How did these projects turn out? I’m about ready to start my own Harbor Freight trailer project and I’ll be starting off similar to yours, Farnsrocket.
Where’d you position the 2x2 main tube? Did you pierce the cross members, or weld it on underneath?
It came really nice and worked great for my family trip to Maine this summer!!
I put the frame right on top of the 2x2 and just welded it at the seams, where it touched from front to back. I had to notch out the frame in a couple of places where the 2x2 didn't quite touch and I added a couple of crossmembers for my shocks.
I reinforced the whole frame with old steel bed frame rails, they worked out great and made it super rigid.
I cut the tongue and added a hitch receiver so I could remove it when I store it in my garage. I also added a rear hitch receiver the back in case I wanted to add a bike carrier for trips (we didn[t use it this time).
I built my box out of regular plywood, 3/4" floor and I think 3/8" on the sides and roof. I tried that poor mans fiberglass to cover it but it was messy and didn't work out so I just primed the box and covered it in good exterior paint. I coated the whole underside in truck bed coating.
I marked my doors and mounted the hinges then cut my doors out with an oscillating multitool and used marine latches. These took a bit of time to frame behind the doors so I could add weather stripping to seal the doors.
I added a couple of tongue boxes to the front and back.
I added a 100ah LiFePO battery with a solar controller and panel. I also added a fuse box and various cut off switches and breakers to make it safe. It powered my 12v cooler throughout the whole 2 week trip!
I was meaning to add some fog lights around the trailer along with an outlet for my propane shower but didn't get around to it before our trip.
I got a Max Coupler articulated hitch. It is a great piece and worked perfectly, very easy to hook up and take off and is dead silent on the road.
I figured out my whole weight distribution thing on our first day out!!! I had originally mounted a Thule cargo box to the top of the rack and had my canoe on my truck. I also had my spare tire mounted off the side of the rack in a mount that I had welded up. That along with the other crap I put in the trailer really made the trailer heavy. Oh, and I also put a 4 bike carrier on the back of the trailer. So when we started driving out of our neighborhood, we hit a speed bump and the whole trailer bottomed out! My wife even noticed it and was like WTH was that? I immediately knew I had to much weigh on it so we turned around and took the bikes off and put them in the garage. Got back out on the road and I could just tell the trailer was too loaded down. It was it swaying in turns and just super heavy on slight dips in the road. I could see the tires almost rubbing the fenders. So we stopped and I got out and could see my leaf springs were almost flat! Dammit, I called a buddy and talked to him about it. He was like you probably have to much weight in it. So, I am pissed that I hadn't taken a test run with it before.............I literally finished up the solar wiring the night before. The wife is just as pissed but we finally rationalized that we would go back, I would fix things and we would just have to skip our camping spot in New York on our way to Maine.
So I moved the Thule box to my truck, put the canoe on the trailer and moved the spare tire up to the tongue where I welded up a new mount.
I also removed some of the heavier items in the trailer to the truck and put more clothing and bedding in the trailer. It worked out perfectly and the trip was amazing.
