UAV-TT (off-road tent trailer) build

[silvrzuki77]

Hey guys, some of you know I had built a off-road teardrop on 35's to pull behind my Hummer H3T.

I had two little kids at the time and it was going to work out pretty good with them. Than we had a surprise baby. That's 3 boys! Teardrop was awesome just need something that can hold all of us and keep us warm. I grew up camping in a tent trailer and always liked them.
So here is the new trailer!

2009 Starcraft 1701 8' box. Has a heater, fridge, 10 gallon water tank and electric water pump, stove, and exterior BBQ.

As most you know build quality of tent trailers suck! No ones a tape measure at the manufacture.

The first day I added about 80-100 screws all over, added about 15' of 1x2" poplar to interior cabinets and walls. Everything is much more ridged now, but still will get more bracing in the future. Ordered LED's for every single light on the camper.
Okay to the interesting stuff Suspension
The bad thing about this camper is how they ran the lift cables. It's not ran through the frame just bolted underneath.

Plan is to build a 2x3 subframe, new tongue, storage, and independent arms on airbags. Besides being neat it will keep the tires from flexing into the body.
Going to flip the axle this week so I can use it in the mean time and start ordering parts. Here is the 35" tire next to the trailer stock height. Going to need a little modification

 

[Phoenix]

This looks like fun. Will enjoy your updates.

 

[fast_suv]

Subscribed!

 

[OttawaXJ]

Subscribed. I want to do something similar to this.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Hopefully I don't disappoint! Any suggestion fire away

 

[fast_suv]

I had a palomino yearling pop up that was almost identical... Had a torsion axle with 4" lift on it... Loved it but was just a little to big for the Jk to pull on trails....

Now I picked up a rough out products pop up camper... They went out of business but it is a cool pop up

 

[cam-shaft]

Looks like you have a Schutt flat bed behind it in pic. Maybe just pull the body off and stick it on that I followed your teardrop build I am pretty sure you are capable of it.
Cam-shaft.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Its a turtle mountain m116a3, that was the plan until I brought the tent trailer home and started measuring. Lots of modifying and building a new subframe anyways, 8 lug, be surge brake. Not a bad thing. Either way just as much work and I have been wanting to try a airbag system.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Well I flipped the springs at the moment. Need to get new perches this week to correct the bow in the stock axle.
Trying to get the 35's to fit..... Either its going to be super tall or I need to drop tire size. I cant cut into the body because I will hit the furnace.

Borrowing my dads 285/75 R16 off his h3 tomorrow and see how that fits.

Whats do you guys think? Trying to keep a LCG obviously. Frame is at 24" inches and top of the trailer would be around 6' lol.

 

[Concho]

Why not just get a wider axle and add fenders to keep the 35's and no threat of damaging the body

 

[silvrzuki77]

Trying to keep the width as close as possible to the hummer for trails. Trailer exterior is 86" wide versus the hummers 73" I think the wms will be pretty close.

 

[bonomonster]

I would gutt the interior, cut into the trailer to make the tires fit, then rebuild the interior to be more functional.

This is my personal opinion, but I've always felt the interior setups of these small pop ups are cramped and pointless. Imo they are too small to cook or eat in and be comfortable.

 

[jet noise]

Can't wait to see this unfold. I have a pup on 31"s and didn't cut into the body. Had some lift tabs welded to the frame. My only problem was finding a stabilizer with enough reach.

 

[silvrzuki77]

Bonomonster, I agree on cutting and rebuilding. I will take some pics today when Im contemplating lol. They put the heater right next to the wheel well. I think if I move it im going to have a issue fixing the exterior vent hole. I will take a look later today. Driver side I would have zero issue cutting .

 

[protohyp]

Hey Silvr...its all good until surprise number 4 comes along....and then they become teenagers and you're stuck in a whole bigger project. HA! Looks cool otherwise. I had a coleman popup before I built my hard side and I retrofitted a linear actuator on the lift cables and ditched the cable tree because it would bind for some unknown reason under load. it was cool to push a button rather than crank..then got sidelined by another project so ended up scrapping the coleman. Anyway. looks to be in otherwise great condition..at least way better than mine. I had started to frame out the pullout kitchen that was going to sit underneath the couch/bed and it would definitely free up room on the interior for other stuff. Anyway. we will be headed out to Red Rocks for thanksgiving so maybe we can connect. If you needed any popup parts I may have some that might be of some use.