My Baja Trailer build....

[J-man]

I finally made the plunge to start my project that ive been wanting to do for a couple years now.

Most of my travels are in baja and i have towed many trailers and broken all of them at some point on a trip usually in the middle of nowhere and had various things go wrong with each trailer. Having these experiences has educated me as to what works and what doesn't. So my goal is to build a trailer that can take the abuse that baja dishes out while bouncing happily behind my 4Runner or the Cruiser.

The biggest problem ive had with other trailers is the suspension. The little 25" long leafsprings always break because they're too rigid and create a lot of heat thus breaking. Also, the little spring hangers break or bend, things are just not designed for constant off road abuse. So i wanted long leafs that flexed a little combined with a shock, and some stout hangers/hardware.

So far here are my specs:
4' wide x 7' long
The box will be 2' deep, aluminum diamond plate sides with 3/4" marine ply for floor.
Box lid - still figuring this out, but have designs for either a 1 or 2 door lid thats water tight.
Full rack out of 1x1 square tubing to mount my eezi awn above the box and hold surfboards
Frame: 2.5" x 2.5" 3/16 angle bracket for frame
Box: 1.5 x 1.5" angle bracket for corner/side/top frame supports
3" C channel for tounge
3500# axle with 6 on 5.5 hubs from abstrailerparts.com
Suspension: New 5 leaf tacoma leafsprings from wheelers offroad
Shocks - figure that out later
Wheels - 16" tacoma rims with 265's or 285's bfg at's
Spring hangers - home made.

So far the springhangers have been welded together. Now im waiting for the axle to arrive today so i can weld the frame to get the frame positioned exactly over the spring perches so the leafs are exactly lined up.

Will start posting pics as i get things laid out.

 

[BajaXplorer]

Thanks for posting, I'll be following your progress. With many years experience towing in Baja, I know exactly what your talking about with regards to suspension failure (not to mention control problems). I'll be interested to see how the leafpack you plan on using works out. Might be too bouncy I'm thinking.
I plan to get the trailing arm/airbag setup on my M101 from AT. Alternative would to be to remove 4-6 of the current 9 leaves in the stock leaf spring setup in an attempt to get some spring flex on the washboard instead of bounce.
Wish you well on your build.
BX

 

[J-man]

thanks a lot. regarding the leafs, i too was worried that they might be a little too bouncy or flexy, but ive got some extra leafs that i can put in, and combined with a shock - one on each side - one facing rear and the other side facing forward, i hope to alleviate that prob. You never know until its loaded with food, fuel, water, eezi awn, etc...

Thanks for posting, I'll be following your progress. With many years experience towing in Baja, I know exactly what your talking about with regards to suspension failure (not to mention control problems). I'll be interested to see how the leafpack you plan on using works out. Might be too bouncy I'm thinking.
I plan to get the trailing arm/airbag setup on my M101 from AT. Alternative would to be to remove 4-6 of the current 9 leaves in the stock leaf spring setup in an attempt to get some spring flex on the washboard instead of bounce.
Wish you well on your build.
BX

 

[Funrover]

WOW!!! I will be following this post!

 

[J-man]

She's alive!!!!

since i'm barely awake now, ill give a link to over to www.ih8mud.com (land cruiser site) to my full write up. Dont worry, ill post all the pics here too, i just wanted to give you all a heads up to where i'm at. thx

http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=179520

ill post some pics here once i make them smaller..

 

[blupaddler]

J

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Willman]

What did you 3500# axle with 6 on 5.5 hubs from abstrailerparts.com cost ya?
Did you go for brakes?
How long of an axle did you go for?

:chowtime:

 

[J-man]

the axle and hub were around $100.00 + shipping. no brakes, just one more thing to break/go wrong and for a trailer of this size, they're not necessary.
The axle is 48" between spring perches, i think 62"? hub face. The only pain is i have to use 2" wheel spacers to get the tacoma rims to fit without rubbing the frame. I should have had him make an axle that was 4 inches wider overall - would have solved the wheel spacer issue - but you learn as you do things

my bad, its actually abctrailerparts.com

What did you 3500# axle with 6 on 5.5 hubs from abstrailerparts.com cost ya?
Did you go for brakes?
How long of an axle did you go for?

:chowtime:

 

[Willman]

Thanks man for the infor!

I forgot about the axle lengths too....but i have not order my axle yet....Thanks for the heads up!

 

[J-man]

hey i checked your "trailer link" in your sig and man, that looks great behind your tacoma. I miss my tacoma dbl cab, but yours looks great with that red trailer behind it. Why are trailers (any offroad type) soo cool to see? I just cant stop grinning when i see em.

Thanks man for the infor!

I forgot about the axle lengths too....but i have not order my axle yet....Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Willman]

hey i checked your "trailer link" in your sig and man, that looks great behind your tacoma. I miss my tacoma dbl cab, but yours looks great with that red trailer behind it. Why are trailers (any offroad type) soo cool to see? I just cant stop grinning when i see em.

Thanks man!!!

I'm just starting a remodel on her! (lid, RTT, axle 6 bolt for matching wheels/tires..and the etc....)

Keep us up to date on your sweet build!

 

[ntsqd]

My first thot was "Why an Angle iron frame?" I agree that it's convenient for fitting things like flooring into, but it has zero torsional strength.
Now, if you're planning to tie the sides & ends into the structure to build a semi-monocoque......

 

[J-man]

I was worried about that too, but as you can see in the pic, its braced like a ******** underneath with 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 3/16 steel square tubing from side to side. It has made it extremely solid, no flex, bend, etc...

I also wanted a lip for the flooring to sit into, as well as the siding im going to put in it. I'll be putting in the 3/4" marine ply for the floor and 1/2" marine ply for the sides with a skin of aluminum diamond glued to the outside of the ply thats all set inside of the angle iron It will be thru bolted to the angle iron and caulked to make it waterproof inside.

My first thot was "Why an Angle iron frame?" I agree that it's convenient for fitting things like flooring into, but it has zero torsional strength.
Now, if you're planning to tie the sides & ends into the structure to build a semi-monocoque......

 

[ntsqd]

Consider using a construction adhesive to also bond the sides & bottom to the angle steel. I don't mean "Likkid Nales", I mean Miller-Stephenson 907 or something similar. That should also help with the dissimilar metals issue.

 

[toyrunner95]

so why the metal on the sides and wood on the floor? isnt that kinda bass akwards? dont you want a strong floor for impacts? why dont you use nidacore or fiberglass for the sides, its cheap and easy to fix, plus its super light. AND light goes through it so you can see.

sheet metal is going to cost an arm and a leg. on the other hand i have not looked into nidacore or where to get it or how much it is. so i could be blowing smoke

anyway, just a thought.