Offroad / Expedition trailer

raven mad

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Location
fayettville NC
OK, so Im building a jeep (its on here) and there is no way for me to have it completely done, with all the bugs worked out before I have to drive across my beutiful country to attend training for 6 months and then move my family to Colorado in May... So I was sitting back this morning, thinking ....HHHMMMM, I want a trailer to tow behing my jeep ( I have 2 jeeps and its lookin like soon Ill have 3 ) .... So I walked back to the trusty storage shed behind my house and started digging ( its were I keep everything that I may have a use for, but am not sure what that use is )....

And Soooo, walla... I found 3 12' peices of 2"x2" .120 wall square tubing, 2 peices of 2" .120 DOM, and a 10' peice os 1.5" .120 wall electro weld .... 4 new shackles from BTF, 2 eight lug steel wheels, 2 new tail lights from a TJ, a wireing harness for a trailer, some 1.5" flat bar stock, and 2 new shocks for a CJ ....

Im thinkin DAM, IM almost done with the trailer already, so after 15 minutes of back and forth to my guarage and driveway, scooted some crap around in my guarage and I whent to work ....

the outside dimentions are 4 feet wide, 5 feet long, and 24in. high sides ... the tongue is 6 feet long... Ill still need to scrounge some leaf springs, Ubolts and plates, as well as find the best deal on a trailer axle.... but heay, here goes..

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I notched the round tubing into the corner posts by 1", and Ill need to order 4 end caps to seal them off, as well tommarrow I will bolt the tubing bender back to the floor and bend up the 1.5" tubing for the front basket and cross supports ... anyways, theres my progress for today ... feel free to chime in with ideas.... Im open for input...
 
I'm impressed that you had the stuff laying around and got all that done in one day. Looks great!!

I want to build a trailer one day. I'd never be able to decide how I wanted to do it though. I see so many cool ideas when it comes to expedition/offroad/camping trailers.
 
GotLime? said:
I'm impressed that you had the stuff laying around and got all that done in one day. Looks great!!
I want to build a trailer one day. I'd never be able to decide how I wanted to do it though. I see so many cool ideas when it comes to expedition/offroad/camping trailers.
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I totaly agree... I started to over think what it would look like and directions, but in the end I just said what the he'll... and then started cutting and welding....lolol.... yeah, I've got even more crap, I've slowly been using it all up or selling it off....
 
Sept. 20th.

OK, so today I went to tractor supply .... probebly not the cheepest place, but what the hell ... I went anyways ...I bought a 3500 pound axle, 2 26" leaf spring's ( not my first choice, but I dont have alot of time to look and scrounge for a set of narrow jeep springs ) the Ubolts, spring perches, U bolt plates, the trailer tounge for a 2" ball, some mounting hardware and a few other misc. parts .... I already had a set of BTF shackles.... tomarrow I will buy some tubing for sleeve material and cut out some 1/4 plate for spring hangers .... the axle places the wheel mounting surface right at 12" past the side of the trailer body, so I should have just enoph room to place the shocks outbourd along with outbourd bump stops ...

I was thinking that I will buy some material to build drop down legs for the four corners so that when I load my bike or a quad in the back it will sit level and not lift the back of my jeep, as well for when I put the roof top tent on the trailer and deploy it when camping... I like the idea of disconecting the trailer and wheelin without having to put the tent down or rely on the tounge jack to hold it steady ... anyways ... owww yeah, I bought the reciever material for the back of the trailer ( so I can put my mountain bike rack on the back of the trailer) ... I am also thinkin I will put one on the front of the trailer just in front of the basket, so I can build a T mount to drop in and hold a small boat above the roof top tent) ...

If anyone knows of a good powder coater in fayettville let me know ... Im thinkin Ill find one and drop off the trailer to be powder coated next week hopefully ...

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Picked up the last of a few brackets that I was looking for ... Final touch in spring lake does powder coating, but then I started thinking that maybe it would be better to get the frame work galvanized, and build a box that bolts into the inside of the trailer like a liner and have that line-X'ed... HHMMMM, anyways, now Im thinking that maybe I should buy or build a fuel tank that fits in front of the box instead of fuel cans....I have a transfer pump ... who knows, decisions, decisions !!!!


here is my inspiration...
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I have been following the build on your TJ-5, and I really like the design and innovation you've incorporated into it! Its very much in my own taste. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished :beer:

I have been browsing around reading up on expedition trailers lately too. I would like to start a build on one at some point.

Here are a few threads you might find interesting or get some more inspiration from:

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=978768

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/42-Expedition-Trailers

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/66487-Light-weight-rock-crawler-trailer

http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?29-Jeep-Trailer-Tech

You may have already checked some of these out, but just thought I'd pass it along. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with on the trailer. Good luck!
 
thanks for the links ... I havent spent much time looking around, however, I just spent an hour reading through each of the links ....Thanks again ... I think you just answered some of my questions that I had in my mind ... NOW, time to go back to tinkering....LOL thanks again
 
Absolutely bro! Yeah these things can range from mild to wild for sure. Its amazing to me how much sustainability can be packaged into such a small vessel, when well thought out. Some of them are probably overkill, but cool none-the-less.

I particularly like the tube work of the one built by Swag on Pirate that I posted, combined with the "fit and finish" and features of this one :

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/39494-Outlander-Trailer-Sherpa-II-project...Dial-up-beware!/page10
 
sept. 24th.

OK, so I made some progress today on the trailer ...
I bought some 1" x 1/8 flat bar stock and built a lip for the lid (that I will eventualy build) to sit on. I also added some supports to the floor area, notched and welded a reciever into the rear cross member... stood the trailer on its end and finished welding the bottom. I went ahead and installed a standard trailer coupler (2" ball) on the tounge for now. I removed and repositioned the bull dog tounge jack. The trailer will sit outside for a few weeks while I wait for some parts that I ordered so I went ahead and put 3 coats of rustolium primer, and then 2 coats of flat dessert sand (same as my TJ5 prodject) to keep her from rusting away.
So I ordered PRO TECH boxes for each side, when they get hear I will attach them to each side of the trailer and then build the fender wells below them. each Box will be 12" high, 10" deep and 48" long. I am contemplating building a access door on the passenger side as well....
anyways, picks of todays work
welded incerts into the frame and used wrangle YJ bushing, and BTF shackles
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drip rail for the eventual cover to sit on with a rubber seal.
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trailer reciver welded into the rear crossmember. this will be used for a step I will build tomarrow, bike rack, misc mounts, or whatever I can think of...
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painted... note the supports I welded to the base frame and a extra cross member I welded into the center of the trailer..
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OK, so I have an Idea.... the trailer axle hangs down, its gonna get drug around behind my jeep on a trail and wallah, the dam thing gets snagged on a stump or a rock ... so I was thinking I should build a skid plate that angles down to the axle so that it act's like a ramp of sorts ... then I thought why waist all that space, so I am considering building a transfer fuel tank, in the shape of (a wedge if you will) that will bolth act as a skid plate/ ramp and will hold 40-50 gallons of fuel .. it will bolt to the bottom of the trailer, have a fill neck on the side of the trailer, and a transfer pump... what the hell, at that point I mise well have a stainless tank built for the back that holds water, with a filler and a small transfer pump... or is this just to much crap!!!!

WHAT SAY YOU ....
 
I would want 20 gallons of fuel, 30 or so of water, like he said, there is definitely a balance to be found between capacity and payload.

But, if you had a tank front and back of the axle, what if you "connected" them(under the axle), so you had a flat belly the entire way? Just a thought.
 
I agree... weight is an issue when it's being pulled behind a Jeep... it's as if the good idea fairy landed on my trailer prodject and she is a bit chunky...lol... the other option is to stick with gas cans on the front, and build a wedge shaped storage space with access through the floor( trap door)...
I can see clearly now that I should have built a cj8 ( scrambler) with a cummins 6BT. NV 4500, bla bla bla just to pull my trailer with the very chuncky fairy resting inside.... she must be tierd from trying get her fat A@% out of my prodject.... lol...
 
Oct. 8th

OK, so Im finaly finished getting my instructors cert. and taught a class on the range.... SO, I went and bought some supplys... the boxes are 48in. bed side boxes, diamond plate aluminum, keyed the same, with rubber seals added. I have to say that becouse the lids for the boxes cap the top of the box, they were a pain in the A$% to mount so that the inside of the trailer will seal tight, becouse the lid pivots back... anyways, I got it figured out and after 3 hours of tinkering I got one side fabbed up and the box temp. bolted on... I rolled the 1.5in DOM for the fenders and tomarrow I will build the fenders to come up to the box...the notch on the bottom edge of the box were it would have set on a bed rail of a truck I am going to use to mount a set of axes on one side and shovel and pick on the other side... I also need to pick up the reflectors, some camp lights, and a battery box ..

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raven mad said:
I agree... weight is an issue when it's being pulled behind a Jeep... it's as if the good idea fairy landed on my trailer prodject and she is a bit chunky...lol... the other option is to stick with gas cans on the front, and build a wedge shaped storage space with access through the floor( trap door)...
I can see clearly now that I should have built a cj8 ( scrambler) with a cummins 6BT. NV 4500, bla bla bla just to pull my trailer with the very chuncky fairy resting inside.... she must be tierd from trying get her fat A@% out of my prodject.... lol...
Click to expand...

or you coulda built a fullsize bronco.....lots of room plus a v8! haha.
 
Well, Im in full scrounge mode now, I ended up building the fenders out of 1.5in round tubing ... the storage boxes are ancored firmly, heck I way 230 pounds and I sat on one of the boxes and bounced with out it budging .... anyways ... here is a side profile, I still nead to build the front box, and rear corner guards with lights .... SO, ClOSE NOW....

ai1197.photobucket.com_albums_aa440_boazfaithful_photobucket_6002_1318286709601.jpg


here is a raw pick, before I sanded it down and painted it...
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I scrounged the wheels from a local 4X4 shop ( Get Ugly 4x4 ) for $40. cash, there not pretty, but they will work...maybe, Ill drop them off at the powder coater to make em look better ..LOL
 
raven mad said:
well, uncle sam strikes again... I wont be needing this trailer after all to hall my crap out to Arizona and then Colorado ... Sooo, up for sale it goes...
Click to expand...

what happened? they got you doing something else now? hey by the way...sorry i didnt return your phone call yet....i was busy at the time and kinda stayed busy. i'll call you tomorrow...trailer turned out nice. by the way...my bronco always fit in at your house....haha. even though it didnt actually FIT in the garage. haha.
 
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