Windstar To A Trailer Conversion

I have been given a running 1998 Windstar which I will use for a parts vehicle - since I am driving a 1996 Windstar GL.

A neighbor suggested cutting the 1998 in two pieces just behind the front doors - and using the rear part as a trailer!

I would like input into how to do this:
- should I do this?
- use a skill saw with a metal cutting disc?
- how to attach the hitch assembly onto the body??
- how to fill the gap in the front?
- cut the front off in some other place?
- rear light harness (and interior) could be reusable?
- can door lock actuators be extended from the towing Windstar?
- keep the interior trim or not?

I saw ONE of these from a distance 5 years ago and really do not have enough knowledge about the vehicle to attempt it.

A little forward planning for a Summer 2014 project... (very cold here)

All comments will be most welcome.

Thanks

I'll not address the "should you" part of the question; that's up to you, your needs and your resources to take on large projects!

A few thoughts:

- A lot depends on what you want to use the trailer for, but I suspect you'll want to keep use of the sliding doors, which probably means cutting just in front of the B pillar. This would make for a trailer that has a very large portion of its mass in front of the axle, which could mean the tongue weight on the tow vehicle might be the limiting factor of what you can tow. Finding other places to cut becomes a bit more challenging because of the sliding doors and their glass.

- As unibody vehicles go, the Windstar has a good-sized rail structure underneath - but it wasn't design with trailer conversion in mind, so it will take a welder/machinist with good design and fabrication background to do this correctly.

- What kind of shape is the '98 in? It sounds like you want to keep your '96, so I'm presuming the '98 has some significant problems. Is rust one of the problems? Windstars are famous for rust just in front of the rear wheel wells - and other important places (has the rear axle recall been done?). Make sure the body is solid enough to justify the effort you want to put into it.

- Think about trailer brakes! I added electric trailer brakes to a trailer that didn't have them originally, so I'm familiar with a few of the issues. I don't know what the rear half of a Windstar weighs, but I suspect your locality's laws will require that the resulting trailer has its own brakes. There are many readily-available trailer brake technologies out there - but none of them will be set up to bolt on to a Windstar rear axle. It'd be great to find a way to use the existing hydraulic drum brakes - but that will require a hydraulic brake actuator and some other hardware that will take some thought and money. I wouldn't wait until the end of your effort to address this question.

- What to use for the front of the trailer? I've seen projects like this that used creative sheet metal or fiberglass work to create a new front. You might even do some measuring to see if the rear hatch from a junkyard van could be used finish off the front.

- Concerns about weight: The curb weight of a Windstar is right around 4000 pounds. Removing the engine and transaxle - and then hacking off the front of the van will remove some of that weight - but you'd add back some weight for the hitch structure and whatever you use to finish off the front of the trailer. When you're done, I suspect the resulting trailer will be heavier than you might expect - and will leave a cargo carrying capacity that might not be very useful (if you plan to tow with your '96, now is a good time to note that a Windstar's max towing capacity is 3,500 pounds - but only when equipped with the towing package). I'd spend some time weighing things and doing some math to make sure the trailer will really do what you want to do.

If you take on this project, please share pictures!

Later edit... Take a look at this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI7M1ixYaf4

The parts van was running, with only a little rust in front of the back wheel on the driver side and a softball size dent in the passenger fender.
Some little kids had taken a pebble and ran around it making light scratches.

The parts van has 275000 km on it - I intend to keep the engine and transmission and use these as cores to rebuild for my '96 which has similar mileage but presently running very well with only a transmission shift problem.

Eventually swap the engine and transmission.

I have just bought my '96 Windstar for $1000 and like the ride and it is clean with very good A/C, glass, body, paint and interior- but first very cold day I found it a bit too drafty, so for me , a van cannot be used at temperatures below freezing. (Now parked)

I have a warm old cutlass supreme for winter driving, with winter front, grips and all....(Now plated for winter)

In the link to you tube that you provided the van with front removed weighs only 300 kg.. after adding the hitch and the structure on the in front,
The hitch attachment appears adequate and I have a neighbor that can fabricate a similar one.

I would only use the trailer for light cartage - building supplies in particular - and it would be very convenient to have such material in weather tight storage for extended periods of time.

It now seems feasible for me to do this.

I did own a 1/2 ton cut down to a trailer but did not like it: heavy, ugly and needed a cap to keep the weather and debris out.

Thanks again for the link - I would never have found it!