AStinkyBumb's Build Thread, Now with trailer build bonus content

Rolled the trailer out of the garage for the first time with only partially complete to give it a basic pull test. Dragging it down the street and back it seems to track straight, can barely see it or tell its behind the truck at this point. We will see how it feels when its complete and is loaded down. tongue sits about 3 inches lower than the back of the trailer. Anticipating some more tongue weight I will probably flip the hitch over so the ball sights slightly higher. I don't really want to flip the axle to spring under because I like how it sits behind the truck at this point. This will work perfect if I get an aftermarket bumper that moves the hitch receiver up higher in the future.

 

Dude, that looks awesome!

 

next time we go I will toss out an invite to the Indiana area thread. We wanted to go get the hang of it without anyone watching being the first time we went. Was a blast to say the least.

 

Progress update on the trailer after a full day of working on it. Passenger side wall is tacked in, top is tacked in, underside, tongue, and the rest of the frame is primed to stop surface rust, tail light boxes are drilled out and tacked, and started on the rear door which is framed and the hinges are tacked in place.

 

Doors are on, latches cut out in the frame and the door, started adding sheet to the rear to close in the holes and make it look a little nicer. Next up is smoothing out the finish welds on the rear and starting on the wheel wells.

 

Goal for the past 2 days was figure out the fender angles to keep everything seamless and to get the tops put in place. Successful week! Externally I need to build the latch for and finish the spare tire swing out, start on the tent rack, figure out how to mount the tongue box, maybe plate in the rest of the tongue, and figure out where I am going to mount the license plate bracket. I dont have a metal brake so I used the tack/clamp/BFH method to bend the angles on the fenders. worked out way better than I anticipated.

 

Havent made any headway on the trailer lately. needed to store some things in the garage that were too much of a pain to move around to not catch anything on fire, then took a vacation. went to Wyoming and went through Teton National Park as well as did a little wheeling in the greys river portion of Bridger National Forest

 

Finally back to making some headway on the trailer. Got the door latches put in anticipating dragging this thing to storage for the winter to free up garage space. Started and finished the rear swing out. Then decided the doors being pressed against the frame is not going to be enough to seal everything so I started making and welding in door seal plates to put rubber seals onto. Also plated in the tongue with 14gauge, made some bolt tabs for the underside, and drilled out the mounting holes for the tongue box. I will have about 13 inches between the front of the trailer and the tongue box to store things like a 20lb tank of propane and the tongue jack as well as anything else that can fit up there that can remain outside the trailer. Swing out latch was nerve racking to build but I am happy with the outcome. Just need to attach a latch to help aid the spring release pin. Put the spare tire plate on a 10 degree angle so I can set the tire on without it sliding off while getting the lug nuts spun on.

 

That’s one serious military grade build on the trailer! Hope it doesn’t get too heavy! I didn’t catch what wall thickness tubing you’re using. Don’t forget some sort of corrosion protection for ant tubing that might see water crossings.

 

14 gauge floor, 16 gauge walls and roof, all the frame is .120 wall, mostly 2x2 square except tongue, rear bumper, and swing out. doors are 1x1 .065 wall. So far my tongue weight was under 200lbs when I checked it last, its a little heavier now. Water tank and skids are going to ad a bunch of tongue weight (1/8" steel plate and 22gal of water) just in front of the axle. I am hoping the tent being at the rear and once the camping gear is loaded will add a little tail weight. Currently I can still lift the tongue to move it around with fairly minimal effort so its balanced decently well. If I sit on the tire swing out the tongue of the trailer lifts pretty quick and I am 200lbs so that's what makes me think I am still shy of 200lbs tongue weight without actually putting it on a scale.

I also have airbags on my truck to help with weight so I am not overly worried about tongue weight. Axle has electric brakes as well to help with stopping. Just got my shipment of Raptor liner and raptor primer. Planning to do underside in black raptor and the topside in grey liner. whole inside is going to get every gap caulked where I didn't fully weld it so its sealed up as well as possible. Thinking I might just paint the inside instead of line it since I am planning to build drawers in the bottom of it out of wood. which will cover most of the floor from damage from the gear.

 

Good on you for having electric brakes!!

That tubing will tend to rot from the inside out if there is no interior coating and no place for water drainage. I’ve repaired a few boat trailers where the powder coat was holding the tubing together at the lowest point of the trailer. Of course that was in the Northeast rust belt where things never dry out.

You’re doing an awesome job. I’d hate to try to buy that trailer from a fabrication shop. Lots of labor and materials to pay for.

 

I am honestly considering drilling small holes in the top of all my interior frame and small holes on the bottom frame and spraying a bunch of fluid film inside then plugging the holes with caulk or something and then drilling out the caulk every year to recoat. the main bottom frame is welded shut but still worries me of rotting from the inside.

I have all my invoices saved from the metal shop I get everything from and I was going to calculate it all at the end to see the final price. So far my guess is around $5k total not having to buy the wheels and tires. so that would include metal, consumables, electrical stuff (no wire or batteries yet), water tank, fridge slides.

After spending about half the build time on the grinder it really makes me understand why the going rate for a prebuilt usually starts around 10k. I am finally beginning to see the light at the end of the welding tunnel and starting to see the prep for paint tunnel approaching. Goal is to at least have primer on it by the end of Nov so at the very least I can drag it to storage until its warmer again.

 

Made a little more progress before running out of gas just before the holiday. 80CF tank gets used up real quick when finish welding. Kind of wish I went with a bigger tank but after I am done I am not sure I will need a bigger tank.

I grabbed a diablo metal cutting blade and a wired circular saw and cut some 3/8" wide slats to make door seal lips out of. Didn't want to do this to put a sharp edge on the inside of the doors but the outside of the doors aren't going to seal up like I want them to so I grabbed some 3/8" rubber door seal to mount to the lips inside the door frames. Took quite a while getting them welded on without overheating and warping them. Then I mounted a 1x2 piece at the front to give the jack stand mounts something to hold onto instead of just the sheet metal. Didn't want to stick all the jack stands at the front but its the best place for them. Planning on making a 20lb cylinder mount for the other side of the tongue storage area to keep a propane tank. I have just enough room between the front of the box and the tongue box to fit a full 20lb so that's what I'm going to do. Should be plenty to run cook stove and a buddy heater until I make the jump to a diesel heater. Then I placed the fridge slide tray and guides in the door to figure out spacing for battery box and water tank. After much deliberation I decided to not mount the water tank underneath and build a skid plate for it due to the amount of tongue weight the 1/8" skid would create on top of a full water tank so I think its going to sit flat inside the trailer and the gear platform and slides will mount around it. Need to go get some angle, UHMV, and maybe some foam seal strips to keep the water tank from rubbing on metal and moving around.

 

It's coming along nicely!
It's my dream to build my own trailer.
I saw this video from Turtle Back trailers and I think it's a great guide to see how they are built and to see their design.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyDajirqsKo

Here is a screenshot of how they place their water tank.

 

WHERE WAS THIS BEFORE I STARTED?!?! Thats awesome! If they have their water tank mounted upright like that it makes me feel a lot better mounting mine laying down for a lower center of gravity for a sloshing water tank. it doesnt even look like they put anything between the metal and the tank to stop it from rubbing... interesting. A metal brake is one thing I wish I had as well to help with some of these things.

I can tell you its way more fun building this thing than I thought it would be and I get to make it exactly how I want.

 

Yeah I'm surprised they put a video like that out. It gives a lot of headscratches away. I've been designing some trailers throughout the years but I haven't built one yet.
I am not a fabricator, but my father-in-law would be able to help me out.
I am definitely interested in how much it costs. I also have a whole cost breakdown built but its pretty precise lol

I think it would be not a bad idea to buy the doors. Just use RV compartment doors. This websites make them customizable too (size and latches and all).
https://www.canadarv.com/en/shop/exterior/compartment-doors
That way you don't need to build your own and worry about a good seal.

 

Yeah I ran a rough estimate on price for a couple years before agreeing with the wife on how much I could spend then budgeted for it. Tossed around the idea of a teardrop vs a RTT/gear trailer. I looked at getting RV doors and it would definitely make it easier. I just couldn't find a size for the price I wanted and ultimately just tried to make my own. Didn't turn out as good as I wanted but I think they will still do what I need.

I am not a fabricator by any means, at least not a good one. Just had some shop experience from high school. So its been a learn about something on the internet and see if I can re-create it or do my best to re-create it to make it work for me.

 

That's awesome!
No one is really a pro. I love learning new things.

Keep up the good work! I'll be watching.

 

Got the battery tray welded up, holes drilled for J hooks. Still need to cut the battery holder bracket out of some c-channel. Built it big enough for 2 batteries side by side so if I expand in the future I have room. Finally got some hardware to start mocking up the fridge slide. Holes drilled, slides mounted, and I cut some braces front and back with some strap holes in them. Still need to work out the spring loaded release to hold it in place and finish weld the braces. Thinking about putting some extra metal around the holes so the straps dont rub and cut. I then cut some braces and welded in bolts so I can mount a couple pieces of plywood to the front wall to hold all the electrical goodies. Tossed some primer on the back sides and still need to weld them in. Will probably get those welded in and the water tank mount mocked up this weekend. Then start on the tent rack.

 

Didn't like the water tank holder I had drawn up, figured I could shave a bit of weight on the angle and go with a strap style. Made some home made hinge style strap ends and put some little gussets on them to tie into the current angle frame. its also just 1/8" so I can hand bend it out of the way if needed. Also started and completed each of the rack lift legs. Made one to make sure everything would work as intended then made the other three. I have four 50lb gas struts that have about a 16.5" lift with one per leg. With the tent being approximately 150lbs I'm hoping to keep the rack as light as possible. Struts came in 50lb thrust then jumped up to 100lb thrust. Definitely didn't need 400lbs of thrust for a little over 200lbs of tent. I figure even if this takes a little manual push to get it to lock into place is better than having to put all my weight on top of the rack to pull it down.

Legs turned out much better than I had hoped. For those looking around for info who might want to try to make their own, below are the parts and sizes I used:
Outside Leg: 1.5" x 1.5" x .083 wall
Inside Leg: 1.25" x 1.25" x .083 wall
Spring loaded T knob:

$9 Innovative Components AI1/2T1.5-B-TR6 1/2" tapered tip, 2.25" Rounded T knob Spring Loaded Pop Pin 1.50" welds on barrel included

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GAZQJ0O?ie=UTF8&th=1
McMaster-Carr struts: 5/16"-18 Thread Size, 35.43" Extended Length, 50 lbs. Force 4138T63
Welded on some 5/16 nuts