Wrangler trailer tub build

[sammi_davis]

Why not just media blast the gate? Chem stripping can be a mess. Looks good btw.

The tailgate wont fit in my blast cabinet , otherwise that's what I would have done . I dread the nastiness tomorrow , but theres too much build up to sand it .

 

[sammi_davis]

Todays progress .

This is what 5 minutes of Kleen Strip aircraft stripper did . The yellow is all gone , tomorrow it will get cleaned then painted .

The front panel is tacked in place . Initially it was going to be removeable , but once it is LineX'd its not coming out so I went ahead and welded it in. Between seam sealing the front edge and LineX'ing the backside the front panel should be pretty weather resistant .

The tub is clean and ready for seam sealer . It took a lot of scrubbing to get all of the grinding dust out .

Lastly I started cutting out the trim for the old wheelwells . The plan is to cut and roll the angle around the radius to clean up the edges .

In addition to working on the trailer today I had both J trucks apart and I worked on them as the trailer was drying . It was hot as heck , but Kimbo kept the ice water rolling out to me .

 

[sammi_davis]

The trailer is seam sealed inside , and on the front filler panel .

The final trim is cut , unfortunately I ran out of angle .

I feel like the trailer is complete enough to go get it inspected tomorrow morning ... wish me luck

 

[sammi_davis]

Tonights progress .

1st full coat of paint is on . Tomorrow I will wet sand the entire trailer and put down the second coat . It will get much darker on the second and third coats if cures like the test section did .

More first coat pics .

Welded up the trim bracket . Tomorrow I need to go get some more angle to finish the trim and make a hinge mount up front .
Not sure if I will make it to the inspection station tomorrow morning after all . Theres still a lot of little stuff to do before I take it over , and I would rather put more time into labor than go over and fail .

 

[hoop]

Always wanted to do this, a very well thought out approach to this trailer....Nice work!!

 

[blt2krawl]

Do you have any of the blue tub remaining?

 

[sammi_davis]

Why not just media blast the gate? Chem stripping can be a mess. Looks good btw.

Well you can say "I told you so " the stripper worked ok on the flat surfaces but left a lot to be desired on the edges and in crevices . Read on and you will see I ended up going your route .


Today there was more sanding , but that allowed me to shoot the second coat of paint on the trailer .

I used aircraft stripper and picks to clean the tailgate and there was no getting it 100% clean . It looked ok , but a quick phone call found a guy that was willing to sand blast it for $20 . This is what it looked like when I picked it up , there will be no more airplane stripper at this house !

The first coat of primer and paint are on , it needs a lot of wet sanding to slick up like the rest of the paint .

I thought blasting the hinges might make them bind up , but I figured what the heck they cant get worse. Surprisingly enough they pivot much smoother now and with a little oil they should be buttery smooth . The blasted surface takes primer and paint so nicely that I am motivated to get an even bigger blast cabinet so that I can blast larger items .

Close up of the second coat of paint . It is starting to shine a little more and its getting much darker . Tomorrow I will wet sand again , and I think the third coat of paint is going to be just about right ... or at least I hope so

Last paint picture for the evening . There is no way I could do paint and body for a living , it requires entirely too much patience

 

[sammi_davis]

Always wanted to do this, a very well thought out approach to this trailer....Nice work!!

Thanks , it has been fun to build . I hope that it will work as well as I think it will on the trails and for camping . If your thinking of building your own I can point you a few places to save a lot of time . The hardest thing to find were the two tubs , many thanks to Mike Yager for hooking me up with these .

Do you have any of the blue tub remaining?

All thats left is the upper rail section that is needed for an LJ stretch .

 

[blt2krawl]

I just need 15 inches of the tub. I already ordered and have the new rails.

 

[sammi_davis]

I just need 15 inches of the tub. I already ordered and have the new rails.

I think I have what you need , I will post a picture of it today .
Late night yesterday delayed my posting ... I was beat !

The paint looks good everywhere except the front panel , so I started putting everything back together . The flares were terribly faded so after I trimmed them to fit I used a heat gun to turn them black again .

You can see the difference in the flare in this picture . I was surprised at how well the heat gun trick worked . The process left a little blotchiness , but overall the flares look much better now than before . I still need to shoot another coat of paint on the tailgate , but I may leave that until I shoot car paint .

Definitely need another coat on the front panel .

Once its buffed I think a lot of the blotchiness will go away .

This is it for now , more this afternoon .

 

[hoop]

Nice Job with the tub, are you staying with those rims ?

 

[sammi_davis]

Nice Job with the tub, are you staying with those rims ?

For now I am going to run the old XJ rims with 33x9.5s , but at some point I want to get a set of Champions like these for the trailer that will match my Jeep .

 

[hoop]

Sweet! The setups I have seen in the past look awesome when the rims and tires and ride height match the jeep. What do you think about painting the tub on some saw horses and chassis blacking the frame ? I'm a "Devil in the details" kinda guy.

 

[blt2krawl]

Trailer is looking awesome keep it up!

 

[sammi_davis]

Sweet! The setups I have seen in the past look awesome when the rims and tires and ride height match the jeep. What do you think about painting the tub on some saw horses and chassis blacking the frame ? I'm a "Devil in the details" kinda guy.

The frame is all gloss black ? I did undercoat the wheel wells which looked awful .

Trailer is looking awesome keep it up!

Thanks , but I am done for now . Its time to go make some money

Yesterday I took the trailer out for its maiden run to see how it would tow on the road . When I first finished the tub I took it around the yard , but this was the first time I had it over 10 mph . I didnt know what to expect with it at speed , but it towed great. There was no hopping or wagging and best of all it was quiet .

You can see in this picture how much the trailer tub needs to be raised . Its not terrible and the 33's should make it sit about level with the LJ . Once the LJ gets 35's I think a spring over on the trailer will allow enough height to put 35's on the trailer with plenty of clearance .

Thats all the fabrication for now. I am off to work for the next six weeks , once I get back I will start working on the tonneau cover .

 

[sammi_davis]

Heres the trim piece welded up and ready to cover the rough edge of the old wheel well .

Trim piece in place .

Hard to see , but both trim pieces are in place .

This is where it gets tricky , this is a picture of the hinge mount . In this position I think its going to catch water and hold it .
I think that I am going to reverse it and have it face forward . This way with a little seam sealer it should seal up well and allow for a solid mounting point for the tonneau hinge .

Basically I will mount the angle opposite of this . More work tomorrow afternoon , its going to be close getting it ready for the trip .

 

[sammi_davis]

The tailgate latches are complete , all thats left is the aforementioned hinge mount for the tonneau . After some thinking and measuring I came up with what I think is a pretty simple solution for the latches .

A piece of barstock happened to be laying on the counter and it was the perfect size for the latch to close onto .

Heres the barstock in place .

A few bends in the vice made for a good stop / catch for the latch .

And nice out of focus picture of the tailgate latched .

 

[sammi_davis]

 

[Chris_Keziah]

Paint came out very nice. Like the latch idea as well.

 

[sammi_davis]

Paint came out very nice. Like the latch idea as well.

Thanks on both accounts . Heres a few more paint pictures . I am picking it up Thursday , and these are all the first coat pictures .

 

[BRUISER]

don't scratch it

 

[sammi_davis]

don't scratch it

I have said that the best paint in my driveway is going to be on the trailer ... this doesnt lend itself to dragging it through the woods

I should pick up the tub this weekend and head home by next Thursday .
More pics to come as Hendrix finishes everything up .

 

[sammi_davis]

Its not often that I am at a loss for words , this is one of those times ...

 

[sammi_davis]

Everything is painted and lined . I have to go to NYC for a few weeks and then I will get back to putting the trailer back together .

 

[REDLYNER]

Wait..... Are you G Beasley on JF? Lol, I had no idea. Trailer is looking amazing, I dreamt forever about building one of these, but gave up on it. Can't wait to see this thing out on the trail ;-).