RTT on trailer with.... Changing room?

[kraqus]

Here is a design I came up with. I wanted to be able to access the trailer whether the tent was deployed or not. Since I do not have a tailgate cut in, that means I need to be able to open the lid at all times. The lift raises the tent about 2 ft. above the lid, which means it is about 6'-8" above the ground. Here are a couple pictures of the tent deployed in the lower position and the raised position. The lift uses a single Harbor Freight stabilizer jack.

Clever!
Very simple idea.





Benny

 

[jeepfreak81]

Here is a design I came up with. I wanted to be able to access the trailer whether the tent was deployed or not. Since I do not have a tailgate cut in, that means I need to be able to open the lid at all times. The lift raises the tent about 2 ft. above the lid, which means it is about 6'-8" above the ground. Here are a couple pictures of the tent deployed in the lower position and the raised position. The lift uses a single Harbor Freight stabilizer jack.

I think we are going to adapt this for use on my trailer rather than the idea we had. That is so simple and perfect!

 

[Trailpsycho]

Tdittyrocks-

Can you show a few more pics of your scissor-mechanism for the frame? I get what the jack does, but I wasnt clear on how the rest of the frame works. Can the arms be "locked-in" or do they simply help stabilize the fore-aft movement?

I like the otherwise simplicity of the setup. You said you are using a drill/driver to raise and lower the mechanism, right? Probably not a bad thing to have in the tool-kit anyway, I suppose. Any other details you can provide would be very appreciated.

Thanks.

John

 

[tdittyrocks]

The frame gets locked in either the lowered or raised position by a pin on both sides. Once locked, the frame is very stable. There is a slider bar that connects between the rear and front center bracket (where the control arms pivot), that is where the lock pin is located. Here is a schematic that might help

 

[General Automag]

Im looking for a way to be able to use the changing room with the tent on a trailer. ive seen where people will put the tent on a rack on the trailer but id like to be able to keep the COG and drag less by having the tent low when driving.

I thought of the idea of having it be able to raise and lower. raise it to usr the changing room in camp and lower for driving.

Has anyone done this kind of thing? i was thinking that it wouldnt be too hard to build, but might be adventageous to use a linear acctuator or something similar to raise and lower it.

Any pics or ideas would be great.
Thanks!

I had the same concerns when I started building out our little 1/4-ton military trailer. There are some great looking trailers out there, but a hinged lid or similar setup will not allow you to fully utilize the annex room. The tent material will bunch up around the bottom, and you can't stand up in them. This, in my opinion, is not the optimal design.

So, I started looking at various options to raise and lower a platform to hold a roof top tent. If you build a permanent frame to elevate the then, like this one: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/78260-New-Guy-Trailer-Build-Thread/page8, then you may have a lot of wind drag which could be an issue depending on what vehicle you use to tow your trailer. Take a look at this idea from the great guys at ACC Toyota & Land Cruiser in Atlanta http://www.acctoyota.com/.

I watched them go through several iterations and design improvements before I started on mine, but essentially you have some type of lift, electric, pneumatic, or hand-operated, to lift a pivoting frame. Check out there video that's posted on IH8MUD.com: http://forum.ih8mud.com/atlanta-custom-creations/330173-expo-trailer-build.html.

Scroll down to the last few pictures to see the platform fully elevated, and then click on the YouTube link to see it in action. We haven't finished our trailer, but it is essentially the same mechanically and will be lifted with a pneumatic cylinder. This is such an awesome setup we had to build one for ourselves.

 

[General Automag]

Here's a great trailer with permanent "risers' for a roof top tent, but in my opinion, it could make the trailer a bit top heavy, and it would create a lot of wind drag.

 

[java]

OK back to thinking about this again. But with a different trailer this time.

Built this last year. Still torn between RTT on truck vs. RTT on trailer. Love to be able to drop the trailer and move with the truck, but sometimes it may be nice to not take the trailer.

This is the trailer with the lid open. I can live with it opening a little less.

I like the tiddyrocks design, but I don't think it would work with my current lid, its not super duty.

I could do something like General Automag put up, the pivot design, but it would need to be mounted outside my tub. Not ideal, it seems like both of these may hinder access to the inside also.

I kinda like the idea of using truck camper jacks, they seem like it would be easy to mount, but they are expensive, even used. but lots of lift, and maybe even the option of dropping the tent off the trailer.

Any new design ideas?

 

[shack]

Check out the link in my sig. I'm using 4 - 100lb gas springs on a rigid rack with a winch to pull it back down. You could vary the setup to meet your needs