Micro Toy Hauler Build

[caromin]

I have used EP for lots of inspiration over the year so I thought I'd share a build I have going on.
Micro Toy Hauler -
I've had this idea for a micro toy hauler (glorified utility trailer) that I finally got started on this winter. I'm primarily a dual sport rider and also like to e-bike. Occasionally I do some mild overlanding in my 4x4 Tacoma. We like to meet up for a camp & ride in an area for a few days, usually NM UT or CO and I'd like a small home base for that kind of camping. My all the time parking situation is really limited and constrains me to a utility trailer footprint, paying a monthly storage fee is a non starter so it has to fit in a crowded the garage with all the other stuff. This idea has been in my head for years and now this type of trailer is becoming more common.

Here's my goals,

• Primary use: Carry a KTM500 and my typical riding/camping gear, fluids and a deployable roof top tent safely.
• Ideally it'd be able to occasionally function as a stout 4x8 utility trailer.
• Be rugged enough for most trails and dirt roads, I have no intention on pulling this on a 4Lo trail.
• I'd prefer a similar track and WB as a Tacoma, most utility trailers I see are 5' wide and when I add decent sized tires they're too wide for me. It needs to be able to fit in one side of a 2 car garage (along with 2 motos, an ebike) and be low enough to fit through the garage door opening.

I'm figuring out that's a tall order. I decided on 4'Wx 7'8"L bed size, 3500# axle, 2x2 steel construction, marine ply deck, plank siding and a small RTT that can be raised 12". That's to make loading the MC on the trailer easier and also raise the tent when camping so I can walk under the overhang. The lower position would be for being pulled and when it's rolled into the garage. I'm not a fan placing a 110# RTT 44" above the trailer bed tent on stilts and realize it will take a stout trailer to not to flex or shake apart. I've looked at quite a few similar builds and most I wouldn't trust the framework not to loosen up. I plan to avoid that.

I've got allot of metal to cut in a small garage and a great low budget saw I've been using is HF's band saw stand and their portable bandsaw. It's done all the metal cut's I've needed for this chassis really well. IMO band saws are the best saw for working in a small garage that's attached to a house, quieter, less messy and blades are cheap. Both of the saw configurations have worked really well for this project.

5" throat

I have access to a 120V Mig but I didn't want to trust it for structural welds (.180 material) with my skills. I needed a budget welder with some juice so I picked up an Amazon Black Friday 110/220V inverter stick welder for $60, full on old school. I burnt a bunch of rods learning to weld again with a stick (50 years ago). It's a very capable in the right hands. It's stick holder and ground clamp were junk so I had to replace those, all in I had $100 in the shoebox welder.

Using 220V with larger rods really made a difference for me. Someone with more talent could probably do it with less but the little box did well. I'll be using a mig on the non structural welding.

All the metal was purchased locally so I leaned a bit toward the stout side thickness-wise, the minor weight penalty is secondary to me. The perimeter of the frame is .180 wall and the cross braces are .120". The deck will be a sheet of 3/4" marine ply. I live in a dry desert environment and the trailer will be stored inside so rust and rot isn't a concern.

Before welding anything I stripped the millscale off everything. To me it's easier to strip when the metal is in long pieces laying on the ground compared to de-scaling a welded sometimes intricate framework which also tends to tear up the expensive stripping wheels. Also less work on the backend.

Looks really small.

 

[ExpoMike]

Nice start.

What did you use to descale the metal?

 

[caromin]

Nice start.

What did you use to descale the metal?

I used these, The work really well if you keep them away from sharp edges which tends to chew off the stripping material. That pack did about 90% of the descaling I've done for all this.

On to the project.

I used 2.5" .180" square tubing for the tongue with 4' to the hitch ball. I also added some angle supports going to the tongue, mostly to provide a mounting triangle up forward. I added a carry handle to the tongue, pipe mount jack and the chains.

I incorporated the fender mounts into the side steps which worked out well for these fenders. Mounted with just (4) 1/4-20 bolts the fender is stout enough to stand on. Trailer-Fenders.com has these in a fairly stoug gauge. As it sits there's 20" of ground to frame clearance

Lights are wired in and mounted.

I started on the tent uprights, I'm using 1.5" .120 tubing for the uprights. The uprights are removable, they slide into a 2" receiver tube that's part of the trailer frame. (2) 1/2" bolts hold each on.

These are my DIY weld nuts, Typical nuts rounded off and pressed into a hole, welded and ground down.

The uprights are very stout, I could probably tip the trailer over with one if I had enough leverage on it. Finished up the day by adding some smaller intermediate rail supports between the larger ones and capping off the open tubing ends.

 

[caromin]

Picked up a 4x8 sheet of marine ply and put a few coats of sealer on it.

There's some small welding items to complete then I"m ready to primer the frame. I built a tailgate and got the hinges situated.

The gate will use new TG cables from a 80s model chevy 1500 and spring loaded pill pin latches.

I've been working on the pivoting mounts for the RTT. Since it's almost impossible to keep everything perfectly aligned as it's welded together I decided on some insurance. It's actually very close and the RTT system would probably work ok with the slight variances but I had these laying around from another project.

Front mounts

The rears will incorporate a slotted mount to allow the distance between the mounting points to increase as one end or the other is lifted. I will use a pinch clamp on each corner to reduce any rattling. I also plan to use removable pins to hold it in place when deployed or hauling.

 

[caromin]

A few progress update pics

Here I'm mocking up the rear tent mounts. they are connected through a slotted bracket to the tent frame, rarely will all 4 corners of the tent rise up together, the slots allow the system to accommodate a changing distance between the mounts when they aren't all level during extension.

 

[caromin]

Work continues...

Tested the tent height settings with an ebike and the motorcycle.

Added diamond plate to the tailgate.

Right now there's 3 height settings, the lower one fits the ebike, tallest fits the motorcycle and middle allows the trailer to pass under the garage door with the tent mounted on it. I will add a 4th setting that will allow the trailer with the motorcycle (when cinched down) to pass under the garage door. There's lots of room left for camping incidentals in the trailer.

Now it's on to the lift struts.

 

[Todd780]

Very cool! I was poking around for something like this to haul my Husqvarna and a couple kayaks when we go camping. So far I haven't really found anything prebuilt that kind of resembles your build. Very neat idea, I'm surprised no one seems to be offering something like this.

 

[caromin]

Very cool! I was poking around for something like this to haul my Husqvarna and a couple kayaks when we go camping. So far I haven't really found anything prebuilt that kind of resembles your build. Very neat idea, I'm surprised no one seems to be offering something like this.

in my research I came across a company that sells a framework kit that gets added/bolted to a utility trailer, it might be a good option. The ready made racks seem to be popular with some of the kayakers from the videos I came across.

 

[Todd780]

in my research I came across a company that sells a framework kit that gets added/bolted to a utility trailer, it might be a good option. The ready made racks seem to be popular with some of the kayakers from the videos I came across.

Basically, I'd like something like the U-haul motorcycle trailer I used to pick up my bike, but with racks above for the kayaks.

Out with the old:



In with the new:



I'll check out that link you attached. Thank you!

 

[caromin]

Today I was able to tested the entire tent elevation system with the tent installed and it turned out better then I hoped. I used a 50lb strut at each corner for lift assist and w/o the tent it was difficult to lower. Adding the 110 lb tent made lowing ether end, front or back a half way decent tug downward, probably 20lbs. Elevating happens on it's own as soon as the pop pins are pulled.

The odd pole sticking up in the rear is a removable spare tire mount, I'm not a fan of the location but I don't want to add tongue weight so it goes behind the axle.

The tent mounting feels plenty stout enough for the application, no wobble and no rattling from the hardware when standing there shaking the entire assy. Also it has a decent planted feeling when moving around in the raised tent despite no stabilizing jacks on the trailer, there's a little bit on rocking but not really noticeable unless you're looking for it. If it's parked in a level location I could get by w/o stabilizing jacks as long as the hitch was connected. I do plan to install them in the future but it was good to discover they aren't required for sleeping.

The trailer's design constrains the size of the tent that can be used, since it's all based off a 4' wide trailer bed including the uprights which are slightly wider the tent (side to side) cannot exceed 48" when closed or it can't lower and will hit the uprights as goes down. I had to find a tent that fit the footprint. The tent's front to back length exceeds the distance between the uprights which creates another issue. The tent must be fully elevated to open up otherwise the tent hits the uprights as it folds open. I anticipated this and it works as you'd expect when fully elevated which I set at 6'4". The tent isn't what you'd call a family sized 55' x 92" opened up. I will be using this alone so that's plenty for a 6' person.

That mostly sums up this project, the build met my goals, there were a couple compromises but nothing significant. I have to sand and finish some 1x6 boards for the sides, cut out the diamond plate for the fender steps and prime and paint.

If you made it this far thanks for tuning in!

 

[caromin]

Work continues...
Final prep required removal of the tent and it's mounting hardware. The trailer surface was prepped, primered with red oxide primer and some rustoleum hammercoat. The hammercoat is nice because it sticks well to a prepped surface, and it's textured so it's easy to touch up. The plywood was treated and bolted on along with some pine planking from new zealand.

I used SS carriage hardware for mounting all the wood.

I used non skid on top of the fenders for when someone is standing on them.

 

[caromin]

The build is mostly done. Trailer is tagged (lifetime) and reassembled. While the tent frame was apart I drilled another stop hole into each pole, it's got 8" of elevation travel spread over 4 positions.

The fender steps got some diamond plate bling to spice it up a little.

The platform was spray painted and put back on. I sprayed chain wax on the bare metal ends of poles where they insert and bolt into the trailer and at the other ends where the sliders travel, it's dries to a non-sticky coating that's doesn't collect dirt and is a pretty good spray on water barrier.

Elevated position

I pulled it on some potholed roads and also up to 70mph with the tent in both positions. In the upper position I can feel the extra wind resistance. In the upper position the tent sits about 2" higher then would bolted to a topper on a tacoma with a 2" lift. In the lower position all I could feel the trailer weight a little but it was minor although there was not wind when I was testing. The trailer handles like one would expect, no drama and not very noticable when it's being pulled. I really didn't want a rattling trailer, on a dirt road I could hear the pull rings on the pop locks rattling but it was minor. The trailer is very solid, it should be with all the metal I used.

I still plan to add rear jacks and a small tongue box but that will be down the road a bit.

 

[hooptycrawler]

Looks great! Should a fun setup

 

[caromin]

Thanks!
I got the trailer out yesterday for it's sea trials .

I drug it through the desert a bit. The area is scenic and a great place to fly the drone aside from a 25mph afternoon wind. All went very well and I'm quite happy with the trailer's handling.

There was no drama, it didn't rattle and it handled the mild stuff I went on as easily as the truck did.