Making and installing enclosed trailer escape door.

[QOTHL]

You guys do nice work. Since your both smart I don’t need to do all the thought process to figure it all out. I think I’ll do mine next year when I retire.
Doug

Thanks, but I'm not that smart. I made plenty of mistakes. I didn't want to use the skin I cut out, just didn't want to deal with the ribs. I also don't really care how the exterior looks. If it looks crappy it won't attract attention.

 

[malex]

I was so consumed with building the door I didn't stop to think about what you meant by a pillar - you mean the B pillar which doesn't really exist on a Charger or a 'Cuda. Even with both windows open it was still a pain in the *** getting out of there. After getting the shaft from the door lock, I made sure I kept padding in the car to lay over the door opening to get out. I'm not very tall or "big" and it was still an ordeal. I would usually take my shoes off and toss them out the window to the front of the trailer if I couldn't take them off before pulling the car in.

---
Yep it's a real squeeze. I don't know how Doug does it, it seems he's got a process down pat. For me though and that darned post I have to ride the rail with both front and rear right side tires, then I'm able to open the door, the swing out and slide in/out. Glad those days are now gone.

Orange rail (trip hazard) that I would ride up against

 

[dvw]

I can’t open the door at all. Just climb thru the window. It’s easy because of my youth, lol
Doug

 

[LemonWedge]

One of my best racing buddies runs a killer 67 Chevelle Post. He too sings the woes of the window pillars and trailer egress. He winches his in. I’ve never really paid attention to how he gets it into Park & brake on, though.

 

[BanginGears]

I just winch mine in.
I have zero room to even open my door.
My next trailer will have an escape door.

 

[Bo Bo]

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.)

View attachment 996793

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It works:
View attachment 996795

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.

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[Bo Bo]

Where did you get the hinges?

 

[malex]

Where did you get the hinges?

—-
I bought my hinges from a local trailer sales store along with the trailer door cam lock assembly. They also had the overhead drip rail on the shelf so I bought one of those too.

 

[QOTHL]

I can’t open the door at all. Just climb thru the window. It’s easy because of my youth, lol
Doug

Hope you don't become a big fat guy!

 

[QOTHL]

I just winch mine in.
I have zero room to even open my door.
My next trailer will have an escape door.

I'm looking in to using a winch because I'm afraid of loading the car by myself. I've modified the floor so much that it may not work. Of course, that would eliminate the need for an escape door...except I could get in to drive it out.

 

[QOTHL]

Where did you get the hinges?

I ordered all my stuff from etrailer.com.

 

[malex]

Was poking around in FBBO tonight and came upon this old car trailer thread. I see that I never posted any further on how the door worked out so I’ve got some pictures. Since then there’s been a couple more trailer add ons in the works so check the pics for the progress on that.

So here’s the door in operation, works terrific and this was one project worth every minute.

Door fully open, getting in and out is a snap now.

A new project has since gotten underway, that being a Generator door and slide out. And I will say that job was a lot of work! It started off with the inside bench getting a makeover.

Once that was done it was time to make a door frame and hole.

Next came making a platform, sliders, building a door. Sounds easy but that was all very time consuming.

A shot with the generator in place. Sliders are 500 lb rating so there’s some overkill built in.

Project Complete

A shot of the inside finished up. Ended up building some more top cabinet space, relocated the radio and installed a microwave.

With that done yet another project is getting underway, although this will have to wait, there’s 3 race weeks coming up up in the next short while. But next up is an in-floor tire storage space. 30 X 34” will slide in nicely, ample room for a tire, just one crossmember to get into. Looking forward to getting this completed.

In hindsight I should have had these upgrades included when the trailer was ordered. Live and learn. More updates to come as things move along.

 

[Nxcoupe]

Was poking around in FBBO tonight and came upon this old car trailer thread. I see that I never posted any further on how the door worked out so I’ve got some pictures. Since then there’s been a couple more trailer add ons in the works so check the pics for the progress on that.

So here’s the door in operation, works terrific and this was one project worth every minute.
View attachment 1322205

Door fully open, getting in and out is a snap now.

View attachment 1322206



A new project has since gotten underway, that being a Generator door and slide out. And I will say that job was a lot of work! It started off with the inside bench getting a makeover. View attachment 1322207

Once that was done it was time to make a door frame and hole.
View attachment 1322208

Next came making a platform, sliders, building a door. Sounds easy but that was all very time consuming.
View attachment 1322209

A shot with the generator in place. Sliders are 500 lb rating so there’s some overkill built in.
View attachment 1322212

Project Complete
View attachment 1322213

A shot of the inside finished up. Ended up building some more top cabinet space, relocated the radio and installed a microwave.
View attachment 1322214

With that done yet another project is getting underway, although this will have to wait, there’s 3 race weeks coming up up in the next short while. But next up is an in-floor tire storage space. 30 X 34” will slide in nicely, ample room for a tire, just one crossmember to get into. Looking forward to getting this completed.
View attachment 1322215

In hindsight I should have had these upgrades included when the trailer was ordered. Live and learn. More updates to come as things move along.

Thanks for sharing and updating. Man, these are all great ideas. I have an enclosed I'm selling because I just hated crawling out the door of my race car with a 25.5 cage. Near impossible with my big butt. Please update with the process for the spare tire well. I may incorporate that into my open trailer.

 

[6PKRTSE]

All such great ideas and everyone's work looks great. I am not getting any younger but I can still open my car doors enough to get in and out of my cars in my Hallmark trailer with no issues. Yes, it's not exactly easy but can be done. Even my Street/Strip car with a 25.5 isn't that big of a deal either. Mine must be wider than some of your trailers.

 

[Nxcoupe]

All such great ideas and everyone's work looks great. I am not getting any younger but I can still open my car doors enough to get in and out of my cars in my Hallmark trailer with no issues. Yes, it's not exactly easy but can be done. Even my Street/Strip car with a 25.5 isn't that big of a deal either. Mine must be wider than some of your trailers.

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I'm 6'3" and my cage is moved forward as the guy that did it was shorter than me. I feel like I'm sitting down in a hole. I can get out, but I feel like I just got out of a big time wrestling match. I use my open trailer with removable fenders for that reason. This mod would allow me to use the enclosed tho, so I am seriously considering it for a winter project.

 

[6PKRTSE]

I have been considering adding a generator door and generator to my trailer eventually. Right now I just wheel the big ole generator outside the trailer each time.

 

[malex]

All such great ideas and everyone's work looks great. I am not getting any younger but I can still open my car doors enough to get in and out of my cars in my Hallmark trailer with no issues. Yes, it's not exactly easy but can be done. Even my Street/Strip car with a 25.5 isn't that big of a deal either. Mine must be wider than some of your trailers.

View attachment 1322419

View attachment 1322422

With a hardtop I’ve never had a problem but boy, getting between the B pillar and the window frame around the door glass was ugly. I used to have a rail along the floor on the right side that the tire would ride against to make sure I was to the right as far as possible. The rail is long gone now.

 

[malex]

Thanks for sharing and updating. Man, these are all great ideas. I have an enclosed I'm selling because I just hated crawling out the door of my race car with a 25.5 cage. Near impossible with my big butt. Please update with the process for the spare tire well. I may incorporate that into my open trailer.

Sure thing, will post up the box going in. Box is finished up today and I’m itching to get this installed. There will be enough room to keep the trailer aid in there also.

 

[Endangered Species]

Was poking around in FBBO tonight and came upon this old car trailer thread. I see that I never posted any further on how the door worked out so I’ve got some pictures. Since then there’s been a couple more trailer add ons in the works so check the pics for the progress on that.

So here’s the door in operation, works terrific and this was one project worth every minute.
View attachment 1322205

Door fully open, getting in and out is a snap now.

View attachment 1322206



A new project has since gotten underway, that being a Generator door and slide out. And I will say that job was a lot of work! It started off with the inside bench getting a makeover. View attachment 1322207

Once that was done it was time to make a door frame and hole.
View attachment 1322208

Next came making a platform, sliders, building a door. Sounds easy but that was all very time consuming.
View attachment 1322209

A shot with the generator in place. Sliders are 500 lb rating so there’s some overkill built in.
View attachment 1322212

Project Complete
View attachment 1322213

A shot of the inside finished up. Ended up building some more top cabinet space, relocated the radio and installed a microwave.
View attachment 1322214

With that done yet another project is getting underway, although this will have to wait, there’s 3 race weeks coming up up in the next short while. But next up is an in-floor tire storage space. 30 X 34” will slide in nicely, ample room for a tire, just one crossmember to get into. Looking forward to getting this completed.
View attachment 1322215

In hindsight I should have had these upgrades included when the trailer was ordered. Live and learn. More updates to come as things move along.

Keep in mind with in floor tire storage. If the car is in the trailer when you get a flat... you can't get to the tire without unloading everything. I just mounted my spare on the wall near the man door.

 

[malex]

Keep in mind with in floor tire storage. If the car is in the trailer when you get a flat... you can't get to the tire without unloading everything. I just mounted my spare on the wall near the man door.

Checked, measured and accessible on my application.