-cut--




I drew some cut lines on them, and took the radial arm saw to them. Since I had to make 2 cuts because of the length, I used a straightedge against the sawblade to insure a nice, straight cut. When my first cuts didn't line up for squat, I tried a lesser scientific method: "eye-balling". Much better.


anyway, got my 2 sets of 3 cut---




and bolted together. The aluminum plates will be screwed on later. They're far from perfect, but for something that's just going to be dragged across concrete, I don't think I need 'perfect'.





tomorrow at work I need to devise a strap that will wrap around the shackle and connect to the lower bolt on both sides. This will hopefully provide some lateral support...

Then I get to install the things during a blizzard tomorrow!
(figures)

I guess you'll tidy up those hoses hanging too so they don't catch on something? If the trailer tires fall off the edge of the ramp that is.

Yeah, I'll be zip-tying the hoses up...those hoses and the air tanks are why it would be a good idea to put a full-width skid plate across, since they're hanging quite a ways below the bottom of the frame. The BEST thing would be at least one more axle ahead of the existing one. It's on the 'to do' list, but not on the "I got enough money for" list!

Well, I got the skids totally assembled. Until yesterday I hadn't even measured the shackles. They're 13" tall, so my skids were a tad short. A 2x6 shim took care of the problem.


When I went to mount these to the trailer, I found my set of DeWalt drill bits full of water. Note to self, don't leave tools in the pickup bed during a 2-day rainstorm. The bits looked like they were recovered from the Titanic. I tried the 1/4"er, yeah right. I rummaged thru a tool box and found a couple of old 1/4" bits. I brought my Drill Doctor sharpener just in case. FWIW, this is the first time I got to put it to the test. I sharpened the bits, and was pleasantly surprised to find I was able to drill thru the 1/2" thick I-beam with no problem! (other than getting burned by hot drill chips). With the added 2x6, I decided to get some longer 4-1/2" lag bolts. I drilled 3" deep pilot holes, grabbed the ratchet and started cranking. As soon as the bolt tip reached the 3" mark---



*SNAP* ...I swear, I wasn't putting more than 10 pounds of torque on the cheap thing. Now I have to vice-grip the stub out. What the hell do they make these bolts out of anyway? In Kill Bill the bride tells Hatori Hanso she needs "chinese steel"... I'm thinking I need some good old Pittsburgh steel.

More later...

What are your chances of actually getting some rub marks on these?

Chances are good on the right, but I'm hoping chances are good I can miss the bad spot on the ramp. If the water was just a foot higher there probably wouldn't be a problem! Launching was no problem at all, but the harbor was near 10' deep then. Now it's only about 7', so the end of the ramp comes into play. We have 2 ramps, but the east ramp is steeper and shorter.

I got the skids all installed finally yesterday, Murphy's law made it take ALL day, but that's nothing new. Didn't have my camera so no pics yet, oh well...In trying to think of a way to 'attach' the skids to the shackles for lateral support, I decided to try chain--I bolted the ends of a length of chain to the lower thru-bolts on the skids, and looped the chain around the shackles. Behind each shackle I cinched the chain tight with a nut & bolt. The skids are very heavy and solid, and being stuffed into the corner like they are they feel very rigid, and should work just fine until I can get a steel skid plate for it.