The Big Pig Rig is undergoing a lot of renovations, not the least of which is the brand new trailer on which it will reside! Check out pics of the construction of this sharp-lookin', more maneuverable rig for the pig roaster!
Of course, you all remember the original Big Pig Rig, right?!
Don't get me wrong... the original BPR was/is great, but...
...it requires a lot of strapping down to keep the pig roaster in place!
If it is not centered and strapped down just right, the load could shift resulting in a disaster, so I've decided to more permanently mount the pig roaster to its own dedicated trailer!
So, off to Harbor Freight I went!
For only ~$250 or so, I was able to get a nice 4'x8' 1200lb capacity trailer!
Little did I know that it would take approx another $125 to put a stained deck and railings on it!
The whole damn trailer came in just two small boxes!
They really managed to squeeze everything in there tight!
This box weighed a ton!
We began by laying out the first pieces!
Guba Dukes came by to lend a hand getting it all put together!
As it turns out, putting the trailer together really was a two-man job!
Frame pieces
Moar frame pieces!
I hadn't realized that this thing came apart into so many components when I bought it.
For some reaon, I thought that this would be a lot quicker to assemble!
At the rate we were going, it ended up taking several hours between two guys spread out over the course of a week or so!
We laid out the frame as indicated in the diagrams,...
...then we assembled them and moved on to the next step!
This thing is coming along nicely now!
This is the front half of the frame and the tongue just prior to putting the back section together.
Had to get it outta the way for a bit while we worked on the rest!
More tightening of nuts and bolts!
Like so!
Ta-da!!!!
Time to conjoin these twins!
Conjoinage complete!
This unit is sold as a "folding" trialer, meaning that it can be collapsed down to get it out of the way.
What they don't tell you is that it only folds up after the removal of 4 carriage bolts, making it faaaar more difficult than it should be to fold up. Due to this fact, I suspect that one would only put the time/effort into folding it up when putting it away for an extended period of time. It simply wouldn't make sense to do otherwise.
Here's a shot of it unfolded!
Hard to believe, but we are only halfway done assembling this thing!
You'll notice in the next pic that we have the rollaway casters (for storage) on it!
Now it's time to mount the axle!
Yeah, sure it looks like Guba is doing all the work, but someone has to take the damn pictures, right?!
The axle assemblies went together rather easily!
At this point we called it a night bec we weren't under any real pressure to get it done immediately and we were beat from a long, hard day of GSD!
Time to finish mounting the axle and the wheels!
See how much shit I have left to attach to this rig?! It's any wonder that this project took longer than anticipated!
What the instructions also don't tell you is that the retention (cotter) pins for the castle nuts for the wheels are actually inside the hub. Yeap, you guessed it. Covered in grease. Certainly the last place I looked, though perhaps it should have been the first... oh well.
So, what am I waiting for?! Enough fooling around w/ a camera! Get to work!
Though the trailer was rather affordable, I was pleased that it was sturdily constructed!
The wheels should just slide right on...
...like so!
You wouldn't know from these pics, but it took about 20 minutes to get these suckers seated properly and affixed to the axle!
Lookin' good now, huh?!
The pneumatic ratchet really helped a lot!
This is what the trailer looks like folded up on its side.
Unf, getting it folded up into this state is not an easy feat!
The Neighbs came over to lend me a hand with the remaining pieces!
Here he is putting on the finishing touches!
This is what the Harbor Freight trailer looks like completely assembled!
Pretty schnazzy, huh? Hell no! It needs a deck and rails!
The trailer still came out lookin' pretty awesome though!
One more pic, why not?!
This thing is easy to maneuver by hand because it really doesn't weigh much at all!
Here's a shot of the trailer sitting next to the pig roaster at approx the position on the trailer where it will be mounted. According to the instructions, 60% of the weight is supposed to be in front of the axle. This leaves just enough room to mount the deep fryer to the back of the rig!
Now that the chassis is complete, it's time to deck this thing out!
This was just a matter of cutting the 4x8x3/4in pressure-treated plywood in half, then marking and drilling holes for the bolts!
Came out lookin' fairly decent, I think!
It cost nearly $60 for the wood and hardware as shown here!
I actually had washers to use, but I wanted to get some pics taken prior to staining the wood!
Before...
...after!
It was the perfect evening for working on one's brand new trailer right here in the good ol' USA!!
Even Dubay came by to hang out while we worked on it!
Time for more staining!
In this pic, I'm applying one single coat to the underside of the deck board.
I drilled out recesses in the corners for the heads of the bolts on the corners of the frame.
Easy does it...
One board down...
...and one left to go!
The difference between one coat and two is fairly dramatic.
Two coats of Cabot Australian Timber Treatment Mahogany Flame colored stain will keep this wood looking sharp for several years! I love this stuff!
I did a single coat on the underside, which should mitigate any potential damage from mud and whatnot kicked up by the tires!
All done with the deck! Finally!
Looks sweet, huh?!
I'm really happy with the way it came out!
One more pic!
Yet another!
The wood stain gave a nice bronze finish to the bolts too!
I must admit, this came out better than expected!
Hmm... I wonder if i could mount something to the front so that I can haul my propane cylinders??
This board oughta do it!
Just a few holes and a little stain...
First coat done, time to apply the next!
Now it's really lookin' schweet!
Someone: "Hey, is that your badass custom trailer?!"
Me: "Yes. Yes, indeed it is!"
At this point, I've decided to hold off on making the sides for this rig.
Partially because it would cost another $65 for the materials, partially because I want to make sure to get the pig roaster mounted to it before putting sides on the trailer. Stay tuned for more pics of the new Mini Big Pig Rig as more progress is made!
That looks Great!
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