Father and Son's Off Road Expedition Trailer build

[Mushin_Noshin]

I had the same issue with my 5 foot walls, spring over it sits too high to use the galley area. I went spring under and have had zero issues with axle travel offroad, but I'm shorter then u so....
A far as ac mount, overbuilt it now so u don't kick urself later, just my opinion. Keep up the good work

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[lacofdfireman]

Well I sort of hit a snag today. The 21 gallon water tank came in and since the last few days I have decided to add a Generator and an Air Conditioner I think my tongue weight of my trailer is going to be way off. I can tell you right now with nothing in front of the axle I'm probably at about 30-40lbs of tongue weight. I know my galley will be fairly heavy but the bad part is I am planning on putting the Water tank (21 Gallons)just forward of the center of the axle. You can see in the pic here.

Also in the Tongue Box I plan to build it will house the Batteries, Generator etc. I also have the A/C hanging out the front and the spare tire on the side of the trailer just back of the front about 6 inches. I'm afraid I'm going to be way tongue heavy. Like probably 2-300lbs of tongue weight when loaded. I know the Jeep Grand Cherokee has a Tongue Capacity of 750lbs but I'm thinking for off roading I need to be lighter than that up front. I'm am thinking my trailer is going to be somewhere in the range of 2000lb loaded. That's just my thinking. Hoping it lighter but i've way over built it. Oh ya and I do plan on putting a RTT on top. I was thinking I may be able to finagle the CG with the RTT a little by moving it more rearward than planned? So right now I'm kinda stumped of what to do and where to go from here.

Also here are a few photo's of the tank installed in the floor. Originally I was going to put in on the floor and make a raised floor and have some under storage b but then decided last second I didn't want to lose my headroom. Especially since the A/C is going to stick out in the bed area some. I have the option to mount it under the floor totally and make a hatch out of the piece I cut out or I can recess it half way above the floor and half below. I do play on laying down a 1.5" sheets of Foam insulation on the floor so this would make the half in and half out a possibility. But I'd need to figure out how to seal around the tank to prevent moisture and dirt from coming up through the floor... Thoughts, ideas... Thanks for your help everyone..

 

[jwiereng]

tongue weight could be lessened by moving the axle forward. It seems that you don't yet have fenders. Moving a few inches might be all you need.

 

[DonBeasley]

Great build and am enjoying all of the decisions that have to be made. My son and I did a build project together on an M416 a few years back and now we are going to spend the summer reevaluating what we do and do not need and start making the mods.

Keep the pictures coming.

 

[lacofdfireman]

Been working on Electrical, Plumbing patching counter sink screw holes and any gaps in wood as well as putting on the Epoxy Resin to keep the water from ruining the wood so fast. I've been working 8-10hrs a day on it but seems like I spend to much time going back and forth to stores picking up supplies etc. I have burned out a Harbor Freight orbital sander, metal grinder and basically ruined the 10" metal chop saw they sell. That thing couldn't cut a straight line if it had to. Good thing my son can fill gaps with his welding skills. I need to take it back and buy a real metal saw. Not sure they will take it back now though.

Here is a photo of some of the patch and epoxy work going on.

Here is my son welding up some angle for the tongue box to sit in.

Here is a photo of the trailer hooked up to the Jeep with the Max Coupler. I could see this being a PITA off road where you needed to unhook and hook back up but can't pull the trailer around by hand.

Also soon as my new axle gets here I think I may try and put my axle under the spring instead of over. It should drop the trailer about 4-6" which will most likely improve the wind resistance on long trips and drop the CG some for off-road. I've got less than 3 weeks to have this trailer fully useable. And I've probably got less than 5 days in those 3 weeks to work on it so it's gonna be some long days at home. Still having fun though. I just need to quit coming up with more stuff to add to it. Oh ya and did I mention I'm already probably over my budget by double if not more. Oh well.


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[jim65wagon]

Overbudget, over tongue weight goal, out of time. Sounds like our build by the end.
We moved our axle forward 4" ( I think, I'll have to revisit my own build thread ) and lost 140 pounds of tongue weight. Even if you hit 350 lbs you'll be lighter than ours. You can offset some of that tongue weight by building running boards behind the fenders and using them for outside storage. We have a propane tank mounted on each side. I've seen others with generators, coolers, storage boxes, etc. Anything you can add behind the axle helps.

 

[FMF]

Don't know why I did not see this build sooner. I have been running into a lot of the same issues you had at the start. We where going to build out framed wall but switched gears after I noticed how heavy it would be since we had already purchased 3/4 plywood. If you have any scraps you can do a boil test to confirm the use of a water proof glue. Basically take a couple squares of you plywood and tops them in an old pot and bring the water to a boil with the wood in it. Take one of the pices of wood out at 15 min and the other at 30 min to check for separation of he layers. If it stays right and just swells then it was made with water proof glue.

What is he with of your AC? I am looking to put a small window unit in mine as well but it needs to be under 15 inches wide to fit where I want it to go.

With the heat you have out there have you thought about using a reflective roof paint on the top of your trailer? I was crushing the isles of Home Depot and ran across the reflective roof paint. Think we are going to go with it for the very top center of the trailer roof so you won't be able to see it from he sides.

 

[lacofdfireman]

Don't know why I did not see this build sooner. I have been running into a lot of the same issues you had at the start. We where going to build out framed wall but switched gears after I noticed how heavy it would be since we had already purchased 3/4 plywood. If you have any scraps you can do a boil test to confirm the use of a water proof glue. Basically take a couple squares of you plywood and tops them in an old pot and bring the water to a boil with the wood in it. Take one of the pices of wood out at 15 min and the other at 30 min to check for separation of he layers. If it stays right and just swells then it was made with water proof glue.

What is he with of your AC? I am looking to put a small window unit in mine as well but it needs to be under 15 inches wide to fit where I want it to go.

With the heat you have out there have you thought about using a reflective roof paint on the top of your trailer? I was crushing the isles of Home Depot and ran across the reflective roof paint. Think we are going to go with it for the very top center of the trailer roof so you won't be able to see it from he sides.

FMF glad you found my build and can learn from some of my mistakes. Hoping to get mine wired up for lights next week and get it to the scale to see where I will be weight wise. Hoping I'm not shocked. Haha.

I don't think you will be able to fit the window A/C that I'm using. Here are the dimensions off of lowes website.

It's the Fridgidaire 6000BTU unit and will freeze you out in no time. It should be very energy efficient with the 3/4" exterior wall then 1 1/2" of insulation between the exterior and interior.

 

[Buffalobwana]

I like the 45'd back on it. Looks like those Aussie expidition rigs.

 

[Bushcoat]

Love it so far!

 

[jeeper92]

Hello

Please explain what you are doing with your ac box out front

 

[lacofdfireman]

Please explain what you are doing with your ac box out front

So I decided to mount this on the front for a few reasons.

1. I wanted a permanent mounting spot. This is something that will stay in the trailer all the time.
2. It's a window mount but I don't have a window to mount it in properly and I really don't want to use up the window space.

So basically I had 2 choices of where to mount. Front or in the back in the galley cabinets. In the Galley cabinets would not be good so the front was really my only option. The A/C's require fresh air to work properly. You can't really just stick it inside because when it's running it blows hot air out the back so the back has to be outside. I built the box with a hinge on the back so that when I run the A/C I will flip the back wood panel up so that it can breathe properly. Not sure if that's what you were looking for or not but that's how I designed it.

 

[lacofdfireman]

Well been spending more time building again. It getting closer every day. Problem is I can't seem to get any time off work. We have 240 fireman vacancies right now so time off is not easy.

Worked on all the wiring the other day. Have everything wired up. Trailer lights, clearance lights and all of my 110 outlets at 12v appliances are up and running.

Also finished the basics of the galley. It's going to be super basic. My plans are for a lot of counter space and a sink. The counters will be hinged so you can store stuff underneath. The. 1 shelf above that will hold bins. Then I'll have a bungee net across to hold them all in. No doors just real basic.

Also starting to get some paint on it. My plan is a two tone grey and black. The bottom 1/3 will be truck bed liner like Hercules or something like that.

You can see my 30amp service line sticking out the hole. I won't hook that up until paint is done. Also input my side markers up higher so you can see them better. I didn't want to put them on the sides of the trailer for fear of them busting off when off roading. Also I ran all my trailer wires inside along the bottom wall. Hope I don't regret that down the road. I just dust have holes drilled out of my frame to run them through and didn't want it going under the frame where you have the potential of dragging your frame off road and smashing the wires.


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[lacofdfireman]

Also hoping to get some ideas for how to do my wheel wells. I want to make storage front and rear of wheels. I keep searching to try and find idea but doesn't seem like anyone does this. And if they have I haven't seen the photos. I'm kinda a see and do person. If I see it I can build it. Works better than someone trying to tell me how to do it. If you have ideas and especially photos post them up.


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[Mushin_Noshin]

Looks great, I know what u mean about being short staffed, sniff sneeze sick leave cough cough!

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