deepmud
Adventurer
I thought I'd post up my little utility/camp trailer. I've had it 15 years. I've hauled logs out of the woods over downed trees, carried 2 3-wheelers on it and then hauled kids on the beach with the 3-wheeler pulling the trailer 
. It evolved into an "adventure trailer" about 8 years go, when I took the family from Alaska to the Washington, D.C. and back again (about 15 thousand miles).
It was cheap to build, and has been totally reliable, in spite of the abuse I've put it thru.
The most weight I've put on it was 2,300 pounds of flooring that I decided was too much. I drove about 5 miles across town and I offloaded about 1/3 of it to the SUV before hitting the highway at 65mph, and I'd say the highway load of about 1500 pounds I had left was as much as it should be expected to hold on a long trip. Considering it weighs less than 300 pounds empty ( I can easily pick it up) that's pretty good.
When I first built it, it was just the narrow, boat-shaped C-channel you can see here from underneath. I didn't put shocks on it until much later either, I could bounce on the tail like a trampoline,lol.
I also was lucky that it bolted on with just 4 bolts - no money, no welder meant I put it together with bolts and a drill and some scrap steel I had. The only cash I had to spend was for the Valley 1 7/8" and 2" hitch - it's the only hitch I've seen that has both sizes marked on it. that was $22 and getting it welded on and some re-enforcement done to the front was $50.
When I made a top for it, I had a welder, and added the new longer wider deck. I figured it was time for fenders, and the deck would be both a fender and more space for stuff.
I built a plywood top, with side compartments for stuff that would also serve for a cooking area too.
The usefull bit of information in all this is the 2 wheel drive Subaru axle - cheap, solid, strong, reliable, yet easy on the load you put on it. It's very smooth riding offroad.
Here's a pic of me helping out on a trail cleanup a couple years back.
This is not the proper way to load a trailer, lol.
The old Subaru carcass was full of mud and rocks, and really pretty heavy. It was putting a couple hundred pounds of negative pressure on the hitch, but the little Zuk was able to haul it down a pretty rough trail.
Here's another load it hauled out the same trail.
So, it's a pretty cheap/simple way to make your own trailer that handles just about anything you can throw it it. The 2wd Suby axle has simple roller bearings that are repackable. The odd subaru bolt pattern can be overcome by converting to 6 hole chevy/toyota/nissan pattern. This is easy cause it's the same bolt circle - I plan to make it a bit more offroad this year by doing this. I will knock out 2 of the studs, bolt on a toyota rim with the two that are left to align things and mark/drill the remaining 4 holes using the rim as a pattern. It will take some fenderwells since the subaru tires already are a close fit and some 15" tires will be quite a bit bigger.
I never used the brakes, but you could do surge-brakes using the subaru system I would guess.
One more pic, showing the deck of the flatbed. It's just over 8 feet long by about 5 feet wide. In a pinch, you could sleep inside the box I built, but you'd be cozy
. It evolved into an "adventure trailer" about 8 years go, when I took the family from Alaska to the Washington, D.C. and back again (about 15 thousand miles).It was cheap to build, and has been totally reliable, in spite of the abuse I've put it thru.
The most weight I've put on it was 2,300 pounds of flooring that I decided was too much. I drove about 5 miles across town and I offloaded about 1/3 of it to the SUV before hitting the highway at 65mph, and I'd say the highway load of about 1500 pounds I had left was as much as it should be expected to hold on a long trip. Considering it weighs less than 300 pounds empty ( I can easily pick it up) that's pretty good.
When I first built it, it was just the narrow, boat-shaped C-channel you can see here from underneath. I didn't put shocks on it until much later either, I could bounce on the tail like a trampoline,lol.
I also was lucky that it bolted on with just 4 bolts - no money, no welder meant I put it together with bolts and a drill and some scrap steel I had. The only cash I had to spend was for the Valley 1 7/8" and 2" hitch - it's the only hitch I've seen that has both sizes marked on it. that was $22 and getting it welded on and some re-enforcement done to the front was $50.
When I made a top for it, I had a welder, and added the new longer wider deck. I figured it was time for fenders, and the deck would be both a fender and more space for stuff.
I built a plywood top, with side compartments for stuff that would also serve for a cooking area too.
The usefull bit of information in all this is the 2 wheel drive Subaru axle - cheap, solid, strong, reliable, yet easy on the load you put on it. It's very smooth riding offroad.
Here's a pic of me helping out on a trail cleanup a couple years back.
This is not the proper way to load a trailer, lol.
The old Subaru carcass was full of mud and rocks, and really pretty heavy. It was putting a couple hundred pounds of negative pressure on the hitch, but the little Zuk was able to haul it down a pretty rough trail.
Here's another load it hauled out the same trail.
So, it's a pretty cheap/simple way to make your own trailer that handles just about anything you can throw it it. The 2wd Suby axle has simple roller bearings that are repackable. The odd subaru bolt pattern can be overcome by converting to 6 hole chevy/toyota/nissan pattern. This is easy cause it's the same bolt circle - I plan to make it a bit more offroad this year by doing this. I will knock out 2 of the studs, bolt on a toyota rim with the two that are left to align things and mark/drill the remaining 4 holes using the rim as a pattern. It will take some fenderwells since the subaru tires already are a close fit and some 15" tires will be quite a bit bigger.
I never used the brakes, but you could do surge-brakes using the subaru system I would guess.
One more pic, showing the deck of the flatbed. It's just over 8 feet long by about 5 feet wide. In a pinch, you could sleep inside the box I built, but you'd be cozy
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