Little Guy

What hardness is the 1" bolt?
In my neck of the woods all grade 8 bolts are yellow / orange im color.
Also I would drill a hole for a cotter pin in the three exposed threads below as a safety precaution.

The coating (which determines colour) has no correlation to the bolt grade. You can get plain uncoated grade 8 bolts if you want.

I do like the idea of drilling a hole for positive retention, however. Something I'd suggest the manufacturer should do, given a threaded bolt is being used in a rotating, safety critical joint, and especially because the joint design does not allow proper installation torque.
 

gabepari

Explorer
A few minutes, upon initial installation, spent fine tuning the thickness of the plastic "bearing" washers allows you to properly torque the fastener and eliminates any possibility of the bolt spinning in the draw bar.

Most, if not all, problems that seem to arise while using the Max Coupler appear to be the result of a bolt that is not tight enough. If properly torqued against the crush tube, the bolt can not spin and will not work itself loose.

If the bolt spins AT ALL in the draw bar, it is too loose.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
New charger is in. It's supposedly more powerful, more reliable.
It only had two breakers so the shop had to run to Home Depot for a double breaker for one hole.
It was also larger than the old one so the hole had to be enlarged. The cute little cover will no longer fit over...

It seems to be working so far. Somebody cross their fingers for me.
 

jim65wagon

Well-known member
Bill,
How wide is your trailer (including fenders) and what do you have in the way clearance lights?
We're looking at about 84" for our width (once the chassis actually comes together) and I'm trying to figure out my lighting requirements.

Thanks
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Bill,
How wide is your trailer (including fenders) and what do you have in the way clearance lights?
We're looking at about 84" for our width (once the chassis actually comes together) and I'm trying to figure out my lighting requirements.

Thanks
It's a little over 8 feet wide :Wow1: and has 5 trucker lights on the top-rear, two on the top-front, and each side has an amber up front and red on the rear.
The license plate is now on the hatch, centered and lighted.

Seems like everything is working. Time to camp.
 

JKJenn

Adventurer
Hilldweller and Flightrisk - thanks so much for posting your experiences. I might have the opportunity to upgrade to camper/teardrop later this year and I liked the thought of going with Little Guy because they are not far from where I live and honestly, I think the AT's are just out of my price range, unfortunately.

I think I really need something that would pass the Cathedral Valley or Torroweap test, not the Rubicon trail test. I am also looking at Aliners, since they are close to me. Still a little set-up, but not bad.

It is hard to live on the east coast and be limited by availability. I might end up just continuing on with my M416 build or going with a regular teardrop and and doing an off-road conversion. I was also seriously looking into trying to determine if I could do a conversion of a used T@B trailer for offroad (mostly really rough forest roads) because I could pull into a campground with Wifi if I had to and work remotely.

But, thanks so much - your feedback has been very helpful.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
It's been a while but my trailer has been trouble-free since LG did their repairs/mods. The batteries charge perfectly all the time; nothing has fallen apart.
I added another light in the galley to point directly down on the stove; the main light just glares too much and I've both frosted and tinted it to take it down several notches.

Made a slideshow of the first year's travels in it:


I've been using a lunette and pintle, btw. Just so much easier to hook up to.
 

JKJenn

Adventurer
Thanks for the update, Hilldweller. Living close enough to the factory maybe it would be easier if I had any problems to get them dealt with quicker.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Thanks for the update, Hilldweller. Living close enough to the factory maybe it would be easier if I had any problems to get them dealt with quicker.
Once I started talking with the folks at the factory it got easier. They know their business ----- sales people are just sales people...
I'd love to see their factory some day.
 

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