New trailer build

[senorschmidt]

Having the summers off give me the opportunity to do family road trips for several weeks. After a few years of cramming a family of 6 and a smelly old dog, camping equipment and more into a suburban, I decided to rehab an old toyota truck bed trailer I found on craigslist. I already started but I plan to document the rest of the rebuild. Since I was able to glean so much information from other peoples builds, I thought I would return the favor. My main goal was just to have an off road cargo trailer, since we already have a nice tent. Nothing fancy. Feel free to share your thoughts and point out anything that doesn't look right. Second pair of eyes are always welcome. Enjoy!

This is from when I first brought it home:


This is a camper shell that I found for $10 sitting in someone's yard down the road. Perfect fit!


All stripped down and with the new axle. I got one with trailer brakes (which I have yet to get working...)


Everything from the bed forward got replaced with a longer tongue and a tray for a cooler.


Painting the frame:




Now with the bed back on.


I swapped out the axle so that I could have electric brakes and match the chevy bolt pattern on the suburban. I found a great deal on used rims and tires on craigslist, $150.

Here is what is next:
Figure out of the leaf springs are bad or not, one side seams to be sagging and inch lower than the other.
Put the camper shell, enclose the front window and build a new door for the back of the shell.
Paint. Battery. LED lights inside, then we are ready to go. Until I find something else to do on it, which I already know will be about a thousand things.

 

[MicroOverland]

looks great! We had an old truck bed utilily trailer when I was a kid that went everywhere with us. My dad still has it, and uses it all the time. I think it is from a '50's international truck. Your trailer should give you many years of service. I tow a modified 72 appelby trailer with a rtt on it. We really like it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Backroadexploration]

Looks awesome! As our family grows we are looking at doing a trailer build as well. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.


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[1store]

Much respect for you build . It's great on the cost more toys you can have. You'll be camping in haft the time as my build $1600 and have to put together. You can see where you are moving forward .Mine seams to stay a big piecemeal do-hickey that's off -road word

 

[senorschmidt]

It's funny, I actually went this route because I'm a cheapskate and thought it would be cheaper than just buying a 5x8 enclosed utility trailer. Then I got sucked into customizing it and I get the feeling that before too long I will have as much money into it as I would have if I just bought the enclosed trailer. At least this way I will have a cool rig when I am done.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Cool, another truck-bed trailer build! Ya, projects are easy to go overboard In the end, as long as you enjoy working on it, and especially, enjoy using it, that's all that really matters.

 

[senorschmidt]

Well, life has been busy, but I have the trailer in functional condition, or at least I thought it was. I loaded it up with camping stuff, which I know is not much weight. The trailer looks almost overloaded now, and it wobbles like crazy. Not sway I don't think, but it rides like it is really top heavy. When I go around a turn at 20 mph, I can see the wobble really bad. It looks like it could tip over if I take a turn at all fast. Any ideas on how to correct this issue? Stiffer/heavier duty springs? New/stiffer shocks? I did just out new cheap shocks on it (Gabriel G63492 Ultra Truck Shock). Any ideas?

 

[NatersXJ6]

not to insult intelligence, but are the tires good, equally inflated, and balanced? Are the wheel bearings good, tight? Is the axle aligned, meaning straight and square with the frame?

I'm no trailer whisperer, but "top heavy" and "wobble" don't really seem to go together in my book.

top heavy and flipped over do.

Do you have play in the coupler? Is the axle loose?

One way to diagnose is to have someone drive your rig and follow them so you can properly observe the trailer. include some 4-lane so you can get up next to it. Don't blame them if it crashes.

a much safer way to do this is with 3 people. one drives the trailer, one drives the chase car, and the chase car passenger videos everything for watching after stopping.

 

[AA1PR]

very creative !

I like the fact you are breaking from the norm

 

[senorschmidt]

Hey, I teach high school, so my intelligence gets insulted a lot. No worries there. Everything you mentioned is good. I think I may need new/stiffer springs. The shocks on it are cheapo shocks, so that may have something to do with it.