Many used items can be successfully repaired to a new or better condition. It affords the "new" owners an ideal opportunity to enjoy many products that were originally, financially out of reach. With some sweat equity, many products can be successfully refurbished. It doesn't take the skills of an "expert" to perform many of the tasks; in fact many novices become experts after they have completed a restoration.

Congratulations on your new trailer floor! The pleasure you will gain from the satisfaction of successfully completing that task, will give you confidence in completing more. It affords a gratification of which the owner of a new item is unaware.

Gard

I can now say this from experience, since this weekend my wife and I spent some quality time together installing a new floor in the trailer we bought for Sassy.

It makes it even better when you do it with out killing each other!!

How sweet!!!  

Very cool! Congrats on the project!

I paid $300 for our first trailer (3H BP) as it needed a floor and bearings repacked.  Lights also didn't work...  I had the whole thing rewired and new floor installed in a weekend (I too enjoyed it!).  Next weekend saw all four brakes reworked and bearings repacked.  Friends of ours still have that trailer and the floor, brakes and wiring are all still working fine.  I would still have that trailer if I hadn't gotten a second draft horse (the 3H was a draft +1 trailer!).

I thought it was going to be a TON harder than it turned out to be.  Floor was physical work, but not very hard (just a bit labor intensive).  Rewiring was also a lot easier than I would have ever imagined.  The only thing that was as much of a pain as I thought were the brakes.  :-) 

I will bglad to help in any way I can!  Everything I learned about trailer brakes came from the internet.  It has been a couple years but I'll see if I can find the articles (from camper brakes, but electric and just like on a horse trailer).  I have been doing car brakes for 20+ years, so the trailer wasn't too much of an issue- trailer brakes are much simpler than drum brakes on my old F250!!!!

There are plenty of articles and advice here on repacking wheel bearings- the trailer I got for $300 had sat unmoved for quite a few years so I figured it needed it! 

Here is one of the articles I used:

http://www.rverscorner.com/articles/bearing1.html

This one also explains the setting of the brakes (repair was another article, but I can't find it at the moment):

http://www.rverscorner.com/Trailer_Brakes.html

Handy diagram of the brake parts:

http://lowcostusa.com/trailer-parts-eb.html

Hi everybody,

I was just reading all these posts looking for tips on trailer brakes and lights.  I'm selling my 5 horse to buy a 3 horse, and I'm confused about the lights.  I've tried to research this on the net with no luck.

The lights work, but not right when they're hooked up to our Chevy, but when it's hooked to my Dodge all the lights come on when I hit my brakes.  I had to ride the brakes a little through town to keep from getting a ticket.  I bought a tester, but I don't know where to start, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so it would be a 2 hr trip to take it anywhere.  Should I diy, or will I short something out, like myself maybe?! 

Any help is appreciated.  I also read the trailer scam thread--hilarious!!  I mean, some people!

Thanks guys,

J

Your trailer plug is wired incorrectly for your trucks. If you are going to tow with two different trucks, it would behoove you to have all three plugs wired correctly. Start with the wiring diagram on the truck you will use the most. Pull the plug apart on the trailer, and by using that wiring diagram, match the wire functions and reassemble the plug. The receptacle on your second truck should now be changed to match your trailer.

Wiring diagrams can be found on the Internet, Retento often posts them for people. Take one wire at a time and check one function at a time. You will discover a pattern. It's not difficult and it's free if you do it yourself.

Gard

Nothing says loving like new flooring!

When I bought my trailer, it had that industrial carpeting that isn't really carpeting..you know? it was very hard to clean since stuff stuck to it. So I bought a box of those peel and stick tiles and tried doing it myself,how hard could it be anyway? It was a small space but there was numerous angles to cut ( I wasn't lifting the cabinets) after a whole box and nothing accomplished, I was TO'd...so my husband bought another box and told me to leave it to him. After a few hours, he emerged from the trailer and there it was, a new floor. He did a pretty decent job too. That man just keeps amazing me............