trailer frame: what did you forget?

[fifty]

Im in the process of drawing up the frame for the upcoming trailer build. Im scouring the web looking for little details for items that Im not thinking about and where it will be too late after Im done.

So are there any fabricated ideas you wish you had done when you were still at the beginning?

So far things like:

-Making sure the tongue is long enough for a 90 degree turn
-mounting points for stabilizers
-tabs to mount the floor to, so I dont have to drill through the box tubing and run long bolts
-reinforced recovery points
-protected places to run wiring
-leveling jack each corner
-hitch receiver in the rear
-mounts for gas cans etc
....?

 

[high-and-dry]

Nope I got everything on the first try. But I did add a removable tongue later.

 

[NatersXJ6]

You pretty much covered my list, but might also think about:

Will you be mounting water tanks or gas cans?
Will you want a telescopic tongue? I could go a while on the challenges I ran into doing that.
Safety chain mounts?
Adequate room for a tongue Jack?
Sliders underneath to protect anything delicate?
Adequate drainage if using tube frame?

 

[fifty]

I am starting to realize I’m going to have to build the frame and the rack, and any storage bits... like cooking gas and tow vehicle gas storage racks...

then weigh everything and THEN mount my leafs and my shock mounts.... and the wheel wells.

I wanted to have the wheel wells Z’d into the frame but not going to be able to do it unless I guess where the axle will go.

 

[sloughboy]

Suggestions from my own build. Removable tongue so you can use a regular trailer coupler or a max coupler. Also is good for keeping empty to help prevent theft. There is a jack mount on every corner so I can level it just about anywhere by lifting the tires off the ground. Rear trailer receiver.

 

[NMBruce]

I would do the sliding telescope tongue, should you ever do a ferry where they charge by the foot, it could save some money. I like mine, I have moved mine a couple of times.

 

[fifty]

Suggestions from my own build. Removable tongue so you can use a regular trailer coupler or a max coupler. Also is good for keeping empty to help prevent theft. There is a jack mount on every corner so I can level it just about anywhere by lifting the tires off the ground. Rear trailer receiver.
View attachment 652183

Definitly using a max coupler. A leveling jack mount at each corner is smart. Initially I was just going to do two on the rear.

rear hitch receiver is not a bad idea and going on my list.

 

[jim65wagon]

Honestly, things I don't need:
a removable tongue. Adds complexity to the build, adds extra failure points. Make the tongue just long enough to jack knife the trailer and its perfect. I Use a max coupler exclusively on and off road.
Gas cans mounted on the trailer
Extra gas is always carried on the vehicle. If the trailer is parked in a Basecamp you won't have to make room in the TV for the can or take time to move the gas can to the TV. Trailer doesn't use gas, it only carries propane and water.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

 

[fifty]

I went back and forth over the gas can thing. Mostly because I’m a bit disabled and anyone who has tried to fill their trucks with a gas can knows it sucks.
I have a 5 gallon in my bypass/bed cage and I can use a shaker hose until it’s light enough to lift and fill by hand.

but at the end of the day, a 20 gal truck tank and a 5 gal jug in the bed probably won’t cut it when pulling the trailer anymore.

Definitly not putting fuel on the tow vehicle when I the suburban full of the kids and wife and dog and stuff and kitchen sink.

I honestly thought of putting a fuel cell in the frame and use an electric pump lol. But that’s just getting silly since I told my wife that a 30-40 gallon water tank and pump system was getting too much and we would just have four 5 gallon water jugs mounted in the trailer somewhere out of the sun. We have a hand pump for those.

im not a fan of roto pax, I love the way they look, I just suffer when using them especially with the new GM cap less fuel fill system.

I think it’s going to be 2 metal fuel jugs somewhere on the outside....

 

[NMBruce]

I do not sleep in my trailer, it was made to carry equipment and supplies. In 2014 (Jeep JKUR) & 2018 (Lexus GX470), trips to Alaska with extra people & our clothes & stuff in the tow vehicle, the trailer made the trip possible. It carried the tent, chairs, cots, 2-5gal fuel cans (both where needed), 2-5gal cans of water and much more. It’s been used to set up a base camp when wheeling with friends. Everything can be locked down and if I am worried, the tongue can be removed for security.

My trailer was built in 2013, it has been to Alaska twice, the Arctic Ocean, all over the San Juan mountains, The Gila, Big Bend, It has about 50k miles on it. I have changed the box on it once, changed how I mount stuff and adjusted the tongue to improve the tongue weight or how it tows. I have a 2x2 4’ slide inside a 2.5x2.5 4’ long square tube and I use a locking pin to hold it in place. Another reason I like my trailer is that when out doing trails, I don’t have to carry a lot of extra weight and stuff in the vehicle, it stays in or on the trailer.

I would recommend sitting down and think about what you want this to do and where do you plan to go with it.
Even a trailer set up for sleeping can be made to carry stuff you can or don’t want to carry in the vehicle or don’t have room.

 

[Elysian Ranch]

One item that I wish that I had done differently is to have the tongue tube run from the front hitch, completely through the entire length of my trailer frame (like a spine) and then terminate at the rear of the trailer with a receiver hitch receptacle. In my mind, I would then have that main structural member be one, monolithic, continuous piece, all of the way from front to back. If the tow vehicle got stuck, the extraction vehicle pulling to the rear would be exerting force all the way through the trailer frame with that same tube and not be interrupted by gaps and welds and bridges of various frame components. But that's just me . . .

 

[billiebob]

unless I guess where the axle will go.

the industry standard is 60/40, and load accordingly
you can agonize forever but another industry standard is a 4' tongue.

 

[NMBruce]

One item that I wish that I had done differently is to have the tongue tube run from the front hitch, completely through the entire length of my trailer frame (like a spine) and then terminate at the rear of the trailer with a receiver hitch receptacle. In my mind, I would then have that main structural member be one, monolithic, continuous piece, all of the way from front to back. If the tow vehicle got stuck, the extraction vehicle pulling to the rear would be exerting force all the way through the trailer frame with that same tube and not be interrupted by gaps and welds and bridges of various frame components. But that's just me . . .

I have a 2.5x2.5 square tubing in the front and back, could be use for a bike carrier, etc. This winter we added a 2x2 to the middle to join them both together, like a spine

 

[Xtreme XJ]

One item that I wish that I had done differently is to have the tongue tube run from the front hitch, completely through the entire length of my trailer frame (like a spine) and then terminate at the rear of the trailer with a receiver hitch receptacle. In my mind, I would then have that main structural member be one, monolithic, continuous piece, all of the way from front to back. If the tow vehicle got stuck, the extraction vehicle pulling to the rear would be exerting force all the way through the trailer frame with that same tube and not be interrupted by gaps and welds and bridges of various frame components. But that's just me . . .

I too ran a backbone front to rear... the removable tongue can be moved to the rear in dire situations to get the trailer out of a bad spot by those following if needed... not optimal, but for a 100' to regroup & get resituated it should work... hopefully I'm never there...

 

[colorado matt]

I wish i would have weighted the trailer to see how it sat before mounting the fenders .... its not much and i am probably the only one that will notice but now the tires seem to be not centered in the fenders ... they are a little back of center ....
and half inch pipe i ran everywhere to protect wiring i forgot to smooth over the end edges and was forced to do some on my back file work after stripping wire as i was pulling it