New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!!

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SteveG
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New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!!

Post by SteveG » Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:49 pm

Looks like I may wind up replacing the front panel on my otherwise super nice European return Ben Hur. Has anyone ever done this? I have friends with a metal fabricating business, so I'm hoping this should be a straight forward job. Does anyone else need a front panel, if I have them made? It will include the top rail bent in one piece.

Looks like a plasma cutter and a cutting wheel should make the removal of the old panel less of a job. I will only cut the welds to free the panel and not the panel itself.
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Last edited by SteveG on Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.


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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur type trailer

Post by TopKick » Sun Oct 28, 2012 3:35 am

What's wrong with it? 8)
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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur type trailer

Post by SteveG » Sun Oct 28, 2012 10:31 am

These photos will hopefully answer that question. The near corner in the one photo also needs fixing. I have two parts trailers, so I may take a nice corner from one of those, if I can't straighten that one. In the past, I've tried using heat to straighten a part of the railing on one of these trailers and it was not good.

My first step in this job will be to cut out the bent railing with a plasma torch and see if the panel will straighten up without the twisted metal sitting on top. If it does, I can graft nice sections of railing from one of the parts trailers. If the panel doesn't straighten, out it comes. First I might try tacking a piece of angle iron on the inside of the panel to hold it straight after the railing is cut off and before the new railing is welded on.

Will post pics of either job when we're past that point.

Steve
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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur type trailer

Post by SteveG » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:04 pm

Well, my fabrication guy came by today and we seemed to mutually decide to replace the panel. Between the bent areas and nearly 20 extra bolt and screw holes added by whatever European country had possession of this trailer, it just makes sense. He brought by a sample piece showing the bends for the top railing and they match the original exactly. As nice as the other sides of this trailer are, you shouldn't be able to notice a new panel when it's all done. I didn't get a response from anyone else needing a front panel, so I'll press on fixing this trailer.

Anyone out there have a Gerstenslager Ben Hur? I need to ask you some questions. I'm thinking this might be one of those as the Service Manual for the Gerstenslager shows a tailgate with straps/supports made the same way as this trailer. My Ben Hur built trailers are made differently. I'm working on sanding the tailgate to find the USA number, which will help determine what brand this trailer is.

Will post pics of the panel change when we get it done.

Steve
Last edited by SteveG on Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:38 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur type trailer

Post by tractor12 » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:55 pm

Steve I have made 2 tailgates by bending the steel the same way. Its fairly easy. I had a worse front on mine and Ernie has even a worse. I used a com a long and pulled mine back in shape in 30 minutes
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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur type trailer

Post by SteveG » Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:32 am

I'm sure I can pull mine back in line the same way, but I can't stand the top railing looking like a snake. The rest of the bed is too straight to have to live with that. I'll be a happy camper when it's fixed.

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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by SteveG » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:51 pm

Well, we finally got the panel replaced! Enclosed are some pics on the panel replacement. It was surgically extracted by using a cutting wheel on most of it and a plasma cutter in a couple of spots. It took a few hours, but as you can see the results are perfect! Sure am glad we did it this way! My fabrication guy (you can see him inside the bed of the trailer in the second picture) made the panel from the same gauge as the original and to the same dimensions. Along with replacing that snake of a top rail, the old panel had 19 extra holes drilled in it that would've needed to be closed up. Much better this way! The junky looking trailer in the background of one of the pics was pulled up there to donate a corner of the railing to the good trailer. Nice to have resources like that. All old welds were marked first so the new ones would be in exactly the same place. No welds were ground down afterwards since the originals weren't ground down either. D-rings were removed from the old panel and welded to the new one in the same spots. Once the trailer is restored, the new panel should be undetectable as the rest of the trailer is free of any rust or pits. I gave it a quick 33070 spray job to protect the panel until the trailer is restored. Now I have to finish sanding the tail gate to hopefully expose the rest of the USA number so I can order a new data plate. Any questions, feel free to ask.
Steve
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Last edited by SteveG on Sat Mar 09, 2013 2:15 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by retro-roco » Mon Mar 04, 2013 6:35 am

Wow! :shock: Nice work!!
Kirk Gustafson
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SteveG
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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by SteveG » Mon Mar 04, 2013 7:04 am

Kirk,
Thanks. And thanks again for the lead that got me this trailer! Maybe some day I can pay back the favor. I can only take credit for this job as the QA guy, corner straightener and a second pair of hands. My fab guy did the extraction and welding. I gave advice (picky, picky me) and straightened the corner caps for him. He welds and fabricates for a living and takes pride in what he does....
Steve

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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by Zack Magnusson » Mon Mar 04, 2013 8:01 am

Looks great Steve. Thanks for posting the great photos.

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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by timsresort » Sun Mar 26, 2017 6:36 pm

I know it's an old post, but I just met Steve today on the phone. Great looking work, did he MIG that panel in or gas weld?
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SteveG
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Re: New front panel on a WWII 1 ton Ben Hur trailer---DONE!!

Post by SteveG » Sun Mar 26, 2017 9:03 pm

Tim,
Thanks for the kind words. All the welds were MIG welded, but done to look like the factory welds.
Steve


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