Elmo's New Toy Hauler Build

[Titanpat57]

lol...

"birds of a feather..." I think you know the rest..

I actually owed Don a drawing, so I thought this may help

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Man you are such a bad influence, lol.

He really is a bad influence... Who builds 2 or 3 trailers in just a couple years and throws out all the ideas about using truck shells and such...

I'm going to start on the inside views tonight w/ Sketch-up if I have a moment... Shouldn't be anything earth shattering with my skills.

Don

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[elmo_4_vt]

So I'm back after a 1800mile round trip to Southern Georgia and back to Delaware. About 30 hours of driving in 3 days, but it was actually kind of fun since my wife and I went without the kid. It was a nice break and we hadn't had a road trip since before we were married.

I was supposed to pick up the trailer at the beginning of the year, but due to some "misunderstandings" about the axle placement, it got pushed back until this past weekend. Never got the axle placement where it was agreed to and where I wanted it, and that part didn't make me very happy. The good news is that almost everything else about the experience went very smoothly. All the other options went in like I ordered it, and the factory in GA was very responsive. Overall, I am very happy with Trailershowroom.com, but there are some things that are lost with not dealing in person. In my case, it was because there was a disconnect between the sales staff and the manufacturer's willingness to do certain custom touches, like a non-standard axle placement. This could probably happen with a normal in person dealer too though, so I don't see that as being too much of a detriment. I should have just verified everything with the factory before I put money down to make sure the salesman knew what they were talking about.

Like I said, everything else went pretty well. The trailer seems to be made well, and I'll confirm this as I start taking things apart to make my modifications. The axle placement wasn't a deal breaker, and I'll work around it by changing where I put some of the equipment. I was thinking about putting a spare tire on the back bumper, and now I think I will for rear weight as much as functionality. I also had them move the "kitchen" are back about 1' towards the axle to help some too. The empty trailer has about 180lbs of tongue weight as it stands now. A little heavy already, but I don't know how much it weighs. I'll do that this week when I get it tagged and registered. On the plus side, it towed very well all 900 miles through some REALLY high winds and tracked very well.

Anyway, here are the pictures. The only "quality" issue that I'm not happy about, is that they used different style of lights on the rear between the back-up lights and the stop/turn lights. Still trying to think about what I can do to fix that part.

Here it is at night in the storage yard with 100 other trailers when we first got into town after 13 hours of driving:

And the next morning after picking it up. Took my Dad's truck because it gets much better gas milage:

This coming weekend I'll be able to start taking things apart and check out the little details. I'm going to flip the 4" drop axle to see how it will look with the future suspension.

Let me know what you think. Looks a little plain now, but I think it will really start looking nice with the new wheels/tire and when we put some color vinyl graphics on towards the end.

Don

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[java]

Should be Fun!

 

[Titanpat57]

Don,

Pics look great...seems to be all there.

Although the axle thing may seem to be a bit of a PITA....I think with a little creative "loading" you'll be fine.

Bottom line, I'd rather have too much tongue weight than too little...congratz!!

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Didn't get too much time to play around today, but a couple things got done. The sale of the my old trailer is finalized. The new owner came by today, and after changing out the tires (I kept my old tires for the new trailer), it went away to it's new life. Kind of sad to see it go, but hopefully this setup will work better for me. I also got it jacked up to test the fit the 35" tires, took some of the interior paneling off to check the framing, and put some tape lines in to try and help me envision what the finished interior will look like. Pictures kind of suck, but I'll get better ones up and I go.

I looks like I need about 5 inches of lift, which should be pretty easy. Still contemplating about suspension style. It's going to be pretty close fitting into my garage, even with 8.5' doors. An air bag suspension would make things much easier.

With air bags, when you increase air pressure for heavier loads, will they still absorb the bumps well? In my head, it kind of seams like they would get pretty hard when you get close to their max inflation? Anyone have any good experience?

The framing in the walls looks pretty good actually. The studs seem to be pretty square and relatively nice welds. Should be pretty easy to pull things apart and add insulation in a couple weekends once I can get a pass from the wife (after she see progress on me finishing the in-progress kitchen remodel).


With the 35s just sitting there:

A whole shot showing proportions:

A crappy shot showing the interior from the rear door. The tape lines are where the side cabinets will hit the walls, and the open area on the floor when the bed is folded up, allowing the bike to be loaded in. It won't be very easy to understand, but I'm working on a sketch up that should make it a little better.

And a picture of my bike, since I don't think most have seen it... Nothing special, just an '07 KLR:

Don

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[Petrolburner]

This is going to be a great setup. I'd love to have something like this to haul the trail bikes to remote places to ride epic single track. Keep up the good work and remember there is no such thing as too many pictures :drool:

 

[elmo_4_vt]

Not too much progress, but at least enough for a small update...

I've gotten the driver's side wall insulated and buttoned back up. Pull part of the passenger's side wall off and will hopefully have time this week.

Got my new 3500lb straight axle with electric brakes, parking brake, and 3" tube. The brakes might be upside down, but I can check that later since their not hooked up yet. Here it is installed. Not sure if I want to try and lower it or not... Not sure if I can really...

I also got the cabinet frames finished and some of the drawers. Picked them up from my Dad's basement and brought them home for some figuring.

Hopefully things are starting to make a little more sense to people as far as the layout... On the left hand side where it drops down towards the front (or the right hand side where it goes up towards the front) will be the bed area when it's folded down. When it's folded up, I'll be able to drive the bike in.

I also picked up a bunch of lights and a couple other goodies:

So it's coming along slowly... Once I get the insulation on the passenger side done, I can start making the plywood sides to mount the frames too and then it will hopefully really start looking like a camper. I'm down to a month before our first scheduled camp-out... Need to start moving a little quicker.

Don

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[loren85022]

Elmo, I really like your design. Its the medium between a toyhauler and a camp trailer. One thing you might consider would be to create a deck out of your ramp.
You'd probably need some jacks to hold it up, but it would make a nice extension when the weather is nice enuf. I do same on a toyhauler and it really is a great place to enjoy a beer.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

That is actually in the plan... Though it would be mostly for additional sleeping area rather than a deck per-se. Though neither will happen until later this year at the earliest... I was thinking about using a setup like AT sells for rear stabilizers on their trailers, and install them on the tailgate ramp. To me, it seems the hard part will be making an attachment system for the canvas and trying to sew some sort of window or screen into it. It would certainly be nice to be able to expand the living area a bit by laying down the ramp, sort of like a pop-up. Time will tell on that part.

Don

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[Greenmonkey]

Where did u get the lights at?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[elmo_4_vt]

All the lights are from easternmarine.com, but they have the brick/mortar store just a few miles from my work. So I just went there to pick them up... But the online store is just as good if you don't need instant gratification.

Don

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[elmo_4_vt]

Some Progress...

Spent ALL day outside working on the trailer today... I'd like to spend tomorrow out there and hold of a progress report until then, but it looks like tomorrow is going to be wash in these parts, so I'll just throw out what I have now...

Got all the ceiling pieces buttoned up with the 1" of insulation between the metal framing, 1/2" strips the other way with another 1/2" of foam insulation. Then put some Birch, pre-finished 1/4" ply. Also got the 4 ceiling lights installed and wiring pulled back to where the switches will be. More on that in the picture descriptions.

I also got the cabinet frames all put together and mounted about 75%. Hopefully I'll have time to get the rest of that done this week after work if I can keep from spending 12 hours a day there.

On with the pictures:

The ceiling actually went up last weekend:

Started by cutting most of the cabinet sides... I used 1/2", 5 ply Maple, with 1 side pre-finished. Got a great price on it from a local plywood wholesale shop. Cool thing is the also said the could get 5x8 and also said 5x10 ACX were available. Could be cool for the Tear Drop crowd.

Then I got all of the ply connected to the frames. I used biscuits and nails, but might go back and put some bracing on the back side for some extra support. Not sure how biscuits and some trim nails will hold up on rough roads.

I waited a few hours for the glue to partially set, then I started securing everything down to the floor... Which unfortunately wasn't very level, nor square with the walls. Not a huge deal, I guess I'll just have to get some trim to close the gaps and hide the shims I had to use to keep everything tight.

I was hoping to get the motorcycle loaded in, but didn't get time. I hope it fits!

The next are just some shots of where the kitchen will sit eventually and the bed platform.

And the overall...

Let me know what you think... I should be able to have front bulkhead that separates the storage from the sleeping area and the beds done in another half days work... Hopefully. I have one more weekend before it's first camping trip, and we're going one way or another. It doesn't look promising that I'll get all the drawers and DC system in by then, but we'll see.

Don

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[Mark Harley]

elmo: Very nice skills on the face frames and design. The trailer is comming together great!
I can't wait to see more.

 

[TheThom]

I love it! I love that you're using unique ideas and thinking outside the box. Subscribed.

I have a silly question, and please don't pull my man card : Are you worried about the motorcycle smell? I know it's manly to smell like gasoline and engine grease while sleeping, but do you have any ventilation plans or maybe plans to cover the floor when the bike is in it to catch mud/grease/etc?