Smittybilt Scout Trailer Reviews?

ebrabaek

Adventurer
ebrabaek, that come very well!

ratled

Yeppers Thanks.
We are kinda anxious to try it out, but as winter has set in, with overnights in the upper teens, I am not sure. Just...... one.......night.... :)
This little trailer, as compartmentalized as it is, has room for lots of customization.
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Looks great.. makes me think my group 31 was a wee bit of overkill. LOL

As we are/were all concerned about keeping tounge weight impact to a minimum, I was trying hard to go Lithium. I even went to consider a Arco power pack from amazon for onefitty. But they just did not cut it.
My soon to own fridge will take an average of 1.5 amp/hr of consumption. In addition to that, a few 1 watt interior leds, 15 watt exterior Leds, and phone charging. That is all that I have planned on. If it gets cold, we have a small ceramic heater for the Tepui Kugenam XL ruggerdized RTT, but then we will fire up the Yammi Gen. For daytime charging I have a mobile 50 watt solar charger. In theory, that should be enough to charge the battery and replenish the battery which I expect to have gone to somewhere in the 50-60% range @ 35 amp hr. The weight of that little one is only 23 pounds, and you can get them for about $85. Another benefit is that it is an AGM. If the battery were sitting in an RV I would actually prefer the maintainace ability of a wet cell battery, but as this is an off road trailer, the AGM style is best, IMHO. I figured that I would rather increase my solar to 100 watt with additional panels, rather than add the 24 or 31 group battery due to weight in the wrong place..... but that's just me, and not necessarily right... :)
You led me to the Noco unit, for which I much appreciate. It was a bit bigger than I expected, but it is a great unit, that not just charges the battery, but have the right algorithms, and desulfation built in.
The latter, I use on our aircraft batteries, which run 4K apiece, and we have 3 of them. Works like magic. So thank you for pioneering that unit for us.
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
Silverback07, that's exactly what I was thinking!

Ebrabaek, looking good!

Thank you sir. I will say that this thread played a huge part in our decision to buy this awesome, fantastically priced trailer. So thank you to all of you who took your time to write a few words about your smitty.
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
One area that I have not touched on is the alignment. We scheduled ours in, but the place charged $150 pr axle, which I thought was a bit steep, so I thought I'd give it a go myself.
It is a bit intimidation, but yet again simple math. The following is my own simplified explanation. You have two ways to adjust it. Toe, and Camber. Toe being the wheel pointing inwards or outwards, and camber being a squatting tire.
The adjustments, for both on each "axle" is both on the torque link as it bolts on the frame. You adjust it by loosening the nut and rotating the bolt head, which has a rotating disc welded on it. Simple but yet functional.
I used a laser level and mounted it on the frame. It pointed the laser dot forward 20 feet and backwards 20 feet.
Here it is pictured on a different location.
20171106_102525.jpg

I then taped a 1 inch square pipe in place on the wheels so I could clip the level on the wheel, and shine the laser both forward and backwards.
The frame dots were references, and then it is simply a matter of math. The difference between the frame and wheel dots should be the same front and rear. Mine was about 6 cm out of toe, even though it tracked fine, but that would have worn the tires relatively fast.
For camber I then just rotated the level vertical and used the bubble. I was not able to get the camber to zero, but very close. There were simply not enough adjustment available. The best way I can explain this is that I was off 3mm on the top on the right wheel, and could get the left to zero, but elected to keep both @ 3mm offset on top ( negative camber) for symmetrical reasons.
I double and triple checked, and tightened the adjustments, and it seems to still tow straight. It is important to have this done, as per the manual. You can scrub the tires very fast, so I would recommend that you have this checked..... or DIY... :)
Cheers
 

Plannerman

Wandering Explorer
I really appreciate the 40+ pages of feedback on these trailers. I was not sure what to expect of these trailers. After reading this thread, I am very excited by the prospect of getting one.

Is Northridge4x4 still the best place to purchase the trailer? It looks like the coupon code mentioned above gives 10%. Any other tips or tricks for purchasing?
 

ebrabaek

Adventurer
I really appreciate the 40+ pages of feedback on these trailers. I was not sure what to expect of these trailers. After reading this thread, I am very excited by the prospect of getting one.

Is Northridge4x4 still the best place to purchase the trailer? It looks like the coupon code mentioned above gives 10%. Any other tips or tricks for purchasing?

I got mine from Northridge and Brian Train reached out to me and was very informative. Were I to buy one again, I would buy it from them. I used the " sharktank" coupon and got the discount.
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
Whelp finally got my water heater figured out. Turned out to be one of those projects that the more I fooled with it the better it got and the happier it made meimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
My dual portable Coleman propane carrier solved all my propane needs. I ordered short hose for it should be here soon. The lid slides right off using a track and cleat set up. I looked for long time for some kind of pelican or plastic case but was fearful with hinged lid or door it might melt even considered some sort of pin to pull out to release lid completely. But figured I could build better. Made from wood and hosed it with rustoleum bed liner in a can and then hit with flat black rattle can turned out better than I thought and it is water proof.
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

The lid slides completely off and there is a cleat that runs down each side of lid. I spaced the back of the water heater base away from trailer so water will run between the two and not puddle on top. The bottom below heater slides up into the lid couple inches to give better seal. It all fits light but the more water can go around the box I felt the better it would Shead
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
I also finally received my air bags for the jeep and what a huge difference they make. The ride is great and the jeep sets level can also put extra air in them and Jack back up couple extra inches. But don't want that just want jeep to set level and I'm along way off from max I was able to lower the hitch on trailer a notch and jeep gate opens no prob. Bike rack works well to
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
Also got my new fridge got a super Amazon warehouse deal. Saved 200 bucks. But it works great. Set it on 11 below zero put and extra thermometer inside to verify temp and it was dead on. I have 55 ah battery. 34 series deep cell. Reason I went 34 was they are a lot easier and take more recharge than other but fridge ran 36 hrs straight and still had 25% left. I purposely built fold out kitchen same height as fridge and will put in a 5 inch shelf on top of both for couple chairs , pop up shower tent, rifle and few other things. I been looking at front runner chairs they are cool. image.jpg
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
I still have the side kitchen compartment empty been scratchin my head and think I will cut the bottom out of top compartment so I can mount a box to the slide out drawer and put shelves in it for a slide out pantry kind of. But after that all I have left is a foxwing awning , my shelf in big box and running a power wire up into tent. I'm waiting on couple fitting and longer shower hose for water heater but most of big projects bought done. Time to hook up jeep and trailer to back of motor home and haul some ***!! Lol
 

Midnightsun

Adventurer
Talking about how to get your trailer home from shipper? I had shipper load it on my flat bed trailer. Drove home put jeep in shop then backed trailer up to shop door. Wrapt strap around bottom rung on trailer crate then hooked to jeep then yanked it right off trailer out onto shop floor. Got sawzall and cut crate off from around trailer. WA-LAA. I don't overthink things lol
 

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