Shite - my aluminum skin trailer is starting to pit/rust

[Abbie.S]

I have a 1996 Kingston 2h BP that has served me so well these last 10 years or so. It’s in fabulous shape for its age…but I brought it home for the winter and noticed on the left side right around the tie ring the aluminum skin is just barely starting to pit and rust. There’s no other areas on the trailer skin where this is occurring, and I have no idea when it started but I want to stop it from getting any worse if I can.

Anyone done a fix like this themselves, and if so what did you use? I might have to sand the area lightly to take some of the sharp edges off from where it pitted, but it’s a pretty small area and I’m confident I can minimize further damage if I get the right sealant on it.

[LCDR]

Unbolt the tie ring and do your repairs to the trailer skin. The tie ring itself should be either aluminum or stainless steel. As you know, tie rings are designed to break themselves when pulled excessively so that the bolts through the trailer skin don’t rip a hole in the trailer. The mounting hardware - bolts, backing washers, or plates, and nuts are typically stainless steel. There are several types of stainless steel but the idea is to have no rust of the hardware. But there will also be a galvanic reaction from contact between steel and aluminum. Some, mostly high-end trailer makers, use gaskets to prevent dissimilar metal contact.

In your case where only one small spot is rusting, corroding or oxidizing make sure that the mounting hardware somehow was not switched for standard steel bolts.and that the gasket hasn’t failed. I am assuming that since Kingston is a respected higher-end trailer brand, they originally did the mounting the correct way.

You’ll need fine sandpaper like used in auto body work, a small can of spray primer to bond the paint to the bare aliminum, a small can of touch-up paint in your trailer color, and a roll of good grade masking tape. I would suggest you go to a place like a Pep Boys, AutoZone, or Oeillys to buy the supplies rather than Home Depot or Lowes, as the auto stores will have auto body repair grade stuff. Take your time, watch a few youtube videos about small spot repairs on cars or trailers, and you should be fine doing it yourself.

[endlessclimb]

@LCDR

As you know, tie rings are designed to break themselves when pulled excessively so that the bolts through the trailer skin don’t rip a hole in the trailer.

No.

The tie rings are through the trailer frame. There’s a decent chance your horse will kill themselves before the ring breaks off, if the halter hardware doesn’t break first.

Lots of tie rings I’ve seen are cast material. Others smooth.

I do think you can do the repair yourself. Care to post pictures?

[Foxglove]

OP as the owner and occasional restorer of vintage aluminum trailers (up to a point, no welding or structural repair, mostly cosmetic) I think @LCDR has given you good advice. I have one more step I take. If you know a body shop near you (my husband is a car guy and he knows all the body work places around and the people that work there, so easy for me), consider a slow time of the day to haul your trailer in there. Ask if “someone will give you an opinion on some minor body work.” Then show them your issue. Listen to what they say RE cause and cure.

Next, ask how much the body shop would charge to do the repair. If it is in your budget, have the pros do it. If not --here’s my best question ever --“If I do it myself, and I totally botch it, will you fix it for that price?” --Of course they will so NOW you have nothing to lose if you do try to fix it yourself and make a mess of it.

Ask the professional what steps he would take —one shop even gave me the exact sand paper I needed to sand down (then repaint) three doors on a trailer --they were fiberglass and had yellowed with age. To repaint them, the pro wanted $400. But he gave me the sand paper, masking tape, and advice on how to do it myself --worked out GREAT!! Biggest challenge was taking the doors off --but I would have had to do that for the pro, too --my trailer was too big to fit in his shop. And, the Krylon white paint ($2.99) was an exact match for the white on the trailer.

So —if no body shop near you who will share advice, maybe a YouTube or two on repairing aluminum (actually, we sanded, BONDO, sanded, then painted.) And don’t hesitate to get a little creative. I had aluminum crud behind a wheel fender toward the back door. I sanded bondo, sanded, then taped off the section and made a “New” black stripe along the bottom of the trailer. I only did it on one side --because --no one can look at both sides of the trailer at the same time! That trailer I bought for $8K, used for 10 years, and sold for $8K. Except for the aluminum corrosion on a couple of small spots --never a worry.

[Abbie.S]

Thanks, guys. I’ll take some pictures later today. I can only find one spot and it happens to be right around the steel tie ring (and yes, @endlessclimb, definitely bolted through the steel frame, absolutely not something that will break away, at least not by any horse on this earth). I could unbolt the tie ring but I don’t see any reason to as the corrosion is around it but with enough of a perimeter that it’s not touching it, so I should be able to sand and repair right around it.

[endlessclimb]

I’d still unbolt it. There’s a decent likelyhood that it “looks ok” right by the ring because the ring itself is holding the paint down. It could be pitted and you don’t know. If it’s an easy removal, take it off for the repair.

[LCDR]

I still stand by my earlier comment that trailer tie rings, even when installed through the frame of the trailer, should be frangible. The installation bolts don’t break, the frangible metal tie ring does.

If your trailer didn’t come with frangible tie rings, or if you are unsure about it, I would think hard about replacing them all with good quality frangible ones, especially if you tie your horse directly to them without any other release system like a breakaway trailer tie. A small price to pay for reducing risk of a broken neck.

[endlessclimb]

The last thing someone needs is a loose horse when they’re out somewhere. So instead of something frangible, please consider a blocker tie, which will remove the hazard of tying solid while still not allowing the horse to run free (god only know what hazards are around you when you’ve hauled out).

Before your edit, you mentioned a “notch” in a tie ring (supposedly to intentionally weaken it). I have never ever seen that. If my 4-Star doesn’t have frangible rings, and my friend’s Jamco doesn’t have frangible rings, you don’t need frangible rings. Those two manufacturers are regarded as top of the line for safety. “Frangible” wasn’t even an option.

Tie rings that are factory installed are NEVER through the trailer skin, because unless you want that thing to break if you so much as sneeze on it, the skin will rip long before the ring gives, and off goes your horse running like a banshee with a razor sharp piece of skin “chasing” him.

Care to share what trailer rings you have that are “designed to break”? I have never seen them in my life, I’d love to see what moron designs them.

[Abbie.S]

Respectfully, @LCDR, I have zero interest in having ties that would breakaway on anything I tie to, trailer included. I realize this is a hot button debate amongst the horse community, one I’m not interested in entertaining here. I would have to contact Kingston to get more information on the particular tie rings used on this trailer, but I cannot imagine a world in which these would break. As it stands, one thing I spend a lot of time on is making sure my horses know how to stand while tied, for as long as I need to, under all kinds of circumstances, and know how to give to pressure if they hit the end of a rope, even while panicked. I will accept the risk of a freak accident over a horse getting loose and infinitely increasing the chances of serious injury to that animal, another horse or a person.

I’ll see if I can undo the rings and take a look at the underside. The pitting/rust is a solid 2" away from the ring but fair point about not knowing what’s happening underneath.

[LCDR]

OK, I was trying to be civil and respectful with a response, but can’t make it work. I’m done with this thread. Go attack someone else.