Box Rocket
Well-known member
Wow, quite a compliment. Thanks. Glad you like it and the whole reason is it posted here is to possibly spur ideas for others.
Box Rocket Homemade trailer build.
- Thread starter Box Rocket
- Start date
Wow, quite a compliment. Thanks. Glad you like it and the whole reason is it posted here is to possibly spur ideas for others.
Wow! You fit the six of you in the taco?!? We barely fit my family of four into our Montero!
Box Rocket
Well-known member
Ohhhhhhhhhhh! Nice!
Anthony24x
Observer
Hmm just a thought with the two left over hella's. couldn't you mount them upside down to the tent base so that when the tent is raised and deployed you get both an over head effect and the ability to swivel them around to illuminate the front? (Instead of mounted to the rear of the trailer)
Box Rocket
Well-known member
Yep. I could. But there are LEDs on the bottom of the tent to light stuff up underneath.
loren85022
Explorer
shoot.........you've got room for another row back in the coach seating area.
I've been doing a ton of looking around regarding trailer builds and yours is top notch! Could you please elaborate on the dimensions of the trailer itself? I'm also looking to build my trailer and in the design stages now. I'm not an engineer by any stretch of the imagination and would like to get some of the more crucial aspects correct...where do the axles go, how long should the tongue be, etc. Also, any tips or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! And again, excellent work!
Box Rocket
Well-known member
Well I'm no expert either but I'll give you some input from my perspective. As for axle placement, I recommend to plan your final setup as much as possible prior to building. For example, I just recently added my rear tire carrier which changed the balance of the trailer with the addition of the weight on the back of the trailer. It wasn't a huge deal for me because that weight was countered by the fuel/water cans at the front of the trailer. But the weight distribution will affect the ideal location for the axle. My axle is positioned about 10" behind the centerline of the trailer to provide a forward bias and some tongue weight to prevent wandering.
As for tongue length, you'll get a wide range of opinions. Personally, I find it not worth the effort to use an adjustable tongue. Some suggest that because they can use a longer tongue length for easier towing and backing on the road, and a shorter length for trails and tighter manuevering. It's a fact that a shorter tongue makes a trailer bit more difficult to back up. But to me its just too much hassle to worry about changing tongue lengths for different conditions. Since my trailer sees use on trails I set it up for optimal behavior on trails and accepted any shortcomings that came with it. I made it as short as possible, but still long enough that the trailer would not contact the truck if the trailer was jacknifed. That length can differ based on trailer shape and tow rig dimensions so build yours accordingly.
The dimension of my trailer are approx. 4x6' for the box. The frame has an outer dimension of 4x6' so the box interior dimensions are slightly shorter than that. The tongue is ~4', and the tire carrier out the back adds another 16" or so. That puts the total length just beyond 11' when you account for the length of the hitch and coupler. I don't have a total width measurement since it's changed a few times with different tires. But the track with was originally set to match the tow rig. IIRC the axle width was 65" from WMS to WMS.
One more quick question. The tent platform was a great idea. How heavy is the tent and how many people does it take to raise it up? I wasn't sure how much help the gas struts were in assisting with the lift if it could be done with just one person pulling all of the pins or if more were needed to actually lift the platform.
MtnClimber
Ready To Explore!
^^ Good question navy jay! I know my Kukenam tent weighs in at 130 lbs and was thinking of some sort of raising/lifting mechanism for my trailer too. I bet four 50 or 60 lb struts would do the job, but let's see what Adam used 
Box Rocket
Well-known member
My tent is ~150lbs. I'm using a 50lb gas strut at each corner so 200lbs of lift force. Between the tent and the platform its pretty close. Only takes one person to get the platform up. Pull the pop pins and it goes up and locks on its own. Getting it down takes more effort and is a bit easier with two people, but can still be done with one.
I love the tent lift - looks great! I've been using a set of Thule Xsporters that my tent is attached to. Similar concept to yours, but a bit more clunky. It's definitely a cumbersome manual job even for two people to raise or lower.
Do you have any issues with the square tubes binding when raising or lowering?
Thanks!
Do you have any issues with the square tubes binding when raising or lowering?
Thanks!
Box Rocket
Well-known member
I haven't had any issues with the tubes binding when the rack is going up. When you have two people pulling it down it can bind slightly until you even out how you are pulling it. It's all about equal amounts of force, but all in all it works really smooth.