My scratch built expedition style trailer build up thread - Page 2

REZARF · 06-27-07, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunyou

looks good rezarf.....not to try to be a nitpicker.....but my structural engineering teacher preached the strength of triangles. Maybe on your Ladder frame you might throw in at least one X to make it a bit stronger without much more weight.

Just a thought. Good luck I love the drawer and kitchen Idea/
lunyou

Thanks for the tip lunyou, but I am moving ahead with my design, I have had several engineering friends run FEA on a few of the structural areas and all are checking out.

Numbers are one thing, and need to be crunched, but real world experience tells me I am going to be fine. I will triangulate the front.

Drew

REZARF · 07-12-07, 07:46 PM

Pretty close to scale photo chop-

Grim Reaper · 07-12-07, 08:26 PM

Is it done yet?

REZARF · 07-12-07, 08:39 PM

In photoshop it is!

brownbear · 07-13-07, 02:55 PM

I like the photoshop design.... too cool for sure!

I would not worry about the ball/pintle combo. They are plenty strong for these trailers. The only time it could fail is using it as a pintle with extreme weights. None of which you will encounter with a light camping trailer. Or a M101 for that matter.

Sure if you were towing a great big trailer at 10k pounds.... not a 1k loaded offroad trailer.

spressomon · 07-14-07, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REZARF

Pretty close to scale photo chop-

Looks great Drew!!! FYI: When we were at the Pyramid Lake AT Fest I met Mike Spies (aka Mike S.), who distributes the Overland tent line stateside...anyway he designed and built a nice M101 variant from scratch...and he designed the ID of the box to be able to accept 4' wide sheets of whatever he needed to haul...I thought that was a great idea to add additional use/utility when not using it for camping/hunting/excursions. There are times I need to pick up plywood, drywall, etc...and rather than haul it atop the rig it would be nice to be able to utilize the trailer box. Probably a little late for you...but...

Rubiconcruiser · 07-14-07, 06:50 PM

DREW....you are amazing I have been an observer of your threads for some time now and if you pull this one off there will be many an thanks for you an yours, God Speed and wish you well. Jim .

REZARF · 07-15-07, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spressomon

Looks great Drew!!! FYI: When we were at the Pyramid Lake AT Fest I met Mike Spies (aka Mike S.), who distributes the Overland tent line stateside...anyway he designed and built a nice M101 variant from scratch...and he designed the ID of the box to be able to accept 4' wide sheets of whatever he needed to haul...I thought that was a great idea to add additional use/utility when not using it for camping/hunting/excursions. There are times I need to pick up plywood, drywall, etc...and rather than haul it atop the rig it would be nice to be able to utilize the trailer box. Probably a little late for you...but...

Thanks! I mulled over this one for weeks! In all reality, I could make a utility/offraod trailer that could do everything kind of well, or make a purpose built expedition style trailer that could overlanding VERY well. In the end it came down to trackwidth and not being afraid to strap the occasional plywood to the top of this thing... but it would be nice to make it work like that.

I didn't show it in the photochop but the long rectangles that run along the upper edge will be an E-track for holding stuff to the top.

Rezarf <><

REZARF · 07-15-07, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rubiconcruiser

DREW....you are amazing I have been an observer of your threads for some time now and if you pull this one off there will be many an thanks for you an yours, God Speed and wish you well. Jim .

Thanks man, we will see how it goes. Finally going to start chopping... I realized I could over design this and go back and forth too much. Time to put the welder to the metal

Thanks for the kind words.

Rezarf <><

73fj · 07-16-07, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REZARF

I realized I could over design this and go back and forth too much. Time to put the welder to the metal

Rezarf <><

You can waste a lot of time second guessing, or do it and work it out as you go. I like to get a rough plan and work out the hard stuff as I go, but thats me. I put the hard stuff aside and keep building what I know for sure, letting the other stuff percolate.

BajaXplorer · 07-18-07, 01:08 PM

Following this thread with great interest. Don't forget to take lots of pictures.
BX

REZARF · 07-23-07, 10:01 PM

Here is my latest hold up. I needed to find a simple white wheel that matched my cruiser... nothing fancy just a white spoke wheel. I needed it in 3.75 backspacing to match the others on the cruiser (so I can rotate between all the different tires on the rig and trailer). The recent rage in black wheels has left the white wheels hurting for a few more common sizes... at least that is my guess. I went through ALL the manufacturers.

So I call Summit racing, and they can get me a custom sized wheel from US Wheel for an extra 10 bucks... no big deal the wheel is only 45ish dollars, so I give them the go ahead. Well, 5 short weeks later :( the wheel is at my door... in raw steel!

So I had to track down a powder coater in the area (thanks Groucho!) and get it coated basic white. So my cheap 40 dollar wheel is now close to twice its original cost... oh well. Nathaniel did an AWESOME job and the powder came out great!

So yesterday I go to my local Sams Club and the dude behind the counter tells me he can mount them up for me... (we get all our work done there) and he says this one is on the house! AHHH, feeling better about the price of the wheel now.

We tip the dude come home happy and now we can start chopping up the chassis this week!

That is what I gotta expect doing a scratch build...

Yippee!

Stay tuned

Rezarf <><

REZARF · 07-24-07, 10:30 PM

Tonight was a fun night!

Gotta give a BIG THANK YOU to AxleIke! THANKS Isaac for your help!

Here is where we ended up tonight...

Because of the finite dimensions of the major components that require plumbing to work, the water tank and the propane bottle. I wanted to do a scale frame experiment before cutting into 200 bones of steel. I picked up a few 2x3's at the home depot.

Pretty simple to mock up, but it allowed for fitting of the 21 gallon water tank and the 11 pound propane tank. I wanted to make sure I could fit the tank, the plumbing fittings, and deck fill all within the area I have to work with... and after some head scratching and measuring... it does!

I also wanted to look at how much space I would have out back between the tires and rear bumper for the propane bottle. I also wanted to see how much space I needed in terms of bumper overhang (side to side) to make a feasible platform for the bottle to rest on. I plan on running integrated sliders down the width of the trailer that will serve double duty for mounting things to them like a fuel can, CO2, or propane tanks, and all will tie into the tubular fenders.

That is where we ended up. I am now stalled until my 220v 50amp breaker arrives... my breaker box manufacturer has been out of business some 20 years now, so finding the right breaker to hook up my welder has been another slight set back.

Pic one: the axle with the 35's. mmmm, 35's!

Pic two: My 2x3 wood frame for mock-up.

Pic three: final water tank position, this is the front end of the trailer. I will use a more permanent clamping system than Isaac

Thanks for looking!

Rezarf <><

REZARF · 07-24-07, 10:34 PM

Here are a few more pics

Pic 1: A good try but impossible position for the water tank to fit... oh, but it would be so nice!

Anyhow, there just isn't enough clearance to make it work.

Pic 2: The propane tank and distance between tire and rear bumper. The 2x4 on top of the frame is the rear bumper location.

Pic 3: Looking from the rear passenger-side, you can see where the propane tank goes. The big box up front is the water-tank box, and it is the EXACT size of the tank when you include all the fittings... gotta love it when that happens.

AxleIke · 07-24-07, 10:53 PM

You know i can't resist puttering around in the garage, and besides, i didn't do too much except bolt on the tires and hold the tank...

Next time will have to be with STEEL!!!!

73fj · 07-25-07, 12:53 AM

Why don't you plug the welder into your dryer outlet? That's what I did on a Lincoln 251......got an adapter from Home Depot.

davegonz · 07-25-07, 07:40 AM

You are one methodical bastid. I'm sure it's gonna come out great. Make sure you compensate for the hoses coming out the side there. Looks a little tight.

AxleIke · 07-25-07, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73fj

Why don't you plug the welder into your dryer outlet? That's what I did on a Lincoln 251......got an adapter from Home Depot.

Ordinarily a good idea, but his dryer is upstairs in his home, so he'd need like a 50 foot extension cord.

Or weld in the upstairs bedroom!!!!

REZARF · 07-25-07, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davegonz

You are one methodical bastid. I'm sure it's gonna come out great. Make sure you compensate for the hoses coming out the side there. Looks a little tight.

It will be tight, but I had a few elbows for fitting and it will make it... just barely but it will make it!

thanks, those are the kinds of comments I need to not screw this thing up. I appreciate it.

Rezarf <><

73fj · 07-25-07, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AxleIke

Or weld in the upstairs bedroom!!!!

Go for it! Whats the worst that could happen?

REZARF · 07-25-07, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 73fj

Go for it! Whats the worst that could happen?

My wife puts up with a lot of crap... but that ain't happening!

REZARF · 07-25-07, 09:38 PM

I got to work on the rear bumper today. I only had about an hour, so I cleaned up my "scrap" piece of 2x4x.125" tubing. Cost about 6 bucks at the local scrap yard. Woo-Hoo!

Most of my time was consumed by laying out where I wanted to place my rear tail lights and clearing the frame rails without any clearance issues. Pretty basic but it takes time to do it right.

Here are the two lousy pics from today's happenings...

Pic 1: This is my gut and feet, you might catch the bumper at the top of the picture

Pic 2: You can see here how I lay things out for cutting and drilling... mucho exciting I am sure...

Can anyone guess what kind of tail lights I am using?

VTFJ40 · 07-26-07, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by REZARF

Can anyone guess what kind of tail lights I am using?

Very cool. Can't wait to see this (the whole build not just the taillights).

07-12-07, 07:46 PM	#32
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	Pretty close to scale photo chop- Attached Images __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread.

07-12-07, 08:39 PM	#34
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	In photoshop it is! __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread.

07-13-07, 02:55 PM	#35
brownbear Mod in Hibernation Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Where diesels purr and turbos whine TLCA# 15584 Posts: 6,200	I like the photoshop design.... too cool for sure! I would not worry about the ball/pintle combo. They are plenty strong for these trailers. The only time it could fail is using it as a pintle with extreme weights. None of which you will encounter with a light camping trailer. Or a M101 for that matter. Sure if you were towing a great big trailer at 10k pounds.... not a 1k loaded offroad trailer. __________________ -84 BJ60, Finally on the FN road! -91 FJ80, wife's ride Iron Butt award winner of the Cruise Moab 08 !

07-23-07, 10:01 PM	#42
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	Here is my latest hold up. I needed to find a simple white wheel that matched my cruiser... nothing fancy just a white spoke wheel. I needed it in 3.75 backspacing to match the others on the cruiser (so I can rotate between all the different tires on the rig and trailer). The recent rage in black wheels has left the white wheels hurting for a few more common sizes... at least that is my guess. I went through ALL the manufacturers. So I call Summit racing, and they can get me a custom sized wheel from US Wheel for an extra 10 bucks... no big deal the wheel is only 45ish dollars, so I give them the go ahead. Well, 5 short weeks later :( the wheel is at my door... in raw steel! So I had to track down a powder coater in the area (thanks Groucho!) and get it coated basic white. So my cheap 40 dollar wheel is now close to twice its original cost... oh well. Nathaniel did an AWESOME job and the powder came out great! So yesterday I go to my local Sams Club and the dude behind the counter tells me he can mount them up for me... (we get all our work done there) and he says this one is on the house! AHHH, feeling better about the price of the wheel now. We tip the dude come home happy and now we can start chopping up the chassis this week! That is what I gotta expect doing a scratch build... Yippee! Stay tuned Rezarf <>< Attached Images __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread. Last edited by REZARF; 07-23-07 at 10:09 PM.

07-24-07, 10:30 PM	#43
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	Tonight was a fun night! Gotta give a BIG THANK YOU to AxleIke! THANKS Isaac for your help! Here is where we ended up tonight... Because of the finite dimensions of the major components that require plumbing to work, the water tank and the propane bottle. I wanted to do a scale frame experiment before cutting into 200 bones of steel. I picked up a few 2x3's at the home depot. Pretty simple to mock up, but it allowed for fitting of the 21 gallon water tank and the 11 pound propane tank. I wanted to make sure I could fit the tank, the plumbing fittings, and deck fill all within the area I have to work with... and after some head scratching and measuring... it does! I also wanted to look at how much space I would have out back between the tires and rear bumper for the propane bottle. I also wanted to see how much space I needed in terms of bumper overhang (side to side) to make a feasible platform for the bottle to rest on. I plan on running integrated sliders down the width of the trailer that will serve double duty for mounting things to them like a fuel can, CO2, or propane tanks, and all will tie into the tubular fenders. That is where we ended up. I am now stalled until my 220v 50amp breaker arrives... my breaker box manufacturer has been out of business some 20 years now, so finding the right breaker to hook up my welder has been another slight set back. Pic one: the axle with the 35's. mmmm, 35's! Pic two: My 2x3 wood frame for mock-up. Pic three: final water tank position, this is the front end of the trailer. I will use a more permanent clamping system than Isaac Thanks for looking! Rezarf <>< Attached Images __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread. Last edited by REZARF; 07-24-07 at 10:39 PM.

07-12-07, 08:26 PM	#33
Grim Reaper IH8MUD Rookie Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 49	Is it done yet?

07-14-07, 06:50 PM	#37
Rubiconcruiser IH8MUD Junior Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 155	DREW....you are amazing I have been an observer of your threads for some time now and if you pull this one off there will be many an thanks for you an yours, God Speed and wish you well. Jim .

07-18-07, 01:08 PM	#41
BajaXplorer IH8MUD Rookie Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 8	Following this thread with great interest. Don't forget to take lots of pictures. BX

07-24-07, 10:34 PM	#44
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	Here are a few more pics Pic 1: A good try but impossible position for the water tank to fit... oh, but it would be so nice! Anyhow, there just isn't enough clearance to make it work. Pic 2: The propane tank and distance between tire and rear bumper. The 2x4 on top of the frame is the rear bumper location. Pic 3: Looking from the rear passenger-side, you can see where the propane tank goes. The big box up front is the water-tank box, and it is the EXACT size of the tank when you include all the fittings... gotta love it when that happens. Attached Images __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread.

07-24-07, 10:53 PM	#45
AxleIke IH8MUD Rookie Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 50	You know i can't resist puttering around in the garage, and besides, i didn't do too much except bolt on the tires and hold the tank... Next time will have to be with STEEL!!!!

07-25-07, 12:53 AM	#46
73fj Always wrenchin Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, Alberta TLCA# 7236 Posts: 481	Why don't you plug the welder into your dryer outlet? That's what I did on a Lincoln 251......got an adapter from Home Depot. __________________ I ain't gonna hit ya..........ahhh the hell I ain't! - John Wayne I have a RED cruiser fetish. Support our Troop's. Journeyman Sheet Metal Worker. Sometimes I drink beer and surf mud.................at the same time! Then I can't remember what I posted

07-25-07, 07:40 AM	#47
davegonz Keeping it Weird Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Austin, TX TLCA# 14650 Posts: 1,072 Blog Entries: 1	You are one methodical bastid. I'm sure it's gonna come out great. Make sure you compensate for the hoses coming out the side there. Looks a little tight. __________________ David Gonzalez ------------------- "Penny" Bronze 2000 100-series 33" BFG A/T's, storage drawers, OME Heavy Lift Austin, TX david.gonzalez@gmail.com Lone Star Land Cruisers

07-25-07, 09:38 PM	#52
REZARF IH8MUD Lifer Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Louisville, CO TLCA# 13041 Posts: 2,761	I got to work on the rear bumper today. I only had about an hour, so I cleaned up my "scrap" piece of 2x4x.125" tubing. Cost about 6 bucks at the local scrap yard. Woo-Hoo! Most of my time was consumed by laying out where I wanted to place my rear tail lights and clearing the frame rails without any clearance issues. Pretty basic but it takes time to do it right. Here are the two lousy pics from today's happenings... Pic 1: This is my gut and feet, you might catch the bumper at the top of the picture Pic 2: You can see here how I lay things out for cutting and drilling... mucho exciting I am sure... Can anyone guess what kind of tail lights I am using? Attached Images __________________ Drew F. Rising Sun 4x4 Club 76 FJ40, 85 fj60 Engine and Ignition, 35" MTR's, Warn 8074, 4" of lift TPI, snorkeled, racked, Mini-truck P/S... and sometimes running. Friends don't let friends drive Thornbirds... My camping trailer build up thread.