My Offroad Trailer

[Teotwaki]

"Slightly" Used, but was built in Oct 2009 and paint is still fresh. It was the first one produced by someone hoping to go into the trailer business. These pictures are from when I first picked it up. I've made a few mods and will post more.

Dexter axle, spring over, electric brakes, Rancho shocks
Tail gate, removeable
Camping Labs 8'x6' tent
Lid, hinged and removeable
15 gallon stainless steel water tank
65 Watt Solar panel on retractable slides, removeable
dual Optima blue tops in a lockable nose box
1500 watt inverter
Lock N Roll hitch
Powder coated paint almost everywhere
Jeep Springs with Poly bushings
Integrated rear hitch receiver

 

[Teotwaki]

Mounting point for tent rack


Lid hinge pin



about a 1/4" of tread

 

[batcon]

Nice! Looks like theres a lot of ground clearance.

 

[Teotwaki]

Nice! Looks like theres a lot of ground clearance.

Maybe too much! Those 35" tires are gone now.

Changing out the drums, bearings, seals, adding Spidertrax spacers and an OEM Toyota rim with a BFG tire





Matching rims and tire size all the way around

Trailer is still a bit nose down with the standard ball mount

So I bought this 6" drop mount and flipped it over.

Am thinking about shortening the shank up a few inches....

 

[Teotwaki]

I installed a Tekonsha Prodigy P2 controller in the 4Runner. The 4Runner's factory connector is just above the kick panel by the driver's left foot. I noticed a nice spot to mount the controller but I had to fab up a simple bracket out of s**** aluminum to hold the P2's bracket and attach to a small panel brace in the truck.


Then I "exploded" the truck's panels to mount the new bracket combo and route the control & power cable for the controller.

Next I had to tweak my brackets to line it up and wah-lah! Tucked right in down on the left

Close up. It is actually sitting pretty level but the camera angle makes it seem to be pointing down a little.

 

[Teotwaki]

A few pictures of the sturdy and roomy CampingLabs tent

 

[Teotwaki]

The original 35" tires and 8"x17" rims are up for sale in the classifieds area. I'll consider interesting trades too.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/tires-whee...rims-5x5-pattern-used-35-m-t-tires-socal.html

 

[titanpat57]

Welcome to Mud...glad to have you!

Wow..rear axle came out great...still a really nice stance!

How do you like the brakes? Work as you expected?

Looking good, looking forward to further updates......





Pat

 

[Teotwaki]

Welcome to Mud...glad to have you!

Wow..rear axle came out great...still a really nice stance!

How do you like the brakes? Work as you expected?

Looking good, looking forward to further updates......





Pat

Thanks! The brakes seem okay so far. I need to try them on a downhill with the trailer loaded.

 

[greentruck]

Nice trailer, Jim.

What's the source of your water tank?

 

[Teotwaki]

Nice trailer, Jim.

What's the source of your water tank?

It was custom built for the trailer by the "manufacturer". I could PM his email if you wanted to inquire. He is located in Apple Valley, California.

 

[Teotwaki]

looked up the part number on the springs at ProComp's site http://www.explorerprocomp.com/PDFs/07cat/132.pdf and found out from the spec sheet:

Procomp part number: 51323 for Jeep YJ Wrangler rear springs 2.5" lift
flat length: 45.87"
free length: 42.37"
camber: 7.4"
eyelets: 1.5"
leaf width: 2.5"
leaves: 4
weight: 28.6 lbs
spring rate: 188 lbs/in

The eyelets have red poly bushings and the kit for replacements is 69261

 

[Teotwaki]

One area where the builder of my trailer has come up a bit short is in the wiring in the nose box. There are no fuses or breakers whatsoever and wire routing is lackluster.

I'd like to add some sort of non-conductive cover over the batteries to prevent shorts from items being placed in the nose box. Or at least some terminal covers to protect from shorts. I started to mock up a panel for mounting a breaker for the inverter, fuses for the cig lighter outlets, marine battery tender, relay for backup lights and a solar charge controller. The panel will mount on the back of the nose box above the batteries. I am thinking of adding a battery sperator too.


The battery charger is a 6 Amp unit to maintain the batteries when the trailer is garaged. I think I will move the battery charger to the right of the panel under the solar charge controller.

The 30 Amp solar charge controller is a little overkill for capacity but has a nice LCD monitor for amps and volts. If my 65 watt Kyocera rigid panel cannot keep up with charging the batteries I can parallel my foldable 65 watt panel and the controller can handle the extra amps quite easily.

The inverter needs a 150 Amp breaker but right now I have a 100 Amp unit handy so I'll use that. I'll order up a 150 and then use the 100 amp breaker to feed the other accessories through the Blue Seas fuse box. The fuse box will feed the 12 volt outlets, reverse lights, work lights and possibly the two-way radio. I'm also thinking of a fuseable link between the two batteries rather than leave them hard wired.

I will be adding a weatherproof port for the charger's AC cord and a bulkhead connector for the solar panel to feed the nose box when the lid is closed and locked. Probably a bulkhead port for the radio's antennas too.

While I am at it I'll look over the battery mounting to see if it can be improved. The right battery in the picture sits very close to the wires from the 7 pin tow connector.

 

[Teotwaki]

Am doodling some ideas for mounting fuel cans externally on the sides of the trailer near the corners. At the back I can comfortably fit my Scepter 10L half sized cans using an "old school" Blitz jerry can holder but would have to rig up a cable lock or something


Towards the front I could use At fuel can holders horizontally. i can face them forward just as easily. In the drawing I faced them to the back because I am thinking of keeping them from acting as a scoop and collecting rocks and dirt.


Using Paint to envision things

 

[Teotwaki]

Anyone know the proper name or manufacturer for this latch on the trailer? I'd like to see if there is a locking version I could purchase and swap in.





Otherwise I'll look of ways to add a hasp to it or maybe add some additional padlock hasps....

McMaster-Carr has something similar but it would also require drilling new holes.

McMaster-Carr

 

[Ebag333]

You may be able to drill a hole through the lock, and pop a padlock in it. That'd prevent it from being opened when latched and the padlock is in place.

 

[titanpat57]

Maybe put a U bolt behind the handle and use a conveintional lock to go through the Ubolt and lock tight on the handle. It may be able to be lifted a little...but not all the way. Hey, lets face it, if they want it they'll take it.

In the picture of the existing handle I'm showing hole locations, and that of course depends on the size U bolt you'd buy. It could probably be mounted vertical or horizontal..but I'm only showing horizontal holes. You could aslo add a plate inside the box for addtional support and strength.

Ubolts http://www.mcmaster.com/#u-bolts/=8r0l6a

Just a sugggestion...

The down side would be with the ubolt mounted under the handle...you'd have to watch you don't get your delicate little hands caught in there...just sayin'

 

[Teotwaki]

maybe an eye bolt right under the handle and snap the "U" of a padlock hasp under the handle, through the eye of the bolt and back up such that the flat top of the padlock's body is on top of the handle?

 

[Teotwaki]

Apparently these things on my trailer are called "Pull-Action Latch Clamps, Horizontal Pull, U-hook type"

 

[TIMZTOY]

what kind of drop leg is that ? who makes it, are they for sale if its a custome made piece ?