Two Week Wonder

[KY854RUN]

1. The frame primered.

2 & 3. The frame painted and drying.

 

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I got the fenders painted to see if the color was right and it was.

 

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I had taken the tub right from the sandblaster to the Line-X shop to get it lined. I know some of you would have recommended that I do a Herculiner liner to save some money. But doing it this way, saved me a lot of time and the color turned out great.

 

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I ran into a little trouble here. The Line-X shop damaged the tabs for one of the drains. So, I had to wait to get this repaired before I could paint the tub.

 

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So, I continued to work to get the chassis back together. Here you see the spring brackets are reinstalled, the extended bump stops for the spring-over and that the draw bar is reassembled.

 

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1 & 2. I got the final pieces of the draw bar together, the landing leg and safety chains.

3. The body shop that had welded up some other holes in the bed, rewelded the drain tab and I was ready to paint the tub.

 

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I painted the tub and did some touch-up on the fenders.

 

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I went back to work at getting the chassis rolling again. I installed the springs and axle. I put the brakes back together and installed the wheel hubs with new bearings. Then I hooked up the parking brake cable. Because I had done a spring-over, I had to make these simple brackets to relocate the cable housings. I also had to make a longer J-hook from all-thread for the parking brake to work.

 

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1. The J-hook installed.

2. The parking brake handle is installed. I didn't have time to paint now, but will get it painted later.

3. I installed the new shocks.

 

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I put on the wheels and now I have a rolling chassis again.

 

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With the spring-over, the trailer was going to be tilted forward quite a bit with the ball hitch adapter in the first photo. So, I had it modified for the extra lift.

 

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With a little help, the tub was set back on the chassis and bolted down. I installed the fenders and the new license plate. I then put the modified ball hitch adapter and the magnetic trailer lights on the trailer. I will put permanent lights on it at a later date when I can fabricate what I want.

 

[KY854RUN]

So, here we have the before and after shots. It took a lot of work to get it done in 2 weeks, but it was worth it. It's hooked up to my van for the ride home.

 

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Now, many of you were probably wondering if I have taken the trailer out on the trail yet. In fact, the day after I got it home, we went out with a group to camp in Canyon De Chelly. It is attached to my 4Runner, loaded up and ready to go. It towed beautifully. I hardly noticed that it was back there. Many were surprised that I made it towing the trailer through the sand. I enjoyed building it and had a fun time wheeling with it. I look forward to many years wheeling with it.

 

[davegonz]

Sweet looking trailer. Now go get some cool stripes to match your truck.

 

[Martin White]

That has to be one of the most impressive, well documented and photographed writeups I've ever seen on Mud. VERY impressive.

 

[cbmontgo]

Excellent job!

 

[KY854RUN]

Thanks guys!

Here is a fact that I had forgot to put in the posts on painting. I did all of the painting with Rust-Oleum rattle can paint.

The chassis - Semi Gloss Black #7798

The tub - Regal Red #7765

 

[1Fine40]

That is sweet! Lots of work to get it where you want it, but I can see it was worth it. I wish I could find one to build for myself, but they seem to be scarce as hen's teeth! And if you find one, they want a King's ransom for it....May just have to start building a custom one...

Great job and write up!

Cheers!

 

[REZARF]

AMAZING JOB!

Great looking trailer, I agree a few retro strips would set it off! You should be super proud of that thing and get lots of years out it. Nicely done!

Rezarf <><