Offroad Trailer

[jayson44]

Paul previously posted:

[Brucker]

jayson44 previously posted:

[Java]

jayson44 previously posted:

[southpaws3]

C and m metel 3037617881 in Englewood /sheridan old hampden road has plenty of steel eveven has a salvage yard in the back where you can pick up scrap iron precut messed up all available

[Java]

I redid the fenders this week into a more functional form. I took off the twin trailer fenders and replaced them with a frame made from steel with tons of holes in it (bungee heaven!), added some gussets and put 32" x 12" cutting board plastic on top with stainless fasteners. I used a hammer to resolve a small conflict between the fender frame and the shock absorber on the passenger side. I added a small support bracket and two through bolts to attach an ammo can to each fender for waterproof storage. The fenders are tables now, and really strong. I can support a big water container on them so I'm considering cutting a drain with a stopper in the bottom of one of the ammo cans, bedliner it, and use it as a sink.

Before:

[Jim]

Multi-function is a nice thing!

[Brian]

Very cool! It's like a rolling Swiss Army knife!

[Java]

sorry if this is just news to me, but I was happy to find that Home Depot has supersized their 27 gallon black container to 55 gallons. It's awesome, 27.00 and holds a ton of stuff.

[Java]

new tires and wheels, 15 x 6 steel and 225/75r15 trailer tires, 28" tall by about 8" wide. I went 5" smaller, for about a 2.5" drop in height that should put the trailer at the perfect height in relation to my Jeep. The 33x12.50 ATs were too tall, the trailer was always tilted, and the real issue was that it slipped too much on the trail in off camber situations- the trailer weighs maybe 1000lbs loaded for bear and spread out over two big tires there wasn't much grip. It really slipped a lot, like every time it got sideways. It turns out trailer tires have a certian tread style for a reason- they have little siping and continuous tread beads for lateral stability, exactly my issue. They don't brake or accelerate so they don't need tread that does those things well, they need to track straight. We'll see... so far I really like them, and they are 8 ply so they should hold up well.

[JandDGreens]

Paul trailer looks great. Hope some day ((this summer) I can get mine on the road. I would like to take it to Moab in the Fall but will see how it goes.

[The StRanger]

Very nice.

[Patrolman]

Sounds like the trailer tires should solve the problems that you had. Additionally they probably have a lower rolling resistance, so you may find a slight increase in road manners.

My only question is what are you doing for a spare?

[Java]

The spare is in progress, it's going on a swing out carrier that will also retain cargo and I'm not sure if I can fit a same-size spare there or not. I wanted to have tires this size before I got the carrier built to measure accurately. I'm going to get an identical tire / wheel, ideally, or the closest I can fit realistically. Fortunately trailer wheels come from 12x4 up to 15x6 with 5x4.5 bolt patterns with a few sizes of tires to choose from so I'll do what I can. Fullsize is ideal but since they're independent hubs different size tires aren't a mechanical problem. I just rebuilt both hubs too, new bearings and races all around, and I'm adding bearing buddies.

[Patrolman]

The bearing buddies are great. I did the same mod to my pop up trailer. They can be a bit of a PITA to get tapped into place, but the end result is well worth it.

[Java]

Progress on the swing out tire carrier / cargo box retainer. The cool part is it has cost $0.00, its all stuff I had sitting around.

I cut the head off a long bolt, welded a washer to it and welded it to one of the uprights. To stop it from bending when the carrier swings I added a small wrench that came with something, twisted it to fit and used a self-tapping screw to secure it to the upright.

On the other upright I welded a bolt for a striker, I fit a piece of rubber over it and have a big wing nut that fits it. If you think that top weld is a booger you should see the bottom!

I had an odd double-U shaped bracket from an old workout machine that fit some scrap steel I had for the cross piece, I doubled the scrap steel in the middle to bolt on the tire carrier. On the end that meets the striker I made a flat steel pad with a hole in it from other scrap and welded it to the cross piece.

The tire carrier is two light brackets from the roof rack of my old FJ60 with a mangled wheel spacer from my Jeep bolted to them. That attaches to the cross piece with two U-bolts I have from another project.

The red paint I just have, it's Rustoleum Sunrise Red which happens to almost perfectly match OEM Jeep Flame Red. I painted stuff outside but moved it in to my garage to dry overnight.

[Java]

got a little break in the weather for a test fit, so far so good.

[Java]

more progress, got the hilift mounted to the front uprights, my cooler goes infront of it.

added a small handle to the tire carrier

added a chain to the carrier that transfers the weight to the rack when its open. I wove a small bungee into it to keep it quiet and out of the way.

put bearing protectors on the hubs, put a whole mini tube of Green Grease in each one. I had to rebuild one of the hubs after a few watercrossings, both races were scored and making noise, so hopefully this will prevent that from happening again. I also bought two more bearing sets for spares just incase.

just need a spare tire and I'm done, ready for our first camping trip of the year. I'll probably just take the 20% off coupon to Harbor Freight and buy a new one, about $50.00 for the tire/wheel.

[Brian]

I might have missed it Paul, but do you have any aux lighting or plans for such. The trailer looks like a natural for some LED spots on either side. Would be handy at night for repairs or just to throw some light where needed. Digging the build!

[Java]

Thinking about mounting a battery, lights, outlets, solar charger and propane down the road, but that's still in the scheming and dreaming phase...

[Java]

spare tire on, got it at Harbor Freight with the coupon. it's little, it will do for now but I'm going to do an underbed mount for a fullsize spare ASAP.