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Tools I had some tools with me, but not quite enough. I had an adjustable wrench, two pairs of normal pliers, one needle nose, a set of ratcheting screwdriver bits and handle, a 1/4 and 3/8" ratchet and a 1/2" breaker bar, but the important pieces I was missing was the sockets. Repacking the...

The trip so far. I started out from Sidney on Saturday morning. After getting laundry done, everything loaded and changing the oil as a precaution, I didn't get out of town until 10am. I stopped every hundred miles or so, letting the dog out, walking back to the nearest mile marker and back...

Backing I've actually not had to back the thing up yet, and I'm not looking forward to it. I thought about replacing the tongue with a 2" square tube and getting a little more length out of it, and thought about buying a new axle and 5x4.5" hubs to match my Jeep, but I think I'll leave the...

Reinforcing Hearing stories about people losing fenders while driving down the road makes me not very confident about Chinese manufacturing. :) Since the ammo cans are attached to the fenders with a spacer between them, I might pick up some steel angle brackets to transfer some of the weight...

Fenders I have a couple other things I'd like to do with the fenders, but I'm not sure if I'll have time to get to it. First, I want to add two or three small eyes to the top of each, along the outer edge, and matching eyes along the wall, just below the line of the tarp. It would be handy if...

Finished Thank you. I hope the thing performs well. I made a few tweaks. I've added four rings front and back, and since the metal of the frame is fairly thin, the bolts are long and go through both sides of the front and rear crossmembers. I switched out the Sisal rope with poly. The poly...

Ah, that's good to know. I'll end up moving a few hooks around to work a little better, and will change the direction of the front flaps.

Tarp Loops I have all of the loops sewn on the tarp, and I have to say, I hate sewing sinew with needle and pliers. I've done it with leather and now with canvas, and it's not fun either way. It's yet to be seen how well it will hold up. I might load up the trailer this weekend and drive an...

Weight I'm not sure what the trailer weighs yet. I have some limbs I need to haul off to the dump. When I take them, I'll have them weigh the trailer empty. I do know that when it's hitched up to the Jeep, the trailer is still light enough that I can pick up the back end and move it. My...

Visibility What others have said is right. The thing is so short that I can't see it at all from either of the outside mirrors. I can see a bit of it from the rear view mirror, but not much. Once I get the trusses in place, the thing should be a few inches taller, so hopefully a little more...

Rattles I went and bought a bicycle inner tube to try to isolate my receiver. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. I wanted to tightly wrap the tow bar, then insert it into the receiver, but it wouldn't fit. There is not enough space for one layer of rubber on each side. I cut a short...

Test Drive I still need to pick up a spare tire, and a handle for moving the thing would be nice to have. It would also be nice to have a stand to set the tongue on, instead of setting it on a concrete block or on the ground. I got up this morning and started working on the gates. I had to...

Storage I have the lights reattached. I had to add two large washers as spacers for the brackets. After that, I've got about 1/8" clearance between the light and the wood. After that, you can see that I now have the first ammo can mounted with a 1" aluminum spacer between the can and the...

Finished? Structurally, the trailer is more or less done, but I do need to find some bracing for the outside corners. Brackets at the local hardware store were kind of expensive, so I may hit up Home Depot again next weekend. I'd also like to find some rounded corners so keep from cutting the...

Rain, go away. I have more done, but I'm far from being done. It has rained every day for the last four days. Yesterday, I went out to take some measurements and mark some prior to cutting them this weekend, and found that as the treated lumber dries out, some are beginning to split. My...

Bearings I need to look into Bearing Buddies. I saw the same sort of thing for sale at Wal-Mart and another at our local Merchantile. Said that it fit two sizes of axles. I'll have to measure and see. Just how much grease am I supposed to pump into these things? How do I know when to stop...

Storage Currently, the horizontal boards are screwed to the verticals using 1 5/8" deck screws but I may find myself swapping those out with short bolts. The fenders will be bolted to the lowest horizontal board with four bolts instead of being bolted to the frame. I ordered two .50 cal ammo...

Walls I trimmed stakes for the side walls, narrowing the tenons to 3 1/2" and thinning them to 3/4". While the tenons for the side walls are centered, the ones for the front and back will be offset. So far, this part has been the most annoying. I took the left fender off to mount the lowest...

Pictures I got called in to work last night and now have a splitting headache. I got up this morning, intending to go out and enlarge some of the stake pockets that are a bit too small, but didn't get much done. I'm holding the floor down with six bolts as I can't drill the front and center...

While I want to weld up a proper offroad trailer myself, I needed something a little more immediate. I ordered a 1090lb Harbor Freight 40"x48" trailer last week, primarily for a road trip I have coming up in June. Including shipping, the trailer cost me $186. My '95 Grand Cherokee has decent...