Kiriesh's SLOW trailer build thread

[Kiriesh]

Hey all, I figured I might as well join the club and make a build thread of my own. I'll be asking plenty of questions and I'm always open to criticism both positive and negative. Please have mercy... I am new to overland and trailers so combining the two can be daunting at times. So before I ramble I'll just dive right in:

The Purpose:

This will be a overlander/camper ready-to-go at any moment setup. I've done both camping and offroading in the past and recently I've branched out into both. As a full time college student on the opposite side of the country from my rig, I don't have much planned in the immediate future but I definitely have some trip ideas for this summer and coming years. This trailer will ultimately house all of my camping and overlanding goods needed, ranging from cooking supplies to my campsite setup. Tools and personal items will be kept in the tow vehicle (currently a 98' dodge ram, hopefully upgrading to a 3rd gen tacoma in the next year), but the ideal plan is that any sort of specific goods related to the general overlanding/camping experience will be all kept ready to go as soon as I hook up my trailer.

The Content:

My general idea is that the trailer will include approximately the following (individual parts to be gathered over a LONG period of time):

• Pop-up/roof top tent
• Awnings
• A full kitchen setup
• a solar powered electrical system
• campsite furniture
• Water (hopefully eventually pressurized)
• Extra fuel
• Possibly an OBA system
• Two full size spares
• General recovery gear
• ????

These parts will all be gathered as time and budget permit, but in the near future the trailer will be used as general storage for whatever I have already.

The Platform:

This was a subject of personal debate for me. I wanted something that I could easily tow behind as small as a quarter ton truck, be capable offroad, yet still offer a fair amount of internal storage. I had originally set out in search of military trailers to convert, but the outrageous costs and the limitations to customize quickly drove me away. I may have ended up with a controversial starting point but after another forum member pointed me towards them I opted for a Harbor Freight Chassis trailer to begin with as pictured below. My reasoning was that I wanted a clean slate to begin with, instead of starting my project fighting rust. This trailer offers no rust issues, easy DMV registration, and a 1720lb capacity to work with. General shortcomings that I have found from reviews and personal experience so far are the lack in paint quality which will be fixed this spring with help from sandpaper and rattle cans (contemplating bedliner) and poor axle quality which will be a non-issue as I plan on replacing it with an axle that has brakes and matches my tow-rig's bolt pattern. In the following months I'll be creating some CAD drawings of potential ideas for the tub build itself. The tub will be completely custom fabricated, offering the maximum possible customization to my individual needs.

So there ya go. I'll be sharing my CAD renderings once I get them worked up (only at the napkin-sketches stage) but I'd love any insight y'all might have in the mean time about areas to focus in, what is important and non-important etc. I'm an engineering student so this really is my hobby at the moment. I plan to take my time with the trailer, creating exactly what I want and taking the time to do it correctly. It'll be a learning experience but I'm definitely excited to dive in. As an initial question, My current ideas consist of a welded steel tub frame, with a plexiglass shell or sheet metal shell. I'm attempting to keep weight down wherever possible in hopes of maximizing my potential payload and minimizing the load on the tow rig. Is this a crazy idea? I've used both materials in the past in robotics applications but I'm not sure about their durability in an offroad setting. Hope to see you all around!

- Kiriesh

 

[rnArmy]

This thread might help you some: http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f27/...ype-trailer-ultimate-build-up-thread-1180456/ It is long, but there's a table on contents on the first post that breaks it down.

A couple other suggestions:

1. Consider swapping out the factory short slipper springs for some longer springs with a shackle at the back end.

2. 48" is a little on the wide side; you might want to consider narrowing and shortening your trailer frame (as a reference - the original Military trailer tubs were 40" wide by 72" long at the base).

3. If weight is a concern, consider an aluminum tub.

4. Don't forget the 90-degree test (your trailer should be able to turn 90-degrees from your tow vehicle and clear everything).

 

[Kiriesh]

Thanks for the suggestions! I scanned through that thread when I was shopping but I'll definitely be reading more in depth. New springs will probably eventually be on docket but I'm considering what size tires I plan on running as an end game and trying to figure out my idea ride height. I'll definitely look into narrowing and possibly shortening. I haven't done an over abundance of research into width but I hope to eventually track it behind either a tacoma, JKU, or some full sized truck. I completely understand narrowing it for older YJs or TJs but JKs are substantially wider stock (my main wheeler is a JKU). Are you aware of needing to narrow it to be able to run oversized tires for those vehicles? I'd love to do aluminum but cost and my inability to weld aluminum really opts that out for me sadly. I'll definitely keep the 90-degree test in mind, thanks!

 

[rnArmy]

Ok; your trailer frame is 48" wide. Figure at least two inches of clearance will be needed between the inside of the tire (if you're going like a 31" tire or bigger) and the trailer frame, so 48" + 2" + 2" = 52" between the inside side of one tire to the inside side of the other tire if you went this route. Now go measure the distance on your Jeep from the inside sidewall of one rear tire to the inside sidewall of the other rear tire. What's the measurement?

You don't want your trailer track width wider than your tow vehicle's track width. Actually, a little narrower trailer would be better.

And you can swap out the suspension for around $100 - $125.

 

[Kiriesh]

a JK axle width is 62". A 2nd gen Tacoma is 65". Using the smaller number, usually 33's (my ideal tow rig tire size) are run on approx a 4.5" backspaced wheels and I'm going to assume a 10" wide rim which is relatively common. So 62 - 2*4.5" - 2*1.25" (the overhang from running a 12.5" wide tire) - 2*2" (clearance like you stated). 62 - 9 - 2.5 - 4 = 46.5" inner sidewall to sidewall. The Tacoma would be even wider. Is a 5.5" wider track worth cutting down the chassis? Honest question, I'm not experienced with trailers offroad.

 

[rnArmy]

a JK axle width is 62". A 2nd gen Tacoma is 65". Using the smaller number, usually 33's (my ideal tow rig tire size) are run on approx a 4.5" backspaced wheels and I'm going to assume a 10" wide rim which is relatively common. So 62 - 2*4.5" - 2*1.25" (the overhang from running a 12.5" wide tire) - 2*2" (clearance like you stated). 62 - 9 - 2.5 - 4 = 46.5" inner sidewall to sidewall. The Tacoma would be even wider. Is a 5.5" wider track worth cutting down the chassis? Honest question, I'm not experienced with trailers offroad.

That's a lot of math; I thought maybe you'd just go outside with a tape measure and get a quick measurement.

To answer your question (my opinion) if you were planning on living in your trailer (like making a teardrop trailer) then no; it would not be worth narrowing. If you were going to use the trailer for storage and put a RTT on it, then maybe (especially if you were towing it behind a non-full sized truck).

I come from the "pulling it behind a CJ or TJ" viewpoint.

 

[Kiriesh]

Haha I would if I weren't nearly 3000 mi away from my jeep at the moment. As well my rig is running wheel spacers so my widths are all not a good comparison. I'm tempted to leave it just for the sake of extra storage given the width of all of my potential tow rigs. Thanks for the input either way! I guess I'm just aiming for a different trailer size overall than what people usually run behind jeeps.