1998 Aliner Off-Road edition

[Petrolburner]

So I didn't end up making that rack for the QuickJack but I just through them on the back portion of the bed and they were fine. It towed really well with the extra weight in the back to. Picked up a new spare tire since the previous owner had had it stolen off the trailer before he sold it. I spent 2 nights down at a racetrack outside of Medford. Last weekend I towed it down to Summer Lake Hot Springs with the Tundra and one of my dirtbikes for 2 nights. Then swapped tow vehicles to the Corvette and towed it out to Wanoga sno park for the Redmond Smokejumper's end of the season party. I'm happy to be getting lots of use out of the camper.

1st place in my class at the SSCC Fall Enduro.

 

[highlandercj-7]

I been thinking of removing the power cord off my RV too. I was thinking of installing a marine style shore power receptacle that I can plug a cord into, something like this.

http://www.wholesalemarine.com/mari...-amp-125v.html?utm_medium=cse&utm_source=bing

 

[Petrolburner]

I'd like to get away from that style of plug altogether really.

Something like this within my power outlet door would be great. Then I could use any old extension cord to plug in.

 

[grogie]

That is awesome towing your trailer with our Z51. Nice!

Plus it sounds like you're having fun with it.

 

[Petrolburner]

Yeah the trailer and the Corvette are both pretty versatile.

 

[Petrolburner]

New tow rig for the Aliner, a Ford Motovan.

I put a front receiver hitch on so I could keep the back end of the van open and attach the trailer to a hitch for stability. This is a shot of our pit setup at the 6 hour Eddieville endurance race.

 

[Petrolburner]

More photos from our Oregon Coast Valentine's day trip.

Used the Aliner as a kitchen and the van as a dining room. I flipped the mounts for the bench seat 180* so it was facing backwards. Romantic V-day dinner

I susequently picked up these Flexsteel recliners on spinning bases and mounted them.

 

[Petrolburner]

It's been one year since I've posted to this thread. I've mostly just been using the camper as is. I bought a digital thermostat that works better, less temperature swing between turning on and off compared to the mechanical one it came with. The refrigerator doesn't work with AC, DC or propane now and I haven't looked into it. The converter quit working. I wired up the Motovan hitch wiring to charge while running, but the power doesn't make it to the batteries from the camper wire harness. Related to the converter failure? Probably. I'm considering removing the mini fridge and making it a cabinet instead. I just bought a big 65 quart 12 volt fridge/freezer for the Motovan, so the tiny fridge in the camper has less appeal. That would be a great spot to have cookware anyway. I'm considering pulling the converter, 30 amp shore power cord and rewiring the whole thing with an extension cord, inverter, and dedicated battery charger. I had my mom fix up the factory curtains. They were paper thin and didn't block any light. She sewed white canvas to the back of them and this cool little accent strip. I can't find any photos of them in my albums right now.

I've done two trips to Baja this winter and I didn't take the camper for either trip. Why? The Motovan taxes the little 5.4 liter V8 quite a bit as is. It really needs shorter gears in the rear end for towing. However, the main reason is speed down rough dirt roads. I installed the Weldtec 4" Octillo Cruiser suspension kit with Fox Shox and a Puma air compressor so I could air down to 25 psi and back up in only ten minutes. On a rough road that the Motovan could average 40 mph down, I'd have to go 15 or 20 with the trailer. 2" of suspension travel and 27" tires doesn't cut it. I'm getting closer to taking action on that front. I'm thinking of a straight axle with long leaf springs from a light duty pickup like a Ranger or Tacoma from a junkyard. Any old shocks of the appropriate length would probably be fine and then mount 33x9.50 or so tires. Use the same wheels as the Motovan if possible, but I'm not sure how I'd get that 8 lug pattern without using a big axle. I'd plan on either a trailer axle or a junkyard pickup axle.

The other option I'm considering is to just space down the existing torsion axle a couple inches so I could fit 33" tires. This would give me more sidewall squish, but I doubt it would be enough to increase the speed enough to justify the cost and effort. May as well put some long travel springs on so I could get 8-10" of travel.

If I go through all this welding on the frame I'd also extend the tongue about 2 feet so I could just jacknife the trailer in camp and load/unload bikes without disconnecting. This would also make it much easier to back up this short little trailer. The Corvette will soon be for sale so I don't need to keep it sized and balanced for that use anymore. It has been awesome to use as a tow rig though. Really awesome.

 

[Petrolburner]

It bounced like crazy down this road. Even aired down to 15 psi and going slow, most of the time anyway.

So in this photo, see where the brown slush is piled up on the edges of the front?

Well that's also where the trim is all cracked from dirt and gravel pelting it. All the paint has been sand blasted off from use as well. I'm thinking of getting white bedliner and rolling it on the A frame portion as well as the trim corners.

 

[skersfan]

Don't remember if I have posted in your thread or not, but I love these things. I have had two, and if I were to ever build another off road trailer, it would be based on one of these. Go for it, build it up to what you want. Does the Aliner have aluminum upper frame. I know one of them comes with it now.

I talked with Chalet about buying the roofs from them and building the lower for a serious off road camper. They just wanted too much to make it a workable deal.

Hope you build it out to where you want it. They offer so much more than a teardrop, and a lot of creature comfort. The tongue on the Aliners, I have heard some bad things about, but was going to redo the whole frame. Aliner was a direct descendent of Chalet, actually brothers.

I will go back and read your whole thread tomorrow, too much to do tonight. Have fun with that instant set up base camp!!!

 

[Petrolburner]

Yes, it's aluminum. It's been a great first camper. I've gone on trips that I wouldn't have otherwise because of the ability to be dry and heated. The van with a sleeping loft and Portable Buddy Heater has cut into the nights spent in the Aliner. I'm going racing this weekend and I'll probably bring the trailer so I have a stove to cook with. I've borrowed a propane stove on the two Baja trips.

 

[Petrolburner]

This trailer is now for sale. It's listed in the for sale section here on ExPo and on the Bend Oregon craigslist.

 

[calicamper]

Those are cool trailers hard to find. But one must ask? Whats the 0-100 time behind the vet? Its got to be the fastest Airliner built 😆

 

[Petrolburner]

Probably still gets it done in under 10 seconds LOL