Fix rusty trailer

[mrtomsv]

Last year I bought a large old trailer for general domestic duties. It needed a bit of TLC but that was all part of the plan as I needed a little welding project to get my hand back in after doing a basic welding course 15 years ago.

I finally got round to stripping down an cleaning up the trailer today and unfortunately it seems the corrosion was far worse than expected and well covered up by a liberal slap of paint.

A few minutes with the flap disc has removed large flakes of corroded metal leaving probably only about 60% of the original behind.

Before I go any further I need to know if there's any point, or if the corrosion has gone to far? I could cut out an weld in entirely new sections of steel, but if I did that it'd be the ultimate Trigger's Broom. I'd be as well to just build a whole new trailer from scratch surely?

Is there anything that can be done in the realms of fairly easy restoration project?

Thanks

[Matt_E_Mulsion]

If it's only that bad in odd places then you could just replace those bits. It it's like that all over then it's scrap in my opinion.

[rev-erend]

Looks like you would be better just replacing from scratch rather than patches.

Would be good to have a bigger picture.

Hopefully your welder / power feed is up to it.

[Dogwatch]

Might not matter in some places but that bit in the photo is where the suspension is attached, so I would suggest that you certainly don't want a weakened chassis member at that point.

[mrtomsv]

Thanks for the replies.

If I was to weld patches in the worst bits, and completely bridged the area around the suspension mounts with some reinforcement, would that suffice for a usable trailer to go no further than the local tip with far less weight than it was originally built for?

Btw, my welder is only a stick welder as I originally thought I'd only need to replace a couple of minor L-section pieces that were obviously corroded when I looked at it before purchase. (Amazing what a good, thick coat of paint can hide)

[tapkaJohnD]

A stick welder is ideal for that! It's not exactly thin panels! Or rather it is, now, but you will be putting in mich thick lengths of angle iron.
What's it for? Transporting general rubbish, bits and oeices, or a valuable race car?