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

Trailer 4-link build is making forward progress!

jsut ordered a full rod end kit, and some off brand adjustable coil spring kit. i have all of the steel needed for the links and to build the axle truss, so all i think i need now is shocks, which aren't needed, so i can take my time on those.

 

Your trailer build is better than a lot of the truck builds here.

 

just wait till it has airbags and i can keep it level going down the trails

 

i'm pretty pumped now......i just figured out how i'm going to wire/plumb the airbags for the trailer (once i get them), and it may be a trailer first.
initially, i was just going to plumb them indevidually, with switches in the truck so i could level it on the trails, and while camping. I've found the parts to take it one step further. plan is to keep the switches in the cab for manual operation. however, i am going to wire a paralelle system into it with a single axis, 3 position, gravity responsive limit switch. with two solenoids per airbag, one for air in, one for air out (which will already exist for the in cab setup), i can wire the limit switch and in-cab switches together. with the limit switch mounted level on the trailer frame, and hooked up to the proper solenoids, the trailer will self level itself on the trails. furthermore, being a gravity based switch, it will be affected by the centripital acceleration of turning, causing the trailer to lean to the inside of turns.

 

......

 

I have no idea what you just said

 

When will this set up be on the tacoma too?

 

so what you are saying is. it’s going to lean to the inside of turns kinda like a motorcycle? now that is BA!

 

me too......install shouldn't be too hard, but tuning has the potential to be a pain in the ass

it'll make sense when you see it in person.

but mastah, i haz no parts yet

probably never, but you never know. it wouldn't be nearly as beneficial on the truck.

precisely. and with the way these gravity switches work, it will trigger the bags untill it feels level again, meaning that in a perfect world, once the trailer equilizes while going around a turn, you could put a marble on the floor of the trailer, and it would not roll to the inside or outside. just like your motorcycle comparison, the harder the turn, the farther it tilts.

 

dang! thats going to be sick once you get it done!! can’t wait to see it.

i hope next summer i can build me a trailer. i was going to do like a M416 with RTT. but got to looking at pricing everything. i think i could be an OK to nice inclosed for close to the same price.

 

yeah, those trailers can be expensive. add a roof top tent, and you might as well just buy a small teardrop camper, and slap a lift, some armor and tires on it and call it a day.

 

yep. i looked on ebay only saw 2 but both wear $600+ RTT are close to $1,300 plus all the work the trailer would most likely need. I was thinking just build a trailer maybe 5’x7’? not sure yet on size. have it same hight as truck, on 33”s and maybe a max coupler hitch. i was think as a bed just using like a cot or air bed, that way i could use the trailer for anything i may need it for.

 

i've always thought about going to a wrecking yard having a totaled tacoma flatbeded back to my place. just cut it in two at the beginning of the bed, weld on an a-frame tongue, and you've got an awesome off road trailer. a soft tonneau cover and a low profile bed rack with a RTT would be perfect. waterproof storage, and a good place to sleep.

 

yeah that would be nice, maybe a SWB if your lucky...? i also thought about doing line X on it, like the color of that AC SB sema truck maybe a little darker shade.

 

Remember when I said I wasn't in a hurry for a new rear bumper?

 

swb would be ideal haven't planned this far ahead yet, but i have a feeling that the current trailer will be a "proof of concept" build to experiment with. eventually it will probably be kept for a utility style trailer, and i'll have the rear end of a tacoma for my actual off road trailer. could of the land rover guys i wheel with up north have half rovers for trailers and ever since i waw those, i've wanted to build the tacoma version.

yikes, what's the backstory to that one???

time to break out the sawzall

 

I was going up Mineral Basin, a trail in Utah, through a rock garden and my rear end came down hard on some rocks. It pushed my rear bumper up and warped it, my exhaust got smashed up into the shackle and the bedside, and some how my passenger side bed panel flexed enough breaking some clips on the fender and popping out my tail light breaking all four tabs on the tail light.