My Backcountry Camper Trailer Build

[R_Lefebvre]

Dang that thing is giant! Looking good but it's BIG. Can't wait to see more progress.

Well... keep in mind when I zoom all the way out on my lens, it's almost a fish-eye effect. It doesn't fill the garage quite that much. It's not quite 7' wide, not quite 8' long, and not quite 6' high. It's not that much bigger than many of the trailers here (such as the WFTW Sherpa) except that the deck is so much lower, I maximized the box space.

I'll try to get a picture outside again for comparison. Remember, track is identical to the truck, the box body is about 1-2" wider than the truck, and it's about a foot shorter at this point. When the tent goes on it'll be the same height.

 

[Titanpat57]

Fish-eye, smish-eye...I love the "big box" look :drool:

Of course....I may be a bit impartial....lol

The frame looks like a Sherman tank, and the workmanship on the cuts and welding is awesome too!! It's nice to have a covered, dry, lockable spot to keep all the gear! Great progress..keep the updates rolling in.

Pat

 

[ntsqd]

Good Grief! You've GTAW'd the whole thing? :bowdown: A couple miles of bead might be an under-estimation!

Not to pick nits, but in the early weld bead pic it's looks a bit 'frosty' and slightly undercut. I'm just as guilty of that. I find that using a larger filler rod usually speeds me up and the beads get shinier (not as over-heated).

FWIW I consider all welds to be the "On-Site Castings" as Carroll Smith describes them. When you consider what the resulting metallurgy is like, he's spot-on. I don't see any one process as stronger than any other process, though each has it's best applications and those may or may not overlap any other process.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

NTSQD, what do you man by Frosty exactly? Overheated? I was a little rusty, and not working at proper height on a table made it harder. My skill has definitely increased as I built though. Too bad I couldn't have done the skin welding first. The weld you mentioned though... it does have a bit of a crater at the end, but that and the undercut isn't nearly as bad as it looks in the photo.

What size rod would you use for 1/8" tube? I'm using 3/32nd. I think the culprit there was simply not using enough filler. I'm always more paranoid of not getting penetration, so I sometime use a bit too much heat, and the weld pool sags down making it look undercut.

Anyway, hopefully the generous size of the frame compensates for all this.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Oh yeah, and my Maggiolina "Safari" Large arrived today. Got a GREAT price from Autohome Canada. And shipping was stupid fast. Got it "next business day". I just don't know where to keep it until the trailer is done...

 

[450 DUDE]

Beautiful work waaay to heavy but beautiful build.

Looking forward to the final weight:lurk::

ken

 

[R_Lefebvre]

So am I! :Wow1:

 

[UK4X4]

Please don't tell me your using steel for the box panels...


You will be needing a bigger truck:Wow1:

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Please don't tell me your using steel for the box panels...


You will be needing a bigger truck:Wow1:

The exterior sides? Yeah, I am using steel. I've only purchased 1250lbs of steel. I expect I'm going to have 150lbs of scrap out of that, conservatively. Then I've got about 400lbs of running gear, so targetted dry weight is 1500lbs. Not that bad, I don't think.

An AT Horizon is 1100lbs, and mine is 3 times bigger in volume. A similarly sized Conqueror Conquest is about 900lbs dry, but as we've heard, it's made of light gauge sheet metal and isn't near as robust as I'm building.

Yeah, I'm concerned it will be heavy just from the looks of it, but I have a weight budget, and it's not looking too bad. The trailer is large, but it's also weight efficient. It's one big cube, instead of having all these appendiges bolted on.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Just another little update. I'm just about done tacking in all the superstructure, and about halfway done finish-welding them. I hope to be hanging more plate on Sunday. I took it outside again to get the perspective. It doesn't look that big behind the truck. I mean, yes, it's big, but compared to a smaller trailer with 24" of ground clearance and 35" tires...

 

[highlandercj-7]

Now your gonna need a SBC conversion to the tow rig to beable to pull it

 

[Root Moose]

Looks good, Rob.

I'm thinking you may want to adjust the empty ride height once you get the rest of the steel on it. Wouldn't you want to set it up so that the long beams are more or less level with the truck at loaded weight? In other words, trailer slightly tail up instead of tail down as it sits now.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Oh, for sure, I'll level it out. Once I get it finished, I'll buy the proper drop hitch.

I could still build a goose-neck onto the tongue, a second reciever 6" up, but I figure between that, or a drop hitch, I'll have the same ground clearance either under the drop hitch, or under the lower tube on the tongue. So, the drop hitch is easier.

 

[Ramjet]

If you don't mind me asking. Where did you get your torsion axles and air suspension? Did you custom make the trailing arms? Awesome build. I can't wait to see it finished.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I got them from Princess Auto, a chain store in Canada. They are actually "Quality Trailer" brand, aka Polar. For whatever reason, they don't have a full width beam, you just buy a Left and Right side. If they had had a full width beam, I probably could have done without the subframe in the middle of the main frame rails.

Wait a minute... air suspension?