Homebuilt car hauler

[Boogie's AutoRama]

I own an auto parts store and for years I've bought wrecked cars at salvage auctions and rebuilt them. Small gas savers are selling like hot cakes these days, I can't build them fast enough.
Or get them bought and into the shop fast enough. I have been using my ramp tow dolly to haul the cars back from Houston and Baton Rouge but hauling cars one at a time is time consuming, not to mention the cost of diesel, but mostly it's a time issue for me.
If I bought two or three cars at a single auction it was either make three trips or hire a transport company to haul them for me ($$$$$).

So I'm building a goose neck two car wedge trailer.
I had bought ($260 bucks) a damaged (beyond repair) 5th wheel camper for the refrigerator to use in another camper I was rebuilding that was missing the fridge.
I sold the A/C unit off the roof for $250 bucks so I'm into the junk trailer now for $10. We stripped cabin off and got it down to the bare frame and I built the car hauler out of the camper frame.

Here's some pics of the build progress:


First step, adding the upper ramp rails to the old camper frame.









...and got the 5200# axles mounted.
No, it's not a 4 axle trailer. The new wheels and tires hadn't come in yet. The old axles are getting cut out when I get the new rubber mounted.







Dove tail added.








The angle would have been too sharp if I had made one long run from the upper deck to the back bumper and the cars would bottom out when being loaded and unloaded. So I had to have a break in the ramp 9' back from the front deck.

[Boogie's AutoRama]

Finally got it all welded together. Spent a whole day cleaning it up with a wire wheel and cup brush. Man what a dirty job that was. The inside of my shop is a disaster area. It will take two days to clean up the mess.
Then pulled it outside to pressure wash her. Perfect hot sunny day to quickly dry up all the water.









Ready for spray painting in the morning.






Got it all painted up and ready to dress it out with lights and reflective tape.
And getting tags for it was a breeze. Ready for action now...








Here I am at the salvage auction in Houston waiting to get loaded up. The size of this place would blow your mind. The wrecked cars seem to stretch to the horizon.
The car hauler pulled beautiful. I gotta admit I was a little anxious about it's maiden voyage. Smoothest rip I ever made to the sale.
I've also made another trip to the Baton Rouge sale. This thing hauls soooo smooth. Almost forget I'm hauling two cars back there.
The trailer barely squats with two cars on it. And my truck is just a tick under setting level when loaded.
I should'a built this years ago.





I made a post a few weeks back asking for advice on gooseneck design.
Thanks for all the good tips.

Boogie

[fastzr1]

At first I was a little skeptical at your idea of making a car trailer out of a used RV frame, but the final product and build process really looks good. It seems like you did your home work and the trailer came out great.
Do you have a winch on the front of the trailer? How do you get a wrecked car on there?

[fxdwgi]

VERY nice job.

[RatherBNtheWoods]

I was skeptical at first also. I know RV frames aren't all that strong, but looks like you added plenty of strength/steel. Good looking design and workmanship. Real good for the money invested. My only thought, if I had one, would be is the hitch strong enough? I know looks can be deceiving, especially in photos, but I would like a little more metal in the hitch area.

[Boogie's AutoRama]

Thanks guys for the kind comments.
At the auction, they load cars with giant forklifts. The kind that are are usually used as off road front-end loader that hinge in the middle to steer.
So far all of the cars I've bought can still roll and they just coasted down the ramps. I do have plans to install a winch in the next couple weeks.

Yeah, I was really sweating the whole hitch design.
I'm a big believer in not re-inventing the wheel so I went around looking at other car haulers to steal ideas. No shame in my game.
I basically copied a friends 3 car hauler, downsizing the ratios and measurements to a 2 car trailer.

I wanted the front end to be really beefy, so I sliced through the existing upper deck and added two sections of 4x2x1/4" tubing in a "V" shape, connecting the uprights to the gooseneck coupler. Also added some 2x1/4 strap to the bottom of the angled down section right at the hitch.
It is heavy duty stuff up front at the business end.
I used the same gauge rectangular (4x2) tubing as the original camper frame to build the rest of the trailer frame.

I'll try and post some detail shots of the front end.

[DieselDeaf]

Looks damn good, just be careful going thru dips and turning as it looks a bit tight at the bed rails. How did the state inspection go?

I hear you on the costs of transporting these days, I used to buy cars in Houston & Dallas but with the price of diesel I try to stay local, either here or San Antonio.

[Blk88GT]

I agree, a little bit more height would help out for sure.

[nberchem]

Nice job. That's the best home-made wedge I've seen. Most of the ones I've seen are overbuilt and way too heavy.

Nick

[Boogie's AutoRama]

Thanks guys.
There's more room between the bed and trailer than what it looks like in the photos. However, I'm keepin' an eye on it. The hitch is adjustable if I need to raise it up.

I was really trying to keep it light yet strong in the right spots. I see a lot of home-made stuff that is way over-engineered.

There was no inspection to get the tags. I was able to use the original camper title to get the plates. I did have my local police buddy come out and do a physical inspection to get body type changed from camper to hauler.