Can’t do the other side, it would interfere with the PW and my access onto the trailer. I do get what you are saying though.
THink I will get a third post added, just where I thought it should go kind of hit on the tire well/guards.
They are on order, the surplus supply place didn’t have any. THey do have all kinds of metal as well as just about everything else under the sun.
What do you think if I add vertical tubes on the other side, that align with the existing posts, and tie them across horizontally with another tube? I don’t want the rack part on the other side, it would interfere with access. So just 2 more verticals and two more horizontals, I think it would end the sway because it would be more rigid. Once again, I know nothing about welding. Here is my rough drawing. The vertical tubes would be welded inside the stake pockets just like the existing ones. I wouldn’t think I would need it tied to the very top. Maybe add a gusset (yellow almost triangle shape) to the inside and outside of both horizontal tubes for increased support.
You would be better served to just put a normal ladder rack on the truck with two risers on both sides and connected across the top of the trailer
Just came back from going to 4 different weld shops, no one at any of them. Called a fabrication and custom welding place, guy is meeting me at 630 tonight. I’m thinking gussets are like knee braces for wood, they can be functional and decorative at the same time. What’s with the spider web gussets, biker stuff?
I would just go with something like this and hang it off the side. I would have personally built the ladder rack first then mounted equipment. Permanent steel gets first priority over bolt on equipment.
Hindsight is 20/20 and now I know. I personally don’t like vertical ladder racks because they block access to everything on that side, but they are easy to access.
I met with the fabrication guy. He is going to run 3 posts from the top of the ladder rack to the deck and/or reel rack, that don’t interfere with my hands or equipment. He also advised that I run weep holes in all the posts even if I cap them and fluid film to the interiors after painting, due to condensation. I hadn’t thought about that. He said that without them one day I would go out and see one of the tubes split. Might not happen in a year but it will eventually happen. Looks like I’ll be drilling some metal.
He also does excavation work and he came pulling in with a real nice kubota mini ex on a dump trailer. He said the mini ex had only 70 hours on it. Real nice looking unit. Talked equipment for awhile. He is charging 65 bucks an hour, doesn’t think he has more than 4 hours in it tops. Live and learn. I’ll have about $500-$600 in this customized ladder rack that I poorly designed. On the other hand, it is where I wanted it and how I wanted it. This thing will be easy peasy lemon squeezy to load and unload, plus I have room to add tubes for poles and a spot to add my box when I set up a 12v system on the trailer. I have a portable 12v now for decks. I don’t do roofs, ladder is for decks. I live in a hilly area, some decks are 16’ or higher off the ground due to slope and basement walkouts.
I prefer to weld a piece of flat bar that seals ends prior to painting or alternatively if welding isn’t an option I sikaflex the plastic plug caps before I push them in to create a seal to prevent air transfer that causes condensation .
Weep holes will prevent unsealed sections filling up with water but do nothing to prevent condensation . They leave a rusty weep stains as well until the mud wasps block them which around here is about 3 days.
Why does Australia sound so scary and like everything wants to kill you?
Cuz its true ,Pine knots sister lives over there. Its no joke lol.
Even the IBS’S of PW are bigger and scarier over there.
Thanks for the tip. I love sikaflex for concrete, haven’t used it for anything else. I have used both kinds; the runny self leveling kind and the other that requires some dish soap on the digits before filling in the expansion joints.
I have the one end capped by angle iron and the other end open on the verticals for now, but the horizontals have no openings. It is going to be a balmy 43 degree (6.1 C) high today with temps dipping to around 35 (1.6 C) tonight. Later this week it will hit the freezing mark a night or two (0 C). I am way more worried about freezing than I am about wasps. We get them, yellow jackets, regular wasps, and carpenter bees., but they aren’t killer mud wasps the size of your hand that steal babies from mothers and drag them into the bush for the dingos and the drop bears.
If your allowed to leave the country hotshot you need to do a tour of the pacific.
Reckon I’d have to get a passport, i haven’t left the country since 2005 And they were just changing the law that you had to have one to go into Canada which we did alot when we lived in PA to go walleye and northernpike fishing.
Get it done and come down bud, you country boys would love a bit of pacific, swap out the ole work boots for a pair of flip flops, I’ll teach you how to do a field repair once they bust through lol.
I hope you’re hiring and have a spare bedroom cause if I come I doubt I’m leaving.
Plenty of work and spare bedrooms, need someone to cover while I’m out on the ocean
I got the other welder to finish off my ladder rack. First thing I did was grab it and pushed and pulled the snot out of it, now it moves the trailer. He even gave a quick prime to the metal, thanked him for not leaving me with orange metal to sand and paint. It is a balmy 37 degrees and windy (2.77 C for you other folk), 28 low yesterday, freezing tonight again. Going to be 70’s next week. Weather is crazy. Snow on truck today. Should have it all prepped (painted, capped, and weep holed) and ready to roll on Tuesday or Wed for a couple of house wettings (don’t wanna claim I clean them). I promised the pool guys I’d help them again on Monday.
Thanks for all the feedback, it helped me out when talking to him about what I wanted. I even have the room under the angle for my pole tube I wanted, and at least one vertical is getting a lance holder attached to it (Super fancy PVC pipe).
Me, 30 seconds after I start wetting the house wondering what just broke
Lol…you definitely wash houses in less clothing than I do.
I bet those vertical supports make a huge difference.
Here’s a pvc holder I made for my Unger pole. I didn’t want to mess with trying to pop an end cap off so made it where the end screws on and off. I also painted it black. All I could find in 3" was white.
I take it you didn’t want (electrical) gray, or black ABS? Apparently they also make it in Polypropylene, don’t think I would want the polypro (too flexible).
Do you unscrew that whole piece and not just an end cap? Easier to reach and adjust that way? Figure I would ask since your using that rig and have spent time dealing with PITA little issues like can’t reach the pole with just an end cap or to hard to put back in.
I was told by several members on here that a speedo and crocs was the proper house washing attire.