Expedition trailer made from FJ40 tub (3 Viewers)

[Volcanic Iceberg]

MRPEPPER came over for our wednesday night ritual of working on projects and we made some progress. He buzzed off all the screw tips, so were ready for glass on the inside of the cap. Then we buttoned up the frame with some supports welded to the tongue. We also welded everything that was left on the underside of the frame. Solid as a rock now.

 

[77TLCFJ40]

Lookin good VI. Keep up the great work.

Whats the size and thickness of your frame/tongue parts?

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Lookin good VI. Keep up the great work.

Whats the size and thickness of your frame/tongue parts?

The tongue is 3" X 3" X 1/4" except for the last foot which is sleaved for the reciever which makes it 1/2" thick. The angled pieces are 2 1/2" X 2 1/2" X 1/8" thick. The cross member is 3" X 3" X 1/8" Everything is fully welded all the way around the tubes.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Not particularly noteworthy, but I am working on getting the trailer towable for cruise moab. I am a Mt. biker as well, so I had to have a way to take the bikes. I installed a reciever on the rear crossmember. I used a 12" extension so that the rack would clear the spare tires, But its hanging a loooooong way out there, so I am going to see if I can do without the extension. I dont have the second spare tire mounted but I think that the rack may fit between them. I also tested out my reciever riser on the cruiser to see how it towed. Without the riser the trailers behind would be pokinhg up in the air. The riser leveled it out. Looks like it will work out nicely for the trip. Eventually the tow vehicle will have a 4" lift and I will do away with the riser.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Bed frame

I got the frame for the bed platform all welded in. I broke the platform up into thirds with the front and back pieces opening to provide access to below. I used 1" angle on all sides and an inverted "T" piece supporting the center joints. The platform is 3/4" plywood. Next step is to recess the hinges.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Yesterday I came across a vintage 12 gallon auxiliary fuel cell at work and my mind began to race as to what I could use it for. I had a corner of the tub that wasn't spoken for and it happens to fit in that spot like a glove. I like the idea of having some fuel that is hidden from would-be thieves. (think baja trips) I think I will go ahead and mount it as a back up tank for those extra long trips. It even has a sending unit, supply & return lines! Theoretically I could hook it up to a 12v pump and pump the gas out but realistically I think a hand pump or siphon will be more practiacal. It was missing the cap, but the stock toyota cap off my 66' part out is a perfect fit - Nice & tight (Must be meant to be). I planned on using the louvered fj40 vent to vent this area anyway since I will be carrying the propane tank inboard as well.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

That tank is cool. Nice job.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Glassed the inside of the top.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Got the corners of the top sides trimmed up.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Installed hinges on the bed platform & bolted the center section to the metal frame. Its a lot firmer now.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Welded on the adjustable hold down clamps on each corner. Stripped off all the wood supports off the outside of the cap. The profile of the cap turned out really nice. I plan on doing the glass on the outside tomorrow.

 

[FJsnoozer]

Sorry for the off topic post.

What exact tools did you use to sever the Half tub from the b pillar post? Also, what was used to cut the tub away at the floor pan. Your thread offers the only worthwhile pictures of someone doing this. I will be replacing the half tub with a new Half tub on my '77. and appreciate any comments that you have or advice on what would make this job go the easiest and what amount of time you would expect it to take.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Sorry for the off topic post.

What exact tools did you use to sever the Half tub from the b pillar post? Also, what was used to cut the tub away at the floor pan. Your thread offers the only worthwhile pictures of someone doing this. I will be replacing the half tub with a new Half tub on my '77. and appreciate any comments that you have or advice on what would make this job go the easiest and what amount of time you would expect it to take.

Thanks a bunch.

I used a sawsall with long metal cutting blades to cut the tubs in half. It took me a couple hours to get everything free.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

No pictures yet, but I got a couple of layers of glass on the outside. still need some more to reinforce weak spots and then smoothed out with some body filler. Also got some tail lights installed. Tires will be mounted on stock steelies tomorrow. Since I havent run any wiring yet I hooked up a set of magnetic trailer lights to get me to CM.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

Got all the BFG 33X9.50 AT's mounted on the stock steelies. Clamped the two top pieces together. Made some body mounts & bolted the body to the frame. Hooked up some temp. lights, sprayed the top with white primer, and loaded it up with camping gear. Headed to Cruise Moab 2011 in the morning.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

A few action shots from Cruiser Moab 2011

We had an awesome time at Cruise Moab this year. I thought it would be a good opportunity for a trailer shakedown on at least what I had fabricated up to this point. Overall it worked out really well. THe trailer easily held all our gear for 7 people. I was delighted with how nicely it packed up. True to its design, I even was able to prop the lid up a bit on one end and sleep on the bed platform.

On the way there we had some issues with the trailer rocking back and forth at freeway speeds so i had to keep the speed. to around 60 MPH. At vendor night I was lucky enough to run into Kurt Williams and he told me that he had had similar problems initially due to weight distribution and bad shocks. So for the trip home I packed it heavier on the front end and we cruised at 75-80 MPH without any problems. Barely even knew the trailer was back there. I still plan on swapping out the shocks since the ones that are on there are old and probably aught to be replaced.

On the trail the trailer handled flawlessly. I was really impressed at how nicely it tracked behind the 80. We camped in the sandflats campground and it handled the washboards and windy dirt roads like a dream. there were a couple spots where i had to back the trailer into a tight area to turn around and I really liked the ability to jacknife. It really made my turn around radius nice and tight. I was even able to turn around without any problems on top of Baby Lions where these pictures were taken.

We did encounter one rather nasty problem that I believe needs to be address in the event that anyone is planning a similar design. As we were packing up to head home, I was backing the trailer sharply on an incline and the rotating lunette got bound up in the pintle somehow. The trailer acted as a massive leaver arm and bent my reciever hitch and the intermediate piece I was using to level the trailer. I dont like to admit when I am wrong Especially when I think I have a killer idea, but I can see now that the rotating lunette was the cause.

Fortunately I had a reciever on the back of the trailer that we were able to swap around to the tow vehicle and we made it home. I am glad however that we discovered the weakness and that the trailer itself was not damaged. In the future I will switch to a non rotating lunette until I buy a universal coupler. I will post some pictures of the carnage as soon as MRPEPPER emails them to me.

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

A couple more....

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Great bumping into you in Moab and enjoyed seeing the trailer headed down the road, turned out great

 

[Volcanic Iceberg]

THis is supposed to be straight......

 

[misterpepper]

Looking at the picture it's not immediately clear what happened -- backing the trailer up and nearly jackkniving it to park it in a tight spot the rotating lunette ring rotated about 120 degrees (what you can see of it in the picture would otherwise have been the underside of the lunette). When VI went to pull the trailer again, instead of it all straightening out, the lunette bound in the pintle and would not un-rotate back. This caused the lunette/pintle to want to lock up at roughly perpendicular and the massive leverage of the trailer bent the hitch and riser, as you can see in the picture. Fortunately VI brought along some tools and had another hitch on the back of the trailer that we cannibalized for the repair.

Other than that Cruise moab was a blast and I can't wait to have my '70 finished for next years event.