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Build (?) thread...offroad trailer

I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Utah
So I wanted to build a trailer--since 4 people in a TJ doesn't leave much room for gear/coolers/whatever. Plus it sounded like kinda a fun fab project. :greg:

I started by drawing out my ideas to get a feel for what materials I'd need, and how much of each....looked like this:
 

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I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Location
Utah
After a bit of mental refining and a couple days' work, I had this:



Some work with the skins, and bolting the axle underneath:



Underneath, from the front looking back:



And looking forward, toward the sunlight :) :



I still need to finish the tailgate, some welding the floor underneath, and tackle the fenders/lights/paint/wiring, but it's mostly there! Oh, and the hitch...I'm going to just put a normal ball mount on there for now, but I'll probably build some kind of cool articulating hitch for it eventually. That's why I made the tongue a receiver, so I can change my mind at will. ;)
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Location
Utah
I do want to thank some people who helped me out with this...Maverick for the tires, jmaxj for the wheels, jeeper for the mounting, Bob B for the ball coupler and a bushing, Herzog for the springs, Mesha for the shocks. A lot of little things that really helped me get this together as quickly as I did!
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Utah
Greg said:
Did you say TJ.... :eek:
Click to expand...

Yeah, TJ...I got tired of not having anything to go wheelin' in, so I got something that hopefully I won't have to work on too much, to tide me over while I continue working on my Willys here and there. :)



Pretty much every TJ on 33's, more or less. It has Currie bumpers F&R, a Warn HS9500i up front, ARB's and 4.10's in the diffs (rear D44), and a 3" or 4" Tera lift with old-school Flexarms. :-\ Oh, and an AA short-shaft kit. And Beach's Off Road Specialties rock sliders. :greg: I just turned over 26,500 miles not too long ago.
 
Greg

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
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Grand Junction, CO
I Lean said:
Yeah, TJ...I got tired of not having anything to go wheelin' in, so I got something that hopefully I won't have to work on too much, to tide me over while I continue working on my Willys here and there. :)


Pretty much every TJ on 33's, more or less. It has Currie bumpers F&R, a Warn HS9500i up front, ARB's and 4.10's in the diffs (rear D44), and a 3" or 4" Tera lift with old-school Flexarms. :-\ Oh, and an AA short-shaft kit. And Beach's Off Road Specialties rock sliders. :greg: I just turned over 26,500 miles not too long ago.
Click to expand...

:cool: Congrats!
 
Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
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Vehicular limbo
That's sweet. I see radius arms, which I think I want to use on mine, but I don't know - why'd you choose them over leaf springs?
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
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Bountiful, land of rocks
Kevin B. said:
That's sweet. I see radius arms, which I think I want to use on mine, but I don't know - why'd you choose them over leaf springs?
Click to expand...


I was just looking at that myself. Looking at the geometry (not that I know anything about that stuff....just seen what seems to work and what doesn't), I bet it rides pretty stinking smooth vs. a leaf spring setup. I have enough whacked out XJ main leafs I've thought about adding an axle to my rack for the RTT quite a few times. I'd assume a softish XJ spring would ride pretty decent but I also assume this radius arm setup will suck up the bumps better than that? Those look suspiciously like an XJ/TJ/ZJ type spring. Not like there's not a lot of options to firm or soften the spring rate with what a bunch of us have kicking around the garage. :D
 
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I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
I chose the radius arms because I couldn't find any leaf springs I liked. :) With how short the trailer is, (60") and where I wanted to place the axle, (roughly 2/3 back) any leaf spring would have at least reached the tailgate, or past it. The amount of work to mount the coils is pretty much the same as mounting leaves, with the exception of making the radius arms themselves. And I thought this might ride smoother on a lightweight trailer, we'll see. I'm using the bushings I took out of the stock TJ upper control arms, so they were free. Made the sleeves to accept them, free. Used 12ga steel I had on hand to build all the brackets and the radius arms, so that was also "free". :D

I'm using coilover springs, 10" long 125 lb/in rate.
 
sixstringsteve

sixstringsteve

Well-Known Member
Location
UT
The real question is, how are you going to paint those radius arms? ;)

Very cool build. Now you've gotta bottle that enthusiams/speed and apply it to the willys.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Location
Utah
sixstringsteve said:
The real question is, how are you going to paint those radius arms? ;)
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It's probably hard to see in the pics, but the arms and entire axle are all painted and DONE. :) I use the MikeGyver method, of just sticking the nozzle of the spray can inside and running it all over. Then I wiped off the excess outside, and painted as normal. Seems to have worked pretty well, but we'll see.

Very cool build. Now you've gotta bottle that enthusiams/speed and apply it to the willys.
Click to expand...

Not a chance! My enthusiasm and speed-building bug has been quenched by this project so far, and it's not even that close to done!
 
UFAB

UFAB

Well-Known Member
Location
Lehi Ut
Sweet. I like the shock mount, Can you fit 12" travel shocks or 10s?
Runnng control arm Independent stuff seems heavy with bushings and bolts., etc.

Radius arm mono beam with pan hard bar should flex nicely.

Any cool tail gate ideas?

What coupler ya going with or making?
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
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Location
Utah
bryson said:
So... where's the other one you built?;):confused:
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Now I'm the one that's confused. :confused: Other one what?

UFAB said:
Sweet. I like the shock mount, Can you fit 12" travel shocks or 10s?
Runnng control arm Independent stuff seems heavy with bushings and bolts., etc.

Radius arm mono beam with pan hard bar should flex nicely.

Any cool tail gate ideas?

What coupler ya going with or making?
Click to expand...

The shocks I got are a shorter travel than their length would indicate--they're about 16.5" extended length, but only something like 4.5" travel. They're pretty stiff though, so I'll mount them at enough of an angle to do OK. I'm not really worried about it being long-travel, because trailer. :)

Tail gate is just a 1x1 square tube frame, and I'll sheet it with 14ga to be a little more beat-up resistant than the rest of the trailer. (which is 16ga) Hinged at the bottom, latched at the top, and I'll need to find some cables or something to keep it level when open. Nothing special.

I'll more than likely end up with a coupler similar to the ones Bob and Davy built, here: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?99647-off-road-trailer-coupler
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