My expedition trailer build

[Degnol]

Awesome stuff man.

As for the hole saw ask around and find out who has a plasma cutter near you and pick up the dudes favorite Works everytime.

wish i knew some one with one worse comes to worse ill have to save it for a month and when i drive back to colorado I have my plasma down there.

Any one interested in coming out to telluride area after mid aug let me know have 250 acres or prime camping backed up to blm land

If you make a non-metallic(plywood) template that is a circle about 1/4" larger in diameter than the hole you need, cutting the hole with a plasma torch is about a 30 second job. Is there a local street rod club nearby? Someone in that club will have a torch.

Ed

 

[Flash- '00 TJ]

Harbor Freight has a cheap 10 Piece Hole Saw Kit that may work for you. It's not made for metal, but would probably last for one hole. ...and it's only $5.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=36222

 

[REZARF]

Nope, tried it, they will not even go through 16ga... once. BTDT

REzarf <><

 

[lx450landcruiser]

Well i just went for it. Drilled a 1 inch hole where the latch was supposed to go then used my grinder with a 5 inch wheel. The stud for the grinder fit the 1 inch hole perfect so i was able to use that as my guide and zipped right through a perfect 5 inch hole. just as good as a $50 hole.

latch rods are all bent up and lid is now latch able and lock able.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Did you make the roof latch into the tailgate? Is the lid seal weathertight?

 

[lx450landcruiser]

lid will be water tight when im done (hopefully)

Im using a rotory latch that has to latching points on each side of the trailer. this mean i can still open the tail gate with out popping the top. heres a few ruff shots

 

[450 DUDE]

Nice work man !

Im totally enamored by the aluminum cap.. How bout some more shots of it?

Man I miss "to hell you ride" one of the prettiest spots I have lived. sign me up for a camp spot.

ken

 

[lx450landcruiser]

Nice work man !

Im totally enamored by the aluminum cap.. How bout some more shots of it?

Man I miss "to hell you ride" one of the prettiest spots I have lived. sign me up for a camp spot.

ken

heres a few more i have on my comp now

thing ended up bein much lighter then i expected so when i ordered the struts at first i thought they were going to be way too powerful but i just moved them in board more and now they work great.

 

[lx450landcruiser]

well I couldnt stand it and took the trailer for a "shake down run" everything went well except i really need to get mud flaps for my truck. The trailer got some serious mud. heres some pics of the weekend

 

[lx450landcruiser]

more pics

 

[GLTHFJ60]

So you wheeled it!! How did the trailer flex, if at all, and did you notice any binding with the pintle setup? I want to be able to do some light wheeling with my M416 when I get it ready, and a multi-axis hitch was one consideration...

 

[lx450landcruiser]

So you wheeled it!! How did the trailer flex, if at all, and did you notice any binding with the pintle setup? I want to be able to do some light wheeling with my M416 when I get it ready, and a multi-axis hitch was one consideration...

Only issues i had when wheeling were when we got into tight spots, turning the trailer around is hard enough but add a cliff to it and it becomes much harder. Pindle hitch never had any binding issues. since i still have a hole in the side of the trailer where the kitchens going I only carried water in the trailer. after looking at the trailer off road i may look into some different leafs and do a leave under as i feel like the trailer is a bit taller then i really want for extreme conditions. May fab up my own suspention but thats further down the road. These trailer tow like a dram Now if i can just get my grinder back ill get back to work. It fried on me last week

 

[lx450landcruiser]

update, i started work on the kitchen, picked up a pipe bender and have started a bit of the drawer already. Im going to build the drawer frame out of pipe and cover the top with sheet metal, the sink and stove will be in the drawer. Some of the issues i ran into was the pipe bender cant make the right angles tight enough so I' had to modify the design a bit. Since the hub swap and the matching land cruiser wheels and larger tires I had to widen the fenders about 4 inches and loss the accessability of the drawer that i wanted (who want to lean over a fender to wash the dishes?) so the drawer will pull out of the trailer then rotate to achieve an easier angle.

Heres some pics of the ghetto templet dont mind the drawer slides pictured i have something else in mind

 

[dawsonc61]

Hey man, Sweet trailer! I'm loving the lid. I think I might copy your design for my expo trailer. I've got a guy with a break that will make the bends for me for free and a guy who will weld it for free too. So I won't have alot of costs associated with the fab-up but I have no idea what a sheet of aluminum would cost.

Couple questions:

1)What kind of struts did you use to aid lifting the lid? If you have the make and part number available that would be fantastic.

2)About how much did the sheet of aluminum cost? What grade was it? Was it easy to weld?

3)How sturdy is the lid?

Thanks,

D

 

[lx450landcruiser]

The aluminum was free
I have a buddy that is a welder for an aluminum boat company and he saved me some sheets for me from there last project. Id say its 1/8" or so.

as for sturdy Id say its just as strong as any of the steel lids ive seen. the tent weighs about 100lbs, i weigh 200lbs the girl and the dog is another 200lbs and i wouldnt hesitate to put alot more weight up there (the gusseting is the key) As for the struts I have an extra set when i ordered mine if your interested ill sell them at cost. ill see if i cant find the specs on them some time.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Rotating kitchen, what a good idea. You're going to have to be able to pin it in place though.

 

[dawsonc61]

The aluminum was free
I have a buddy that is a welder for an aluminum boat company and he saved me some sheets for me from there last project. Id say its 1/8" or so.

as for sturdy Id say its just as strong as any of the steel lids ive seen. the tent weighs about 100lbs, i weigh 200lbs the girl and the dog is another 200lbs and i wouldnt hesitate to put alot more weight up there (the gusseting is the key) As for the struts I have an extra set when i ordered mine if your interested ill sell them at cost. ill see if i cant find the specs on them some time.

Absolutely! the specs would be awesome, how much do you want for the extras?

 

[lx450landcruiser]

Absolutely! the specs would be awesome, how much do you want for the extras?

Ill have to check the price but ill PM ya when i get there.

On a side note my nose box came today, Its the slanted front box that is almost perfect fit (ill have to notch the front and weld a bump but other then that it should be a perfect fit.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

On a side note my nose box came today, Its the slanted front box that is almost perfect fit (ill have to notch the front and weld a bump but other then that it should be a perfect fit.

That is pretty sexy. It's going to look great!

 

[lx450landcruiser]

few pic in place i have to notch the front of the box about an inch