No Weld Bike Trailer

This project seeks to make bike trailer building easy and cheap! Bike trailers are extremely useful and enable cyclists to carry heavy or weird loads easily.

This project was made for under 30 dollars using mostly found objects. If i had to buy everything i used it would cost around 60.

Step 1: Wheel Base

The hardest part of building a bike trailer is building the wheel base. This is the part that holds two wheels in place so you can build the rest of the trailer.

I have to confess i did not build mine. I got it from Dan who scavenged it from an broken trailer.

This instructable uses a firewood cart, i'm sure you can find other wheel bases to scavenge from.

Step 2: Making the Platform Part 1

The first step after you get a wheel base is to build a base for your trailer, for this you will need:

3 - 30" 2x4s
6 long screws
Drill
Drill bits made for drilling metal.

Once you get those, drill holes into the wheel base, making about 6 holes to mount the 2x4s.

Step 3: Making the Platform Part 2

Once you have the holes drilled, mount the 2x4s onto the base making a nice platform.

Step 4: Trailer Hitch Part 1

Once you have a base made it's time to make a hitch. I did a variation on this hitch idea and used air hose coupling. I already had a hitch that attached to my bike so it made it easier. For the arm down i used electrical conduit.
To build the part that connects to your bicycle take a look at this instructable: No Weld Bike Trailer Hitch

For this step i used:
1 10ft x 1/2" conduit tubing
1 Air hose coupling
6 inches of webbed tubing.
2 hose clamps

Step 5: Trailer Hitch Part 2

First i cut the tubing to size and shoved the air hose coupling on one end. I shoved the other end onto the electrical conduit.

This part was hard, i used rubbing alcohol to slip it on but it still took a lot of elbow grease.

After i got it together i ran a heat gun over it to seal it.

See the last picture for the hitch on the bicycle.

Step 6: Trailer Hitch Part 3

Once you get the connector on, it's time to bend the conduit. There are special tools for this, but they cost around 30 bucks and i didn't want to get one just to use it once.

So i used a barrel! You want to have a sort of S shape going from the hitch to the trailer.

But if you have the money or can borrow one, i strongly suggest the conduit bender.

Step 7: Attaching the Hitch to the Platform

Once the hitch is bent to your liking, it's time to attach it to the base. I used some U brackets and a few screws to attach it to the bottom.

The conduit was a little too long, i cut off the extra with a dremel.

Step 8: Attaching a Base

At this point the main part of the trailer is done. From here you can build on to adding a bucket or a flat plank

I decided on a flat plank from some scrap wood i had lying around. I cut a 30x18 inch piece out.

Step 9: Painting It

Well you could stop here, but where is the fun in a boring brown trailer. I prettied mine up with some orange and silver spray paint.

Step 10: Test Ride

Now it's time to test ride!

Right when i got outside someone yelled to me "I Want One!" which is always a great response to a new project.

I had someone sit on the trailer as i rode it around to test it out, the first time i went out i realized that my hitch wasn't tight enough. oops!

If you have ideas for improvements, please comment! Hope your bike trailer makings go wonderfully! Share your projects!