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1948 Rogers Lowboy Trailer Restoration

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cphillips

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Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
20
Location
Delaware
Here are some pics from the restoration of my 1948 Rogers 40 ton Lowboy. The motor is a Wisconsin THD and runs the hydraulics. Feel free to ask any questions. I have learned a ton about these trailers working on mine and have discovered a lot of tricks to finding parts for the suspension and brakes on them.

This is obviously the front of the trailer and is the center of my attention right not while I am waiting on wheel bearings to come in. I installed a new hydraulic tank and will be plumbing it in the next week or so. What kind of quick connects do you all use for the hydraulics. I was thinking the tractor style ones would work good.


photo 1.jpg

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Cole
 
O

Old Doug

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Oct 16, 2013
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Mo
Looks like you are doing a good job. I would like to see the rest of it and what are going to pull it with?
 
C

cphillips

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Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
20
Location
Delaware
I should be installing brakes and hubs this weekend so I should have lots of pictures of that. The tow rig is a 1966 M275 military tractor that is restored and painted the same as the trailer. With what I use it for the 6x6 on the tractor comes in handy and the 50mph top speed is fine for the back roads and town driving I do. I have a 1967 International Transtar with a 855 N/A cummins, 15 speed, power divider and wet lines that might be getting a resto in the next few years, still looking for a cab since mine is gone, the rest of the truck has 79,000 original miles on it though.

Cole
 
J

johndeere123

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Apr 20, 2012
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Location
Nova Scotia
Are you going to use the quick connects so you can run it off a truck PTO? If so, the wing nut thread on ones are the only ones I find worth using.
 
C

cphillips

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Jan 23, 2014
Messages
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Location
Delaware
I was meaning to run hydraulic lines to the back for the hydraulic ramps. The lines are only half inch so I haven't really seen many disconnects except for tractor ones that are that small.

Cole
 
T

trucker1

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Jan 10, 2008
Messages
81
Location
Southern Maine, USA
Quick disconnects should work fine for that. don't need a lot of flow, even for that distance. I used 1 inch connects on the front of my lowbed because I also had two other trailers that I hauled with the same tractor. I always left the hoses hooked to the tractor, and on the tractor end I used the threaded wingnut style, because that is what I had laying around, and when I hauled my trailer dump, I would unhook the pressure line at the tractor and use the hose on the trailer which had the wingnut style, gave me better flow for the large cylinder on the trailer lift. Once again, trailer is looking good.

George
 
C

cphillips

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
20
Location
Delaware
Got the brake shoes installed. Since it was missing two of the cast brake pads I had to modify some newer shoes to work by welding and offsetting one side. Hopefully it will hold. I was tacking it outside with the stick, to make sure it was all lined up, then taking it inside and finishing it with the mig but I decided to do it all with the stick like is shown in the picture. Here soon I will install the drums and flip the trailer back right side up.
photo 4-2.JPG
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photo 1-2.JPG
 
C

cphillips

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Jan 23, 2014
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Delaware
Got the hubs, rims and tires back on as well as flipped the trailer back over. Should have gotten some pictures of it entirely in the air while flipping it over.
C95A5650-65C6-4819-B3AA-633DAB9E5FCF.jpg
 
C

cphillips

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Jan 23, 2014
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Delaware
td25c

td25c

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indiana
I like it :thumbsup. Nice work on the brake adaptation . Question , Do you know if the trailer had the hydraulics originally ?
 
C

cphillips

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Jan 23, 2014
Messages
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Location
Delaware
No it never had hydraulics it used the ramps behind the fifth wheel or a excavator/crane to detach and re-attach the fifth wheel. My grandfather used it in the 1970's and because it had no hydraulics he always side-loaded it.

Cole
 
td25c

td25c

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Feb 14, 2009
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5,250
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indiana
Cool ! Thought it might be a mechanical detachable . Allot of trucks back then also had a winch mounted behind the cab to assist pulling a loaded trailer up the frame ramps on the truck . Does it have a cylinder on the gooseneck ? or will you add one later ?
 
C

cphillips

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Jan 23, 2014
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Location
Delaware
Yes you are dead on with the winch, the original tractor that towed it was a 1947 or 1949 International gasser with a mechanical winch on the back. My grandfather said he would put it in low reverse and engage the winch at the same time to pull it up, said it worked great in tandem just didn't work well when loaded so it was almost always side loaded. The trailer still had the cable attached to the front when I started working on it. Unfortunately that International was traded in for an International 4300 transtar in the mid 1960's which I still have today and plan to restore in the future.

Cole
 
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old-iron-habit

old-iron-habit

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Moose Lake, MN
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We used to unhook them old lowboys back in my youth by laying a 2 ft long 8 by 8 timber lengthwise on either side of the front corners. We would then slide a 4 ft piece in over the 8 by 8 wedging it tight to the front corner of the frame. Blocked the tires, pulled the pin and drove out. We only unhooked empty but always got back under OK, even with the state of the art spring suspension of the day.

Nice looking rig you got going there. Great job.

We loaded the old D7 and D8 from the side using a couple blocks on each track the same way. Turned them on the deck. The old Unit crane we hauled with the tracks sideways.
 
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