1970 Yarbrough 16' trailer

I bought a new to me trailer to replace the trailer of my 1971Wards Sea King 1436 jon that was too short. The old trailer was 40" in between the fenders but really best suited to a 12' boat.
I started the rebuild prosses I took everything apart and found several issues mostly on the 3"x3" tongue. When the jack was mounted, they drilled two of the bolts through the tongue. a kink in the tongue and the coupling was trash along with the winch, lights and wheels and tires.
I stripped the rust from another wise sound 45-year-old trailer frame and started the painting with a coat of Rustoleum Rust reformer followed by Rustoleum clean metal primer and Rustolsum professional glossy black. This was a winter project, and it snows in northern Illinois. One snow I was pull starting a snowblower when the motor had an issue where the motor locked up as I was pulling hard. The handle pulled out of my hand leaving me with a shoulder injury that took over a year to heal as well as it has.
I packed up the trailer parts I had painted the winch post, axle, springs and some other parts and my nephews helped me put the unpainted frame against the wall in the garage where it sat for years.
Over the years I have picked up the parts to finish both the old and new trailers. LED lights, winch, couplings. tongue jack, safety chains and a ten-foot 3"x3" to replace the damaged eight-foot tongue on the Yarbrough I'm calling it an 18' trailer with 1200 lb capacity. An interesting feature of the trailer it has an adjustable axle. I can move the axle to one of 3 positions making getting the tongue weight correct very easy.
Last weekend the weather was perfect I got the trailer frame out of the garage I was pleasantly surprised at how well the trailer looked. The garage is heated but it's one of the Non venting heaters and produces a lot of moisture in the air. The trailer frame had some light surface rust in places that I used a 120-grit sanding sponge to remove then over the next few unseasonable warm / hot days I coated with trailer frame Rust Reformer, clean metal primer and two coats of professional glossy black.
Now it's cold, windy and rainy and I don't care the whole trailer is painted! I don't need the trailer right away, need to drill the holes to mount the tongue, assemble all of the of the trailer parts and add all of the acquired parts. I have to order the new wheels and tires 5.70x8 LRC and lasty make the bunks. The new trailer is 48" in between the fenders, the bunks will be 2"x6"s laid flat. The old bunks were some type of roller bunks, still have them. lol

I got the old tongue out of the shed hoping it could help with hole placement on the new tongue for the pivot bolt of the tilting feature. The hole in the old tongue for the pivot point was elongated from .50 to .70 front to back and the hole was in at the very top of the 3"x3" and an inch from the end of the tongue. The pivot bolt holes in the frame are perfect. Where the latch of the tilt feature catches on the trailer frame to hold it closed has a lot of wear. I'm going to do away with the tilt feature, If I move the tongue in and up where it mounts in the frame and bolt the tongue in with the old pivot bolt location and a new .50 hole through the trailer frame and tongue about 24" in front of the pivot bolt. Which is where the tilt latch assembly was.
I could use a .50 pin and still have a tilt trailer. I would have to use cad to shape the end of the tongue to clear where it will hit the trailer frame as it pivots. I need a 36"x3" piece of Cardboard to Aid my Design.
The pivot point bolt is not in a good place geometrically and I'd rather have to tongue properly attached to the trailer with two bolts. The ramps I see myself launching from a tilting trailer really isn't needed. The two-foot longer tongue will let me back in plenty.
Interesting fact this trailer was assembled with heavy duty bolts and nuts. The 3/8" bolts instead of having 9/16" head has a 5/8" head and the nut is 11/16". It's going back together with 9/16" headed bolts and nuts.

Lost But Happy said:

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It's like radio. lol

I will take pictures and book time with the 1 on 1 library tech guy and get it figured out.

I need to correct something the HD bolt referenced earlier are the 7/16"x14tpi that mount the adjustable springs and fenders to the trailer frame. I will replace them with grade 5 fasteners. The fenders look to be galvanized but were painted when I got the trailer. The paint was not sticking I wet sanded the fenders years ago and they look ok still. I think with the proper primer for galvanized metal the paint will stick now. The rest of the trailer is gloss black, what color should the fenders be? I like Rustoleum paints. Should I paint the fenders a silvery color reminiscent of the original galvanizing. The boat is staying its original green inside and out. I could paint the fenders Army green, Hunter green ect ect in gloss or satin finish. The new seats are charcoal / gray and the new floor should be a flat gray custom mix. I could paint the fenders gray or charcoal. Then there is the Hammered finish, Metallic and even Textured finish.

I'm either Resto-modding or pimping my 54-year-old trailer. lol

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

I need to correct something the HD bolt referenced earlier are the 7/16"x14tpi that mount the adjustable springs and fenders to the trailer frame. I will replace them with grade 5 fasteners. The fenders look to be galvanized but were painted when I got the trailer. The paint was not sticking I wet sanded the fenders years ago and they look ok still. I think with the proper primer for galvanized metal the paint will stick now. The rest of the trailer is gloss black, what color should the fenders be? I like Rustoleum paints. Should I paint the fenders a silvery color reminiscent of the original galvanizing. The boat is staying its original green inside and out. I could paint the fenders Army green, Hunter green ect ect in gloss or satin finish. The new seats are charcoal / gray and the new floor should be a flat gray custom mix. I could paint the fenders gray or charcoal. Then there is the Hammered finish, Metallic and even Textured finish.

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Gloss white perhaps? Or gloss green in a match to the exterior of the boat. Or bright pink so no one will steal your trailer.

Neon pink and green type colors are not in the running. A black and white trailer doesn't do it for me.
Glossy Army green in the booklet looks interesting. The fenders are very small if I don't like the color I can change it.

The tires are here.
3 Kenda Loadstar 5.70x8 LRC on 5 lug white wheels with high pressure valve stems.
I got them and 10 lug nuts from RecStuff. Shipping used to be free, I didn't pay for next day delivery but that's what I got.
Thay are 60 miles away.
Got a few good days coming. I will get some work done on the new tongue. Need to mark and drill holes to attach the coupler to the tongue and the tongue to the trailer frame.

Today I picked up the yellow marker lights, U-bolts for the axle the bolts and nuts to attach coupler and adjustable suspension.
The yellow lights are Tow Smart brand from Meijer I could have gotten some less expensive lights, but I really like these. I found the square U-bolts for 2" axles in stock at Tractor Supply but the tie plates for 2" axles I can't find locally. Thankfully I had the old ones. I need to service the bearings.
I think the only things left to get are the tongue jack, bunks, carpet and some bolts and nuts.

My trailer is now painted and assembled to the point I could use my magnetic lights to go down the road.
This was the point I was hoping to reach while the weather was still ok. Now I can roll the trailer in and out of the garage as I have time to finish the rebuild. I have until early spring to have the lights, wiring, bunks, winch post, winch bow stop and some welding on the tongue done.
I would have been done a day sooner, but the new lug nuts I ordered did not fit. This is the first trailer I have had that didn't use 1/2"x20 lug nuts or lug bolts. I cleaned out 2 Auto zones of 7/16"x20 lug nuts. I have a 3500-pound axle I can use the lug nuts on.

Went looking at Rustoleum spray paint for the fenders at Menards. Rustoleum no longer has Glossy Army Green. They have a couple of greens I like but they are satin not glossy. I'm not sure that's the look I'm looking for. They have Glossy Clear I could do a topcoat with. There is also the option of Glossy Charcoal Gray, that would look good with the new seats and floor.
Anyone know what the satin looks like with clear on top?