Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread - now with 4-link and long travel

Balistic Fab just so happens to be having 50% off of their 1/4'' brackets that will work perfectly for the trailer 4-link. $0.99 for a set of 2 tabs. just ordered 8 pairs. not i just have to decide what joints and/or bushings i am going to use on the end or each link.

figured i'll just pull the coils off of my old factory fron suspension and use those for the springs, then pick up some short shocks to keep the springs under control. gonna retain the springs on the upper and lower end for the time being. eventually, the goal is to have air bags under it, with each side plumbed indevidually, so when i'm wheeling with it, i can level the trailer from the cab for off camber trails, or keep it level at night when i sleep in it.

i'm looking forward to this project

 

And we are looking forward to seeing ideas become reality, thats pretty awesome Colin.

 

yeah, it's on the stock 3 leaf pack. with the weight of the enclosed cage and my gear in it, they struggle. tops of the u-bolts hit the frame on bumps.
i was going to just use the leafs from the truck when i redo the rear suspension, but since i'd have to weld on new spring hangers and build shackles and shackle hangers, a 4-link really isn't very much more work, and should work better overall.

 

One of the craziest and most awesome trucks in TW!!! That rear bumper is sick!!

 

thanks man

diggin the ARB on your truck. for some reason i think they look a lot better on the grey trucks.

 

Love the build! I plan on copying the shit out of your bed rack

 

Colin-

Quick question about the air bags idea-- you think it's top heavy enough to need to be adjustable for off camber trails? And when sleeping in it you don't think stabilizer jacks and a tongue jack would be enough to make it level? Actually now that I'm typing it I'm realizing that they won't do anything for side to side level unless you drive the low side tire up onto some boards. So yea independent air bags for side to side level sounds good for camping.

 

Go for it man!

three frame mounted jacks would be great for leveling at camp, and i actually thought about doing just that, with two jacks on the rear, and one on the tongue. downside is that doesn't help at all while moving.

for example, take the picture below.....this was just an access trail to both the camp site, and some actual offroading. this section of trail was about 6 miles long, and at one point, there was about a mile and a half of the trail that was off camber to the amount that the gold truck is on. imagine how nice it will be to hit a stretch of trail like that (short or long), and all you have to do is flip a switch. with the bags plumbed independantly from one another, it would allow you to send air to the downhill side only, which would articulate the suspension to level the trailer. then something as small as a root on the uphill side that could have potentially bumped the trailer onto it's side is no longer a threat.


take it a little further, and with a tank/compressor or CO2 tank, you can crawl through anything the truck can make, and keep the trailer level at all times. it could even be a set of switches a co driver/passenger could be in charge of to allow you to focus 100% on driving.

 

Any updates on building another bumper?

 

sorry, nothing yet. I have two other people's existing projects i've been trying to move forward with. i'll PM you when i find out though.

 

Been Watchin this build grow here and there, definitely like where it's come to so far. I look to your truck for inspiration/ideas!

 

very interesting idea. I hope to own a tear drop style offroad camping trailer eventually, and that would be wise to remember for it.

 

Thanks Brad! stay tuned, Truck's got a long way to go.




Just rebuilt the front light hoop this afternoon. used some larger tube this time and fully welded everything instead of bolting it on like the all-pro style hoop. also added some vertical light protection bars.

This is potentially the start to a front end exocage that could evolve into a full on exo......haven't quite decided yet.



paint's drying and the lights will go back on tomorrow.

 

Looks mean!

 

Looks great!

 

What you need to be doing is fabing me up a sway bar disconnect.

 

done!

 

Lol, I want something a little easier. And faster.