Homemade expedition trailer build

[honda250xtitan]

After I got my Jeep I decided to build a box trailer for all my camping gear and the size of the box had to fit the Smittybilt RTT going on top. It took me about 6 weeks to finish working on my days off and my loves it.

How you like the smittybilt? probably made in the same factory as the more expensive brands huh?

 

[Mr. T]

How you like the smittybilt? probably made in the same factory as the more expensive brands huh?

I got it for just under $900 and very happy with it. I did buy a 1/2 inch Delux rug pad to fit inside the mattres cover and below the 2 inch mattres so that my hip bones don't touch the metal tent floor.

 

[Jeepin503]

Can't wait to see it with the RTT as well.

Can you give me more information on how you built the doors and jams?

For the doors, I would recommend mounting the door hinges so there is a slight gap (maybe 1/8") between the door skin and the trailer skin when the door is closed. It will give you more space to adding weather stripping. If you mount the door frames so the skin is flush (metal on metal), you will have a hard time sealing the doors (they won't want to close easily when the weather stripping is applied).

 

[Jeepin503]

Bed linerrrrrr

What kind of bed liner did you use?

 

[honda250xtitan]

What kind of bed liner did you use?

I believe it was the herculiner stuff Home Depot sells. I did a super sh!tty job rolling it on. But it was 90$ so I can't really complain. I spent 2x the time using some sealant on all the seams to make sure under the bedliner it was sealed up. I used some flexible construction adhesive. not sure which brand, there are so many out there now. It took acetone on a towel to clean up the joints after i applied the bead.

 

[Jeepin503]

I believe it was the herculiner stuff Home Depot sells. I did a super sh!tty job rolling it on. But it was 90$ so I can't really complain. I spent 2x the time using some sealant on all the seams to make sure under the bedliner it was sealed up. I used some flexible construction adhesive. not sure which brand, there are so many out there now. It took acetone on a towel to clean up the joints after i applied the bead.

I used Herculiner on mine. Got it at Lowe’s on sale. Super impressed with how it rolled on, very thick and very durable. Did you apply the bed liner directly to the steel or did you but a base coat on?

I used automotive seam sealer for all the joints. Still have some places I need to hit with the seam sealer where the awning mounts are welded on.

 

[honda250xtitan]

I used Herculiner on mine. Got it at Lowe’s on sale. Super impressed with how it rolled on, very thick and very durable. Did you apply the bed liner directly to the steel or did you but a base coat on?

I used automotive seam sealer for all the joints. Still have some places I need to hit with the seam sealer where the awning mounts are welded on.

I wiped the steel down with acetone and applied the bedliner directly to it. It has a nice texture and went on nicely but i did a ******** job lol.

 

[Mischief]

I like anything that someone builds, yours looks good. Why did you use 2" wheel spacers if you had 6 x 5.5 hubs and toyota rims?
thx

 

[honda250xtitan]

I like anything that someone builds, yours looks good. Why did you use 2" wheel spacers if you had 6 x 5.5 hubs and toyota rims?
thx

I didn't order a wide enough axle. If i had gone with some -24mm or something wheels i MAY have gotten away with no spacers. But yea with the stock wheels (+20mm IIRC) and the 33's, they rubbed the frame. Just poor planning on my part. Next time if i was building the same frame i'd order a 4" wider axle. so a 64" i think.....i forget. Really in a perfect world, id go with the timbren axle-less setup.

 

[Mischief]

Thanks for the explanation. I just ordered a pair of axles to go under a little cargo trailer and I have tacoma wheels to go on them and wondered if I had overlooked something

 

[honda250xtitan]

rented this air top RTT for the weekend. Was such a game changer. we will continue to rent until we settle on a RTT to buy. built these towers for it to mount to.

riv-nuts on each bracket and one 5/16th bolt all the way through the top frame as insurance in case those riv-nuts fail

 

[blackohio]

nice, how are your jacks mounting to the frame?

 

[honda250xtitan]

nice, how are your jacks mounting to the frame?

used some 2" square 1/4" wall tubing with round pipe sleeved inside with a 3" piece hanging out and drilled holes for the jack pin.. welded those two pieces together then welded it to the bottom of my frame facing back. if the jack is mounted it interferes with the door but normally once the door is open it stays open the whole trip so i only have to deal with them when setting up and packing up.

 

[honda250xtitan]

back at messing with this thing again...removed the shortest leaf spring, going to add a 1.5" square tube to lift it. Hopefully it'll ride a bit smoother and i'll have more clearance from the fenders for the new found flex. Also am going to add some ranchos or whatever shocks are in stock at AutoZone. Twin tube shocks are dumb but i can't justify a monotube shock price for this trailer.

 

[honda250xtitan]

Tiny little ranchos i got off amazon.