Making and installing enclosed trailer escape door.

[QOTHL]

Bigger pain in the *** than I expected but probably because I've never done it before. The next time I see the guy who says they installed his door in 2 1/2hrs I'm going to kick him right in the ***!
There's a guy on youtube demonstrating how to cut the hole for the door - I don't recommend doing it that way. I cut the sides and the bottom and then the top so that the piece fell right out.

I decided to use 1/8, 1 1/2 steel tubing. I'm not sure the "x" pattern is ideal for this application but like the idea. It has created some challenges for a door that opens on the front. This door measures 4'w x 6'l.

The Metabo cutter makes this easy to cut.

Fitting the hinges was a big pain. As you can see I had to weld extensions of tubing to attach the bolts.

I added tubing for support. The hinges attach to a 1/8" x 2" steel tube stud. The rest of the framing is 1/8" x 1 1/2 steel tubing.

 

[gkent]

If you'd built the door with uprights instead of that X brace then putting in the hinge and lock supports would have been a breeze.

 

[QOTHL]

If you'd built the door with uprights instead of that X brace then putting in the hinge and lock supports would have been a breeze.

Mounting the hinges would have been a big pain either way from what I experienced with fitting and clearances. The "x" keeps it lighter. Uprights still don't solve the problem of multiple horizontal bolt holes. I like the problem solving and then pissing and moaning about it.
I can weld so makes no difference to me about fabricating stuff. Thanks for the support!

 

[QOTHL]

Moment of truth, will the door hang properly...and open!

 

[dvw]

I've been thinking of doing one in mine. A few years ago my trailer was rear ended. Had the cut the rear door off to remove the car. The rear lower cross member was bent in 8". Had to cut it out along with a big portion of the floor. Was able to save the top cross member and all the uprights of the door. What was left looked like a comb. Aligned all the uprights and replaced the lower cross member of the door. The door was also sprung. We managed to flatten it out by blocking up one corner and jumping on it. Amazingly after pounding the old skin flat all the screw holes lined up. Used the old skin as a template. Marked and drilled the holes. Clamped the frame in place. Welded new hinges on. Door swung fine. New plywood, diamond plate and new skin. Really wasn't that bad. Time consuming yes.
Doug

 

[QOTHL]

Mounting this part was easy compared to the hinges.

 

[QOTHL]

Cutting the aluminum skin was easy using a Metabo cutter with a metal blade. There are youtube videos demonstrating cutting sheet metal with a jig saw which is ok if you need to make curves. The Metabo left nice clean edges, easy to sand if necessary, and it cut it like butter. (Or for you NYkers: like buddah!)

This is a plastic panel I cut to size to go under the aluminum so that hopefully the structure underneath won't show. Easy to cut with the Metabo cutter, nice clean edges.

I put seam sealer between the plastic panel and the frame then glued the aluminum skin on top using real glue instead of the old school method of "pick it, lick it, and stick it." After putting 2x6's on each side I laid a 1 1/2" 1/8 piece of steel tubing to hold it in place.

 

[QOTHL]

Late Mon. night...
I put the door in place covering the skin with collision wrap to protect it until final installation.

I'm finishing up with the trim and it occurred to me that it looks like a big door to a walk-in cooler.

 

[Mike Gaines]

very nice

 

[BanginGears]

Shouldn't the door be centered in the wheel wells?

 

[QOTHL]

Shouldn't the door be centered in the wheel wells?

Why?

 

[dadsbee]

Shouldn't the door be centered in the wheel wells?

Door should be located where ever the OP plans to strap down the car and thus needs to open the drivers door to get out. I wish mine was a foot further forward...

 

[malex]

Been planning to add a door to my trailer for some time and seeing your post - gonna have to get back at that. Finding h channel was a major pain and delayed the project last fall.
Nice work! And very motivating.

 

[malex]

I've been thinking of doing one in mine. A few years ago my trailer was rear ended. Had the cut the rear door off to remove the car. The rear lower cross member was bent in 8". Had to cut it out along with a big portion of the floor. Was able to save the top cross member and all the uprights of the door. What was left looked like a comb. Aligned all the uprights and replaced the lower cross member of the door. The door was also sprung. We managed to flatten it out by blocking up one corner and jumping on it. Amazingly after pounding the old skin flat all the screw holes lined up. Used the old skin as a template. Marked and drilled the holes. Clamped the frame in place. Welded new hinges on. Door swung fine. New plywood, diamond plate and new skin. Really wasn't that bad. Time consuming yes.
Doug

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Yeah Doug these 2 door post cars sure make it hard to get in and out of in the trailer. I have a rail on the right side of the trailer floor and ride that when driving in- so I can squeeze past the door, that post makes it a bugger otherwise.

 

[QOTHL]

Door should be located where ever the OP plans to strap down the car and thus needs to open the drivers door to get out. I wish mine was a foot further forward...
View attachment 991555

In response to the location of the trailer door, this is how I look at it: I bought the trailer for the car, not the other way around. I don't give a flying rats rear end if it doesn't look "balanced". We went to a lot of trouble taking measurements while the car was in the trailer to make sure the opening would be in front of the car door hinge and have plenty of room for that 4ft plus door for either a B or E body to open without hitting anything. This door is 4ft high and 6ft long if I haven't mentioned it already.
Doing this by myself sucks, by the way. I cut the opening right down to the top of the frame above the wheel well and had to make a custom piece of trim to go over the diamond plate cover. That gave me at least another inch of car door clearance at the bottom.

I didn't bother finding the special trim used on trailers because it's almost impossible to get - the trailer builders apparently have exclusive extruded bar produced and I couldn't find it anywhere even on trailer supply websites. So I had to CRACKER RIG what I needed with available stock aluminum.

Installing the angle trim:
(Yes I bent the left bottom corner of my nice aluminum skin putting it in the opening and catching the edge.)

It works:

I had to make shims for the bar lock. I used sheet fiber glass and put a strip of butyl tape on the side that goes against the trailer.

 

[QOTHL]

The drip rail (1 1/2" angle aluminum) installed. Outer door trim in place for fitment. I think I'm going to need to make shims for the hinges because they press on the trim pretty hard. Probably have to make more shims for the bar lock too.

Notice the bottom door trim cut for the wheel well opening.

Peeling this plastic off is a pain. It sticks really well.

 

[QOTHL]

Been planning to add a door to my trailer for some time and seeing your post - gonna have to get back at that. Finding h channel was a major pain and delayed the project last fall.
Nice work! And very motivating.

Never did this before so may not be as pretty as a pro but it works. As I mentioned I gave up on finding some of the trailer trim and came up with my own "design". There are some youtube videos of guys making food truck window covers which show some good ideas for general fabricating but that is a much smaller project than this was. My lack of experience made this take a lot longer than I planned. Not a weekend project in my opinion.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with the car in it. I have taken on another "upgrade" since I'm making improvements and am covering the splintery damn plywood walls with peel and stick vinyl floor tile. That will make the strapping down process a lot easier instead of catching everything like clothes, hair, etc. on that rough surface. Hopefully they won't fall off. If they do, I'll either screw or glue them back in place. I'm also considering adding more lights to the interior.

 

[malex]

Never did this before so may not be as pretty as a pro but it works. As I mentioned I gave up on finding some of the trailer trim and came up with my own "design". There are some youtube videos of guys making food truck window covers which show some good ideas for general fabricating but that is a much smaller project than this was. My lack of experience made this take a lot longer than I planned. Not a weekend project in my opinion.

Thanks for the compliment. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works with the car in it. I have taken on another "upgrade" since I'm making improvements and am covering the splintery damn plywood walls with peel and stick vinyl floor tile. That will make the strapping down process a lot easier instead of catching everything like clothes, hair, etc. on that rough surface. Hopefully they won't fall off. If they do, I'll either screw or glue them back in place. I'm also considering adding more lights to the interior.

—-
Totally agree, the door fits the car. I plan on a 4 X 5 door for mine. My car is a post car, so the door window has the frame around. There’s no cheating by rolling the window down to gain room when getting in or out. I have my car positioned as far back as possible in the trailer, as I have lots of front trailer weight, tools, parts, fuel, gen set, etc, so the door will be majority over the fender.
It seems you are correct about the special trim, like the h channel. Gonna have to use U channel and flat aluminum to make the h.
Thanks for the pictures, they are a thousand words. One question, how much gap did you allow yourself between the door frame and the opening. Oh and you went with 3 hinges. Was that for the longer door?

 

[coloradodave]

Nice job. You can be proud of the way that project came out.

 

[QOTHL]

—-
Totally agree, the door fits the car. I plan on a 4 X 5 door for mine. My car is a post car, so the door window has the frame around. There’s no cheating by rolling the window down to gain room when getting in or out. I have my car positioned as far back as possible in the trailer, as I have lots of front trailer weight, tools, parts, fuel, gen set, etc, so the door will be majority over the fender.
It seems you are correct about the special trim, like the h channel. Gonna have to use U channel and flat aluminum to make the h.
Thanks for the pictures, they are a thousand words. One question, how much gap did you allow yourself between the door frame and the opening. Oh and you went with 3 hinges. Was that for the longer door?

These damn trailer/RV places don't make their hardware etc readily available like the "tamper proof" bolts or the torques screw bit for the exterior skin...Want tamper proof? The bar lock has holes for carriage bolts so that's what I got. As for the skin screws, F them, cut a slot with a good dremel blade and use a flat head screw driver. You'll never want to use them again.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at what's available in aluminum stock. It usually comes in 25ft lengths at a metal yard and is fairly cheap. They usually don't carry anything less than 1/8", so if you need that you have to go to Lowes' or some place equivalent. I decided against U channel because I really didn't know how thick things were going to be with the exterior skin, plastic sheeting underneath and then whatever I end up using on the interior part of the door. You've kind of defeated the necessity of the H when you put angle and flat bar together.

I allowed about 3/4" gap. Make sure you allow for whatever trim you're going to use around the outer opening and the outer edge of the door. As I've mentioned and I'll mention it again, the bottom trim sits right on top of the inner frame of the wheel well. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the seventh photo even thought the door frame is sitting on it and the trim hasn't been installed. I personally don't give a crap about cutting the outer trim to fit over the outer wheel trim, I want that extra clearance for my car door.

I bought my hinges, etc. from etrailer.com and asked the guy how many hinges I needed for a door that big and guessing it weighs about 60lbs. He recommended three and I don't want any failures so that's what I got. It took awhile to get someone on the phone but once I did they were very helpful. These hinges are stiff - they move easily but do not swing like the door on the other side which is a regular upright door. This project required a lot of adjustment on my part. Someone more experienced could probably do this quicker although if you watch the video of the guy making the food truck window door, it took him a while and there was a lot of time edited out.

If you look at Dadsbee's photo, he has three hinges on his door. This is not where you want to get cheap. I made some mistakes that really didn't cost much to fix like I went to the trouble of building a jam out of 1 1/2" steel angle, did a beautiful job with welding the corners and then realized I don't need a jam at all. It's ok because I can use that steel for something else. Hope that helps, I'm no expert.

Before I close off the inside of the door and the frame work around the interior opening I don't know what key I hit that made italics but I'm going to put lights in around the opening and sides.