# 1988 Trail-et make over !



## SouthernTrails (Dec 19, 2008)

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Nice 


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

I love makeovers - especially someone else's as they are a tremendous amount of work. Good job. 

How do you find lifting the ramp, by the way? My first trailer had a ramp on it but the darn thing kept getting heavier as I got older so trailer number two is a step up.


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## Phly (Nov 14, 2012)

Looks nice
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## hemms (Apr 18, 2012)

Gorgeous!
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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

This ramp is super heavy. It's a total PIA. It doesn't help that the previous owners put a 2 inch lift in the trailer so its taller too! I'm only 5'3
So it's interesting watching me lift it alone. We're still fixing it up but the horse part is basically finished besides a few minor things. I will keep posting pictures. The first "before" picture of the whole outside of the trailer has red pin striping. We couldn't match the red so its being painted black. Thankfully I have an awesome father who has busted his butt to fix this trailer for me. Love him! 
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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

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## gigem88 (May 10, 2011)

Wow, y'all did a fantastic job!


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## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*trailer renavation.*

hiya thats a great job your doing there.


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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

Man I've tried twice to post! Great job! We have a fixer upper as well!
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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

You did a great JOB I love to see how these trailers come out


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Stay tuned~ she's still not finished. 
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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

We're starting to paint the stripes on the side. 









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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Nice job on that trailer. 

If you aren't planning on it already I highly recommend switching to LED lights. They take so much hassle out of dealing with a trailer. 

Also you can make that ramp easier to lift by welding a pipe to the end of it and getting another piece of pipe you can slide into it to use as a lever, it will give you a lot more mechanical advantage when lifting the ramp. They do this with equipment trailers that have the super heavy duty ramps on them.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Good 'striping' - looks like factory original!

BigNick - don't suppose you have a picture/diagram of how the ramp leverage thing looks?


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

I definitely plan on getting LEDs but the trailer is at a small stand still currently but we will get her finished. Slowly but surely!
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## loveduffy (Dec 22, 2011)

still loving it


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Chevaux said:


> Good 'striping' - looks like factory original!
> 
> BigNick - don't suppose you have a picture/diagram of how the ramp leverage thing looks?


I looked around for about 10 minutes couldn't find one. 

It is really simple however, just a piece of pipe welded to the ramp that allows you to stick in another to use as a cheater bar.


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## Blossom in Srping (Jun 28, 2013)

BigNickMontana said:


> I looked around for about 10 minutes couldn't find one.
> 
> It is really simple however, just a piece of pipe welded to the ramp that allows you to stick in another to use as a cheater bar.


Would it be possible to draw out a picture for us? Where the pipe gets welded?
I am also in the process of redoing an old trailer. Just got the old floor boards out yesterday. But I have a heavy ramp also and I am not sure I can lift it now by myself. (Old lady here. LOL)
I would really like to see at least a hand drawing so I can see if hubby can build it for me.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

This ramp is a PIA to get up. It's super heavy
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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Blossom in Srping said:


> ...But I have a heavy ramp also and I am not sure I can lift it now by myself. ...


And that's exactly why my second trailer does not have a ramp. In the scheme of things, the ramp on my first trailer wasn't that heavy but with each passing year it truly was getting harder to lift. I had thought of going with some sort of spring assist system but could not find anything or think of anything that was 'hidden' and thus with no potential for harming the horses.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Blossom in Srping said:


> Would it be possible to draw out a picture for us? Where the pipe gets welded?
> I am also in the process of redoing an old trailer. Just got the old floor boards out yesterday. But I have a heavy ramp also and I am not sure I can lift it now by myself. (Old lady here. LOL)
> I would really like to see at least a hand drawing so I can see if hubby can build it for me.


send me a pic of your ramp and I will draw on it.


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## Blossom in Srping (Jun 28, 2013)

Ok, next time we go out there and fuss with the trailer, I will get a pic. I did a search on you tube and found one video where they attached a pulley cinch like system. Seemed to work out good. I might have to try that also.

We are also redoing our old trailer. Did not take pics prior to the removal of the old floor boards, but I will start taking pics from now on.

I am curious what type of wood you used for your new floor board? I am hoping to get out next week to buy my boards.


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## SouthernTrails (Dec 19, 2008)

Blossom in Srping said:


> I am curious what type of wood you used for your new floor board? I am hoping to get out next week to buy my boards.


When we did ours, we used rough cut oak from a local sawmill, that's what several people suggested.

The wood in the old trailer was oak and it lasted for over 30 years.

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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

SouthernTrailsGA said:


> When we did ours, we used rough cut oak from a local sawmill, that's what several people suggested.
> 
> The wood in the old trailer was oak and it lasted for over 30 years.
> 
> .


+1 the only thing better than Oak is Apitong, and it is expensive.


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## Blossom in Srping (Jun 28, 2013)

Any suggestions for wood when buying from the store? (Lowes)

I read somewhere 2x8 pressure treated ?


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Blossom in Srping said:


> Any suggestions for wood when buying from the store? (Lowes)
> 
> I read somewhere 2x8 pressure treated ?


I wouldn't use pine on a trailer floor, even pressure treated can and will rot, and it won't take long, especially on a trailer floor, you don't want to find this out when your horse drops through the floor at 65mph. :shock:


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

We used 2x8 pressure treated pine on our floors and no problems thus far.
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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Cowgirls Boots said:


> We used 2x8 pressure treated pine on our floors and no problems thus far.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Because you have not had a problem with them yet does not mean you won't. 

I am a professional welder, when I had my shop a HUGE portion of my business was trailer repair. Pine boards + Trailers will eventually = holes in the floor 100% of the time. 

The difference in cost isn't that much and in the long run oak is cheaper than pine because you do not have to replace it as often. 

There is a reason I refuse to use pine for a trailer floor of any kind because I have had it happen too many times where id fix a floor and 2 years later it needed to be done again.


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

We used 2x8 construction grade untreated lumber bought from the local lumber store (I believe it was spruce). After we got it home, we cut it to size and then treated all six sides of the individual pieces with Thomson's Water Sealant, let it 'cure', then slipped them into place. To get a good fit, one piece was actually a 2x6; that was also the piece, as I recall, that we cut about an inch shorter than the others so that it could be wiggled into place - the first few slip into the channels like a dream but it starts to get tight after most of the boards are in place.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Chevaux said:


> We used 2x8 construction grade untreated lumber bought from the local lumber store (I believe it was spruce). After we got it home, we cut it to size and then treated all six sides of the individual pieces with Thomson's Water Sealant, let it 'cure', then slipped them into place. To get a good fit, one piece was actually a 2x6; that was also the piece, as I recall, that we cut about an inch shorter than the others so that it could be wiggled into place - the first few slip into the channels like a dream but it starts to get tight after most of the boards are in place.


Spruce is a good wood, light weight and it is highly resistant to rotting, this is why they used to use it to build airplanes.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

I might've fibbed a bit. It was pressure treated wood from Home Depot. It could've been oak because pine doesn't come in 2x8. The warrantee says its guaranteed to last 20-30 years
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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Cowgirls Boots said:


> I might've fibbed a bit. It was pressure treated wood from Home Depot. It could've been oak because pine doesn't come in 2x8. The warrantee says its guaranteed to last 20-30 years
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


The thing is that is 20-30 years on a deck in front of your house. 

When you put wood on a trailer it is a very different deal. Different environment because as you are going down the road the bottom side of the wood is constantly bombarded with sand and grit off the road which will penetrate the treated coating and allow moisture to enter from the bottom up. 

The other issue there being is when they say it will last 20-30 years, they are figuring on a deck where it is going to have nothing more than pedestrian traffic, not 1000 lbs of horse with a metal shoe on its foot standing on it.


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## michaelvanessa (Apr 25, 2012)

*trailer floors.*

hiya nick pleased to meet you.
my old motorised box i compleatley did it up and re did the floor in 8x4 marene ply and also i treated it with tar as well on both sides the floor and the van went at the same time so the finantial part was a no no throwing good money after bad.
the sheets lasted 12 years.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

I just found out the wood we used was a spruce type pressure treated. Not pine.
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## Blossom in Srping (Jun 28, 2013)

Well I have to get rid of some (lots) of rust first. But thanks for the replies for wood. I will avoid pine.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

michaelvanessa said:


> hiya nick pleased to meet you.
> my old motorised box i compleatley did it up and re did the floor in 8x4 marene ply and also i treated it with tar as well on both sides the floor and the van went at the same time so the finantial part was a no no throwing good money after bad.
> the sheets lasted 12 years.


Marine plywood is not a bad idea, you know what would work really well with that too is coating it with bed liner before you put it in. 

On advantage I could see of doing it this way would be that with out cracks in the floor boards, there is no chance spray off the road is going to be coming up through the floor all over your horse.


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## BigNickMontana (Aug 5, 2013)

Cowgirls Boots said:


> I just found out the wood we used was a spruce type pressure treated. Not pine.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Spruce is a good wood, has much better properties than pine, just keep an eye on it because it can also rot and become brittle like pine, although just nowhere near as fast.


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## TwoFoxFarm (Sep 15, 2013)

I'm dying to know how you got the "silver" so shiny again? I'm renovating a 1994 Trail-et 2-horse BP and its the same color as yours and I can't seem to figure out how to make it shiny again. Yours looks gorgeous! They're great trailers and a little paint works wonders . Thanks in advance for any help!
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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

You mean the aluminum on the outside?
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## TwoFoxFarm (Sep 15, 2013)

Cowgirls Boots said:


> You mean the aluminum on the outside?
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Is it not some kind of baked-on or powder coated paint? If its just plain aluminum, do you just acid wash it? I thought mine was painted - but it is the same color as yours!
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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

The silver on my trailer is just aluminum. You could acid wash it or they make some special gel you could wax the trailer with. Mine wasnt bad so I don't believe we did anything to that. We just repainted the stripes
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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Just wanted to update y'all. The trailer has been completed and is ready for use, I am so excited! Here's a before and after picture of the outside of the trailer. I'm going down now to take pictures of the inside. It looks brand new. Not bad for an 88'!!


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Here's more pictures. They aren't the best as it's raining now. I'll have to wait for a nice day to lower the ramp and get good pics. We only have half of the trailer painted so the front and one side is still red. These pictures don't give any justice as to how it looks now!






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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Here's a pic of how it looked before we put the padding up


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Very well done - if it wasn't so time consuming and expensive you could consider rehabbing trailers as a sideline or business.


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Thank you! My dad does amazing work and this was his first time renovating a horse trailer. No short cuts here in this renovation!! My dads very picky which is great. I'm glad he's so handy and did all the work for me. Here are better pics I took today of the ramp down. 




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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

So.....when are you going to hook it up and load the ponies?


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## Cowgirls Boots (Apr 6, 2011)

Hopefully soon! I have a show next month.
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