My mobile base camp build (1 Viewer)

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Lastly no day would be complete with out at least one SNAFU.

I picked up a set of 80-series wheels with some bald 35x12.50 TrXus's yesterday. My intent has always been to put these tires/wheels on the trailer. The wheels/tires you saw previously are intended for the cruiser once I start on that build.

Anyway, when I spec'ed this axle, I had these wheels in mind. Unfortunately I also had in mind to relocate the spring perches inwards about 2" on either side. Well I forgot all about that when I built the frame based on the existing perch width.

So....what does all that mean? The tires rub the springs HARD :whoops:

Fortunately I've got an extra set of wheel spacers kicking around that should fix me right up, but I hate using them on a 'new' build just as a matter of principle.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Now I need some input.

I've been planning to carry two spares since they will also serve as spares for the tow vehicle(same tire/wheel combo). However, I'm wondering if this is just taking redundancy to a ridiculous level. I will also have a spare on the Cruiser which amounts to a total of 3 spare tires.

I also plan to carry 2 propane cylinders and am beginning to question that as well.

What do you guys think? It's really not much more work to make the spare tire carrier for 2 tires as opposed to one, it's just a matter of whether I want to carry that extra weight around all the time.

I did some mockups to see what the two ideas would look like. Obviously in the one with the tire offset to one side there would be another tire in the same position on the other side.

So what say you?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Need some more input guys.

I got the axle slung under there and mounted up a tire and it looks like I'll need to add some lift somewhere as the tire is tight into the wheel well. The cruiser wheels combined with wheel spacers will fix my offset issue and eliminate the tire rubbing on the fender, but I'd like to get a little more gap between the tire and fender.

I can either raise one end of the spring or both ends of the spring or lengthen the shackles. My gut instinct is that it's good for the spring to slope downhill as it goes back so that impacts force the spring back and up as opposed to just up. What do you guys think? I can easily add a piece of 2x3 box under the front hanger and cope it into the tongue pieces to make it very sturdy, but I think if I do that in the back as well(to maintain the spring angle) it will be too tall.

I guess the third option would be to use 285/75R16s on the trailer and the 35s on the cruiser, but that kills the spare redundancy.

 

[uberhahn]

Those springs look awfully puny for the size/weight. What' the rating?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Those springs look awfully puny for the size/weight. What' the rating?

3500lbs same as the axle. They do look puny, but they're identical to the ones under my 7000lbs car trailer(two sets under the car trailer) and they hold up fine.

 

[tgreening]

Now I need some input.

I've been planning to carry two spares since they will also serve as spares for the tow vehicle(same tire/wheel combo). However, I'm wondering if this is just taking redundancy to a ridiculous level. I will also have a spare on the Cruiser which amounts to a total of 3 spare tires.

I also plan to carry 2 propane cylinders and am beginning to question that as well.

What do you guys think? It's really not much more work to make the spare tire carrier for 2 tires as opposed to one, it's just a matter of whether I want to carry that extra weight around all the time.

I did some mockups to see what the two ideas would look like. Obviously in the one with the tire offset to one side there would be another tire in the same position on the other side.

So what say you?

I'd carry a spare for your cruiser, a good quality puncture repair kit, and be done with it. Odds are you're not going to be hauling that beast on any serious killer trails so I'd guess the worse thing you might suffer will be a puncture. Plug it and go. If it were a smaller trailer that you were more likely to haul on trails prone to ripping up sidewalls it might be a different story. Worse case scenario is use your cruiser spare on the trailer. As long as it physically fits, even if it's a different diameter it won't matter. It might look a bit goofy but it would still get you home.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Fair enough. I will also pull this with the Duramax at times, so I will need one spare at a minimum. I may still build a double carrier in the event I decide to move the Cruiser's spare to the trailer for weight distribution purposes, but I will wait till the Cruiser build is further along to figure that out.

 

[Stinson]

Two things, first nice shop shoes. Second, looks like a perfect opportunity to move those spring perches inboard, by adding two cross-members below your frame that would give you the lift you need and you wont need to run spacers. Cool build!

 

[chappysfj40]

pretty darn intresting build so far...

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Thanks! Unfortunately it's going to slow down dramatically as I have moved out of state for a temporary(1 year) assignment for work. I should still be able to work on it over the weekends, but not nearly as intensely as previously.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Time for an update.

Well I've been working out of town which gives me plenty of time to think about this build, but not a whole lot of time to work on it. Since I had a 3 day weekend thanks to Martin Luther, I decided to devote the whole weekend to the build.

I got home Friday afternoon and found a box full of goodies

(Pics just show the highlights, not all the parts )

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

So you're probably wondering what I'm doing with airbags if I'm running leaf springs. Well.....the leaf springs are going bye bye

I realized that I was making too many design compromises because of the leafs, and switching to independent trailing arms with air bags literally solved every single complaint I had about the current design.

The wheel wells are fairly narrow and I was concerned about the articulated travel of a leaf spring setup causing tire rub.

The trailer was also sitting too high to make the kitchen compartment very useful, and too low for proper offroad ground clearance in my opinion.

With the air bags in combination with a compressed air source and 2 paddle valves, I now have the ability to raise and lower the trailer at will, as well as level side to side, and so on. I anticipate dumping the bags while at camp to let the rear jack legs hit the ground, as well as bring the kitchen down to a reasonable working level. Additionally it will make the loading/unloading of ATVs and other items much more manageable.

So with the necessary parts in hand, I set about to build a trailing arm suspension. I started by reading extensively on Expedition Portal about different design concerns and also problems other people have had with their homebuilt suspensions. I also read about fabrication issues that Martyn, the owner of adventure trailers, has experienced in producing the suspension parts for his trailers. With all of that in mind I set out to build a simple and strong design while accomodating as much tolerance as possible. I'm happy to report that I was succesful in building a pair of trailing arms with no noticeable warp/misalignment!

The last picture shows where I cut the axle tube after I was finished with fabrication. The tubes stayed perfectly aligned and spread by about 1/32 of an inch. Ironically, the trailing arms were about 1/32 of an inch out before, so now everything lines up perfectly

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I've just about caught up to where I am presently. I'm waiting for my brother to come back with the bolts for the bushing assemblies so I can finish the frame crossmember and bushing mounts on the arms to tie everything together.

 

[Walking Eagle]

glad to see you starting up again. I've been looking off and on for one, and the price range on them is huge. Like $250-$4,000 used, which is odd.

I also found this yellow one for $750.

which at first I thought was cool, but then realized it really went beyond what's needed.

Gonna look at this white one later this week if I can.

Any advice based on what you've done as far as what to look for?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Just keep an eye out for rust. Mine's 99% rust free and that's been very fortunate. Seems like these things are so expensive that they get moved from truck to truck.

That's it really, just make sure the cabinets are configured the way you want, they usually come in a couple different standard configs from what I've been able to determine.

 

[SWCruiser]

Tire Fitment

Why not just trim the wheel wells? It seems like they aren't exactly perfect for the size tire you are running anyway and there is room above the tire.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Why not just trim the wheel wells? It seems like they aren't exactly perfect for the size tire you are running anyway and there is room above the tire.

Wheel wells are being trimmed too

 

[77CJ5]

Staying tuned to this build!

Looks great so far!!

 

[kcustom73]

Interested in seeing how the air bag suspension comes out. Really like the idea of the adjustability that this will give you.

 

[KRAZIKRAKER]

Great build. For some reason I have always liked utilty boxes. Interested to see how she ends up. Might want to think bout writing some instuctions for the rest of us. Looks awesome keep up the hard work.