trailer frame steel
 

I have access to an old detroiter trailer. Its about
60ft long and made about day 6 of genesis.

Its trashed but I was wondering if the steel frame
has much value of a raw material for future projects.

It looks like a very light i-beam.

Does anyone have any experience in using this material?
Is i like rebar, just an unknown mix?
Is it weldable

etc etc

Al

trailer frame steel
 

If you don't want it, you can cut it up and stack it up in my iron
pile. G It should be a better grade of steel than re-bar due to the
loading requirements on the frame. Shouldn't be problem for anything
you want to build. Just remember that it's going to lose its cold
rolled temper when you heat it up with a welding torch. Just design for
non-structural applications. Same reason it's not kosher to weld on car
frames. It can lead to joint failure.
Bugs

trailer frame steel
 

Depending on HOW OLD it really is, the frame could be good old mild
steel or some of the newer HSLA grades and may or may not be heat
treated. One thing to keep in mind is that trailers have been flexed for
a lot of miles. That adds up to a lot of work hardening, fatigue spots,
etc.

I'd probably treat it as a notch better than generic rebar, nothing more.

Alpinekid wrote:
I have access to an old detroiter trailer. Its about
60ft long and made about day 6 of genesis.

Its trashed but I was wondering if the steel frame
has much value of a raw material for future projects.

It looks like a very light i-beam.

Does anyone have any experience in using this material?
Is i like rebar, just an unknown mix?
Is it weldable

etc etc

Al

trailer frame steel
 

According to RoyJ :
Depending on HOW OLD it really is, the frame could be good old mild
steel or some of the newer HSLA grades and may or may not be heat
treated. One thing to keep in mind is that trailers have been flexed for
a lot of miles. That adds up to a lot of work hardening, fatigue spots,
etc.

Does work hardening from flexing explain the angle recovered
from old bed frames? :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.
--
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trailer frame steel
 

RoyJ wrote:
Depending on HOW OLD it really is, the frame could be good old mild
steel or some of the newer HSLA grades and may or may not be heat
treated. One thing to keep in mind is that trailers have been flexed for
a lot of miles. That adds up to a lot of work hardening, fatigue spots,
etc.

I'd probably treat it as a notch better than generic rebar, nothing more.

Alpinekid wrote:

I have access to an old detroiter trailer. Its about
60ft long and made about day 6 of genesis.

Its trashed but I was wondering if the steel frame
has much value of a raw material for future projects.

It looks like a very light i-beam.

Does anyone have any experience in using this material?
Is i like rebar, just an unknown mix?
Is it weldable

etc etc

Al
I guess I should have said mobile home. It has been gutted and used as
storage for a long time. It had a fire and has since be used to store
kitchen garbage by the previous owners of the property. The fire didnt
effect the steel siding so I guess it was not a big one.

I'm just balancing the work of hauling all the trash to the dump.

Al

trailer frame steel
 

I think I'd do some simple calcs on how big the steel is, figure what
you could buy it for as seconds/surplus/scrap, and see if your time is
worth what it would cost to salvage it. It is going to be pretty thin
stuff. If you have a specific project, go for it. To stock your parts
rack, a resounding maybe.

Alpinekid wrote:
RoyJ wrote:

Depending on HOW OLD it really is, the frame could be good old mild
steel or some of the newer HSLA grades and may or may not be heat
treated. One thing to keep in mind is that trailers have been flexed
for a lot of miles. That adds up to a lot of work hardening, fatigue
spots, etc.

I'd probably treat it as a notch better than generic rebar, nothing more.

Alpinekid wrote:

I have access to an old detroiter trailer. Its about
60ft long and made about day 6 of genesis.

Its trashed but I was wondering if the steel frame
has much value of a raw material for future projects.

It looks like a very light i-beam.

Does anyone have any experience in using this material?
Is i like rebar, just an unknown mix?
Is it weldable

etc etc

Al

I guess I should have said mobile home. It has been gutted and used as
storage for a long time. It had a fire and has since be used to store
kitchen garbage by the previous owners of the property. The fire didnt
effect the steel siding so I guess it was not a big one.

I'm just balancing the work of hauling all the trash to the dump.

Al

trailer frame steel
 

the axles can be kind of cool...