New guy. Building my first trailer.

Lets captures all those good off road construction ideas here...

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Postby Dewi » Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:14 pm

Love what you've done with the hardcore 4x4 plate... looks the business! :thumbsup:

It's going to be one good looking trailer!

Cheers, Dewi
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Postby wolfcri » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:16 am

Here are a few pics I took wheeling the trailer today. I was happy to find that the trailer didn't hurt me going uphill in loose sand and dirt as badly as I thought it would. Plus, I conducted this little test with my street tires. Also, the hitch performed a lot better than I thought it would.
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After wheeling, I was in love with my trailer again so I made the long trek to Fazzios (metal supply).
I bought:
Steel plate
Bar stock
1" box tubing
a pintle setup
some tiedowns
mud flap material
rubber stretch tiedowns
and some stuff to build a spare tire carrier for the jeep
I'm sure theres something else I am forgetting

I spent about 4 hours at the place because it is really a mad scientist's dream store. They even have what they call the "army room" which is full of everything from treads for robots to parachute parts. I found a cool bering in there that I am going to use for the swing arm on the spare tire carrier.

I took the trailer down there to test gas milage and to haul supplies. The spare was wobbling a lot on the highway so I stopped and took it down and threw it in the bed for the rest of the trip. Amazingly, my gas milage did not seem much worse with the trailer. I am VERY happy with the trialer's ride and suspension. I can barely feel that it is there. I have to shorten my safety chains a little because they scrape too often.

Anyway... I got a late start on the trailer construction because of the trip.

Here's what I got done today.


I used two triangular pieces of 1/8" steel to reinforce the sides of the spare tire carrier. Then I used two pieces of 3/16 bar stock to finish off the front and back and box it all in. I could fill my spare tire with concrete and this would not even flinch now.
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Then I reinforced the tongue. I turned it into a composite tongue by adding two pieces of the 2x3 box tubing that I had originally used for the tongue. I anchored them to my front tongue crossmember and to the sami's frame and reinforced that with 2x3x 3/16 angle stock. I grinded and sanded everything down, prepped and painted, and I am ready for whatever I decide to do tomorrow. I can pile 800-1000lb of cargo into the trailer now based on the tongue strength formula.
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Also, I am getting a couple of goodies in the mail around next tuesday. A guy paid me to build him some rock-crawler style bumpers a few years ago when I had a race shop at my disposal. They were on his fourwheeling rig until he rolled it recently. I must have built the bumpers pretty sturdy (I think I used 2x5x1/4 rectangular tubing as a starting point if I remember correctly) because even though the truck was totaled in the rollover, the bumpers were undamaged. I traded him something else he needed so I could get the bumpers back. I am going to adapt them to my wrangler as soon as they get here.
He said that the woman at UPS asked if he could package the bumpers in a wooden crate because she knew of a chrome bumper for a vintage car that was damaged during shipping once. His reply was something like "Lady, your guys couldnt damage these bumpers if they tried."
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Postby BobR » Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:26 am

Cool trailer...You might want to consider a LocknRoll hitch

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http://www.locknroll.com
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Postby wolfcri » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:08 am

i looked into the lock-n-roll but they are WAY overpriced for what they are. I bought the pintle set-up for now. If I see the lock-n-roll in person, I will probably try to make one. It is definitely a cool design
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Postby Randy G » Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:41 pm

that was great, lots of photos of a job well done. Your modified welder cracked me up. :lol:
Rom. 8:28
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Postby wolfcri » Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:03 pm

I got tied up with some stuff other than the trailer today so I didnt get a lot done.

I had to take the little monster (maybe not so little) to the vet for her yearly poke and prod. She approves of the trailer.
She got 3 shots, gave blood for a test (without flinching) and she didnt even try to eat any of the other animals in the waiting room this time.
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I spent a little time trying to get the dent out of the tailgate. I am no bodyworking expert but i think it worked a little.
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I installed my swing away tongue jack thing. I think I may move it a little one way or the other. Having this on the trailer makes me feel lazy but I know it will come in handy when it is loaded down.
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I pulled out a bunch of the stuff that usually goes with me when I go wheeling and started thinking about what will be permanently assigned to the trailer.
This got me thinking about adding a lockable box to the trailer too. I rounded up one that I had stored at a buddy's house, another one from my parents' place, and conned my dad out of a third one that he isnt using anymore. I will take pics of the boxes tomorrow. I am not sure wich one (or ones) I am going to use yet.
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I did a little thinking about where I was going to mount some long handled tools. The "Here I am, Shoot at me" Yellow shaft of the shovel was bugging me so I sprayed it desert tan. Then I started thinking about a camo job for the trailer... I convinced myself that flat black is easiest to touch up so no camo for now.
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I am thinking about adding panels of either aluminum or steel to the trailer from the exhisting body in the rear up to the level of the top of the rack. I would then add aanother rack on top of that and stick with my soft cover idea, OR use a piano hinged hard lid with a rack on top of that. Still just in the idea phase though. Here is what it could look like a couple different ways.
Soft or no cover
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Hard Cover with basket
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I am kinda liking the hard top...
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Postby wolfcri » Fri Apr 24, 2009 11:52 pm

I got a lot done today, but not all on the trailer.

I cleaned and reorganized the garage and picked up some more things I needed like welding wire, hardware, etc.

I bought another set of the ratchet straps I like, test fitted a 6x8 tarp on the trailer (a tad small when loaded with all the boxes and some other test bulk), and helped my buddy adapt a new head to his weed whacker.

Here is a pic of the tie-down D-rings I bought the other day. I bought two 4-packs because I wasnt sure how they would work out... they worked out great so naturally I need more and cant find them anywhere.
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Here are the three boxes I mentioned yesterday. The camo one came off an old Marine Corps welding trailer that we sent to dermo about 2 years back. I miss free leftovers from the Corps. The grey one is a crew box which actually folds flat but is still pretty sturdy when it is erected. It is NOT weather tight though. The black one is a Contico box I got from my pop. It is pretty sturdy and seems weather tight.
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Here is a pic of the smallest box (from the USMC trailer) in the front of my trailer. It is pretty heavy steel and I would guess it weighs about 30lb. It is pretty weather tight and lockable. The only thing is that I lose a lot of space if I use it in the front here. It does fit in the back with the crew box so If I put the black Contico box in the front I could transport all 3.
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Crew box in the back. I like this fit the best.
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I had another Idea...
I am thinking that I will not permanently mount any of the boxes. I will use them as needed based on the situation. I will get a few of the waterproof/resistant duffel bags that walmart sells too. This way I can just throw everything in the trailer and not need to worry about a covering. I am going to see if I can get my hands on a section of cargo net that I could throw over the whole thing. Then I really only need to tarp it for a real downpour. What do you guys think?


Heres a pic of my buddy's dog. Canines seem to approve of the trailer.
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Heres another little piece of gear I am glad I have never needed. When I build/adapt my bumpers and spare tire carrier/basket and finish the jeeps roof rack, I will decide if this is going to live in the jeep or the trailer.
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I am pleased to say that I have decided on a small lift for the jeep and will be getting it in a week or two. I will get some 32-11.50 / 15 Swampers or some 33-10.50 / 15 BFG MT's for the truck and as soon as the bugs are all worked out (if any) locally, I am planning a cross country treck. I want to visit a few Marine Corps buddies... one is in Oklahoma, one in Alabama... and I am thinking about stopping off in Louisiana to meet my mothers dad (technically my grandfather) for the first time. Thats a whole other long, crazy story.

I will have to get some suggestions on where to stop off along the way and what rought to take. A little Moab UT wheeling is a must. I actually got the go-ahead on this from my fiance so I am not going to pass up the opportunity. I figure that the trip will be a GREAT bug out test run especially since I will be going alone. I am stoked to say the least.
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Postby stomperxj » Sat Apr 25, 2009 12:02 am

Lookin good. I think the lid idea would be cool but make it removable too just in case you need to haul more gear or whatever...

Nice work :thumbsup:
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Postby wolfcri » Sun Apr 26, 2009 11:15 pm

Yesterday did a lot of brainstorming and only a little actual work on the trailer.

Heres a pic of the trailer with all the boxes in it. I just took the pic because they were all in there overnight and I thought it would be a good sizing reference. I dont think any of them will live in the trailer.
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My pop suggested that the trailer should have mud flaps for the street. I decided that it was a good idea but I wanted to be able to remove them easily so this is what I came up with.
1" box tubing.
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Cut to length, prepped, painted, and predrilled.
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Cheapest mud flaps I could find. The metal dealer I use had purchased a stack of them about 6' high. I picked up 5 for under $20. I have been to Texas and I did love it there, but I decided to go with the lower profile look so I painted the white parts black and mounted them backwards.
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Cut to size.
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I decided to mount them inside the tube crossmember at the rear of the frame.
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Heres how they mounted up
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And the end product
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The gas cans were vulnerable to rock strikes or other debris from under the trailer in the front and from within the wheelwells to the sides of their location. I mounted one full mud flap in front of the "Gas can dispencer" and a piece on each side. I don't remember who called it that but I loved it.
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Here is a pic from the outside of the wheelwell
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Today, I did absolutely nothing on the trailer. My fiance and I decided to take advantage of the great weather and went for a paddle.
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I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HORRIBLE CAMO JOB ON MY CANOE
I bought it for $150 and thats how it came. I JBwelded the gash that the drunken moron previous owner managed to put in it and replaced a lot of rusted fasteners but I have not gotten to the cosmetic aspect of it yet. Its on my list.
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Postby stomperxj » Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:07 am

Lookin good man... I'm diggin that trailer. Nice work
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Postby wolfcri » Fri May 08, 2009 11:22 pm

I have been really busy so I haven't had much time for the puter. Here is what I have been up to. I will spare you the play-by-play on the bumpers for the jeep but I'll throw in a few pics because thats what I have been spending most of my time on.

I adapted the front bumper to the jeep. Piece of cake. I have several ideas for the front bumper like a stinger or maybe a brush guard. I'm not sure yet so once I got it on there I left it alone.
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Then I put the pintle ring on the trailer. I got the kind that you weld in so I channeled out the tongue, burned in the ring and I decided to get crafty and weld the old coupler's holes closed.
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The rear bumper was pretty much worked out in my head (or so I thought) so I ripped into that next. I adapted it to fit the jeep, reinforced the hell out of the receiver, and added on some end pieces that extend forward and protect the bottom of the rear quarter panels. I reinforced the reinforcements, cleaned everything up and primed the whole mess. Naturally, I find a paint that I love and is really durable stuff... so home depot stops carrying it and nobody else has ever heard of it... Luckily cheapo depot can special order from rustolium and in a day or two I was back in buisness. Yadda yadda, spare tire carrier. And this is where I am now.
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Strange little stow-away in the trailer.
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I have a few ideas I am kicking around for the jeep that I will post if I can draw them up. I was in constant motion all day so my brain is starting to shut down.
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Postby wolfcri » Sun May 10, 2009 12:27 am

I finished off (not really because now I have more ideas) the bumpers today and took the trailer for a spin with the pintle set-up. Holy cow that pintle ring coupler is a herky jerky design. And noisy too. I am sure that the off-road articulation will blow the ball coupler away though.
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The rediculously huge hitch is not what I will be using. I loaned mine out and it got lost so this is what the guy gave me. I am thinking about selling this one to fund the right size or just modifying this one (cutting a hunk off).
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Postby stomperxj » Sun May 10, 2009 12:43 am

wolfcri wrote:Holy cow that pintle ring coupler is a herky jerky design. And noisy too.


Yeah those pintles are noisy as hell and pretty low tech... Trailer is looking good and so are the bumpers... Nice work

:thumbsup:
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Hey

Postby Jeeper92 » Mon May 11, 2009 7:11 pm

How about getting a lift on that jeep and some bigger shoes~!!! :D
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Looks good Devil Dog!!

Postby KyKamper » Tue May 12, 2009 9:13 pm

The Rig looks awesome!!

Semper Fi!!
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