Off Road Worthy 6x10 Cargo Trailer Camper Build

[Jmanscotch]

As some of you know by now, I like to build my own campers…or so it seems. I started off building a basic 4x6 that offered off road ability and housed a RTT.



Then we moved to a 5x8 cargo trailer camper build that served us for many years.



Then we grew from a couple to a family and wanted some more room, but after trying some manufactured options, we decided to go back to the cargo trailer camper life and just build it bigger this time.

Here’s the new 6x10 cargo trailer we’re going to convert into an off road worthy camper.



Follow along if you’d like to see what we do. It’ll be a similar build to the last one though, with some tweaks.

We started by custom ordering the trailer from a manufacturer in Indiana. After researching a few options, we went with this company as they were willing to do a custom build, had a workable time frame on deliver and seemed to be of decent quality.
The custom touches we ordered were:

- 62” interior height (vs standard 72”)
- Barn rear doors (vs ramp or single side swing)
- No passenger side cargo door
- No side vents
- Black trim

They weren’t able to accommodate a custom axle request, so we ended up with a standard 5 lug, 3,500 lb drop axle with brakes.
The custom build order was expected to take 3 months, but ended up a touch over 4 months due to supplier issues.

We’ve been accumulating parts and plan to kick off the build soon, so I’ll be back with more soon.

Cheers.

 

[ottsville]

Your 5x8 build was great. Excited to see what comes in this build.

Why did you go 62" high versus 72"?

 

[Jmanscotch]

Your 5x8 build was great. Excited to see what comes in this build.

Why did you go 62" high versus 72"?

Appreciate it. That was a fun build and I’m definitely enjoying kicking off on this one. It should be a faster paced build too.

Same mindset adapted from the 5x8…you really only need ~48” of interior height to be comfortable sitting up in a camper, that’s room to sit comfortably, get a shirt on in bed, etc.

We plan to build a storage/kitchen/electrical space under the bed and that’ll be ~17” tall or so, thus 62” (64” in reality with some curves and changes in things) gets us the total interior height we need, or real close rather.

While a 72” tall trailer would also allow that, it’d be nearly a foot taller and that’d be cumbersome for off roading, hitting tree limbs, cause more drag on road and well….looking like a large cargo trailer. Plus, at 6’1”, a 6’ tall trailer with insulation and such would mean I still couldn’t stand up inside, so the sacrifice of height doesn’t have many, if any, negatives, just positives.

 

[Jmanscotch]

I spend a few hours shortening the RV door we purchase second hand. Again, being a shorter trailer…we have to shorten a few other things. Thankfully, it was quick work, just a few measures cuts and reassembling things to match.

Cut 12” out of the door.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Picked up another used set of Jeep CJ7 rear leaf springs.

Pressed out the old bushings, freshened them up with new bushings and paint and got to installing them using all factory CJ7 mounts: front and rear leaf spring mounts, lower and upper shock mounts, u bolts, etc.




Gotta finished up some details on one side and install the shocks mounts, but it’s looking like 3-3.5” of lift and will be a much better ride off road.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Finished up (sorta) the suspension install. Mounted the front and rear leaf springs mounts and welded them on, making sure they’re squared up.



Mounted the upper and lower shock mounts and installed some Skyjacker CJ7 shocks.



Tackled welding on my stabilizer jacks. I went with these, versus the trailer tongue jacks like last time, as the trailer tongue jacks had a little slop to them, required removal and storage and this trailer won’t be as high off the ground as the last one, so I was within the reach of the longer stabilizer jacks this time.



I also finished gutting the interior of the trailer to get ready for a few bracing supports for doors, windows and vents and to help ease access to some components for welding.



Here’s where I messed up though, I had thought I put the trailer off the jack stands enough to represent it being back on its own weight…but I was wrong….and that will mean I need to redo a few things.



The shocks (because of their upper mounts limited their position to the rear) are just too short and compressed. The rear leaf spring mount is also mounted the wrong way to create ample room for the upper shock mount to be positioned further back and the shackles are sitting at too much of an angle…********.



I’ll need to grind the rear leaf spring mount off, flip it’s orientation and move it rearward an inch or so, then grind off the upper shock mount and move it back as well. Mistakes happen, I was in a rush and didn’t think it all through, so that’ll be 3-4 hours fixing that someday soon.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Vinyl wrapped the door yesterday. First time wrapping something this large, but it went well.

Ended up cutting it and leaving a little white showing, so figured the easiest remedy was to simply mask off a small line around the border and plastidip over it to hide it. Overall it came out decent and surely good enough for a off road campers RV door.

 

[Ozarker]

Is that a '65 F-100?

Nice trailer too.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Is that a '65 F-100?

Nice trailer too.

It’s a 64. It was my dads first truck and the truck he took my mom on their first date in while in high school.

He sold it when they got married (1976) and the gentleman owned it until 2018. He got older and wasn’t able to drive anymore, so we bought it back and I’m going to fix it up.

 

[Ozarker]

It’s a 64. It was my dads first truck and the truck he took my mom on their first date in while in high school.

He sold it when they got married (1976) and the gentleman owned it until 2018. He got older and wasn’t able to drive anymore, so we bought it back and I’m going to fix it up.

Close, hope you keep it original, don't slam it, chop it or raise it!

 

[Jmanscotch]

Close, hope you keep it original, don't slam it, chop it or raise it!

…unfortunately, you’re going to be disappointed lol.

It runs, but needs and engine and it isn’t worth rebuilding (it’s the smallest…235 ci? In-line 6 boat anchor of an engine and a worn out 3 on speed manual). Likely going LS swap as it’s available, easy enough retrofit and affordable.

I’ve got a young one at home and have a lot of dad duties after work..to get time for a project like it anytime soon, I need a less restrictive path to it being drivable and as sacreligious as the LS in a Ford might be, I’m no purist or brand loyalist, so it’ll work.

While I don’t plan to go crazy with it, it’ll be some lite version of a retro-mod. More modern drivetrain and amenities for better regular use on the roads today, mostly stock appearance with a few touches like interior and a 3-5 inch static drop. Body and paint will have to wait years (if ever, it is rust free though), so just drivetrain and it’s supporting parts, suspension and interior for now.

 

[Ozarker]

…unfortunately, you’re going to be disappointed lol.

It runs, but needs and engine and it isn’t worth rebuilding (it’s the smallest…235 ci? In-line 6 boat anchor of an engine and a worn out 3 on speed manual). Likely going LS swap as it’s available, easy enough retrofit and affordable.

I’ve got a young one at home and have a lot of dad duties after work..to get time for a project like it anytime soon, I need a less restrictive path to it being drivable and as sacreligious as the LS in a Ford might be, I’m no purist or brand loyalist, so it’ll work.

While I don’t plan to go crazy with it, it’ll be some lite version of a retro-mod. More modern drivetrain and amenities for better regular use on the roads today, mostly stock appearance with a few touches like interior and a 3-5 inch static drop. Body and paint will have to wait years (if ever, it is rust free though), so just drivetrain and it’s supporting parts, suspension and interior for now.

Descent slicks or even cheaters won't fit if you drop it, just put some concrete blocks in the back and call it good.

 

[Jmanscotch]

The trailer is at a welder friend of mines place getting the new tongue installed and reinforced, so not much to do for a week or two.

Been taking this time to plan out the electrical. Like the last one, our electrical plans are pretty basic and will include only 12 V DC circuits, no AC power. This serves our needs just fine and makes it pretty simple to achieve what we need.

I also decided to tackle the roof rack cross bars. We’ll be utilizing a set of three cross bars for the roof rack this time. They will mount an awning, solar and maybe a few other items in time.

I’m making the roof rack using ARB awning mounts as the roof rack base mounts and 1x3 steel tube for the cross bars.



I cut the cross bars to 80” long, so there’ll be a roughly 4” overhang on either side of the trailer. I welded end plates onto the bars to finish them off nicely.

Left to right: End cap plate set in place, welded on and then ground down to clean it up.



I also drilled small holes on either end on the underside of the cross bars. I’ll primarily be drilling through and bolting to these bars with the accessories and those holes will likely let some moisture in over time, so these are small drain/air holes so the cross bars don’t corrode from the inside out over time.



Painting them up with bed liner paint and will be throwing them on when I get the trailer back.

Cheers.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Unfortunately still waiting to get the trailer back, which is driving me a bit mad.

Ordered some “scratch and dent” SCS wheels for the trailer, but they only had matte dark bronze available, so I painted them matte gunmetal to match the Tacoma.

 

[Jmanscotch]

Picked the trailer back up from the welder friend, he did a great job.

Extended the tongue 3 feet, running the new tongue back several feet to just in front of the axle and relocated the safety chain mounts (ignore the chain situation in the pictures, didn’t know they were too short and didn’t pick it up prepared to correctly handle that issue).




I mean…she’s long now boys…




Half the intent of extending the tongue so long is being able to jackknife the trailer 90+ degrees for trail situations.



The other reasons are room for a front landing and it being way easier to reverse the trailer down trails when forced too. Major cons being its long and it takes corners with a tighter radius.

Now that I have the trailer back, I’m going to need to jump into several bigger items and knock them out soon. I’m trying to get the trailer bare bones useable before the dead of winter here.

- windows
- door
- roof vent
- axle hub swap
- new trailer floor
- insulation