Club Trailer (1 Viewer)

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Trollhole

Trollhole

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As I loaded up my 40 with tons of stuff for the annual I kept telling myself it would be nice to have a trailer for events like these. So after finding out how much money we have hoarded away I've decided to put it to use. We are going to build a club trailer. Something purpose built for us by us for our club events. Something we can take that will have everything available for you to use to make the event experience that much better.

So below we need your input on ideas you have on what we ought to build. This will be new from scratch. We can use my shop to build it and store it. I'm not going to build it for y'all but will certainly help. This will be a project you members get to pour your thoughts and sweat into.

My first thought are this.

Needs:
Suspension design
Power
Gas and water storage
Stove
Sink
Table
Tool storage with tools
Spare parts.

So we have all winter to get this thing put together. Lets get it done.
 
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If you can get in contact with David Davis...kind of like the A-Team...If you have a problem...if no one else can help...and if you can find them...maybe you can find...David Davis aka Turkeypen. He used to have a line on some surplus military trailers. Don't know what has happened to him, but it may be a start...
 
There is a guy between Piedmont and easley on 86 with army trailers for sale. I called once and he wanted 1k but said they were redone already. He has not sold any as far as I can tell. Can get them from gov liquidation all day long. Also there is one on 17 going toward Helen just outside lavonia for 750 if it is still there at a pawnshop. 3pitts would be the closest on that one.
 
Shower attachment

TV mount and setup

Area to haul fire wood

Area for club canopy

Emergency tool kit

Emergency parts(I know we can't carry a whole car but we could come up with some random stuff I'm sure)

I think we should build it from scratch so we are not limited to size constraints of a pre made trailer. If we used something like a mobile home axle and cut it down to size we could haul anything

As I think of more I'll add to it
 
Needs:
Suspension design - your call Trollhole.

Power - I say do power in Phase II of the build.

Gas and water storage - general storage would be great. Maybe a basic rack for gas and water cans (NATO/Scepter size) in the front (vehicle side) of the trailer.

Stove - Pull out?

Sink - Fold out?

Table - KISS at the beginning. Use a folding 'church' table (as I call them) for the time being.

Tool storage with tools - A good solid set of tools would be great. Can probably get away with spending a few hundred dollars on this.

Spare parts - carry basic spare parts cross compatible (as much as possible) between 40/55/60s etc. A few 80/100/FJC parts wouldn't be bad but spare parts are lower on the list for me.

I think the biggest need for a club trailer is secure storage for the tent, club merchandise, etc that we need to take to an event but don't want walking away.

Also make the trailer small enough to drag down a trail. M416 size is what I'm thinking - not too much larger.
 
I'd stick with basic spring suspension with parts off the shelf. Same for axles/tires. But we can design it for higher clearance than a prefab trailer.

I think it needs to be bigger than the typical military trailer, if it's gonna do all we want it to do.

Use the rotopax (flat) style water canisters for drinking/washing. Mount them such that gravity will feed the sink faucet, no pump needed.

For power, I'd say lets explore using a deep cycle battery with solar charging (at camp) and have a battery tender on board for charging when AC power is available.
 
We could get the height with longer shackles and piecing together a few sets of springs to give it more arch, and with a mobile home axle you can pick up new bearings at a tractor supply if ever needed while out on the road, plus I think they are 10000 lbs axles....

We could put solar panels on the roof for battery power

If we wanted to go extreme, we could have a water tank on top that was black( I have a few designs in my head) so that we would have heated water except for the winter time

Stove wise on campers you can attach them to the side of the camper so you don't have to take up a table to put it on

You could also have the stove and sink on the same side and they are on a hinge and when done they fold up into the trailer and it's flush on the outside
 
Maybe head out to LKQ to pick up some leaf springs and axle. Maybe something smaller like a early tacoma axle?
 
In my opinion, we need something that is fairly light and basic. My goal would be to have something we could use for storage of club equipment the 45 weeks a year we don't need it, and able to tow the basics to put on a meal with the remaining 5 weeks.

My targets for a trailer would be:
- something robust enough to tow to Balsam (let's face it, anywhere else we wheel, we can tow any trailer to)
- Standard trailer suspension with tires capable of getting to Balsam. Cheap and reliable.
- permanent storage for the canopy
- room for a cooker/grill (start with something stand-alone that we could incorporate later if necessary)
- water storage tank with simple cheap sink (most places we go will have water hookup, so make sure we have a connection for water, otherwise, the small hand pump sinks would probably work just fine for washing a few dishes/hands at camp. This would allow us to keep water weight low, which will help when you do get it off-camber).
- place for a large marine cooler
- a few folding tables and 2-3 chairs(everyone usually has camp chairs, so no need for many chairs) if you use the racks that Marshall had, you could make a lid with legs that slid down in the uprights, which would give you a table when you get to camp (no extra weight required)
- spare parts for the trailer (maybe some Cruiser hubs and birfields, but let's not bring something for everybody)
- built in/bolt-on jack stands at each corner.
- Storage space for the inevitable things we might take to a OTMT, MLK, etc run.

A couple of points to discuss.
- Tools - club tools will be a constant money pit. They'll get lost, walk away, whatever, and before long we'll be ready to buy again. Plus MOST people have tools on their trucks anyway, so why weight the thing down with that.
- Power - a small generator might be nice, but not necessary, with as many trucks with inverters are in the club. Adding power to the trailer adds weight and now you need fuel. More complexity. I would consider Rick's idea of the marine battery and solar charger, but anything more would probably be overkill.
- Weight - Most of us are driving 100k+ heavy trucks that aren't necessarily considered very powerful. So, if you want to make sure that anyone can tow this thing to the top of Balsam, we need to make it light, even fully loaded.
- Simplicity - The more over-the-top that we design this thing, the less likely it is that it will become a reality. KISS is a good idea, especially when discussing something that is communal.

Not to trying to be a party pooper and kill plans on a do-it-all trailer, but I think the club could really benefit from this, and would love to see it built, and not bog down because we shot for the moon.
 
All good points Carp. Weight is going to be the hard thing to balance with all the other points and is something to keep in mind as this gets engineered on paper, then built. Lots of good ideas over in this section too. I like reading everybody's creative solutions.
 
I have a set of leaf springs off of a 03 Tacoma, an axle that is on a 77 suburban hell the whole frame on that suburban.
 
Military trailer on cl now for 950.
 
If e used one of the axles from the dent which one would it be? Another words front or back?
 
the gimpey one said:
If e used one of the axles from the dent which one would it be? Another words front or back?
Click to expand...

Rear axle
 
Springs

I think if I haven't pitched them there are two sets maybe three of springs off my 60 and another just outside the shop in the what am I ever going to do with these pile. They are all flat as sin however that's why there laying there replaced with something with arch to them. But with welding new mounts and the load that this trailer is likley to carry they could be made to work. Project is welcome to them if needed. :) Notice I said I think they are still there! Would have to check when I get home.
 
I know we won't be using any cruiser axles or mobile home axles. I think we something new off the shelf. I do like the spring idea. I have quite a few of those as well. I was thinking about looking at a torsion setup. Easy and for the most part trouble free. I'm also pretty sure we are going to use one of those metal racks I have. Will make getting a platform together a snap and for the most part free.

As nice as it would be to buy a whole trailer I think we are going to build as much of this thing from scratch.
 
If we go with something off the shelf, make sure to get the small 5 lug pattern. It is the same as a mustang, ranger, early toyota pickups, etc, so wheels are plentiful when we are looking for something to put off road tires on.
 
Donating 2 of these for the trailer build. They will come in very handy for storing parts and tools. If any of y'all want these for your shop I'm selling these as well.

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