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Hi! I'm a fairly new member to Greenhulk and PWC's in general. So I figured I'd share my trailer build and winter project. I purchased this 2003 EZ Loader trailer for $300 in pretty decent shape. Was just a little rusty. This was for my two 2008 Seadoo GTX skis that I picked up really cheap. One runs, and the other doesn't. Instead of parting one out, I decided to rebuild it to have a matching pair. Luckily my friend stored the skis for me on his trailer at his house.
I figured since I got a really good deal on the trailer, I would put a little money into it and create something unique. First, I didn't trust the little tires to hold my heavy 900lb skis, so I bought some 16" Ford Escape wheels and put the smallest tires I could find on them. I wanted something cool without spending a ton. And they share the 5x4.5" bolt pattern.
Since the offset was way off, I decided to "sleeve" the axle so I could set the axle width to exactly what I would need for the wheels to clear the frame. Ended up adding about 5".
The wheels needed just a little work to clear the bearing buddy, and I ended up with a 1/2" spacer to clear the bigger part of the hub. Also, the stock lug bolts are pretty horrible and would be a pain to change with a spacer, so I bought a length of threaded rod and cut it down to make wheel studs. I bought some stainless acorn style lug nuts to finish of the wheel mods.
The stock spring hangers had seen better days and were very bent from some previous impact and most certainly a botched repair. I just couldn't trust them to hold my skis properly. So I fabbed up new ones using 1/4" plate and also added some boxing which doubles as fender mount/foot steps. I can no longer adjust the axle location for tongue weight, so I measured my friend's trailer so I could dial the axle location in as close as possible. Any further adjustment needed can still be done by moving the winch location.
AND my new fenders!! And there is absolutely no room to spare with the 7" wide wheels and 205's. All of my cars are slammed/tucking tire, so I wanted my trailer to match.
Fabbed up some sturdy tie downs just in front of the tail lights for rear straps.
After everything was mocked up and clearanced, I finish welded the axle sleeve.
While the original trailer wiring was in decent shape, my new led light kit came with all new wiring. The task of swapping in the new harness wasn't that bad, but it sure was nice having a helping hand to tape and pull wires through the frame! I didn't get any photos of the process, but looking a trailer wiring diagrams online made it a breeze. Any idiot could do this. But I did take it one step further and add reverse lights to the trailer. I found some sealed and potted led fog lights for dirt cheap. I wired in a switch at the tongue that draws power off the running lights to power to the reverse lights. Very easy and works flawlessly! Basically any time your headlights are on, and the switch is on, then you have reverse lights (and no, this is not tied into the reverse circuit from the vehicle. It's a manual switch).
Now that the lighting is done, it's time for paint!! After a day of grinding rust and sanding paint, and priming, she's prepped. I didn't want to spray the trailer and create a huge mess, so I bought a quart of $12.99 gloss black tractor paint from tractor supply and a $0.99 foam roller from Harbor Freight and rolled it!! It actually turned out really good and I used a spray can to hit all the little nooks and crannies that I couldn't get to with the roller (which were very few).
Finally I reinstalled the winches with new bow rollers and added a pair of Seadoo decals to complete the look.
And finally! The skis are home!! Only things left to do are install my new bow safety chains and the new wheel bearing kit, which I'll get to as soon as I can. But I really can't wait to start working on my skis!! Not bad for a total investment of $2700 skis and trailer, including mods. Plenty of room left to build my ski and not be in the hole a ton of money. Maybe I can get a GTX to 80mph.....
I figured since I got a really good deal on the trailer, I would put a little money into it and create something unique. First, I didn't trust the little tires to hold my heavy 900lb skis, so I bought some 16" Ford Escape wheels and put the smallest tires I could find on them. I wanted something cool without spending a ton. And they share the 5x4.5" bolt pattern.
Since the offset was way off, I decided to "sleeve" the axle so I could set the axle width to exactly what I would need for the wheels to clear the frame. Ended up adding about 5".
The wheels needed just a little work to clear the bearing buddy, and I ended up with a 1/2" spacer to clear the bigger part of the hub. Also, the stock lug bolts are pretty horrible and would be a pain to change with a spacer, so I bought a length of threaded rod and cut it down to make wheel studs. I bought some stainless acorn style lug nuts to finish of the wheel mods.
The stock spring hangers had seen better days and were very bent from some previous impact and most certainly a botched repair. I just couldn't trust them to hold my skis properly. So I fabbed up new ones using 1/4" plate and also added some boxing which doubles as fender mount/foot steps. I can no longer adjust the axle location for tongue weight, so I measured my friend's trailer so I could dial the axle location in as close as possible. Any further adjustment needed can still be done by moving the winch location.
AND my new fenders!! And there is absolutely no room to spare with the 7" wide wheels and 205's. All of my cars are slammed/tucking tire, so I wanted my trailer to match.
Fabbed up some sturdy tie downs just in front of the tail lights for rear straps.
After everything was mocked up and clearanced, I finish welded the axle sleeve.
While the original trailer wiring was in decent shape, my new led light kit came with all new wiring. The task of swapping in the new harness wasn't that bad, but it sure was nice having a helping hand to tape and pull wires through the frame! I didn't get any photos of the process, but looking a trailer wiring diagrams online made it a breeze. Any idiot could do this. But I did take it one step further and add reverse lights to the trailer. I found some sealed and potted led fog lights for dirt cheap. I wired in a switch at the tongue that draws power off the running lights to power to the reverse lights. Very easy and works flawlessly! Basically any time your headlights are on, and the switch is on, then you have reverse lights (and no, this is not tied into the reverse circuit from the vehicle. It's a manual switch).
Now that the lighting is done, it's time for paint!! After a day of grinding rust and sanding paint, and priming, she's prepped. I didn't want to spray the trailer and create a huge mess, so I bought a quart of $12.99 gloss black tractor paint from tractor supply and a $0.99 foam roller from Harbor Freight and rolled it!! It actually turned out really good and I used a spray can to hit all the little nooks and crannies that I couldn't get to with the roller (which were very few).
Finally I reinstalled the winches with new bow rollers and added a pair of Seadoo decals to complete the look.
And finally! The skis are home!! Only things left to do are install my new bow safety chains and the new wheel bearing kit, which I'll get to as soon as I can. But I really can't wait to start working on my skis!! Not bad for a total investment of $2700 skis and trailer, including mods. Plenty of room left to build my ski and not be in the hole a ton of money. Maybe I can get a GTX to 80mph.....
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