Trailer Tech Questions

[Bergger]

I'm going over this debate right now. I just got a Chaser and when it's towed by the Tacoma the spare is on the Tacoma, same bolt pattern. However I'd like to tow it with the Xterra as well and also would not mind having a dedicated spare all the time. I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on sharing a spare between my trailer and my Tacoma. The cheapest way is to throw it in a roof rack on the tow vehicle but I really don't like that idea so I'm thinking of getting a CBI tire carrier. It'll fit in the reciever on the trailer bumper. They weigh in at about 30lbs so with the spare tire and rim it should be around 110 lbs total weight. My only concern is that may be too much weight on the rear of the trailer. Any thoughts on this.

 

[SAR_Squid79]

Well - I have a custom Spare Tire Carrier / Tailgate on my truck:

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I too, am using tires and wheels on the trailer that are interchangable with the truck...

SO - I guess in a pinch, I could put my trailer spare in the stock spare location under the bed of my truck. I hadn't even thought of that until now. lol.

Aside from that I was thinking of building some kind of mount that would put the trailer spare under the rear portion of the tongue - like where the tongue meets the trailer body... OR fabbing a Swing-away spare holder for the rear of the trailer, similar to the Tire Gate hitch mounted carrier.

But I would like some more people to post up with their ideas and solutions, and/or pics.

 

[SAR_Squid79]

She's just about finished!!

Here are a few crappy pictures (cell-phone pics). More details and more high quality pictures coming soon.

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My dad and I got it to the point where I could safely pull it cross-country (from NC to CA). It pulled like a dream (even at 90 mph)! I have to paint it - it's only primed, and that's not even very good. I need to get my hands on a set of AT 14" fenders. I need to clean up the wiring.

...and then I get to start outfitting it and pimping it out!

 

[SAR_Squid79]

My trailer has come quite a ways since the above pictures. See the 'My Trailer' link in my signature for the latest...

...BUT - I have a new question...

When I get home my very first order of business will be to install the electrical system, and a fridge in my trailer. For the electrical system, I've decided on going with a Minn Kota Power Center, plus a marine battery charger / tender. The Minn Kota Power Center says that it will hold group 24 & group 27 batteries.

Does anyone have the outer dimensions of group 24 / 27 batteries? I want to use an Odyssey battery, and I want to find the biggest one that will fit in the Minn Kota box.

 

[LandyAndy]

All of the dimensions of Odyssey batteries are on their website :

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/index.htm

Have you looked at the National Luna battery monitors, there very good and are used alot in expo vehicles.

Andy

PS... nice looking trailer & truck !

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: When I bought my TENTRAX, I had a '06 Xterra and I used the X spare for any of the 6 wheels

I'm going over this debate right now. I just got a Chaser and when it's towed by the Tacoma the spare is on the Tacoma, same bolt pattern. However I'd like to tow it with the Xterra as well and also would not mind having a dedicated spare all the time. I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on sharing a spare between my trailer and my Tacoma. The cheapest way is to throw it in a roof rack on the tow vehicle but I really don't like that idea so I'm thinking of getting a CBI tire carrier. It'll fit in the reciever on the trailer bumper. They weigh in at about 30lbs so with the spare tire and rim it should be around 110 lbs total weight. My only concern is that may be too much weight on the rear of the trailer. Any thoughts on this.

Now I have a jeep and rather than change the trailer drums and tires and wheels I added an Xterra spare tire/wheel to the back of the TENTRAX, weight 65 lbs

Now, when loaded, the trailer is about 900 lbs and the tongue weight is 80 lbs

The spare behind the trailer axle, does improve the trailer towing, although it didn't need an improvement, using the X spare at $90 bucks, saved me $1000 in hub.wheel/tire changeout

What I'm getting at is, by adding 100+ lbs over the rear of the trailer axle, you have to SLIGHTLY redistribute the load on your chaser so you will get back to approx 10% tongue weight

Back to the scheduled program (schedule)???

:costumed-smiley-007:wings::safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO