2007 Jumping Jack Build
- Thread starter dnellans
- Start date
I thought about using Toyota compatible rims to save on a spare but you have to change out the hubs and I wasn't sure on a 7 inch rim. If you already have the rims I bet that they would work without hitting and allow should be able to sell you the right hubs as the cheapest option. Not sure I'd want to try anything smaller than 235/75r16 on that rim and bigger than that might be dicey in the wheel well. I have 235/85r16s on the truck and love em. Let us know what you end up doing!
After just a week of futzing with the JJ I have been frustrated with the fact it has a pad and not a wheel on the tongue jack. A nice wheel makes it so much easier to move the trailer around by hand on concrete/blacktop. So went to the local trailer supply spot and they had a good castor in stock that would work so I took 30 minutes with the sawzall and drill to conver the jack into a removable foot so I can use this wheel. You can also buy a pad if you need one so you don't really loose anything. The jack is a Ram 2000lb jack with 10 inches of extension just in case anyone is looking for info on it. The extension tube is 2inch outer dieamter and basically any castor made for a 2 inch jack tube should work. Wasn't particularly hard to do with a new bimetal blade, punch to start the hole and sharp high speed steel bit on the hand drill. No more lifting the 200lb tongue for me to maneuver it within 1 inche of the garage wall now!
The 10 foot foldable ramp off ebay finally came and I am impressed with the quality since i normally have low expectations for cheap stuff on ebay. It would be pretty dicey trying to get something up on top of the JJ with the 6 foot ramps the guy gave me with the JJ. If you're getting an 8ft, why not a 10ft if its load rated for the same amount at 600lbs per ramp. I should even be able to get the street bike on top of the JJ next time we since the ramp angle is low enough. I'm goint to try and figure out how to make some mounts for this on the tailgate of the JJ so it just can live on the JJ fulltime since its only 22lbs.
the way the mounting for the torsion axle lines up its actually bolted onto some plates that are welded down off the frame rails so it looks like bending/shimming might work if it proves to be a problem. Because its a torsion axle i also don't know how that might affect ability to do alignments, but I figure I'll keep an eye on it over the first few thousand miles and if i notice the "nubs" wearing with the same wear pattern as the tires that came on the trailer then I'll get serious about fixing it. For all I know the people I bought it from put ****ty tires on the trailer before I bought it from them =/
According to this - http://www.hotrodhotline.com/md/assets/images/MD_Tire_Wear.jpg the inside of both tires would be a camber issue, not a toe in/out issue.
According to this - http://www.hotrodhotline.com/md/assets/images/MD_Tire_Wear.jpg the inside of both tires would be a camber issue, not a toe in/out issue.
That does sound like more of a camber issue than an alignment issue. You should try to determine if something is bent. Such as the spindle or the arm or the axle.
If the spindle nut at the arm is coming loose, it would allow more camber as well. Failing or failed torsion rubber will also result in negative camber.
You will get more negative camber as the load increases. More than likely this is the case. These trailers are meant to haul things on top of them, that's part of their appeal.
Riding with a lot of weight in the trailer all the time, i.e. a big UTV or a couple of quads plus gear, water, equipment, fuel etc. over thousands of miles could have something to do with the uneven tire wear. I mean check this out:
Loaded up pretty good, and you can see the tire is about 2 inches from the fender.
Now contrast that to your unladen trailer:
That much weight can affect the camber enough to cause the wear you're seeing. Just know that if you do load it up with a lot of heavy items, the tires will rightfully wear out quicker, even or not. It's the cost we pay to be cool and have cool toys
:friday:
And these trailers are cool. I've had one for the last 3 years that I bought off of a guy that was in a tough spot financially. Got it for $3500. Came with the Jumping Jack aluminum ramps, the wheel stops for the top deck, and the propane tank holder. Other than trail dust that cleaned up, it was in great shape. It's been a blast and it's also been really useful as a utility trailer. My wife and I, like you, were sleeping in the back of the truck with a drawer set up, and while functional, the trailer has been much more comfortable. No more banging my head, and she can stand up to put clothes on lol.
If the spindle nut at the arm is coming loose, it would allow more camber as well. Failing or failed torsion rubber will also result in negative camber.
You will get more negative camber as the load increases. More than likely this is the case. These trailers are meant to haul things on top of them, that's part of their appeal.
Riding with a lot of weight in the trailer all the time, i.e. a big UTV or a couple of quads plus gear, water, equipment, fuel etc. over thousands of miles could have something to do with the uneven tire wear. I mean check this out:
Loaded up pretty good, and you can see the tire is about 2 inches from the fender.
Now contrast that to your unladen trailer:
That much weight can affect the camber enough to cause the wear you're seeing. Just know that if you do load it up with a lot of heavy items, the tires will rightfully wear out quicker, even or not. It's the cost we pay to be cool and have cool toys
:friday:And these trailers are cool. I've had one for the last 3 years that I bought off of a guy that was in a tough spot financially. Got it for $3500. Came with the Jumping Jack aluminum ramps, the wheel stops for the top deck, and the propane tank holder. Other than trail dust that cleaned up, it was in great shape. It's been a blast and it's also been really useful as a utility trailer. My wife and I, like you, were sleeping in the back of the truck with a drawer set up, and while functional, the trailer has been much more comfortable. No more banging my head, and she can stand up to put clothes on lol.
gravelhack
Heavy Hauler
We should have a Jumping Jack online rally, bring your stories and pics. We love ours, fits our family perfectly.
With a little warm weather here in TX I finally got out for our first overnight in the JJ with my 1.5 year old son and wife over the holiday weekend. Just 2 hours to a local state park with the boat on top that we yanked off to camp, then sent them home and used it to trailer to the put-in/take-out the next day while floating the guadalupe. Everything worked like a charm and I could be happier with it. Wife totally approved of it and son slept a whopping 7 hours over night next to mom (and then dad) on the side we have bed extenders to turn it into a double. We ran the mr. propane big buddy mostly just to see how well it would heat the tent up and holy cow - 15 minutes and it was too hot to bear in there, granted the overnight low was only 55F or so. Overall the first camping trip with son was a booming sucess and I'm really happy with the JJ purchase thus far. While packing up for this trip I discovered that the basecamp stove camp-chef explorer 60 stove + the mr. heater big buddy are sized just right so that they can live inside the JJ bag with the tent all folded down since there is a little extra room in the bag even with 2 of the bed extensions, nice to have 2 less things that have to load/unload or be in the back of the truck when heading out!
On the wheel wear issue - I've put just a few hundred miles on the trailer now in total for fishing + this trip and the new tire nibs have worn off evenly and i even chaulked the tires to see if they were over/under inflated and things look good so I'm guessing that the old tire wear issue is from extended towing with load and never rotating the tires. Time will tell.
One "mod" before leaving - the zipper pulls were just a few inches too short for me to hold them and zip the bag open/closed with the beds folded out. So I fixed that with a 2x longer piece of paracord to replace each pull with fastener that was reusable. One of those 5cent fixes that will no longer annoy me everytime i open and close it - the best mods
Will post a few pics from camping when I download 'em.
On the wheel wear issue - I've put just a few hundred miles on the trailer now in total for fishing + this trip and the new tire nibs have worn off evenly and i even chaulked the tires to see if they were over/under inflated and things look good so I'm guessing that the old tire wear issue is from extended towing with load and never rotating the tires. Time will tell.
One "mod" before leaving - the zipper pulls were just a few inches too short for me to hold them and zip the bag open/closed with the beds folded out. So I fixed that with a 2x longer piece of paracord to replace each pull with fastener that was reusable. One of those 5cent fixes that will no longer annoy me everytime i open and close it - the best mods
Will post a few pics from camping when I download 'em.
My JJ is under a couple feet of snow at the moment......
Your trailer is looking good dnellans. Have you found a replacement patch for the rubberized bottom on the tent. I have a small hole, smaller than a dime, that needs fixed when I get it out.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Your trailer is looking good dnellans. Have you found a replacement patch for the rubberized bottom on the tent. I have a small hole, smaller than a dime, that needs fixed when I get it out.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Probably worth checking with JJ directly but it sure looks like the floor is urathane to me. I haven't had a rip so haven't tried yet but if its urathane you could patch it just like you would a NRS boat for a fix that you'll never need to think about again. A call to JJ and they should be able to tell you the material so you get appropriate solvent and patch, then just follow guide something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSbOhIk56A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxSbOhIk56A
Love the zipper mod dnellans! One of those "duh, why didn't I think of that" type of things I will definitely be doing. I have been annoyed at the zipper and having to reach over the beds to unzip and zip the bag. I have just been walking on top of the bed sides
Another thing that I have noticed about these trailers.
When I purchased mine, I noticed wear holes in the bag bottom at the two corners furthest from the entrance to the tent. I guessed it was from dragging the tent body out of the trailer numerous times and dragging it to where the vinyl, (or whatever the bag is made of), and the frame dragging on the wood of the trailer wore holes in the bag. I think one of my next mods may be to rig something up in the garage with a comealong or something to lift the tent out of the trailer enough to pull the trailer out from under the tent and then set it down again. Kind of like the things you see guys using to take their truck toppers/ shells off with, or maybe some kind of canoe lift etc. I had also thought about reinforcing the corners on the bottom of the bag with something more durable, like a flat piece of plastic that I could glue on so when and if it is dragged out it would slide on the plastic in lieu of the bag itself.
Another thing that I have noticed about these trailers.
When I purchased mine, I noticed wear holes in the bag bottom at the two corners furthest from the entrance to the tent. I guessed it was from dragging the tent body out of the trailer numerous times and dragging it to where the vinyl, (or whatever the bag is made of), and the frame dragging on the wood of the trailer wore holes in the bag. I think one of my next mods may be to rig something up in the garage with a comealong or something to lift the tent out of the trailer enough to pull the trailer out from under the tent and then set it down again. Kind of like the things you see guys using to take their truck toppers/ shells off with, or maybe some kind of canoe lift etc. I had also thought about reinforcing the corners on the bottom of the bag with something more durable, like a flat piece of plastic that I could glue on so when and if it is dragged out it would slide on the plastic in lieu of the bag itself.
gravelhack
Heavy Hauler
JJ mods
Our JJ had the spare relocated to the tongue by PO. Like it or not it does make it easier to get to although renders the Jeep tailgate rather inaccessible. I installed a well engineered and fabricated 2" rec. to the rear for bike carrier, road tested 1000 miles works great w/ 4 bikes. Going to 16" soft 8s and 285/75-16, requires a little lift on the torflex axle, but will look way cool with new Jeep fenders. Long live the Jumping Jack. Thanks for the trip report, Big Buddy on order....keep the stories comin.
Our JJ had the spare relocated to the tongue by PO. Like it or not it does make it easier to get to although renders the Jeep tailgate rather inaccessible. I installed a well engineered and fabricated 2" rec. to the rear for bike carrier, road tested 1000 miles works great w/ 4 bikes. Going to 16" soft 8s and 285/75-16, requires a little lift on the torflex axle, but will look way cool with new Jeep fenders. Long live the Jumping Jack. Thanks for the trip report, Big Buddy on order....keep the stories comin.
Got pics of the tire relocation? I've got that propane rack and decided not to put the engel on the tongue and keep the propane so trying to figure out what I should put next to the propane bottle since there is some free space there that is itching for a container of some sort.
huntsonora
Explorer
I am currently looking for a JJ and can't wait to see what else you do to yours