starting build

[tacoma2]

So I have be snooping around and finally found a design I like so hopefully this weekend I will start to work on the trailer. I am using an old family wood trailer for my frame just gotta cut the sides off. It is a 4x8 trailer which is a good size to pull behind my toyota planning on making it a off-road style one, only worry is if it will be big enough to comfortable sleep two. Any and all tips are welcome kinda nervous to start but excited.

 

[tacoma2]

I am planning on doing a trailer like 1speed did. And no plans mostly just measurements I have seen all these computer generated drawings people do but I'm not that good.

 

[greentruck]

8 feet long should be all the length you need. I've often wished our M101 was a foot or two longer, but I can live with it.

4 feet wide is awfully snug on width unless both of you are skinny and plan to stay that way. My wife and I do OK in the sleeper I built in our 80. The cabin walls are almost exactly 60"/5' wide in it. You'll probably want at least that, if not a extra room in the long run.

Easiest way to deal with this is to make the sleeping area rest above the tires. If you keep most of the rest of your weight low, thus underneath it, this will not be as bad as it seems, center-or-gravity wise.

That advice leaves most of your plans wide open, but sometimes it's best to figure out what are the constraints you need to live with and determine the most economical way to use the limited space you'll have.

 

[tacoma2]

ya the length i am not worried about i am going to build it with a nice galley in back with hopefully all the animates that my girlfriend has been saying are necessities ahah but she is an amazing cook so that part is like her playground of the trailer. And yes we are both pretty small people i am taller then her at my monstrous 5,5 and 140 pounds she is really petite but the 4 feet wide was the part that worried me but i think it will work for us. (close but it should be livable). does anyone out there have a 4 foot wide trailer that could weigh in on the size?

 

[tacoma2]

got some work done today heres one with the trailer hooked up to my truck in the morning heading to my buddies to start the work. its a little beaten up from hauling wood and dirtbikes but its got a stout frame
View attachment 52687
one of the main things was to swap the coupler from this old style one to a little my reliable new one

started to torch the sides off

and the last but not least feat was to do a spring over on it to get it closer to level with my truck

slow start with all the cutting and lots more to do but its a start. my uncle and dad made this trailer so its going to take alot of cutting to get all the expanded metal off they went a little crazy with the tack welds but built a good trailer

 

[tacoma2]

sorry it didnt work the first one here it is behind my truck

 

[tacoma2]

well not a big thing to report on but im happy i got it done today i went to a local kragens and bought the wiring kit for my trailer lights today. most tacomas don't come equipped to pull trailers so mine is all wired up another small step forward. also with further consideration i have decided to make my trailer 5 feet wide instead of 4 it just wouldn't be a comfy fit that small. hopefully tomorrow i plan on getting the trailer completely stripped and ready to be cleaned and painted so i can starting building.

 

[tacoma2]

As the trailer sits right now it is a five lug but I want to switch it to a six so its the same as my truck. And the hubs on it are all beat up I was wonder if anyone knew how to tell weather or not you are able to switch it? Thanks