Lighten up a steel trailer?

[ironxcross]

Seems like most of you on here have the budget for a sweet truck and trailer set up... unfortunately I do not. As a result I wound up with a two place trailer that is all steel, and heavy as sh*t. My poor '96 4runner does not like towing it into the mountains very much when fully loaded.

Anyone have any experience trimming some fat of trailers? I'm thinking of trying to come up with a good pattern to cut out a lot of the excess metal in the floor to lighten it up. The benefit would be that this way is easy and will add a plethora of tie down options. The downside would be that it would give the road grime access to my precious cargo, and that my lack of engineering knowledge could lead to a dangerous contraption.

Second option I'm considering is just cutting out the whole steel floor, leaving some parts for support, and replacing it with wood.

Does anyone have any experience doing this? Is selecting cutting out parts of the floor a feasible option? Any pictures/success stories with this? Any materials besides wood that would be a good lightweight replacement? I don't mind sinking some money into the project, but if it costs more than a few hundred bucks I might as well just buy a nicer trailer.

Also a note, this is just for the rest of this season. I do have gainful employment these days and intend to save up for a legit 3/4 ton truck and sled deck for next season.

 

[bobsled84088]

Are you planning on keeping the trailer after you get your sled deck ?
If not, I would not hack the heck out of something that I was going to sell.

 

[ironxcross]

Are you planning on keeping the trailer after you get your sled deck ?
If not, I would not hack the heck out of something that I was going to sell.

I'll keep it around if I have a place to stash it out of the way, either way I'm not too concerned about it's value. I got the thing for $260 and have a good amount of friends in the same "barely enough money to get into sledding" boat as me so I'm pretty confident I can unload it to one of them for around that unless I totally ruin it.

 

[ironxcross]

So I'm the only one huh? Think I'm just gonna cut the steel out and replace it with plywood. Should be easy enough to just leave behind a frame of steel to support it and weld a couple beams underneath to keep it stiff.

 

[Goinboardin]

How much does the trailer weigh? dropping 100 pounds won't make much of a difference in towing. If the trailer is made of 1/4" plate then sure you'll lose more than 100 pounds, but its probably not even 1/8" thick steel. I guess my point is, a naturally aspirated V6 is going to feel like its struggling with any load at all on it going up mountain passes at altitude. Just let the sucker rev and be done with it.

But no, you're not the only one with just enough $ to sled. I drive a 96' F150 and usually just load my 04' sled in the bed. Sled is worth more than the truck, and that's not saying much.

 

[ezra]

as a flat lander I am always noticing all the steel trailers U see out west.
I don't think I have seen a steel open in the Midwest in 12 yrs but in the western lots they rule the lot.
what do U save buying a steel open 400bucks? inclosed $1200 u got tole loose 3x that on resale.
aluminum trailers are the only thing in this sport I have never lost a dime on.
buy a new one every 4or5 yrs for what I payed for it