Fixing Up an Old Trailer

We just bought a new 2 horse bumper pull straight load trailer for $500. Defiantly nothing fancy... no dressing room or anything like that. My dad and I were looking for a fixer upper so we would have a summer project. We don't know exactly how old it is, but probably we think around 20 years old.

Anyway everything underneath is fine, floor is good, brakes are good, lights work. The ramp needs work. The hinges on the left side are rusted through. There is some rust on the side of the trailer, nothing structural. There are a could of spots rusted all the way through. It needs a paint job.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience fixing up old horse trailers. Tips on ways to fix the ramp and the rust? Painting tips?

We want to do this ourselves, and have no intention of bringing it to a body shop to have it professionally painted. Obviously the ramp is probably going to need to be welded, but my dad has a friend that welds, but that will be the only thing we won't do on our own I think.

Any tips are appreciated. Before and after pics would be cool too.

Sounds like you already have everything figured out that needs fixing. Take some before /after pics.....Good luck with your project...
I had a GN that we redid and as far as painting it we just used rustoleom on it.Rolled it on. Didn't look to bad either...As far as the ramp. Make sure the hinges attached to the trailer are solid and your ramp itself is solid. Hate the though of you going downt he road and the ramp breaks.There are several parts stores that carry parts for the older type trailers.
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The only tips I can tell you is that if it looks like it's not rusted through, doesn't mean it isn't close. The welder's way of looking at it is you only see about half of what's really rusted. We fixed up a trailer last summer that we picked up for about 150 - old King 2 horse trailer from the 60's. Kinda nostalgic. We ended up replacing nearly all of the supports in the floor, much of that in the walls, roof, and doors. Much more that it initially looked like needed to be done. You'll need to sand out all the rust - a power sander is a god-send for this - just keep going until you hit shiny metal. You'll then need to braze in some sheet metal if it ends up being a bigger hole than you anticipated, then sand out the seams to make it look level. In fact, just sand blasting the whole danged thing isn't a bad idea if you're going to paint it anyhow. We ended up doing that with ours, not just to make the paint look sharp, but to put a special primer on after the sanding that turns any remaining rust into a primer, and haults the rusting process. It can be expensive, but it's SO worth it. A great primer makes for a great paintjob. You can get automotive paint for your colors, but then you will have to clear coat it to protect the paint. For horse trailers, trailers, and other farm equipment, we get tractor paint. No clear coat needed, but we will do a few coats of clear most of the time anyhow. Without knowing exactly what's goin' on with the ramp, it's hard to try to throw out some help.
I'll try to see if we have a before of the trailer - I can snap an after anytime. ;)