"Our" trailer build

O

opie

Explorer
OK, heres the start of the first offroad trailer Im going to build. This one, as well as the next one, will be built by myself and another ExPo member. Im sure he will chime in as the first trailer is for him and is his design.

Didnt get much done this evening. We were in my driveway last night till 10pm with some of my kids sidewalk chalk and some steel laying it out. Im using 2" square tube for the frame. The sides and rear will be 1/4" wall and the front is 1/8 wall. The crossmembers will be 2"x1.5"x1/4 angle. We are going to build the axle since Ive got plenty of 2" tube and will be faster than having to order one.

The finished dimensions will be 72" long by 56" wide. There will be 18" of fixed tounge that will be extendable to whatever the owner chooses. The main storage area that has a yet to be determined height will measure 72" long by 31" wide. This leaves us 12.5" on either side of useable width. We dont know how much room we will have from front to rear until we get it mounted on an axle and some fenders fabbed up.

Thats about it right now. Nothing exciting to show, but I know how much I love to see pics...so...There will be another one built after this one along the same lines of design. It will be a little larger.

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computeruser

computeruser

Explorer
Rezarf <>< said:
Sounds like fun, got any sketches of where you are heading in your design?

Drew
Click to expand...

Just in our heads, right now. The one I drew on notebook paper didn't last long, as we changed a goodly bit of the design (hence the sidewalk chalk). Schedules willing, we should have much of the chassis fab'd up tomorrow afternoon or evening, with pictures to follow.

The overall idea is to provide more space for camping gear than a TJ permits, especially when all three dogs are coming with my wife and I (and once children get added to our household...it'll be a very full Jeep). A RTT may eventually be installed atop the trailer. I'm not aiming to have multi-week capacity; if we ever need that much capacity, it will probably be a commercially available product, and it won't be rolling behind a TJ! Right now, I'd be quite content to be comfortably self-sufficient for a week and able to carry a long weekend worth of camping/paddling/shooting/cycling gear for fellow campers whose current vehicles are better suited to the track than a two-track.

We're also aiming to provide adequate space for jerry cans for fuel and water. I'm hoping to do some traveling into the less-populated parts of Canada (James Bay, Trans-Tiaga, etc.) next year, and my 200 mile fuel range just won't cut it. Even around town, in the winter, a tank may only last 120-150 miles when driving exclusively in 4x4 with ~6" of snow on the ground.

Tires will be the same 31-10.50-15 tire/rim setup that the jeep currently wears; BFG AT if I buy new, something else if I can score some lightly-used AT/MT tires at a good price. Springs are yet to be determined, as I'm hoping to come up on some second-hand CJ of Sami springs on the cheap. Coupler will be removable and swappable - 2" ball for road use/mild travel, and either pintle/ring or lock-n-roll for trail use.

For those who wonder how we came up with the dimensions, the answer is easy: I'd like to be able to nest this trailer inside my 5x8' utility trailer for the winter months, when I want my garden tractor to sit in the garage with its snowblower or plow on, in the same spot that the camping trailer will occupy for the rest of the year; the tractor can stay parked in the trailer for spring-summer-fall. Hence the removable tongue design and the 56" overall width; I have 57" interior clearance on the trailer, net of the side boards.
 
O

opie

Explorer
As CU said...all design plans are in our heads. We both had simple drawings, but they got changed pretty quick.

This is going to be a very simple design. Rectangular main frame of 31"x72". The crossmembers will measure 56" and stick out on either side by 12.5". CU wants to use smooth expanded metal for the decking. Id prefer 1 piece of 1/8" sheet...so well see where that goes.

Should have some progress pics tomorrow. It shouldnt take long to weld up and get mobil.
 
Rezarf <><

Rezarf <><

Explorer
opie said:
As CU said...all design plans are in our heads. We both had simple drawings, but they got changed pretty quick.

This is going to be a very simple design. Rectangular main frame of 31"x72". The crossmembers will measure 56" and stick out on either side by 12.5". CU wants to use smooth expanded metal for the decking. Id prefer 1 piece of 1/8" sheet...so well see where that goes.

Should have some progress pics tomorrow. It shouldnt take long to weld up and get mobil.
Click to expand...

Sweet stuff guys, looking forward to it, I just fininshed mine after 10 months of building. I would make one suggestion about the flooring. In retrospect I would have bought a used truck bed and cut out the floor and welded it into my trailer. The formed metal makes it super strong and keeps everything super light too!

Just a thought. .125 plate would add TONS of unneccesary wieght. My floor is 14ga sheet steel and works great, but it oil cans a bit when not loaded.

Looking forward to your progress!

Rezarf <><
 
O

opie

Explorer
Rezarf <>< said:
Sweet stuff guys, looking forward to it, I just fininshed mine after 10 months of building. I would make one suggestion about the flooring. In retrospect I would have bought a used truck bed and cut out the floor and welded it into my trailer. The formed metal makes it super strong and keeps everything super light too!

Just a thought. .125 plate would add TONS of unneccesary wieght. My floor is 14ga sheet steel and works great, but it oil cans a bit when not loaded.

Looking forward to your progress!

Rezarf <><
Click to expand...

Well keep that in mind regarding the floor. Not sure if CU is at some point going to want this to be watertight. If not, then I think the smooth expanded metal would be ideal.

Im an overbuilder. I tend to build it slightly heavy in the beginning so I dont have to go back and "fix" it later. I wonder what the weight difference between 14 gauge and .125 sheet is based on a 6'x8' piece.

I hemmed and hawed over this very dilema when I built my utility trailer. Do I go with 5.4 # per foot 4" C channel or the 6.2 # per foot 4" C channel. (I dont recall the exact #'s per foot, somewhere in there.) In the overall build, with the number of feet I was using I only added 50# using the heavier channel.
 
Curmudgeon

Curmudgeon

Adventurer
opie said:
Im an overbuilder. I tend to build it slightly heavy in the beginning so I dont have to go back and "fix" it later. I wonder what the weight difference between 14 gauge and .125 sheet is based on a 6'x8' piece.
Click to expand...

14 gauge is .0747. The weight difference would be very close to 2# per square foot.

JP
 
computeruser

computeruser

Explorer
Update:

Axle got cut/welded tonight, using 2x2x.25 square wall for the tube - solid. Rims that match the Jeep have been found, and need to be picked up and then machined to clear the hub. Steel for the tongue and rear receiver should be in hand by Friday, if I can sneak out of work early enough to go get it. Hopefully we'll have a rolling trailer by the middle of next week.

Still trying to figure out what to do for springs. I really don't want to run standard (well, minus a leaf, possibly) 25" trailer springs, but I'm not having any luck sourcing used CJ or Sami springs locally. And I'm definitely not thrilled about spending $300+ for springs and shackles for new Sami lift springs. So we might try trailer springs for now, and if they don't work out then I can always swap them out later...

We'll also definitely be adding a carrier for at least one canoe on top of the trailer, instead of drilling for a Yakima rack on the Jeep's fiberglass hardtop.

This trailer is going to be one solid mo-fo.

Pics will follow...
 
A

anthony1

New member
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