A friend I work with has a 70's something model, 28 foot bumper pull camping trailer that has been sitting for a long time and now he wants it gone. After looking at it I decided that there was too much work to do to it to start camping out of it so I thought about maybe ripping the cab off of it down to the frame and using it as a toy/car hauler. I didn't get down on the ground and look to see how the frame was made because it's been raining for days and it was in mud already. Is this worth the trouble? I can use equipment at work to smash the top off but I don't want to waste my time if it won't be stout enough to haul a load. Maybe even shorten it some. Is this ideal even feasible?

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04 Vinson 500 4x4 LE

I have made flat deck trailers out of old camp trailers but never as large as you are talking about. I think the largest I converted was 25 feet. Some of them have required relocating the axles under the frame to get a decent balance fore and aft. Big question is what axles are under it and how the frame is built. The best ones I found had a set of dropped axles with multi-leaf springs set up with a center walking beam and big wheel bearings. Most of them have decent electric brake systems that parts are readily available for. Wheels on the good ones were five hole and usually matched the old Ford half ton pickup pattern which meant many sizes of wheels and tires were available.

Many of the older trailers had weak frames that depended on the structure of the trailer floor and walls to give the required support. Trailers worth converting had full length "I" beam or heavy channel frames with steel cross members that were full size clear to the edge of the trailer. By adding a channel full length down both sides of the trailer to tie the ends of the cross members together you could end up with a very strong and low deck. The wheels protrude up thru the deck on these but you can cut the cross members back and make a trailer with external fenders.

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Plumb stock Prairie 360 cept for the winch, snowplow headlights, hard boxes, alarm system, snowplow and bucket mounts, trailer hitch, sprayer wiring, cow prod bumper, horn and extra tail/brake lights. Survival gear, fence fixing equipment, spare fuel and water racks, GPS, CB, fender bags, rifle boot, chain saw rack, rope rack and tire chains.

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