just got a trailer...

[hakalugi]

just got a canadian m101 from Clint, who delivered it with a new (to him) 80, found at exped.portal.

so, the good:

* 1992 m101, one of less than 2000 made. this was one of the ones that was brought down a few years ago, that IPOR got a bunch of.
* he did the fixing /welding of the tongue, replacing rusted C channel with 2x3 box.
* only 1 spot rusted through, on the DS wall, near the back, the floor of the bed is sound
* he put modern leaf springs and shocks, and augmented the hardware to fit..
* 35" mtz's, so my 37's should fit without too much trimming (my goal is to have same tire/size as the main rig)
* bolted yakima type basket, solid enough for the tent and other gear for non-camping trips
* he built a lid, that locks, and has decent seal
* nose box, the delta is better than nothing
* water box/bladder below the deck, not yet plumbed, but it's been mounted
* thule 'sink' attaches to rear panel


the not as good:

* the hubs are jeep 5 bolt pattern.
* no brakes

the plans:

1) make it use the same hubs so that i can share a spare. He didn't believe that the axle he used had a 6 bolt toyota hub offering, as the internals may be different, but i'll inquire and i will price just hubs from his source (northern tool) so that i can use the 3 spare tundra/sequoia rims I have, and some beat 37"'s that came with my truck.

2) if a new axle is needed, other than what he used, northern tool, any input on who i should check out? if i'm swapping the axle, i'd be interested in e-brakes - the less strain i put in the '80 the better i figure. anyone have an experience with an e-brake conversion?

3) it's white, not bad, but it has a few surface rust spots i'd like to por15 and paint over. It'd be nice to get it to blend a little better.. we'll see...

4) batteries: in the front box, to power stuff like fridge, ipad/walkie/etc charger(s), and maybe a 12v pump to make the water box actually squirt. need to figure my trickle charger, solar panels look useful, but not cheap (plus an charge controller)

i've been in the market, and looked at 7 brands of new ones, many without a US source. i wrote off the Kimberly Kamper (crazy expensive) but there's a damaged on on ExPortal for $5k ($34k list !!!) but the stuff it has (kitchen, heater, water, power) really can spoil you....

so for now, we chose a not-only-camper, rather a utility/sport/camping trailer, which happened to have an RTT.

the wife is not so sure... but we outvoted her!

 

[TRFCSUX]

BAD ASS!!!!!!!!

 

[Skrewball]

Sweet trailer!!

Check out E-trailer.com for replacement axles. Their prices are hard to beat.

The electric brake hook up is not a big deal.

 

[hakalugi]

thanks Vince, will do.

the leaf-springs are from a jeep or samaurai, the shocks skyjackers from a jeep, so it seems to be modern/normal leaf shackles.

forgot to mention:

+ functional parking brake
+ functional front drop down leg
+ functional screwdown legs on rear corners
+ he included a pintle+ball combo hitch, so we could do the deal, all i had was a std ball
+ shovel mount and shovel, and propane mount and propane canister also included.



oh, BTW, i've enjoyed my 80 since you guys worked on it.

+ caster correction is solid
+ fusible links fixed the dash issues
+ sliders look and work great, as steps for now, we'll test out their protection later, same for your belly-plate

 

[Von Hayek]

Looks sweet. I think the kids are in for some future fun.

 

[76FJ40]

American Truck and trailer in Manassas stocks a good variety of hubs, axles, electric brake parts, etc.

 

[Black Op]

Nice trailer!!!

 

[Thornton]

very nice

not sure why you're concerned with not have brakes on it. I've been towing the m-416 with no brakes on it and I've had no issues. Maybe I'm just nuts

 

[hakalugi]

Hi Tom,

it drove just fine up from dumfries back to my house, i was ok doing highway miles with it, but kept a good distance in front of me. i'd like to take it on some trails with pretty steep hills (ie: where i got stuck in february with a little snow on the ground) so having it produce a little 'drag' vs. being a pushing force against the 80 on some sections has crossed my mind.

my truck was over 6500 pounds before my sliders and ipor belly plate. this trailer is 900 empty. i figure me, family and gear in the 80 and if we load the trailer could put me at 9000 lbs....

and if i'm gonna replace the axle to fit the proper hubs anyway (and looking at vince's link, yeah, the '6bolt' setups are for heavier axles than the 5 bolt setups, so new axle + 2x hubs -) means the ebrakes offering may be a no brainer at that point.

the main draw back, other than a few more bucks, is, highly not recommended for people backing up into saltwater boat ramps. which does't apply to me/this trailer.


i just had my master cylinder repalced at IPOR when they were doing other stuff (on the Woodstock pigroast drive a few months back, i had serious brake fade - my pedal was going to the floor, yet once i could stop, we found my hubs weren't too hot to touch - Vince was with us he checked it out) going down the paved road switchbacks with my kids in the car and loosing braking power was a scary experience, luckily we were near the bottom so the hill 'ran out' into a road between 2 farms so it was ok. my truck has 286,000 miles, and the master cylinder may have been original, as far as we could tell.

so maybe with the new master cylinder, i'd be fine - but if adding 1500 pounds behind the 80 would've meant the fade issues happened 10 minutes earlier, it could've been u g l y

so here, i'm hoping to have the trailer be little or less burden than it would be. so i'm probably the crazy one, but the value of my backseat cargo is driving me to be overly cautious.

sorry for the long answer but this is a learning process for me, so figure i'd put my thoughts down and have this be a sanity check. if it sucks and isn't worth it, and harder than planned, i'll post a warning for all to learn from my mania.

if it's easy and adds a little benefit, i'll share that too.

ps - your color matched 416 is what has me thinking of color matching my trailer too

 

[Devilmans Hand]

Sweet trailer. Brakes would be nice on the steep and slippery stuff.

 

[Thornton]

Sounds like you have put a lot of thought into this and it all makes very good sense. By the way thanks for giving me something else to think about.

 

[StaleAle]

You don't need no stinkin' brakes!

Brakes are highly over-rated, they only slow you down and besides, isn't it supposed to be an "adventure trailer"?

 

[hakalugi]

jon, that is funny. "no brakes = more exciting!"

Ok, working with a tech at e-trailers.com

the axle may be re-usable, he had me remove the bearing(s) and read off the sizes.

i'm awaiting his response, but the sizing of that bearing does show up in a search as part of a kit for 6 on 5.5" option using that same bearing size - so the axle i have, if it's a 3500# one based on the bearings, may be fine, which would be great to only swap the drums, and mounts/brakes.

i'm so new to this, that i learned i'd need to switch to a 7 pin harness. i've worked up the following conversion:

you cut the 4 pin termination on the trailer's harness, then line things up like this:

| 'harness' (on trailer) | new '7 pole' (on trailer) | function
| (new) blue | blue | brakes
| green | brown | right turn
| brown | green | running lights
| yellow | red | left turn
|white | white | ground

so... i have a 4-flat now on my truck - i actually need to unplug my plate, which is fed by the 4 pin (presumably brown + white above - so the lic plate is lit when the running lights come on) in order to connect to the trailer's current 4-flat - but now i have to figure how to tap into a brake light to provide the 12V lead to correspond to the 'new blue' above to feed the brakes when i hit the brake pedal.

i've asked them: can i just tap into a brake light? or will the new brakes pull so much amperage, they'll overheat the wire feeding the brakelight? - if so, should I have this brakelight-lead instead power a relay and the relay power the blue wire above? no idea how much draw the brakes will generate. i'll report what they say.

pic of suspension/drum

 

[Jakes40]

so... i have a 4-flat now on my truck - i actually need to unplug my plate, which is fed by the 4 pin (presumably brown + white above - so the lic plate is lit when the running lights come on) in order to connect to the trailer's current 4-flat - but now i have to figure how to tap into a brake light to provide the 12V lead to correspond to the 'new blue' above to feed the brakes when i hit the brake pedal.

i've asked them: can i just tap into a brake light? or will the new brakes pull so much amperage, they'll overheat the wire feeding the brakelight? - if so, should I have this brakelight-lead instead power a relay and the relay power the blue wire above? no idea how much draw the brakes will generate. i'll report what they say.

Here's a question: are those stock jeep rear brake hubs if so going hydrolic brake bay be a beter option but will not work as good for your application as elec. brakes will.

You can't do that trailer brakes are progressive your brake lights will lock your breaks up you need a brake controller. All available throug e-trailer. You can buy kits to convert from your 4 to 7 for the back I would recommend getting one that has both 4 and 7 con on it.

Or go hydraulic brakes (I do not like)

The problem you may run into is reusing the parking brake with the new elect. Brakes

Chris

 

[John Smith]

You need to run a dedicated wire directly from the battery protected by a 20 amp auto reset breaker to the back of your truck to power the brakes. I just went through this myself. This wire has to be 10 or 12 gauge minimum as I recall for up to two axles. If you attempt to run the brakes off any other circuit you will blow the fuse and have no brakes. This is all covered in the directions that will come with your brake controller. The blue wire will also need to be a dedicated wire run from the blue wire on the controller back to the 7 pin connector. Don't cheap out on your brake controller. You want a proportional brake controller, as opposed to the older technology.

 

[hakalugi]

thanks guys, that's what i came up with as well.

one of these:
Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Brake Controller - Proportional Tekonsha Brake Controller 90885

and one of these:

Brake Controller 7 & 4 Way Installation Kit - 10 Gauge etrailer Brake Controller ETBC7

that 2nd link has an install video showing the whole process.


seems that for $$ and it's so hot outside now! reasons (and short term intended use) - my immediate plan is to get the 6 on 5.5 hubs that fit my current axles (also happen to be 10" so my emerg brake should work) so I can just use the wheels/spare i want to use without too much fuss.

then, do the new brakes and wiring kit and brake controller when funds and weather allow, before I try to use it on the steep spots this fall.

 

[John Smith]

thanks guys, that's what i came up with as well.

one of these:
Tekonsha Prodigy P2 Brake Controller - Proportional Tekonsha Brake Controller 90885

and one of these:

Brake Controller 7 & 4 Way Installation Kit - 10 Gauge etrailer Brake Controller ETBC7

that 2nd link has an install video showing the whole process.


seems that for $$ and it's so hot outside now! reasons (and short term intended use) - my immediate plan is to get the 6 on 5.5 hubs that fit my current axles (also happen to be 10" so my emerg brake should work) so I can just use the wheels/spare i want to use without too much fuss.

then, do the new brakes and wiring kit and brake controller when funds and weather allow, before I try to use it on the steep spots this fall.

Ha! That is the same brake controller I got. That wire kit looks like a good deal also. You will be all set with both those.

 

[hakalugi]

update. so, as some of you know, i wasn't very productive in august. so, my goal of getting the trailer all done by fall crawl, was going to be tight with a 10/17 date - oh, it's 10/7!?! damn. glad i did what i did this weekend, then.

so, in july i got some new 6 on 5.5" hubs, that happened to fit the 3500 # axle on my trailer (to tell what you have, just pull the outer bearing, clean it, and read the bearing numbers - the rep at e-trailer helped me out, and vince gave me the tip of where to ask). i tabled the electric brake process, knowing i'd get to the re-doing my harness from 4 to 7 pin later, and the costs of the brake controller and brake parts would also be 'deferred' since i had to do the hubs anyways. so...

again, the immediate goals were:

1) change to 6 on 5.5" so i could install 2 of my 3 spare wheels on the trailer and my spare would work for both truck and trailer
2) do some rust touch up and paint the trailer.

item 2 - not likely going to happen by 10/7 with some commitments the weekend of 10/1, but hey, it's functional.

on to the hub work.

the trailer ran way low, running on 33" Goodyear MTZ's vs. the 37's on the truck. it handled fine at highway speed, but looked goofy not level. this got it closer.

shot 1 - stance on 33's, not tons of room between tire and fender. note the body rub marks

shot 2 - head-on stance. note how close the tires are to the trailer's body. i would have used spacers - c/c you can see rubbing on the body when the solid axle articulates. tires i near-new shape, will be selling on expedition portal soon.

shot 3 - another shot showing how close the tire is, and how much sticks out from the fenders, which are removable, i removed the one on the first side i did yesterday.

things to note: i bought the big 12 ton jackstands, and these were barely high enough - once i got it all up with the hi-lift, i thought i was going to have to shim them with 2x12 and jack again, but the 37's fit just barely on the jackstands. also, with the suspension at full-droop, the emergency brake's cable seemed to be under a little bit of tension - this made removing the old drums and adding the new drums stickier than originally planned.

 

[hakalugi]

1st pic: so, here are the parts. new bearings come when you buy hubs from them. didn't need the grease cap, the trailer came with 'grease buddy' nice little stainless spring loaded cap with a grease port.

2nd pic: here's the new hub on, old one off. same Inside diameter on both models, thankfully, so the whole brake assembly didn't need changing.

3rd pic, more room between inside of tire and the body of the trailer, no need for spacers.

 

[hakalugi]

1st pic: they do stick out a little more than the 33's

2nd pic: line in yellow is where i'll be trimming the fenders so that i don't get nasty snag.

3rd pic: more level, but still not perfect. my wife asked, when i bought the truck, why i had the previous owner include the 'spare' wheels/tires... now she sees. this will allow us to share the truck's spare with the trailer for modest drives. for epic trips then 2 spares for all.

oh, and about that lack of levelness...