I wanted something lightweight and capable of stowing all of my gear securely without exceeding the $2K mark for now. Pretty tall order it seems when looking at most mass produced cargo trailers. Anything Expo oriented won't be within reach until the $5K mark from what I have seen. Anyways, here is what I started out with...
Pretty much stock, I had painted the wheels, flipped the 2K axle for more clearance. Taking it offroad sucked!! It bounced like a pogo stick and destroyed a portable camping table and a 6 gallon water can on a relatively mild trail. Unacceptable.
The trailer sat for 6 months, lost interest a for a little while due to no budget to spend on it. Then a family camping trip popped up and I realized the need to have a great place to store my gear while maintaining interior space in my two door JK. This project moved back to the top of the list. First thing that changed was the axle so I could run a full size Jeep wheel. I decided to retain the original 2K springs because I am not planning on carrying more than 1000 pounds of gear so this will be a nice compromise in rate and allowed me to save some money. The new 3.5K axle with 5x5 spacing arrived and I wasted no time installing it. I also ordered some stock style 16ga steel fenders to use for the time being. Here is the axle installation and the fender mock up/install.
Fenders installed and ready for next phase.
So, a major gripe about a trailer like this besides the lousy trail performance out of the box which is now solved with larger wheels and tires is the expanded steel construction which offers zero protection from dust, water, and theft. That is my next focus...
Time for the expanded steel to become scrap. Lousy sliding tail gate is now permanent and level with the top lip of the trailer, which it wasn't in the beginning.
Tons of clean up to do, but the basic structure is ready for the next phase. Sheet metal.
Let me preface this next section with this, sheet metal sucks, especially when the base trailer was built by someone who has clearly no access to a square or tape measure. I had to do so many measurements and custom cuts that doing the sheet was a major headache. The start.
First sheet in place (Additional support added underneath, not pictured) and tail light brackets moved up high.
All sides in place.
How it will look behind the Jeep. (For scale)
Painted and bedlined.
Hinged lid in place and almost ready for sheet.
Sheet, custom made lift handle, and lock tabs in place along with cargo rack.
I moved too quickly between certain sections to outline the details and some of the more detailed build details like the conduits underneath that get the trailer wiring from tongue to the back and the cross bars that hold up the wet gear basket. I can always take more pictures if anyone is curious. Here is how it sits as of this thread write up.
I have a couple more things I need to do to complete the build such as gasket the lid to make it weather resistant, a tongue box with deep cycle, inverter, and solar maintainer, and a Max Coupler or Lock 'N Roll. Eventually I would like to redo the tail gate to incorporate some industrial sliders I have waiting for a slide out galley planned. So far I am pretty happy considered that I am at less than 1500.00 into this and I have three extra tires/wheels laying around included in that cost. Now I can carry my bike, gear, food, water, and all other goodies needed for a weekend of camping to a camp site without breaking the bank or breaking my Jeep with a heavy setup... I can still move this trailer with the tongue handle without any struggle.
Pretty much stock, I had painted the wheels, flipped the 2K axle for more clearance. Taking it offroad sucked!! It bounced like a pogo stick and destroyed a portable camping table and a 6 gallon water can on a relatively mild trail. Unacceptable.
The trailer sat for 6 months, lost interest a for a little while due to no budget to spend on it. Then a family camping trip popped up and I realized the need to have a great place to store my gear while maintaining interior space in my two door JK. This project moved back to the top of the list. First thing that changed was the axle so I could run a full size Jeep wheel. I decided to retain the original 2K springs because I am not planning on carrying more than 1000 pounds of gear so this will be a nice compromise in rate and allowed me to save some money. The new 3.5K axle with 5x5 spacing arrived and I wasted no time installing it. I also ordered some stock style 16ga steel fenders to use for the time being. Here is the axle installation and the fender mock up/install.
Fenders installed and ready for next phase.
So, a major gripe about a trailer like this besides the lousy trail performance out of the box which is now solved with larger wheels and tires is the expanded steel construction which offers zero protection from dust, water, and theft. That is my next focus...
Time for the expanded steel to become scrap. Lousy sliding tail gate is now permanent and level with the top lip of the trailer, which it wasn't in the beginning.
Tons of clean up to do, but the basic structure is ready for the next phase. Sheet metal.
Let me preface this next section with this, sheet metal sucks, especially when the base trailer was built by someone who has clearly no access to a square or tape measure. I had to do so many measurements and custom cuts that doing the sheet was a major headache. The start.
First sheet in place (Additional support added underneath, not pictured) and tail light brackets moved up high.
All sides in place.
How it will look behind the Jeep. (For scale)
Painted and bedlined.
Hinged lid in place and almost ready for sheet.
Sheet, custom made lift handle, and lock tabs in place along with cargo rack.
I moved too quickly between certain sections to outline the details and some of the more detailed build details like the conduits underneath that get the trailer wiring from tongue to the back and the cross bars that hold up the wet gear basket. I can always take more pictures if anyone is curious. Here is how it sits as of this thread write up.
I have a couple more things I need to do to complete the build such as gasket the lid to make it weather resistant, a tongue box with deep cycle, inverter, and solar maintainer, and a Max Coupler or Lock 'N Roll. Eventually I would like to redo the tail gate to incorporate some industrial sliders I have waiting for a slide out galley planned. So far I am pretty happy considered that I am at less than 1500.00 into this and I have three extra tires/wheels laying around included in that cost. Now I can carry my bike, gear, food, water, and all other goodies needed for a weekend of camping to a camp site without breaking the bank or breaking my Jeep with a heavy setup... I can still move this trailer with the tongue handle without any struggle.
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