Bolt-together fiberglass Jeep-tub trailer kit
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I left the frame red because this is a proof-of-concept trailer, designed to show people what's possible. I didn't want to disguise the fact that it's an HF frame, I wanted to make sure people see that this trailer is based on something very affordable.
When I'm done with this one and sell it, the new owner can paint the frame whatever color he likes
.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Notice anything different about today's photo of the trailer?
It's got a NY plate on it now. I did the registration and inspection today, and took it for its maiden voyage. Runs just fine.
Tomorrow I plan to prep molds to make what I'm proposing be the tailgate for the production version of the trailer kit. Stay tuned...
It's got a NY plate on it now. I did the registration and inspection today, and took it for its maiden voyage. Runs just fine.
Tomorrow I plan to prep molds to make what I'm proposing be the tailgate for the production version of the trailer kit. Stay tuned...
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Savvy very generously donated the tail lights to me for this project, but they didn't include the LED license bolts and I didn't want to be greedy and ask .
I found the license light at Autozone, it's LED and it simply attaches to the upper two license plate bolts. $15.
(Hey, maybe when I sell this trailer, I'll swap the lights off it onto my Jeep!)
.I found the license light at Autozone, it's LED and it simply attaches to the upper two license plate bolts. $15.
(Hey, maybe when I sell this trailer, I'll swap the lights off it onto my Jeep!
)
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Recently I saw some photos of an aluminum tailgate with a storage compartment:
This storage part of this design doesn't seem very practical in a drop-down tailgate used in a trailer, seems like the storage compartment would get in the way of loading and unloading things in the trailer. Perhaps if this was a side-swinging tailgate the storage part would make more sense to me.
Anyway, on the outside it's like the tailgate I've been planning to make for the production versions of the tub kit. I've already got the mold for the outside skin - All I need to do is mold the skin in the solid front panel mold, and cut the tailgate skin out of the resulting part.
I'm getting ready to mold up one of these "smooth" tailgates as a proof-of-concept, although I'm not planning to make a inner skin with a storage compartment in it, for now I'll bond the smooth outer skin to a standard CJ-style inner skin.
There are many hardware options that could work with this design tailgate, including of course the most likely option, which is the standard CJ tailgate hardware:
A hardware option for the side-swinging gate I haven't shown in this drawing could be a single CJ-style turn latch on the inside, that would be the easiest and least expensive way to latch it.
There wouldn't be an embossed logo on this tailgate version, but since the outer skin is smooth, any logo could be added as a vinyl decal sticker.
This storage part of this design doesn't seem very practical in a drop-down tailgate used in a trailer, seems like the storage compartment would get in the way of loading and unloading things in the trailer. Perhaps if this was a side-swinging tailgate the storage part would make more sense to me.
Anyway, on the outside it's like the tailgate I've been planning to make for the production versions of the tub kit. I've already got the mold for the outside skin - All I need to do is mold the skin in the solid front panel mold, and cut the tailgate skin out of the resulting part.
I'm getting ready to mold up one of these "smooth" tailgates as a proof-of-concept, although I'm not planning to make a inner skin with a storage compartment in it, for now I'll bond the smooth outer skin to a standard CJ-style inner skin.
There are many hardware options that could work with this design tailgate, including of course the most likely option, which is the standard CJ tailgate hardware:
A hardware option for the side-swinging gate I haven't shown in this drawing could be a single CJ-style turn latch on the inside, that would be the easiest and least expensive way to latch it.
There wouldn't be an embossed logo on this tailgate version, but since the outer skin is smooth, any logo could be added as a vinyl decal sticker.
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jscherb
Expedition Leader
I finished making a prototype "smooth" tailgate, here it is rough-trimmed and installed. It's still in gelcoat white, so you'll have to imagine it in black for now.
The hardware is all installed with only two internal nut plates, instead of the 6 the factory Jeep tailgate would have. The turn latches and cable brackets attach to a single plate, and the hinges are through bolted.
The hardware/nut plate changes will result in a good cost reduction in manufacturing these. These cost reductions are compatible with the "Jeep style" tailgate as well as this smooth-skin one, so whichever tailgate might come to market can benefit from them.
The hardware is all installed with only two internal nut plates, instead of the 6 the factory Jeep tailgate would have. The turn latches and cable brackets attach to a single plate, and the hinges are through bolted.
The hardware/nut plate changes will result in a good cost reduction in manufacturing these. These cost reductions are compatible with the "Jeep style" tailgate as well as this smooth-skin one, so whichever tailgate might come to market can benefit from them.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
It'll support just as much as the first version tailgate I built; that one used factory-standard hardware. I tested that one with the 225-pound gorilla test:
jscherb
Expedition Leader
You didn't miss it, I haven't posted the weight. Here are the weights of the various components -
The complete tub, including the 3/4" plywood floor, weighs around 125 pounds.
The HF trailer frame I used is 260, according to HF.
The 245/75-16 tires on Jeep Moab rims weigh about 90 pounds more than the little HF tires that came with the frame.
So the total is a little less than 500 pounds, give or take a few.