One Swell Trailer

[Titanpat57]

I like the military flat top design...as Jess said...any storage, flat area becomes premium real estate While camping., everything serves multiple functions.

Love the machine welds..a very intriguing process.

 

[JSBriggs]

OK guys, I need your help. What kind of latches are these and where can I find some? I'm going to need to round some up as part of outfitting the trailer as well as the tow vehicle.
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Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Mike

Land Rover part # muc8748 you can get them here in the US for $15 -$25 depending on the source.

Rovahfarm
Rovers North
Atlantic British
Safari HP

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...d-for-a-Custom-Tailgate?p=1634599#post1634599

-Jeff

 

[GeoTracker90]

Jeff, thanks for the help with sourcing the antiluce pins here state side. I'll be following up on the leads that you gave me.

Also, your post as well as looking around myself has lead me to consider using some other Land Rover components. I'm thinking of using some D90 style hinges for the tailgate and lids for this project. I see that there are reproduction hinges on E-bay for $15 each (shipping included). I think that its a classy alternative to just throwing a section of piano hinge at the problem. Here's a few pictures:
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I anyone has experience with these hinges please chime in and let me know if there's a flaw in the plan to use these. Thanks!

Mike

p.s. I'm still looking for additional input on the fender situation.

 

[JSBriggs]

Is this for a side swing? The Land Rover Defender/Series 3 hinges are canted, so i would avoid those. The Series 2 hinges are a better option, and they will go past 180°.

If its for a dropdown, the LR tailgate hinge is also amazingly simple.

Ping me and i can guide you through the various options.

-Jeff

 

[indiedog]

Mike, for the fenders/storage, what access do you need to the main box from the sides? Any other items to be mounted or stored on the sides or is the whole side available for the fender/storage? I see you are thinking propane near the rear corner. What's the height of the box and the propane tank? Tank dia? Is there a roof top tent planned or other storage on top?

 

[GeoTracker90]

Is this for a side swing? The Land Rover Defender/Series 3 hinges are canted, so i would avoid those. The Series 2 hinges are a better option, and they will go past 180°.

If its for a dropdown, the LR tailgate hinge is also amazingly simple.

Ping me and i can guide you through the various options.

-Jeff

The tailgate will swing to the side instead of dropping down. I just sent you a PM Jeff. Thanks in advance for the help.

Mike

 

[BSR]

I have 2 antiluce pins I can post to you, just cover the postage.

 

[GeoTracker90]

Mike, for the fenders/storage, what access do you need to the main box from the sides? Any other items to be mounted or stored on the sides or is the whole side available for the fender/storage? I see you are thinking propane near the rear corner. What's the height of the box and the propane tank? Tank dia? Is there a roof top tent planned or other storage on top?

I plan to have the main box skinned on the outside with 16 gauge sheet metal, with an interior structure to support the skin. Where I place the individual elements of the interior structure will be influenced by the decision to go with fenders only or fenders and side boxes. The only item scheduled for the side of the trailer is the propane tank. The only other item that may go onto the sides of the main box would be the two fuel cans. Right now that's a remote possibility though.

For storage inside the main box I'm leaning towards having a 20 gallon water tank just forward of the axle. The kitchen will either be located at the rear of the main box and accessed be the side hinged tailgate, or the other option is to have it forward of the water tank and accessed by a side door on the passenger side of the trailer. If the kitchen is in the back then I'll put the propane tank on the driver side rear corner of the main box. If I end up with the kitchen in front of the axle then I'll probably move the propane tank to the front of the trailer between the two fuel cans where I had previously planned to locate the air tank.

The dimensions for the main box will be 78" long x 42" wide x 30" tall. The dimensions of the propane tank are 8.9" diameter x 17.5" tall.

As I mull things over I keep leaning towards having side boxes on the trailer. It's hard to argue with having more storage. I would love to run the trailer with out side boxes, because I think it would help keep the trailer from looking like a copy of some of the other more recognizable trailers out there.

Currently I do not have plans for a roof top tent, but I may end up incorporating a rack with fold out wings so that I could put a standard ground tent on for the time being. If I go with the rack, then I'll also make a storage spot under the rack for a folding table.

I guess I had better get things decided on pretty soon. With any luck I will have the trailing arms welded up by the end of the week, and have the trailer sitting on its own tires by the end of the week following that. I still need to get the bracket design for the trailing arms finalized and cut out.

Mike

 

[GeoTracker90]

Eating the elephant.

As the old cliche goes, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

The same sentiment goes for building an off-road trailer. I was tied up taking care of some domestic repairs for most of the evening, but I still managed to slip out to the shed for an hour or so. The frame is at a point where I need to have the trailing arms built before I can do any more on the frame. So the focus was turned to the trailing arms tonight.

Now one of the tricks, in my opinion, to building the independent trailing arms is getting them built as close to identical to each other as possible. I've been considering a build like this for quite some time to be honest. So, a few years ago when I designed a small fabrication table I built in a few features that would help with a project such as this. The table top was laser cut out of 1/2" thick steel plate and had rectangular slots cut into the table to accept 1/2" T-nuts.
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Usually I put the T-nuts on the underside and use them to clamp an item into position. In this case I put the T-nuts on top of the table and bolted them into place. This gives me a hard stop to locate the straight tube of the trailing arm against. It also ensures me that the tube is parallel to the front of the table and perpendicular to the right end of the table as well.
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Just a couple pictures to show how tightly the T-nuts fit into the ends of the slots cut into the table top.
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So what does this all become? Well, in the absence of a true fixture table, it becomes the second best thing. Both of the main tubes of the trailing arm are indexed off of the short side of the table. The straight tube is held against the T-nut stops. I cut a couple spacer blocks to go between the two main tubes to maintain them parallel to each other. And it's all held together by a handful of quick clamps. I didn't have a clamp long enough to span the two tubes with the spacer blocks between them, so I used a C-clamp in the center to link two of the clamps together. Sometimes you just have to find a way to make things work. The intention is to put together a procedure that will be repeatable for the second trailing arm.

So far I think I'm on track.

Mike

 

[GeoTracker90]

I have 2 antiluce pins I can post to you, just cover the postage.

BSR, thanks for your most generous offer. I've sent you a PM.

Mike

 

[rustED]

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Of course with the DOM tube on hand I just couldn't help but try dry fitting the threaded tube adapter and joint to the DOM tube. With any luck this will be welded into place using one of the automated TIG welding systems that we manufacture at work.

View attachment 268100


I didn't have a lot of time to work on the trailer today, but I'm happy with the progress so far.

Mike

Nice work on the trailing arms, it looks like you've really planned it out nicely. I was wondering for your flex joints, what handed threads did you use? Is one side right handed and one side left handed, or are they all the same?

 

[GeoTracker90]

Nice work on the trailing arms, it looks like you've really planned it out nicely. I was wondering for your flex joints, what handed threads did you use? Is one side right handed and one side left handed, or are they all the same?

The flex joints are the one part that I didn't plan out very well so far. I ended up scavenging them from another stalled project. Because of that I have a mix of right handed and left handed joints. The joints that go on the straight tube are right hand thread while the ones that go on the bent tube are a left handed thread. With the trailing arm there really is no advantage to having the joints with different thread directions.

I also have a mix of bore sizes as well. In the picture you might be able to see on the one joint for the bent tube I used a paint pen to mark that it is a 5/8" bore. The other joint has a 9/16" bore. Eventually I want to swap out the joints with the 9/16" bore to ones with a 5/8" bore, but that will have to wait for now. When I do make the switch though it should be as simple as unscrewing the old joint, screwing in the new joint, and just opening up the hole in the bracket with a 5/8" drill bit.
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I sure wish I had an unlimited budget. :sombrero:

Mike

 

[rustED]

Thanks Mike. In my mind I didn't think it would make a difference what hand the threads were, but this is all new to me, lol. What are your thoughts on using a bushing like one of these:



I'm still contemplating on possibly building trailing arms, if not now, posssibly in a phase II stage on my trailer. Do you think these type bushings would work?
Sorry, I don't mean to clutter up your build thread...Ed.

 

[GeoTracker90]

Thanks Mike. In my mind I didn't think it would make a difference what hand the threads were, but this is all new to me, lol. What are your thoughts on using a bushing like one of these:



I'm still contemplating on possibly building trailing arms, if not now, posssibly in a phase II stage on my trailer. Do you think these type bushings would work?
Sorry, I don't mean to clutter up your build thread...Ed.

No worries about the questions, bring all of them that you have.

The Ballistic bushing that you show will work just fine. In fact it really is a better option for the trailing arms than the articulating joint that I'm using. With the motion that the trailing arms follow there is no need for misalignment between the bolt and the arm.

When you get ready for this step in your build you might want to look at another vendor for the bushings. The Ballistic bushings are currently running $35.99 each while a very similar bushing from Thorbros (low-rider truck company) is going for $22.49 each. Here are the links to the two websites:

Ballistic Forged Poly Bushing

Thorbros Welded Poly Bushing

Of course you'll need the threaded tube adapters too, but you can get those from who ever has the best price - just make sure to get the correct thread call-out on the threaded tube adapters.

Good luck with your build and hit me up with any other questions you have.

Mike

 

[indiedog]

Mike, with putting the water tank amid-ships it sounds like you will need a side door at the front of the box regardless of where you put the kitchen so this will impact your side storage box layout. Time for another asymmetric layout? Could you put the water tank in the middle of the box but running lengthwise? This would leave room all the way around it which you may be able to access from the rear instead of the sides. The other question is what will you put in those side storage boxes? Long skinny things? Small things? I really like dedicated storage and like to know what exactly will be going where before it all comes together. Sorry I'm not providing answers, more challenging you to resolve what things are for as I believe your answers will come from that. And hey, it's a hell of a lot easier to ask questions than answer them!