Just another trailer build
- Thread starter bluebear
- Start date
Thanks, the hardest part is the planning. The actual work so far took a few hrs.
So I forgot to calculate the steel for the 'wings' on the frame so im short of 2x2. It really sucks since its a long weekend and I dont want to pay double the price at the only wholesaler open on weekends.
I may compromise and just use 1x2 instead, and save some weight as its structurally less important.
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So I forgot to calculate the steel for the 'wings' on the frame so im short of 2x2. It really sucks since its a long weekend and I dont want to pay double the price at the only wholesaler open on weekends.
I may compromise and just use 1x2 instead, and save some weight as its structurally less important.
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Heres where Im at. Im mostly waiting for the axle so I can build my fenders as tight as possible to the tires and so I can move it around a little easier.
I do need to go pickup a jack stand, ball coupler for now, chains, wiring etc. Just need to find more time.
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Well coupler is on, jack is welded in place. Also my father in law gave me a solid old drill press which the timing couldnt have been better. I made it so I can extend the tongue another 6 inch or so for hwy. I have no idea if it will make a difference but it was just two more holes.
I also went on a shopping spree and picked up a metric swack of lights, cables, wiring harnesses etc. Im just trying to decide the best way to go with wiring.
I think 7 pin is a must. I hope to add a deep cycle battery eventually for base camp duties, lights, inverter, etc..
For charging I have no idea if I can do that off a standard trailer harness??
Do I need a battery isolator and 4ga wires to the vehicle battery?
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djaraceandrally
Adventuring somewhere...
I have a smart relay connecting my start battery to the remote battery (for the aux lights and fridge) currently in the load area but will be moved to the trailer. It allows the start battery in the engine bay to recover from the surge from starting the Land Rover and after a few seconds recovery, it allows charge to start running the remote one. It stops you from forgetting to manually switch the isolater key and arrive at site with no charge in your trailer battery and stops you draining both of them flat (meaning you cannot start the vehicle when needed). Only around £15 on ebay ($20?) and really easy to set up. I can even select bypass and can provide connection from the trailer battery to the engine battery if needed, but my wiring would not support the current required to start the engine from the remote battery to be honest, thats seriously thick stuff!! Think id just pull out the spare and use my jump leads!!
There are some much more expensive and clever versions, but my simple one has been just fine. Its rated to charge upto 30A, which i have found to be plenty enough.
There are some much more expensive and clever versions, but my simple one has been just fine. Its rated to charge upto 30A, which i have found to be plenty enough.
I did some googling on cock variety today. All shapes and sizes indeed.
An hour later, I got better results partaining to what I need by googling adhesive caulk. I settled on Sikaflex 252 and will call around for best prices. Amazon.ca had it listed at 40 bucks a tube! Canadian Amazon stores are know to gouge so Ill call some wholesalers Monday. Im sure the primer isnt cheap either.
Illl have a few rivets per panel with stainless washers between the panels to form a gap as recomended.
I hope I can get the side panels bent on a brake to have a 1 1/2" 90 on the bottom, and to wrap around my ledge at the top that sticks out to accomodate the canopy. Then cut out the wheel wells and other pieces with a jig saw. I figure that will be a cleaner result than a grinder or skill saw.
Anybody try the princess auto or harbour frieght jig saws for metal?
And do you think 14.gauge aluminum is heavy enough for some utility use too?
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An hour later, I got better results partaining to what I need by googling adhesive caulk. I settled on Sikaflex 252 and will call around for best prices. Amazon.ca had it listed at 40 bucks a tube! Canadian Amazon stores are know to gouge so Ill call some wholesalers Monday. Im sure the primer isnt cheap either.
Illl have a few rivets per panel with stainless washers between the panels to form a gap as recomended.
I hope I can get the side panels bent on a brake to have a 1 1/2" 90 on the bottom, and to wrap around my ledge at the top that sticks out to accomodate the canopy. Then cut out the wheel wells and other pieces with a jig saw. I figure that will be a cleaner result than a grinder or skill saw.
Anybody try the princess auto or harbour frieght jig saws for metal?
And do you think 14.gauge aluminum is heavy enough for some utility use too?
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
I was just blind. The axle was almost on the floor so I had to get on my hands and knees.
Trailer pulls great around the block. Need to finish putting the side rails on, test fit the canopy, and then paint and wiring. Its a slow process considering I only get a few hours every couple weeks to work on it.
Trailer pulls great around the block. Need to finish putting the side rails on, test fit the canopy, and then paint and wiring. Its a slow process considering I only get a few hours every couple weeks to work on it.
Finished the side rails and had a buddy help load the canopy for a test fit.
Ran into a snag though. F series truck boxes are not square. I only measured the width at the front of the canopy and the barn door. Turns out the back of it is three inches narrower at the side rails.. Who woulda thunk. The thing turned out perfectly square with a perfect fit around the barn door too.
I should have grabbed some pictures, but it will be some work to rectify it. I dont think Id be happy leaving it as is.
I need to cut off the side rails to taper them down. The problem now will be getting the aluminum skin bent properly to compensate. Ill have have to figure something out. Im almost thinking of marking the outline of the canopy and cutting down the 1x2 rails with a band saw, then just welding on some plate.
It kind of sucks as I was finally making progress and looking forward to paint and wiring to get this thing on the road.
If anybody has some suggestions to make this a painless fix Im at all ears.
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Ran into a snag though. F series truck boxes are not square. I only measured the width at the front of the canopy and the barn door. Turns out the back of it is three inches narrower at the side rails.. Who woulda thunk. The thing turned out perfectly square with a perfect fit around the barn door too.
I should have grabbed some pictures, but it will be some work to rectify it. I dont think Id be happy leaving it as is.
I need to cut off the side rails to taper them down. The problem now will be getting the aluminum skin bent properly to compensate. Ill have have to figure something out. Im almost thinking of marking the outline of the canopy and cutting down the 1x2 rails with a band saw, then just welding on some plate.
It kind of sucks as I was finally making progress and looking forward to paint and wiring to get this thing on the road.
If anybody has some suggestions to make this a painless fix Im at all ears.
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
So I think the fenders will work out well. Will just have to make a few cuts to spread them a bit. At 90 bucks they were more than I wanted to spend so I might just make my own anyways to keep costs down.
Looking at the side rails, I may be able to make it work by cutting them off and swinging in the 1x2 an inch and a half on both sides. Youd probably only notice with the canopy off, so I might live with it. Since ill just get the three sides bent seperately it may be OK.
With the canopy on I also realized I will need a bigger bumper to protect the barn door while backing up, and a step and hitch would be nice too.
But first things first Ill fix my #%$# up.
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Wow. Its been what, 11 months? I figured I should at least make an update with my musings and observations for educational purposes. Sorry for the novel.
I let the project sit until around christmas before getting back in to it. I decided to build my own fenders so they would be built into the box. I decided to sheet the whole thing using 16 gauge steel, and although it is a bit heavier, this thing is solid. It also eliminated the need for more side reinforcements.
Fixing the side rails for the tapered canopy ended up being pretty easy.
Sheeting was a pain. Again, not having great metal tools I ended up making all my cuts with a skill saw with abrasive disk, and clamping down 2x6's to keep the cut straight. The blade still wanders though so it was a PITA with what I had.
NEXT PROJECT I'M BUYING ANY KIND OF CUTTING TORCH, NEW CHOP SAW, AND PROBABLY SOME SORT OF BAND SAW!!
My sheet metal welding skills were abysmal at best, so I started where you'd see less, then worked my way out to the more visible areas. By the end I was pretty good except where I needed to butt weld to 1/8 square tube. Oh well. It still sealed it up and works fine. I only had a bit of warping on one spot I over played, but wasn't too concerned anyways as it will get beat up eventually.
Anyways, here are some pics to where it sits now. I'm pretty happy with the overall functionality but would do a lot of things differently if I were to start again. Too bad so sad.
For paint, I kept it simple by rolling and brushing on Rustoleum oil based primer. I did 4 heavy coats that were thinned a bit the last couple so they went on pretty smooth. I had grand plans to use a gloss navy color with some prep between coats to match the eventual tow rig (same model truck, but two door diesel and modified) but I got lazy and would prefer to use it a bit before spending too many more hours and more money.
I used a bedliner product on the tongue and rear 'bumper', and some rustoleum rubberized undercoating in the wheel well areas and part of the underside. Time constraints came to play, but I have more undercoating and some touch ups to do still. I'll probably also add more bedliner to make a stripe along the bottom couple inches to tie the black from the bumper area to the tongue for more rock chip protection. I also found some bulk rubberized matt for the bed and it worked really well to keep bins from sliding around. We'll see how well that works for real wheeling. I'd rather not strap everything down all the time.
For wiring, I went with a 7 pin connector and spliced in a 4 wire as an adapter for other vehicles (current truck only had 4 wire) all ran to a junction box underneath. Big reverse LED's will come, maybe some other goodies, but more on that later. I kept the rear lights separate from the canopy in case I ever wanted to remove it.
As I get time I will make mounts for my 80watt solar panel that will stay permanently on the roof and keep a battery charged. Honestly though, Im considering forgetting this all together as I don't really have anything to run but basic lights and basic charging. Its a luxury and expense Im not sure I can justify. My Milwaukee batteries can already run a loud stereo for a couple days, charge usb devices, run saws, lights, impacts drills etc. Plus led magnetic lights are damn cheap and do a great job, and I already have a 300watt inverter in case I need to charge any of those or other goodies. The eventual tow vehicle already has onboard air, and I have a pump and heat exchanger for a shower. I don't really need water on demand for cooking.
The trailer tracks perfectly, can barely feel it there most of the time, and takes hard hits like a champ. As suspected I think I went a little heavy on the springs and I am playing with tire pressure to compensate a bit. I was at 20lbs and I could feel the big bumps in the truck but the the trailer was stable. At 15lbs I can't feel the trailer there, but the trailer visibly bounces more. Im not sure which is better for the trailer and load? The half full milk carton test proved that even with bouncing it didn't spill in the cooler.. haven't done the shaken beer bottle clinical trial yet.. Either way, I went as heavy as 2200lbs as I could remove a leaf and still have some decent load capabilities. The most this trailer should see is a yard of gravel/soil or a load of firewood. Not sure which is heavier. Should I remove a leaf and add shocks, or just run as is?
Anyways, enough for this morning. Happy trails.
I let the project sit until around christmas before getting back in to it. I decided to build my own fenders so they would be built into the box. I decided to sheet the whole thing using 16 gauge steel, and although it is a bit heavier, this thing is solid. It also eliminated the need for more side reinforcements.
Fixing the side rails for the tapered canopy ended up being pretty easy.
Sheeting was a pain. Again, not having great metal tools I ended up making all my cuts with a skill saw with abrasive disk, and clamping down 2x6's to keep the cut straight. The blade still wanders though so it was a PITA with what I had.
NEXT PROJECT I'M BUYING ANY KIND OF CUTTING TORCH, NEW CHOP SAW, AND PROBABLY SOME SORT OF BAND SAW!!
My sheet metal welding skills were abysmal at best, so I started where you'd see less, then worked my way out to the more visible areas. By the end I was pretty good except where I needed to butt weld to 1/8 square tube. Oh well. It still sealed it up and works fine. I only had a bit of warping on one spot I over played, but wasn't too concerned anyways as it will get beat up eventually.
Anyways, here are some pics to where it sits now. I'm pretty happy with the overall functionality but would do a lot of things differently if I were to start again. Too bad so sad.
For paint, I kept it simple by rolling and brushing on Rustoleum oil based primer. I did 4 heavy coats that were thinned a bit the last couple so they went on pretty smooth. I had grand plans to use a gloss navy color with some prep between coats to match the eventual tow rig (same model truck, but two door diesel and modified) but I got lazy and would prefer to use it a bit before spending too many more hours and more money.
I used a bedliner product on the tongue and rear 'bumper', and some rustoleum rubberized undercoating in the wheel well areas and part of the underside. Time constraints came to play, but I have more undercoating and some touch ups to do still. I'll probably also add more bedliner to make a stripe along the bottom couple inches to tie the black from the bumper area to the tongue for more rock chip protection. I also found some bulk rubberized matt for the bed and it worked really well to keep bins from sliding around. We'll see how well that works for real wheeling. I'd rather not strap everything down all the time.
For wiring, I went with a 7 pin connector and spliced in a 4 wire as an adapter for other vehicles (current truck only had 4 wire) all ran to a junction box underneath. Big reverse LED's will come, maybe some other goodies, but more on that later. I kept the rear lights separate from the canopy in case I ever wanted to remove it.
As I get time I will make mounts for my 80watt solar panel that will stay permanently on the roof and keep a battery charged. Honestly though, Im considering forgetting this all together as I don't really have anything to run but basic lights and basic charging. Its a luxury and expense Im not sure I can justify. My Milwaukee batteries can already run a loud stereo for a couple days, charge usb devices, run saws, lights, impacts drills etc. Plus led magnetic lights are damn cheap and do a great job, and I already have a 300watt inverter in case I need to charge any of those or other goodies. The eventual tow vehicle already has onboard air, and I have a pump and heat exchanger for a shower. I don't really need water on demand for cooking.
The trailer tracks perfectly, can barely feel it there most of the time, and takes hard hits like a champ. As suspected I think I went a little heavy on the springs and I am playing with tire pressure to compensate a bit. I was at 20lbs and I could feel the big bumps in the truck but the the trailer was stable. At 15lbs I can't feel the trailer there, but the trailer visibly bounces more. Im not sure which is better for the trailer and load? The half full milk carton test proved that even with bouncing it didn't spill in the cooler.. haven't done the shaken beer bottle clinical trial yet.. Either way, I went as heavy as 2200lbs as I could remove a leaf and still have some decent load capabilities. The most this trailer should see is a yard of gravel/soil or a load of firewood. Not sure which is heavier. Should I remove a leaf and add shocks, or just run as is?
Anyways, enough for this morning. Happy trails.