In this episode of “Sparks Fly”, Tom fabricates small trailers for portable toilets. The portable toilets belong to Honeywagon Sanitation. Honeywagon Sanitation is owned and operated by Heber and Jennifer Richardson of Laramie Wyoming. The red and blue portable toilets are a common scene at construction zones, job sites and special events around town.
Heber asked Tom to design and build small trailers to hook on is trucks for quick and easy transportation and placement.
Tom decided to go with a low start angle, torsion axle. This allowed to trailer to sit low to the ground for ease of use. Deck hight was an essential part of the design. The step up is only about eight inches, comparable to a regular house step. Tom began by finding a light duty tortion axel, about six hundred pounds. This allows the suspension to work in harmony with the portable toilet while traveling down any road, paved or gravel.
Angles were fashioned to act as clips to secure the skids of the portable toilet. A hot rolled steel rod, along with a simple hitch pin fasten on the back of the trailer to keep the portable toilet in place.
Another feature Tom added was an inexpensive folding screw jack. The jack helps level the portable toilet on site, as well as provide for a smooth removal from the truck.
With the completion of several trailers to add to his fleet, Heber is one happy business owner. We were glad we could help. Don’t forget to check back with us, Trade Tool Innovations, for more projects from the shop!

Tom built a custom cleaning truck for portable toilets.  He started with a Ford F-550 with a flat bed.  It is a good truck for hauling large loads because it is sprung heavy in the back. 

Heber Richardson, owner of Honeywagon Sanitation, ordered in a slide in cleaning unit.  The cleaning unit comes self contained.  The one thing Tom had to add was a power wire.  Since Heber is not planning on running the unit for long lengths of time, not allowing for enough time for the battery to charge between uses, a power wire is needed from the truck to the cleaning unit to keep the battery charged.

The truck was designed with efficiency in mind.  Tanks, hoses, and cleaning buckets are planned so the operator can quickly clean out the portable toilet.  Most needed items are located on the drivers side of the truck.

Future plans include adding a third tank to the truck.  The tank will hold clean water.  The unit pictured above has two compartments.  One compartments is to hold the cleaner/water solution and is housed on the inside of the larger tank.  The perimeter of the larger tank holds the pumped refuse.  The clean water tanks will insure sparkling toilets and aide in general cleaning.

The tailgate is also an added bonus to this truck.  Two portable toilets can fit in the bed of the truck and two can ride on the tailgate.  There are hold down bars for the two units that fit on the truck.  The two that ride on the tailgate can be strapped down using one strap.

The twenty four foot portable toilet trailer that Tom is building for Honeywagon Sanitation has one last step.   Creating a good system for attaching the portable toilets insures the security, safety and ease when mounting the portable toilets for travel.  It also secures the investment a sanitation company has made in purchasing portable toilets. 

A rail that runs down the center of the trailer helps to hold the portable toilets in place.  One side of the skids of the individual portable toilets fit underneath the rail and holds down that side of the portable toilet.  Looped ropes are designed to fit over the opposite side of the unit.  This causes the portable toilet to be pulled down and back into the center rail.  The portable toilet is then secure on the trailer.  Tom attached boat winches to tighten up the ropes.  Heber Richardson, owner of Honeywagon Sanitation, can then pull the rope by hand in the front and then use the wench to tighten up the front.  Tom also put a winch in the back to tighten up to help take out slack in the back of the trailer.

The trailer is also designed for ease of use.  Portable toilets can easily be loaded and unloaded from the sides.  The sides of the trailer are sloped and one person can readily tilt a portable toilet against the trailer and then slide the skids up onto the rail.  The rail is built lower for easy loading. 

Portable toilets can be loaded and unloaded in any order.  The operator will want to make sure that tongue weight is taken into consideration.  Toilets will more than likely want to be unloaded off the rear of the trailer first.  Leaving five or six portable toilets in the back of the trailer creates negative tongue weight.  Negative tongue weight is dangerous because it can cause a trailer to weave.  Couplers are not designed for negative tongue weight.  The trailer is made to hold twelve portable toilets, six on each side. 

Today Tom completed wiring the lights and the charge wire for the trailer breakaway kit.   With a few tools and a little know how, anyone can complete a simple wiring job.  Tom used: fish tape, an ohm meter, wire cutter, wire stripper, soldering iron, shrink tubing and a heat gun.

A few wires were needed in order to correctly establish lighting for the trailer.  A reliable lighting system requires grounding the trailer through wiring.  You should avoid using the ball and coupler as the only ground.  Necessary wiring includes: clearance lights, running lights, right tail, left tail, and the electric brake wire off the control of the truck. 

Good electrical wiring is vital to any trailer.  Proper lighting insures safety and good visibility, especially for those night time pick-ups.  Good brake lights and blinker lights are mandatory by law.

A trailer breakaway kit is the safety mechanism for the trailer.  If the trailer comes unhooked from the truck for any reason, the breakaway kit becomes necessary to avoid a runaway trailer.  The battery built into the breakaway kit activates the electric breaks so the trailer stops.  An additional charge wire from the towing vehicle is also required to charge the emergency battery.

A breakaway kit can be purchased and consists of a battery and a switch that activates the trailer breaks.  Tom purchased his breakaway kit at C&S Tractor in Laramie Wyoming.  A breakaway kit is easily found at any tractor supply or auto supply store.

This is the first article in our new section “Tom’s World”. When Tom quit his conventional job at the City of Laramie several years ago, his day changed dramatically. Many times we get the question: “What do you do?”. We will try and do a daily update in this section of our website.

Today Tom and Andrew worked on a project that has been in the shop for a few weeks. Honeywagon Sanitation is the local option for septic tank care and portable toilet rental. With the booming building economy in Laramie, Honeywagon has a serious presence at all of the construction locations.

Honeywagon Sanitation owner, Heber Richardson, asked Tom to design and build a twenty four foot long trailer that will haul 12 portable toilets.

The all steel frame sits on two 3500 pound rubber torsion axles with brakes.  205/75 R14 radial tires are used.   The deck is made of extruded aluminum that happens to be recycled bleacher seats. No maintenance and lightweight is an added bonus.

The front of the new trailer has a Rubbermaid toolbox mounted to hold a trailer breakaway battery and extra tie down rope.  The trailer will be outfitted with LED lights.

Tom’s day began by painting the entire trailer red. Adding the decking and accessories took up the rest of the afternoon. In the next post, we will explain and show how the portable toilets will be placed on and off the trailer and how they will travel.