[smileyfish]

you can't get much closer than that fit, looks great.

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by smileyfish

you can't get much closer than that fit, looks great.

Seriously. When I mounted the fenders I just eyeballed one until it felt about like the right amount of tire clearance, took some measurements and mounted the other side. Based on that I cut off about 6" of fender on each end so it was even with the frame. Now mounting up those flares they are with .5" of being exactly perfect for where the fenders are. Totally dumb luck.

[Box Rocket]

Well today was fairly productive. I finished the primer, hit all the joints with seam sealer and got the exterior painted. I used Rustoleum Gloss White. Actually came out pretty good. I have a couple small runs to sand and respray. It's "whiter" than the cruiser but I think by the time I get cans, stickers and other stuff actually mounted to it it won't be a noticeable difference. The other nice thing about the Rustoleum is that it will be a peice of cake to touch up.

So next up is the Raptor liner. I plan to spray the inside of the tub, the underside and inside the fenders if there is enough. I'm hoping to tackle that this next weekend. Then I'll run the lights and call it good for now until I get to the lid.

Here's some pics.





flares worked out well I think.








Got my dual safety chains sorted out since the test run last week.

[titanpat57]

Very nice...I still can't believe how the friggin' flares fit...like the two were designed for each other

[Box Rocket]

The flares are a mismatched set. One is obviously newer than the other. I don't know if there was a difference or not but the newer one is slightly longer, maybe by 2" total. If you look close on the passenger side flare you can see it hangs below the fender just a bit where the driver side is almost perfect. I'll just trim them a little to be flush with the end of the fenders. Overall I'm very happy with how the flares worked out.

[Exiled]

Outstanding, Adam, very impressive results. I really need to learn to weld, I'd like to make my own trailer someday, I've learned a lot of lessons with mine and I'd like to apply them.

[smileyfish]

looking good

[toyrover]

i have been following this build for sometime, and I just have to say that it looks amazing. I was wondering what you used for seam sealer though? and why do you use it prior to painting? The white looks really good with the cruiser.

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by toyrover

i have been following this build for sometime, and I just have to say that it looks amazing. I was wondering what you used for seam sealer though? and why do you use it prior to painting? The white looks really good with the cruiser.

Thanks. I used some 3M all-around body sealer for the seams. It can be used before or after paint. What I used what white colored so I probably could have left it but it is paintable after 30 min. and I thought a coat of paint over it might keep it from attracting dirt etc like silicone can sometimes.

[davegonz]

Man, that came out nice.

[ginericLC]

Adam pull your flares off the 80 now and paint them black. I used Duplicolor bedliner on mine from a spray can. That would look sharp with your trailer.

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by ginericLC

Adam pull your flares off the 80 now and paint them black. I used Duplicolor bedliner on mine from a spray can. That would look sharp with your trailer.

Nice. I've been thinking the same thing. I was looking at the 3M bedliner in a spray can. How did your duplicolor ones hold up? If I've got enough Raptor liner left over from spraying the trailer tub, I can use that too.

BTW, can I still get that 100 series rear badge from you? let me know how much you want for it?

[NorCalDoug]

that turned out great!

[Box Rocket]

Thanks. I'm not done yet. Actually lots to do to get it fully expedition ready and it will probably take a long time. But hopefully I'll have periodic updates of those parts as I'm able to complete them.

[Box Rocket]

Frustrating day today. I planned on spraying all the bedliner so I pulled the trailer out into the back yard and got the fenders removed. Got it flipped upside down (which was a bit of a trick) so I could get the bottom sprayed first. Removed the axle and springs and got those painted. I got the whole tub masked off and ready to spray the bottom. Thanks to Cory for his air compressor I mixed up the first bottle of Raptor liner and loaded it into the Schutz gun. One bottle did about 2/3 of the bottom and when it was gone I went to get the second bottle and the first bottle had already glued itself to the gun. No idea how but I could not get it to come loose. Put some visegrips near the top and the bottle tore apart and in the process broke off the feed tube in the gun right at the threads where it attaches to the gun. So I head out on a mad search for another Schutz gun. It was all in vain since the closest auto body supply was in Ogden and by the time I got there they had already closed for the day. I checked multiple places for one but nobody has them. So here I am with a trailer all masked off and partially lined sitting in my back yard unable to move unless I put the axle and tires back on it and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. I had no other choice. Its all reassembled and back in the garage now but what a freakin' PITA. I've never heard of anyone having issues with the raptor liner bottle sticking to the gun like that.
As for the part that I did get sprayed, I've pretty happy with how it's turning out. Not quite as thick as Linex but it has a good texture and isn't too rough or smooth. The finish is nice. I'm not working Monday so I may try again but the weather is supposed to be bad. I didn't want to have to mask off the whole garage (the stuff sprays all over) but I may have to.

[RHINO]

well heck thats pretty much the exact same trailer i built,,,, so of course i think its awesome !!!

i havent had any problems with the ribs being inside,,, i also use it for a general purpose trailer and i have to sweep out corners sometimes of messes that get in there, like hauling compost home or something. but its not bad and i'm glad i went that route.

i put tie downs on the outside of my main frame (down low) cause i didnt think i'd be able to reach them on the inside when loaded, the only drawback is that its tuff tying down something lower than the sides,, but that rarely happens.

i dont have a lid on mine, thought about it but i dont think i need one since i never plan to mount an RTT or anything.

my tailgate latch is a captured bolt in the trailer with a tab on the gate,, then i bolt it up, keeps it from rattling. i have to unscrew the bolts everytime i want to use the gate, but thats fine.

i used a regular ball hitch cause i built it back before anyone really knew about anything other than a pintle and i didnt want that. so far i havent had a reason to replace the ball hitch.

heres a crappy pic for ya. cant see well but its on 35" tires

[Box Rocket]

Thanks for sharing that. I appeciate hearing your experience with it.

As for a lid, I don't plan on having a RTT anytime soon either. For me it's more of a way to keep things secure and locked away and also to keep gear protected from the elements and help to curb dust infiltration on the trail. Hopefully I'll get it together soon.

[Box Rocket]

So I bought a new Schutz gun yesterday and planned on getting the rest of the Raptor liner sprayed. Not sure what I did wrong but the first bottle of liner I sprayed with the new gun glued itself to the gun AGAIN!:violent-smiley-031: The instructions didn't say anything that I missed so I called the place I got the gun and took it back in to show them and get some advice. They were good enough to replace the gun and all they could tell me was to not screw the bottle too tightly to the gun. I had barely been snugging it up. So I got back with the third gun and this time a very loosely threaded the bottles onto the gun. I had to be careful about tipping the gun to far and spilling, and I also checked the gun every couple minutes to be sure I could still unscrew it. Yes, I was paranoid since I'd been through two guns with two bottles of liner. Well that worked out and I got three more bottles sprayed and completed the inside of the tub.
Other than the frustration with the guns I've been fairly pleased with the Raptor liner. The finish is much better than the durabak or herculiner. I still have a bit to spray on the underside of the tub and I need to spray the inside of the fenders. The weather has been really cold so I may have to wait a week or so until it warms up.

[Box Rocket]

Here's a couple pictures of the Raptor lined bed.



Detail of the texture on the tub rail

[Thane]

What is a Schutz gun?

[Box Rocket]

Looks just like this.....

[REZARF]

Keep it up Adam! You're flyin'!

[MANUCHAO]

Nice... how much did the raptor (is it a kit?) ran you for with the gun and do you know if it comes in colors... I want to do that for the tub of my trialer but in white ....

TIA...

[Box Rocket]

A kit cost in the neighborhood of $100-$120 and includes 4 1 liter bottles of liner and a can of hardener. You add hardener to the liter bottle, shake it up and spray it. The gun will run you between $15-$20. I needed more than a single kit since I'm spraying underneath as well. If you are just spraying inside the tub a single kit should be enough.

[Box Rocket]

Small update (sorry no new pics). So I'm pretty much done with the trailer with the exception of the lid. The lid won't be a huge expense but I'm out of funds for a couple weeks until I can get another sheet of 16ga and a couple other peices for the lid frame. But the trailer is useable and I've dragged it around a few times just to see if I can find any issues.
Well one came up. I took it out on Sunday and and jacknifed it (on purpose) but did something stupid. I knew I was going to jacknife it and was waiting for the sound of the tongue bottoming out against my rear bumper and took my eyes of the mirror for a second. Well it turns out that the way my rear bumper is trimmed up toward the outside corners allows the tongue to not bottom out against the bumper but actually slide underneath the bumper. That, along with the lock-n-roll that allows it to rotate past 90* I jacknifed it a little too far and the top lip of the trailer tub came in contact with my rear fender flare on the Cruiser. Not a big deal (other than a crack in the fiberglass flare, since I wasn't paying attention), but I need to figure out a way to keep the trailer from over-rotating in a jacknife situation which will definitely need to happen from time to time on the trail.

Kinda hard to see from this picture but maybe you can see how my rear bumper slopes up (bottom edge) toward the corners and that the level of the tongue can pass underneath. I'm looking for suggestions on a way to limit the rotation during jacknife situations. Any thoughts?



Edit: Maybe you can see the rear bumper better in this picture. I would have thought that the center portion of the bumper before it angles upward would contact the tongue but the distance of the point of rotation on the hitch away from the bumper face puts the tongue at an angle past 90* before the tongue contacts that center section of the bumper, letting the trailer tub come in contact with the truck.

[Box Rocket]

So my thoughts are to weld a "stop" to the top of the tongue. Basically another peice of the tongue material boxed in on top of the tongue to contact the bumper as the trailer jacknifes. Once I get my cooler rack on the tongue that will probably contact the truck as well, but I don't want to damage the cooler or the cooler rack by using them as the "stop". Thoughts?

[fj40fax]

Attach your chains to your clevis points? It may be too much for those little chains.

[Box Rocket]

The chains are actually decent strength but I still don't think they'll cut it as a real long term solution. I'll take a look at it but I think I'll have to do something else.

[fj40fax]

Did the handle hit/get bent when it swung over?

[fj40fax]

If you have to put it on the triangular tongue, you might as well make the space usable like a cooler rack. Just need to make the bottom strong enough to take the hit from jack-knifing.