M416 Build

[dieselcruiserhead]

Thanks guys...

Thanks Adam, it means a lot because your trailer is pretty sick too man! The sheet metal was 14g. I have used the frame steel for all sorts of stuff, roof racks etc, and it's pretty light. I did a whole roof rack from for less than 50lbs once. I'd bet this whole frame is only maybe 30lbs at most, and the sheet metal is about 80 lbs or maybe more. I can lift the lid with one arm but it's pretty heavy. I didn't mention it but that was some of the point of the thule bars. One arm to lift at the bar (why there is no handle on the lid) and the other to open the paddle latch...

I don't mind the weight too much but if I were to do it, I would just beef the hell out of the frame and definitely use 16g. Which is still beefier than most automotive sheet metal. And it would be way lighter. And cheaper as well... If I were to do it again, that is what I'd definitely do!

 

[Box Rocket]

Thanks for the response Dre. One more question, did you weld the lid to the frame crossmembers at all or is it just around the outer frame? If not, are you doing anything to keep it from rattling against the crossmembers? I assume you are going to use some gas struts to aid in opening it?

Again, nice work man.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Hey, thanks again man....

Welds on metal to frame in the middle? - as of right now a couple little taps here and there. I'll definitely weld the lid to the cross members but will pull it first before I do it for those reasons.

Even with the 14g, the large spans front and rear (where I'd be most likely to have some weight) it flexes a little so I'm going to have to add spans there regardless. So yes, the answer is definitely 16g with more frame bracing....

Hydraulic helpers on the lid, definitely mandatory.. And the heavy duty ones at that...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Looking great Dre! Can't wait to see it out on the trail.

When empty, have you measured your current toungue weight by chance? Its pretty easy to do with even a bathroom scale and a block of wood or scrap steel, that way you can estimate where to best put your loads. I load mine a bit opposite of yours (coolers in the very back and fuel/water in the very front. Figure your loaded fuel/water cans could be in the 200-250 lb range, though its not far behind your rear axle, it could diminish your needed toungue weight. Loading mine has become key to a nice pull... pretty much every heavy item towards the front, pack in the lighters stuff behind it. With a loaded cooler on the front, you might be just perfect, you'll have to play around with it.

 

[davegonz]

Looks great Andre. Was it a pain to reinstall the lid with those weld on hinges? I used some on my tailgate project and it was a pain lining everything up.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Looking great Dre! Can't wait to see it out on the trail.

When empty, have you measured your current toungue weight by chance? Its pretty easy to do with even a bathroom scale and a block of wood or scrap steel, that way you can estimate where to best put your loads. I load mine a bit opposite of yours (coolers in the very back and fuel/water in the very front. Figure your loaded fuel/water cans could be in the 200-250 lb range, though its not far behind your rear axle, it could diminish your needed toungue weight. Loading mine has become key to a nice pull... pretty much every heavy item towards the front, pack in the lighters stuff behind it. With a loaded cooler on the front, you might be just perfect, you'll have to play around with it.

That is a good question. I still have quite a bit more weight coming into it (and all on the tongue side) with the kitchen apparatus (the only real additional thing to do) I have planned so that is one more reason I was shooting to level it out. The good news though is as of now I don't have all the gizmos including a battery and it's weight to deal with... I would bet right now it would tow killer empty, using your train of thought as well with a decent tongue-heavy load. I hadn't and wasn't planning to measure yet because I had more work to do. I can lift and move the trailer around myself though very easily so it's not too bad. But I can walk on the trailer pretty far behind the axle and it won't pop up... It's a good question where the cooler(s) will end up though, inside or on the tongue on average and correct, everything will need to be felt out...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Looks great Andre. Was it a pain to reinstall the lid with those weld on hinges? I used some on my tailgate project and it was a pain lining everything up.

Hey Dave! Good question on that as I haven't removed it yet I imagine it should be OK but it was eyeball alignment, so of course, we'll see. Again the point of the front hinge is to be removable so I should only have two to line up. If I were to do it again working on nitpicky things I would move the removable hinge to the middle for that reason as well...

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I figure while I have the time now as it increasingly diminishes I would build it and build it right. I imagine when the kids (we have no kids and this is a few years off) are 4 or 6 or 10 or whatever, a trailer like this really could be a lot of fun for desert trips, etc... So I'm looking at this as a real long term investment. It would be really cool to still have this damn thing when I'm 50 And always be relatively prepped and ready to go and ditch all the overnight stuff for actual wheeling (as mentioned by many other people). So again it really is a very fun flexible platform and I really think it could have some wider uses for all sorts of fun adventuring... I really like the idea of it all.

Believe me, when you have kids... you can't have enough space. I have a DII, and I need a trailer because of the kids. It's not just that you need to bring more stuff, it's that the kids are in the back seat so you lose that space. Also, at least for me, I don't like piling too much stuff in the back. I don't like having it above the seatbacks, because that stuff flies around in an accident. Better to have it in a trailer.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Thanks Rob!


Some more updates. First, I fixed the hinge I installed backwards. You should be able to see now how it will stay on. Just the first hinge is removable...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

This is the beginning of the "last mod" for the trailer, really the only "bling" aspect of the trailer or gizmo-ish... But pretty basic. Mostly for food storage and use. I'm calling it my "kitchen..."

Front drivers corner...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Tracing the cutout...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

You'll notice the drawback of 48" wide steel in a 50" wide tub...

And the point of it all... These are (also expensive) 500 lb Accuride slides from Lee Valley Hardware in NY State. I think they were about $110 shipped...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

Construction begins. This again is from the sheet of 14 gauge steel. On this despite the weight I'm actually pretty psyched I chose 14 gauge as its nice and thick and strong and rigid...

This is again all with my cutoff wheels on my grinder. I went through about 10 for the night which is an additional $20 or so in costs and time/labor consuming versus being at a real metal shop that has a shear or brake press.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

It's funny I post these in sequence so quickly as it took hours to do all this. That said again as usual I was sort of even overly slow last night unfortunately, didn't have "the groove" where you're just cranking despite actually getting a lot done...

The floor - this part turned out excellently with the stiff 14g specifically...

Front trailer steel is back attached to the drawer.. Note the lines for trimming on the drawer sides. There is a purpose for all this that will make itself apparent later...

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

All trimmed up, notice the new piece of steel in the middle. The groove on the right is trimmed to allow for the door latch to work. Also notice the hole in the front panel (the old part of the tub attached to the drawer) for the latch...

For the purposes of adding this piece... Notice it's two fabbed together mostly for the purposes of recycling scrap in this spot where it's not that big a deal and doesn't need to be overly strong (though it is still very strong).

Close up and the cut out to be made...

Again the grinder cutting these...