Building A Trailer from A Truck Bed, Have A couple Of Questions

[meatloaf]

I have been looking for an M416, or the like, for about a year or so and could not find one for a decent price. The ones I have seen advertised so far average $1500-$2500... So I bought a cheap truck bed trailer from a mid 70's Ford Courier with the intent of making it somewhat of an expedition trailer. I am getting rid of the chasis and axle to lose some weight. Once I mount the springs the distance between spring centers will be about 33" and the hub face will be about 48" in order to try to keep the tires inside of the wheel wells. Is this too narrow of a stance to cause stability issues?

Thanks,
ML

 

[greentruck]

Looks like roughly the same as the stock configuration, maybe just slightly narrower. If it worked for Ford, should work for you or are the pics somewhat deceiving in terms of the relationship?

 

[meatloaf]

Good point greentruck. I just was not sure if pulling the lighter trailer on a slightly more narrow frame would affect stability vs having the full weight & 4 tires of the complete truck.

 

[greentruck]

I suspect it'll be just fine, especially if most of the weight is below the lip of the bed. On the other hand, put some flares on it and run a slightly wider axle and you'd be in better shape if you're concerned about it.

What does trip some up is using too stiff leaves, which can make it rather more "bouncy" (not sure about that term technically, but works for me.) The shocks can help with that, plus most leaf springs can lose one or more leaves easily enough if it crops up as an issue.

 

[meatloaf]

Thank you greentruck...

 

[meatloaf]

Floor had more rust than I wanted so one of my sons and I took it out...

 

[greentruck]

I think this project has just slipped into major overhaul status

I hate dealing with rust, but sometimes you do what you must. You'll appreciate having dealt with it sooner than later.

 

[meatloaf]

Made the axle...

Cut out some more rust on the tailgate

 

[meatloaf]

Patched the tailgate, painted the frame grey and added spare tire carrier.

 

[meatloaf]

Finished (mostly) and ready for it's maiden voyage to Big Bend State & National parks.

 

[meatloaf]

Drove trailer to Big Bend NP, 1200+ miles, it performed really well except for my mis-engineering of the springs

 

[ntsqd]

Out of curiosity, how much tire pressure were you running and how heavily do you think it was loaded?

 

[meatloaf]

ntsqd,

I had about 600-700lbs of weight and tire pressure was set at 32psi.

 

[ntsqd]

Sounds about right as a guess. I know that I've been surprised at how little tire pressure our TrailBlazer camp trailer needed with the 33-12.50's on it. Once towed it several hundred miles with 5 psi in the tires and they were not hot as I check them at every stop. With a progressively smaller tire I would expect the minimum pressure for any given load to go up.

 

[meatloaf]

I had a slow leak on one tire, which turned out to be a small nail, and drove the trailer back ~500miles with about 20psi. Initially I was going to use 33X10.5X15 tires but decided against it and I am glad I did since it would have been a nightmare after the springs & shackles went flat...

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

would some bump stops help that from happening?

 

[meatloaf]

would some bump stops help that from happening?

I was thinking about that... I am also going to have to redesign the shock mounts.

 

[77TLCFJ40]

Also, move the shackle mount or a much longer shackle to prevent the springs from going flat.

 

[meatloaf]

Thanks Lash,

I think the easiest thing to do at this point is longer shackles. Hopefully the springs will go back to the "arched" position once all the weight is taken off.

Ml

 

[ntsqd]

From the looks of them you'll probably have to pry them down as they've gone over-center. I'll guess less than an inch longer is all that's needed. They only need to be long enough that the shackle will have a slight angle down from horizontal when the main leaf is dead flat.

Or you could leave them alone and add a thin urethane bump-stop to the bottom of the frame where the shackle eyelet is making contact. Choose the stop to be tall enough that the shackle can't go over-center even with the stop slightly compressed. These won't take the place of a normal bump-stop, they only serve to keep the shackles from going over-center.