Box Rocket Trailer Build

A few recent pics from the last couple trips.

 

Adam, what length stroke are your pistons for the lid? also, where did you get the latches?

 

Pretty sure they are 24" stroke. The latches are Destaco latches from McMaster-Carr

 

Thanks @Box Rocket

 

Finally through this thread (for now). Darned you Adam - too many great ideas, makes it hard to reign my build in to keep it simple.

- you've plated the trailer, what changed?
-Pintle Hitch. experience/thoughts?
I bought a new bed for my Tacoma. Then I came across a narrow military trailer frame (used to be under a diesel generator; 5 leaf, hydraulic brakes, 6 bolt hubs). I'm going to have an adaptor plate welded up & mount the Tacoma bed onto the trailer frame. But the frame has a Pintle hitch. Any experience (anyone here) towing with one of those / off road? My rig may be a bit top heavy as I intend to put my cap on the bed & RTT on the cap. Still deciding if I want to replace the existing diesel fuel tank nested into the frame w/ something that would feed through the gas door on the Taco bed. Lights will definitely be the Taco bed tail lamps, just wired into a 4 pin.
But the pintle / off roading is the big ? for me.

 

My build is still in the finishing stages, but mine will have the pintle.

 

Willing to build for food?

 

Look forward to hearing your feedback once you have some weight up top.

 

Not sure what you mean by "plated the trailer", but I assume you might be referring to the lid? I had always planned on a lid at some point. Also the telescoping rack was used initially because I had a Tepui Autana with an annex and wanted to have the full use of the annex. I haven't had a tent with an annex on the trailer for the last year or so which meant I didn't need the telescoping rack. Since the rack needed to come off to build the lid it was a good time to change the rack style to a fixed one on the lid.

I've used a pintle. They are simple and they work. I would highly recommend a rotating pintle if the one on your trailer is not one. The last thing you want is for the trailer to get off camber and and max out the rotation of a fixed pintle and pull the truck over. Pintle's can be pretty noisy and personally I don't like the semi-loose connection. It's not really a risk of the connection coming apart but it's just movement in the hitch that I don't like. I definitely prefer a more solid connection from a multi-axis coupler like a Max Coupler or LocknRoll. I've had both of those two and the Max Coupler has been my favorite. But there is nothing "wrong" with the pintle on your trailer and it will do the job.

 

To clarify - plated the trailer - I meant it now has a license plate. Earlier you mentioned they weren't required in your state.

Another question - the pins to raise / lower the rack. Any issues with them snagging or damaged by trees/rock walls on narrow pathways?
Thanks again.

 

The plate is just for fun. It's an Australian -NT Outback plate.
Never had an issue with the pins snagging anything. The fenders are much farther out than the pins are.

 

Adam, what's the tire pressure your running on your trailer?

 

Typically around 12 psi.

 

Thanks. I may start at about 15 psi and play around with that. I thought you were running it low, I just couldn't remember how low.

 

Yeah, typical MT type tires are load rated for much heavier vehicles so the low pressure on the trailer doesn't seem to have any ill effects and it definitely makes the trailer ride better.

 

I pull a pintle hitch trailer regularly for work, transporting construction material and machinery from on job site to another. The trailer I pull has brakes on it, and I I ever get I to a sticky situation or have to stop on a hill, it's slams forward into the truck. This is undoubtedly factored into the engineering of all parts of the towing systems but I have my concerns for the items on the trailer while I tow. Vibrations and impacts are the number one cause of a load coming loose. We have insurance for that because of our professional setting, but long story short, I would never risk this with my personal vehicle and stuff on it. I also have a trailer build that I bought for a steal off a buddy, and I plan to convert its ball hitch to the Max Coupler. It is specifically designed for this function and abuse, worth the money even though I have yet to use it. Nameplate ratings and intended use literature is everything, sometimes the right way is the hard/expensive way.

 

Wow, this is awesome! I looked at offroad trailers for 5 seconds until I realized their cost. Looks like you were probably able to do under $1000 (plus your labor of course)?

If I missed the total in here I apologize! I saw the $100 for the rack but didn't see too much else.

 

I'm actually considering selling the trailer to fund a new trailer project.

 

How many monies?

 

I haven't decided on a price just yet. I'm happy to entertain offers though. I won't be offended by any offers.