My "New" Willy's II Trailer Build

[slimtwo]

Alright! I have been waiting for this day for a while, and it got here yesterday. The box has been transferred to the trailer. I finished the battery connections, and installed the weather-stripping on top of the frame (vibration insulation between box and frame). Next, I placed 1 ½” x ¼”PVC strips on the insulation, on top of the long running frame rails, and with the help of my friend and my son, we taped them in place, and prepared to transfer the box on to the trailer. We removed the wheel on the left side of the trailer, as that is the side, we were loading the box from, and proceeded to slide the box in place.





It went well for the most part, however, I shouldn’t have made the tolerances quite so tight. But it did go on. I just have a little more paint touch up than I would have liked. Once the box was in place, we removed the PVC strips, and reinstalled the wheel.





That, my friends, is a milestone. Now, I can get the lights installed, and wired up, and make an appointment at the DMV, to get it registered.
And now for the doors.







For all of you who are following, thank you! Stay tuned. I’m not there yet, more to come.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Today, I got to the shop by 06:00hrs and started the fans that my friend built (5 flat house fans built in to a frame, that fits under the roll up door). If you get it going early enough, it works really well.

I mounted the tail lights, added the extension for the solar panel cables, and ran them through the bulkhead fittings and mounted them.





Unfortunately, I took home some stuff, to start clearing out my friend’s shop, and the bulkhead fitting for the electrical was with that stuff, so I have to bring that back so I can get the electrical inside the box. Then I can wire the tail lights, and be ready to tow. I went ahead and drilled the holes for the wiring for the tail lights, and back up lights. So, once I have the wiring inside, I can route them where they go.



I did get the trailer outside with the jeep, and all I can say is, the paint is a match. Awesome!!! If it weren’t for the tender lower lumbar, I might jump for joy. But for now, I’ll just pretend that I did.





This shot shows the side lines. The tires line up great, the trailer is a smidgen past the jeep body, but not an issue though.



Back tomorrow.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Continued with the wiring today, I was able to get the tail lights done, and all the rest of what I had, routed to its ruff location.











I need to figure our how many circuits I need, and buy a fuse block for that number. I had to enlarge the hole in one bulkhead to accommodate the bundle that needed to go through it, and I had to get a bigger diameter wire loom to fit them.





The other thing I have to do, is get bigger wire loom holders too. But at this point, it is towable, with lights and brakes. I have an appointment with the DMV, for Monday, and I hope that it goes without a hitch. More tomorrow.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Well, as of yesterday, the trailer is now street legal. Got the vin, got the registration, and I have the plate. My license plate frame says; "For Adventure, hook to Jeep". I am looking forward to getting it out in the dirt. I brought the doors home so I can finish them. I still need to get a half sheet of plywood for the back hatch, but I have everything else I need. Our club, the "Riverside Highlanders Off-road Club", had a potluck the other evening, and we are planning our first outing since covid. We're gonna head up to Big Bear in the middle of August, Looking forward to it.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

So, I have been working on my garage the past couple of days, trying to get it organized enough to finish the hatches for the trailer. I have been neglecting it for way to long now, because I have been spending a lot of time at the shop working on the trailer. Anyway, today I went back to the shop to try and figure out why the trailer bakes are not working properly. Part of the reason is that I had a brain fart, and wired the brake wires on the same stud (all four), so I’m sure all you sharp guys out there, have already figured it out. Well, I corrected my “oversite”, however, the brakes are still weak. I adjusted them just like I have done on my car forever, and still, they are barely working. So, I’m gonna take it down to the shop that installed the brake controller, and have them take a look at it for me. That having been resolved for the moment, I moved on to the water tank installation. I got some 1/8thin x 4in x 10ft neoprene rubber strips to line the base of the water tank tray, and to line the top if the tank, where it comes in contact with the bottom of the box. Then I installed the tank.







I made sure to Loctite the top nuts in place, once I had the spacing right, then ran the lower nuts up with washers and lock washers. The vent hose had to be installed before the tank went up, to go through the hole in the floor.





Now I can mount the water pump, and plumb everything else. That's it for now.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

So, for the completion of the trailer hatches, I have moved the operation home to the garage. I have a lot less space, and I was unable to get the garage cleaned up and organized the way I wanted, but it will have to do. At any rate, it’s gonna get done.

first coat of resin on the four smaller doors.



I have decided to scrap the hatches for the longer compartments, such as the kitchen and the electrical and storage compartments. I just didn’t like the quality of the plywood. So, I am going to use the Baltic birch ply for those as well. I figure, I can get those two compartment doors, and the rear hatch out of a 5’ x 5’ piece, which is available at the lumber yard.

I also decided that I didn’t like the piano hinges, so I ordered some conventional hinges I think will work. At any rate, it is coming together. The other issue that I am dealing with, are the brakes. I took it to a trailer shop yesterday to have them test the trailer wiring. And they are telling me that I may have damaged the magnets when I have the wiring hooked up wrong, so I am having them take care of it. It’s gonna be a costly mistake on my part, but I don’t have enough time to did in to that, and finish the hatches. The trailers first outing is in just under three weeks, and it will be ready.

More later.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

I am steadily making progress on the doors. I went down and picked up a sheet of ¾” x 4 x 8ft sheet of Baltic birch (up to $160.00 bucks a sheet, yowzah) for the rear hatch, and both side hatches. As I mentioned earlier, I was not happy with the quality of the other plywood. I finished the resin on the ½” doors, cut out the other doors, and set my table saw up for the dado cuts, and I ran the router around on the new doors.







Now all I have to do, is fit the hinges, mount the doors and latches, then remove them, sand the new doors and apply the resin, then sand all the doors again and paint. And on top of that, I have to finish the electrical, plumbing, and set up the kitchen. The 20th of this month is sounding mighty close. That’s all for now, I got to get busy!

Happy Trails!

 

[GJK5]

The utility bed door I have for my build does not fit right and I have been stressing about fabbing a sq tube frame and sheet metal skin. Didn't occur to me to go with wood until I saw these last two posts (been following your build). I feel like a **************. Great job on this build.

 

[slimtwo]

I know it’s been a while since the last post; however, I have been working on the trailer. I got the last of the doors cut out, and two coats of resin on the top side. I ordered some Formica laminate for the two side counter tops, and the rear hatch as well. That should be fun. Today, I installed the fridge slide, and set the fridge on it to check for clearance. It’s gonna work great!







I bought the new hinges, and I am gonna start to get them mounted tomorrow. This morning, I towed the trailer to Riverside Hitch, to have them do some wiring for me, and check the trailer brakes and controller. Everything checked out. My concern for the brakes was unwarranted. Apparently, there is a brake in period for the magnets and linkage in the drums, as well as the brake shoes. I am slowly chipping away at it though. More later.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

The utility bed door I have for my build does not fit right and I have been stressing about fabbing a sq tube frame and sheet metal skin. Didn't occur to me to go with wood until I saw these last two posts (been following your build). I feel like a **************. Great job on this build.

for my particular application, plywood will work fine (as long as it is high quality, 11 ply or something close), since I don't have to load anything on it. I did consider building 1/2" sq tubing hatches for the long hatches, until I looked at the birch ply, then I opted to do that. It made sense, everything else was wood anyway.
Thanks for the compliment!
Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

So, today I continued on the doors. I got all the doors sanded, and I got the hinges fitted, and ready to trim to size.





Tomorrow, I will go to the shop and cut the hinges to size, and work on the hatch latches. I bought the “anti luce” latches a while ago, so now I can get them installed and hang the doors. Once the doors and latches are in place, I will cut and fit the laminate for the doors, and get them glued and trimmed. Then, I am going to get on the electrical. I need to connect the solar and batteries to the controller, run power to the fridge. And if I have time, mount the back up lights on the trailer, and wire them up. Man, I got to get busy!

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Well, I have come to the realization that the only way this trailer is gonna make it up the mountain this weekend for camping, is to cut corners, and sacrifice things I want to do. The more I look at it, the more I see that needs to get done. I have already tried to rush getting one of the doors mounted, only to find that the screw holes were out of alignment, and now the clearance is off. I have spent way to much time trying to be as precise as I can with measurements, and clearances, and not making mistakes, or at least keeping them to a minimum, to start cutting corners for a weekend get away with the group. There will be other outings, and it would bug the heck out of me looking at the mistakes I made. So, I am going to take a step back, take my time, and do it right. I will however, go up for the day on Saturday, to hang out with the club, then come home.
The trailer is starting to come together though.

trimmed the hinges, and now mounting them on the doors.



got the doors on one side mounted



Working on the latches and latch plates



The latches are the "Anti-Luce" latches from the UK.
More later.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Howdy everyone! Sorry for not posting for a while. I took a break from the project to catch up on a few things around the house that needed my attention. I have however, been gathering bits and bobs, and other materials though. I finished getting the doors mounted, and I have been working on the door latches and latch plates.





Once that is done, and I can secure the trailer, I can start the plumbing, or the electrical, or both at the same time, if I am so inclined. At any rate, I wanted everyone to know, that I am still making some progress, and will be more attentive at posting. It’s Hot! 106 out here in southern California, so I am not lingering to long out in the garage. By noon, I’m hiding in the house.

Be safe everyone!

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

More progress. I finished mounting the latches and latch plates for all the compartment doors.







Now all I have to do, is remove them to paint, and make a few tweaks, then on to the next phase, either electrical or plumbing. Got up to 108 today. Perhaps that is not bad for some of you, depending on where you hale from, but it makes it a struggle to work in for me. I’ll be glad when it cools down.

Until then, I’ll keep plugging away.

Happy Trails!

 

[slimtwo]

Managed to get a little bit more work done on the trailer today. I finally got the final “rough in” plumbing done. I mounted the pump first, thinking that I would just plumb everything to it, and realized right away, that that was not going to work. So I removed the pump, and came at it from the other side. After an hour or more of “pondering”, I came up with this;







I still have to set up the water inlet to fill the tank, and finalize the outlet at the kitchen, but that should be no big deal.





I had to go back to the hardware store for more fittings, but I think that I may have it beat. Now I really do have to get the electrical roughed in, so I can test it out. It got to around 108 or 9 today, and I only worked in the garage until about noon. Then I came in and cooled off. Tomorrow, I will probably start gluing up the plumbing, so stay tuned. Met up with some of my wheeling buddies for breakfast yesterday. During our meal, we planned a trip in October, up into the Sierra Mountains to Kennedy Meadows, around Sherman pass. That will be my first outing with the trailer. And I should be finished with the trailer for sure by then, with out having to hurry, or cut corners. Fun times ahead.

Happy Trails