LRRB Trailer Build - Little Red Rust Bucket

[Dirtytires]

Before I begin Phase 2 I should report on this spring and summer's trips. I made a few overnighters up to the sierras and the trailer worked fine. I truly put it through its paces on a week-and-a-half, 2000 mile through the Mojave backcountry and then up through Cathedral Valley in Utah and then over to our annual Toyota meetup at Pismo dunes. The Mojave was the roughest part, mostly due to speed, and there were occasions when the LRRB was more glider than trailer. Trailer survived great and did great all along, the contents took the brunt of the bouncing and bumping. Phase 2 will include: full width fenders, relocated spare tire, better latches, internal fixed 'structure' for organization and installed water and 12v.


View attachment 79311
In prep for phase 2, I've removed the tire carrier, gas can platforms, latches and fenders.


View attachment 79312
It looks almost naked!


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Tapelines where the new full-width fenders will be.

Interested in selling the old fenders you took off you trailer? Looks like you had fun with the build.

 

[ethernectar]

Why not put the spare on the roof rack of the truck? I'm sure you have a good reason why you don't want the spare on the roof.
I assume there is no spare already inside the the truck and the truck and trailer have the same bolt pattern... Right?
.... and what went wrong with mounting the spare on the front of the trailer?
Questions Questions, need more info before receiving my expert guidance (smiley smart-*** face, wearing a professor cap crap)

LOL, glad to oblige. Yes, spare under the truck with same bolt pattern, just like the idea of an extra extra spare - but don't want the weight on the rack. The front of the trailer is the perfect place for the spare - on level ground. Once you get out there, perfectly flat spots are harder to find and 1/2 the time the spare got in the way of the tailgate. In addition, it was just barely in the way of the front jack so needed to be redone one way or another.

 

[ethernectar]

Interested in selling the old fenders you took off you trailer?

Sorry after the Mojave trip they weren't worth more than the scrap they became.

 

[McZippie]

LOL, glad to oblige. Yes, spare under the truck with same bolt pattern, just like the idea of an extra extra spare - but don't want the weight on the rack. The front of the trailer is the perfect place for the spare - on level ground. Once you get out there, perfectly flat spots are harder to find and 1/2 the time the spare got in the way of the tailgate. In addition, it was just barely in the way of the front jack so needed to be redone one way or another.

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Ok now we're making some progress... To quote Sherlock Holmes "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
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The front of the trailer is the perfect place for the spare but it gets in the way of the tailgate and jack. "Elementary, Watson" you need to extend the tongue.
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Here's a picture of how I extended the tongue of my 1/4 ton military trailer using the original mounting brackets and locations.

 

[ethernectar]

Yeah, but I'm running the original pintle setup, so not really ready for that much of a rebuild. Do they make longer pintle rings???

Anyway, here's progress on the fenders.

 

[ethernectar]

Finished up the fender frames today.


Welds are getting better,

 

[McZippie]

Finished up the fender frames today.
View attachment 79444

Welds are getting better,
View attachment 79443

Excellent! That was a lot of exacting work.

 

[ethernectar]

Test fit of frames


Frames welded on. Can jack the trailer up off the fender, which was the goal. Not sure if i'll add any more bracing or not...


Little bit of black spraypaint...


I added a piece of angle steel across the bed at the tailgate opening. It does a couple things, helps keep the end of the trailer square and makes the tailgate actually more usable.

 

[Bonked]

Looks great. What's the plan for skinning these frames? Are you riveting diamond plate aluminum to match your cover?

:victory:

Happy New Year!

 

[biskit]

Really interesting thread, keep up the great work matey:drool:

 

[ethernectar]

Decided to run the spare inside the trailer and see. It uses a LOT of space, so I'm not convinced yet... Also bolted in a 2x4 to help keep things a bit more organized in there while bouncing down the trail.


Kitchen and pantry boxes fit nicely on top of the spare! This'll change as I'm building a kitchen box, but that one will go in the runner.


The bottom center switch controls the accessory (water pump) and the bottom 12V plugs are always hot if hooked up. The volt gauge will switch on/off, but I fried the switch in there when I soldered it (got a little too hot) so will have to redo that part.

 

[ethernectar]

I made my own little (24") metal brake to bend the skins for the fenders. Worked well, pretty tough to measure that stuff, but in the end it work out.


Here is one of the skins complete.



And installed. Not a perfect fit, but not bad for a never-before DIY kludge. Brake lights tomorrow.


Little LEDs to provide some mild lighting.



Have also been building a chuckbox. Here it is with the last coat of paint drying. Tomorrow the hardware gets installed.