After a few years of using this trailer I am comfortable with the size and weight and am going to start building it up.
I originally swapped in some Dodge truck wheels a few awhile back and it served me well for a few years (still a tad high though). It works, but requires carrying another type of spare tire.
This latest round all started with maintenance and snowballed a bit.
The trailer had one shock that was blown, and another is on its way out. I got a set of new ones off ebay. The shocks were pretty easy to replace. They are held in place with castle nuts and not torqued down much.
The surge brake system recently started to only work intermittently, so this also seemed to be a good time to go electric. I used backing plates that retained the military hand brakes. Specifics on the plates:
Dexter Electric Brake Assembly w/Parking Brake - 6K - LH Dexter Trailer Brakes 23-112
Dexter Brake Assembly w/Parking Brake - 6K - RH Dexter Trailer Brakes 23-113
The backing plates are cheaper if you don’t care about the hand brakes, but I stuck with them.
The military cable system did not mate up with the new brake system. Basically the military system has an internal attachment, and the civilian one has an external lever. Since I had plenty of cable, I just got some ¼” cable fittings from the hardware store and made it work.
Initially I priced out a new axle with the hardware I wanted. However, this is a very heavy duty axle and would run over $800 to replace the unit.
Since the partially disassembled axle was lighter and slightly easier to maneuver, I did the 'tube drop'. This consists of cutting away the metal the axle is mounted to and replacing it with a smaller tube. I used stainless square tubes since I had some on hand. This resulted in a 2.25-2.5 inch drop.
Doing this all at once made some steps easier since I did not have to retain the surge brake system. I moved the mounting holes forward about 0.5 inches to help with the shock length change. It seems to look like that was about right. A plasma cutter makes the metal work a bit easier. I bolted the tubes to the axle and jacked it into place. I got lucky, my first fitting was only 1/8 inch off. I adjusted it a bit and drilled the other holes while the axle was in place. Still all the cutting, moving and figuring stuff out took the better part of a day.
Why put the 8 lug hubs back on when I have an extra pair of FJ shoes? So I also converted the wheels to a 6 lug pattern to match the FJ. Hubs used:
Trailer Hub Assembly - 5,200-lb and 6,000-lb Axles - 6 on 5-1/2 - E-Z Lube Dexter Trailer Hubs and Drums 8-201-9UC3-EZ
I checked the bearing numbers on the replacement hubs and they were identical to the 8 lugs that were removed, so the spindle should be happy.
After that on went some matching Trail Teams wheels. Right now the tire sizes are a bit off between the FJ and trailer, but close enough to make use of the truck spare.
I also (finally) converted the wiring to a 7 Blade RV. I had been running the military plug.
I did not pioneer any of this, just combining stuff others figured out previously. All this took me working on and off over the course of 2 weekends.
The next step would be to weld up an adjustable lunette ring and look at tongue modifications. I purchased:
3" Trailer Lunette Ring with 4 Hole Bracket Wallace Forge Lunette Ring 18128
This should eliminate the need for a riser on the truck end. I will talk to a welder friend on the best way to get this done and post up the results.
After that I plan to add a rack system for the RTT & a tongue box.
I originally swapped in some Dodge truck wheels a few awhile back and it served me well for a few years (still a tad high though). It works, but requires carrying another type of spare tire.
This latest round all started with maintenance and snowballed a bit.
The trailer had one shock that was blown, and another is on its way out. I got a set of new ones off ebay. The shocks were pretty easy to replace. They are held in place with castle nuts and not torqued down much.
The surge brake system recently started to only work intermittently, so this also seemed to be a good time to go electric. I used backing plates that retained the military hand brakes. Specifics on the plates:
Dexter Electric Brake Assembly w/Parking Brake - 6K - LH Dexter Trailer Brakes 23-112
Dexter Brake Assembly w/Parking Brake - 6K - RH Dexter Trailer Brakes 23-113
The backing plates are cheaper if you don’t care about the hand brakes, but I stuck with them.
The military cable system did not mate up with the new brake system. Basically the military system has an internal attachment, and the civilian one has an external lever. Since I had plenty of cable, I just got some ¼” cable fittings from the hardware store and made it work.
Initially I priced out a new axle with the hardware I wanted. However, this is a very heavy duty axle and would run over $800 to replace the unit.
Since the partially disassembled axle was lighter and slightly easier to maneuver, I did the 'tube drop'. This consists of cutting away the metal the axle is mounted to and replacing it with a smaller tube. I used stainless square tubes since I had some on hand. This resulted in a 2.25-2.5 inch drop.
Doing this all at once made some steps easier since I did not have to retain the surge brake system. I moved the mounting holes forward about 0.5 inches to help with the shock length change. It seems to look like that was about right. A plasma cutter makes the metal work a bit easier. I bolted the tubes to the axle and jacked it into place. I got lucky, my first fitting was only 1/8 inch off. I adjusted it a bit and drilled the other holes while the axle was in place. Still all the cutting, moving and figuring stuff out took the better part of a day.
Why put the 8 lug hubs back on when I have an extra pair of FJ shoes? So I also converted the wheels to a 6 lug pattern to match the FJ. Hubs used:
Trailer Hub Assembly - 5,200-lb and 6,000-lb Axles - 6 on 5-1/2 - E-Z Lube Dexter Trailer Hubs and Drums 8-201-9UC3-EZ
I checked the bearing numbers on the replacement hubs and they were identical to the 8 lugs that were removed, so the spindle should be happy.
After that on went some matching Trail Teams wheels. Right now the tire sizes are a bit off between the FJ and trailer, but close enough to make use of the truck spare.
I also (finally) converted the wiring to a 7 Blade RV. I had been running the military plug.
I did not pioneer any of this, just combining stuff others figured out previously. All this took me working on and off over the course of 2 weekends.
The next step would be to weld up an adjustable lunette ring and look at tongue modifications. I purchased:
3" Trailer Lunette Ring with 4 Hole Bracket Wallace Forge Lunette Ring 18128
This should eliminate the need for a riser on the truck end. I will talk to a welder friend on the best way to get this done and post up the results.
After that I plan to add a rack system for the RTT & a tongue box.
