Fleetwood Neon Modified for off road

[silvrzuki77]

Well my teardrop that I sold has over 10k mi in the year since I sold it and the monroe shocks on it are still solid. My tent trailers shocks have been great except for one that blew out cause I shaved the bumpstop down to far. Regardless your trailer will be heavier than you think with your gear in it.

 

[MountainD]

Got some Monroe 555003's ordered---I am fairly certain that I got everything right. Got the sprockets for my winch/lifting mechanism ordered as well as the shock mounts. raining a lot here in CO lately--every day, so no more work for the time being. All the brake stuff comes tomorrow, the gears and shocks come on Thursday, not yet sure about the hangers. I'd like to get the shock hangers welded before moving the box over, but I am getting darn close!! Busy week this week so won't be able to do anything for several days but i am getting very excited. I still have to figure out the step.... Open for suggestions to say the least! As far as weight goes, I think I am pretty close to accurate--it will be fun to see how close I guessed. The trailer pre mod says 950lbs. I have guessed with the new frame and mods I will be at 1800 lbs. I hope it isn't any heavier!

 

[silvrzuki77]

Are you sliding part of the old frame on top of your new frame? Or are you just moving the body over? I had to slide my old frame over cause of the lift system, but I made all the upper shock flush on the new frame. While I could have extended them up giving a better shock angle. Something to consider depending how you do yours. When is the first Death Valley trip?

 

[MountainD]

I am just cutting the tongue off the existing frame and then I will place the old frame directly on top of the new frame and weld the two together. I just could not see a way to remove the box and lifting mechanism without a royal re-do in which case I could have just as easily started from scratch. So very similar to what you did. Since the cross members are rather flimsy on the existing frame, I welded a cross member to mount the shocks to on the new frame. Once the shocks arrive and I position them, I might very well weld the upper bracket so they stick up above the new frame into the free space within the old frame (but I will weld it to the new frame since it is more stout).

As far as Death Valley, that may be something in the future. Living here in CO, I tend to go out to the mountains and Moab quite a bit---there isn't too much of a draw out there unless there is a group gathering of sorts... which I would be down for!

 

[silvrzuki77]

I hope to start hitting northern utah soon for trips. Sounds perfect what you are doing for the frame!

 

[herecomestony]

Nice setup!

 

[MountainD]

The rain briefly stopped so I flipped the cover off and did a super quick test fit of the shock. I have about 2.5 inches above my current frame to position the upper mount into which is why I'll mount it on a secondary support to get it as vertical as possible. But this is basically where I am thinking---I think the angle looks fairly good. I'll get the final position when I can jack up the trailer and get my axle to show were the full droop is and position it accordingly. Any opinions if I'm missing something? First build, so I'm learning tons. Thanks!

 

[BADDANDY]

Don't mount it fully extended unless the trailer is off the ground with the suspension hanging in mid air with the wheels and tires on.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Going to a good angle. Like Baddandy said just be careful on the droop.

 

[MountainD]

I took advantage of a 2 hour break in the rain and got the shock supports are all welded to the chassis and then got to work on the lifting mechanism. Got the winch modified to accept a sprocket for a #40 chain. Pretty slick set up that I am fairly certain will work well. Welded the winch drive cog to the sprocket so the sprocket will just slip into the winch motor. The other end I used a 3/4" diameter bushing/shaft and welded that to the opposite side of the sprocket and that fits into the winch tray to keep things strong and straight. Shortened up the winch tray to the new length to just accept the sprocket and chain. Should provide a slick way to raise and lower the top (a sister sprocket will be welded to the lifting mechanism to turn it). Currently back on a rain delay but should be moving the box to the new chassis soon!

 

[silvrzuki77]

Sweet! Have the same winch to lift my top. I usually leave the truck running and hooked to trailer while raising it up

 

[BADDANDY]

Made and bolted on some mount blocks for my tongue box. Added some screened grills to the backside of the tongue box as the battery will reside in it and the EU1000 and gas can(s) will be stored in it too. Mounted the box, fed the wiring thru grommets, and mounted the battery. I have the battery secured with the j-bolts thru the holey mount block up into the box. As soon as I get an AGM battery, I'm ready to camp!

 

[MountainD]

Shocks installed, working on the fenders...

 

[MountainD]

Axle removed. Tongue cut off. Just a little fixing up to do before landing it on the chassis!

 

[BADDANDY]

Ooooooooh, almost there! Hurry up!