Tire Rack Builder

[anthony1k]

I’ve been looking for a tire rack to fit on to an open steel trailer but haven’t been able to find anything ready made. Alternatively, I would mind having one custom built by someone local. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

[mdaniels]

The trailer place in RI where I bought mine had a workshop where they would do custom work like this. I would crack open the yellow pages and call some local trailer dealers.

Good luck!
Matt

[p99ro]

HI
I`m looking to do the same this year for my Road Master 2000.
I have figured its best to buy the steel tubes and straight angle Iron. You will have to look up a metal dealer. You won`t find good tubing at Home Depot but hey you never know. Get a saw and Welder and put it up just above the hood level Leave space for change and even leave some space for a little storage like a nitrogen tank and some heavy parts. I have seen some people ad sheet metal to help with the areo drag and a place to put your sponsor name like BUD or Big Monies Company. Should not be to hard and I`m not even good at welding in fact just buy a freind who is, some beer and promise him a night at the girlly bar and you should be on your way. After all 10 singles should do it.
Scott ITA CRX si 07 NER.

P.S. Good luck

[BERG Racer]

I can build one for you. I do mostly custom cages but have done a few tire racks also. Located in southern CT about 50 mi. outside NYC. Feel free to call 203-345-1158 and we can talk about cost.

John
BERG Racing
Stratford CT

[anthony1k]

Thank you for the responses.
I was quoted a price for a custom-made rack by a local trailer place that was almost what I paid for the trailer itself! So I did some research and welding, using newer equipment, appears to be not as intimidating as I thought. So I bought a Hobart 140 from ebay. I'm trying to decide whether I would need a pipe bender and a pipe notcher. Home Depot sells all kinds of tubing, including 2'' ERW. So it looks like I'll be attempting to build my own tire rack. At the very least I'll end up with a neat new toy.

[BERG Racer]

Good luck with it. For welding advice go here. http://www.hobartwelders.com/mboard/forumd...y.php?forumid=3 Plan the design well and contact your local steel dealer for the material. HD will cost close to 3x the $$$$

[RacerBill]

Anthony: I just finished building a tire rack for my open trailer. Here are a couple if thoughts from my experience.
1) use square tubing - clamps flat in corners and against side of the trailer, easier to clamp, easier to weld.
2) borrow or rent a hand held band saw to cut the tubing - makes great neat cuts, much faster than cutoff wheel or cutting torch.
3) keep the design simple - no need to bend tubing.
4) measure twice, cut once.
5) rotate the bars that will go across the trailer 45degrees - tire tread will rest against a flat surface rather than a corner
6) I used 1.5" tubing for the majority of the rack, but I needed slightly smaller tubing (1.25") to go through the hub holes of the wheels. Excess from the hold down bar fits inside of the larger tubing, made a great bracket for the hold down that can be adjusted for different size tires.

PM me with your email address and I will send you some pictures.

Where are you located in NYC? I grew up in Queens.

[JamesB]

Actually I have a similar plan in the works, except I found for nearly no additional cost I can have all the stock cut to my measurements by the supplier. Since I already have the welder at the house all I really need to do is clean off the parts of the trailer and start welding it.

[67ITB]

One thing to keep in mind is the potential that some day you may want (or NEED) to remove the rack to transport something (like your bosses broken Jeep). Ours is a bolt on and other than that one time (in 8years) it always stays on. But it’s good to know that it can (relatively easily) come off if needed. But not easy enough that it’s a theft issue, as the rack is heavy even without tires on it.

Matt Bal

[seckerich]

Works great to use 1.5 square tube for the rack and weld 2.0 square x 8.0 long pieces to the trailer in 4 places. The 1.5 slips in and can be bolted and easily removed when needed.

[RacerBill]

I cut everything myself, since I did not trust myself measuring. Leaving the cutting go until the assembly/welding was started allowed me to make more accurate cuts for the horizontals, plus I had the means for cutting additional features that I had not planned on. This allowed for any out-of square conditions of the trailer.

Not to say one method is better than another....

Also, make sure that you notch the bottom of the uprights slightly, or find a lip to sit the verticals on so that there is a space for any moisture that might collect inside the tube to escape.