Harbor Freight Trailer Build/Idea

Ended up going with a Contico storage box for the front, pretty tough it seems, has a latch and is lockable. Used a strip of metal to act as a bracket on the inside and bolted it in, used some sealant to ensure water doesnt find its way through the bottom.

 

Took it for a spin and it towed great =) Could barely tell it was back there!

 

trailer has turned out nice.

 

Ate those HF trailer only rated for 50mph?

 

I believe that limitation is attributed to the tire size, 12" has a 55MPH warning on them, smaller tires will prematurely wear out bearings in no time at higher speeds due to RPM. The RPM also plays into tire construction and how much centrifigal force it can handle.

 

Really nice job. HF sale a day sale going on now but I didn't see the prices on those trailers.

 

Awesome stuff man! Turned out great!

 

Thanks Guys! Appreciate the words =D

And from the website, it looks like it is on sale for $369, armed with your trusty 20% off and in WA 8% tax, it comes out to around $320!

 

pretty neat!

 

what size tires are those?

 

235/75/15 Kind Sir!

 

Awesome build! I am wanting to build one of these up now. I want a camping trailer to mount a RTT to and this would be a great alternative to purchasing something for the bed (already have a tonneau cover) or an already built trailer. Great job!

 

Thanks Dan! The whole process was quite a bit of fun =D Like i mentioned before, its really what you make of it, imagination is the limit. The RTT idea would be sweet, if i were to go that route i would add two stabilizer jacks to the front of the frame.

Pretty awesome how well received this project has been. Thank you everyone, makes it that much sweeter when its done =D. In hindsight, knowing there is some interest in this kind of build, i would have documented and taken far more pictures.

 

pretty damn bad ass man, great job.

 

Great build Corey. very clean. Aside from the very weak a-frame neck on the trailer, the HF heavy duty is a great platform to start with. I bought one about 7 years ago to cart stuff back and forth to college. about 4-5 years ago, I decided to make it an off road gear hauler, and it's been great ever since. about do for an overhaul, but the new suspension has been great, frame has held up, and the size is perfect.









still a little bit of the harbor freight red lingering on the cross members


the overhaul of it will include chopping the height of the enclosure in half, and adding a roof top tent to it, so i'll be following your build closely, to take away any tricks you learn.

Keep up the great work

 

What did the suspension run you? Ballpark

 

well, it starts with the axle. I custom built the axle with hubs to match the bolt pattern on our trucks a while before I built the suspension, and just ran on the stock leaf springs for a while. the steel tube, spindles, and hubs for that were probably about $200. Suspension is pointless without the beefed up axle to match.








the suspension was probably another $300 or so.
-links: have to buy the tubing, rod ends, bungs, hardware, and mounting tabs
-springs: i was having issues finding springs with the right in*lbs rating that were short enough, so i actually had to go with a lowering spring kit for an Acura, which included the adjustable spring seats.
-shocks: just had to toy around with some cheap-o brand shocks t find ones that were the right length. i think the blue ones i have on now are from a chevy pickup. the heavy truck valving, but severe angle i placed them at gave me about the valving and length i needed

 

I am completely ignorant when it comes to suspensions besides basic understanding of springs and shocks.. so I just spent 3 minutes staring at that trailer suspension...
How does that even work? Are there any shocks that go in the springs to better secure the axle to the frame, or does it rely solely on the two blue chevy shocks and four other ball joint bars?

Just seems like those angles would have really weird stresses, especially at high speed.
If it works it works though!

 

it's a double triangulate 4-link setup. give it a google, and you'll be able to see all kinds of examples of it on off road vehicles (fast and slow). you need both "triangles" to keep the axle stationary in every direction except for it's (nearly) vertical travel. the 4 links only see tension and compression, never and bending forces.

the blue shocks are what currently limit the axle's drop.

maybe this is a better view

 

Thanks for the info!