Possible Jeep trailer

Mike_H

Mike_H

autos are better - WRWD508
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Feb 28, 2017
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Location
Grand Rapids, MI, United States
For the last month, my wife and I have been dealing with some family property in the UP. 80 acres, with a spring fed pond, hardwood forest, very nice. Anyway, without getting into a long drawn out story about how it came to be our problem, it’s an old family farm.

The last week, we’ve been cleaning up junk and trash, as eventually this will become our summer place (long term) and a camp site (short term). Well, digging through the weeds and scrub brush, I found this.

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It’s about 4x8, with another 4’ of tongue. Looks like the rear half of a pick up truck, to me, with a tongue welded on to make a trailer.

It’s pretty solid, no rot that I can tell. I’m thinking on bringing it home with me and making an off-road trailer from it. Would need a new axle, obviously, but it’s pretty solid otherwise. More pics
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I thought the wire wheels and grease zerks on the shackles were very cool.

So…is 4x8 the “right” size for a little trailer? Thinking fridge cooler, stove top, propane tank, maybe 10-15 gallons of water. Roof top tent for sleepy time, some solar panels and a couple batteries for power.

I need this project like a hole in the head, but it’s also very appealing to me to build this little guy up. What say ye?
 
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That likely was setup with a wood bed and side boards. Looks like carriage bolts and several holes in the cross members. For around the farm I'd just find some ties and repack the hubs. If you want to tow it behind the jeep on the road then I'd get some springs that matched the hangers and a new axle.

Would look really nice with some (white preferably) oak that was oiled down.
 
For now, I have fought the evil scrap monster off. Left the trailer at the property. I will rescue it next spring. I don’t have the time to get to it until then anyway. In the meantime, I’ve started looking at builds.

@Midnight LJR , I’m going for a similar style to your little trailer. Any sites or builds that inspired you?
 
Mike_H said:
For now, I have fought the evil scrap monster off. Left the trailer at the property. I will rescue it next spring. I don’t have the time to get to it until then anyway. In the meantime, I’ve started looking at builds.

@Midnight LJR , I’m going for a similar style to your little trailer. Any sites or builds that inspired you?
Click to expand...

Not really I just built a trailer with the features I wanted. Basically just wanted a rack and sliders so it didn’t get destroyed off road.
 
How about @PCO6 ? You've built a couple trailers before. 4 x 8 a good size? Too big or small? Not looking to tow the thing through the rubicon (tho that would be epic), but definitely through the woods on off camber two tracks, through washouts, mud, etc.

Really looking for a way to get away from everything, but not be sleeping on the ground in a tent. Those days are past for me. I like camp cooking, watching the fire, watching water slide by in the river, dipping a fishing line occasionally and just sitting, sipping a beer, without the drone of the highway, roar of jet engines, etc.
 
Mike_H said:
How about @PCO6 ? You've built a couple trailers before. 4 x 8 a good size? Too big or small? Not looking to tow the thing through the rubicon (tho that would be epic), but definitely through the woods on off camber two tracks, through washouts, mud, etc.

Really looking for a way to get away from everything, but not be sleeping on the ground in a tent. Those days are past for me. I like camp cooking, watching the fire, watching water slide by in the river, dipping a fishing line occasionally and just sitting, sipping a beer, without the drone of the highway, roar of jet engines, etc.
Click to expand...

I've a few trailers for different uses. Apart from past car carriers and utility trailers, my current utility trailer is 4' x 8' plus an additional 2" on top of both dimensions. The reason of course is so I can easily fit sheets of plywood, drywall, etc. in the box and close the tail gate.

2011-04-10 1.JPG


I built my off road camping trailer with a 4' x 6' box, also with an additional 2" each way. The sides including the tail gate are 16" high. With the tail gate down and level it is just short of 8' so I can also haul sheet material with it too. It has a roof top tent on it which almost covers the 4' x 6' bed. I don't have lid on the box but the camping gear I put in it is safe as it can not be removed without unlocking the tail gate. I think anything larger would be a bit too much. At 4' x 6' I can carry more camping gear in it than I really need. I can remove the RTT in about 20 minutes and the open box can easily carry an ATV or garden tractor. I also built a 2,000 lb. winch into the front wall for ramping up heavy items up into it if needed.

23-05-04 8.jpg


I'm currently building a tear drop trailer (a square back) to sleep in vs. on. It's 5' wide and easily accommodates a 54" x 74" mattress. I'm actually using two 27" x 74" x 5" memory foam trifold mattresses. The reason is that I will be mainly solo camping with this one so I'll leave one at home. With the mattress folded up I'll have a lot of storage space inside. The side profile is 4' x 8' less an inch each way. This is so when I apply the aluminum sides I can trim them down to fit the cabin. The side profile has some shape to it ... 30* rear departure angle, 30* front wall angle at the top for "aerodynamics" (ha ha) and a few angles to the roof to help it shed water. Both this and the one above have 3,500 lb. axles with 2,000 lb. leaf springs. Stiffer springs would cause them to bounce too much.

23-07-22 5.jpg


This is my current tear drop trailer. I didn't build it but I did make a lot of modifications to it. With the lid down I can carry 2 kayaks on it. It's a Coachmen Clipper 9.0 td. The concept is good but the build quality is horrible. In my "spare time" I'd like to build a better version of it.

20-08-12 2a.jpg
 
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PCO6 said:
I've a few trailers for different uses. Apart from past car carriers and utility trailers, my current utility trailer is 4' x 8' plus an additional 2" on top of both dimensions. The reason of course is so I can easily fit sheets of plywood, drywall, etc. in the box and close the tail gate.

View attachment 459373

I built my off road camping trailer with a 4' x 6' box, also with an additional 2" each way. The sides including the tail gate are 16" high. With the tail gate down and level it is just short of 8' so I can also haul sheet material with it too. It has a roof top tent on it which almost covers the 4' x 6' bed. I don't have lid on the box but the camping gear I put in it is safe as it can not be removed without unlocking the tail gate. I think anything larger would be a bit too much. At 4' x 6' I can carry more camping gear in it than I really need. I can remove the RTT in about 20 minutes and the open box can easily carry an ATV or garden tractor. I also built a 2,000 lb. winch into the front wall for ramping up heavy items up into it if needed.

View attachment 459374

I'm currently building a tear drop trailer (a square back) to sleep in vs. on. It's 5' wide and easily accommodates a 54" x 74" mattress. I'm actually using two 27" x 74" x 5" memory foam trifold mattresses. The reason is that I will be mainly solo camping with this one so I'll leave one at home. With the mattress folded up I'll have a lot of storage space inside. The side profile is 4' x 8' less an inch each way. This is so when I apply the aluminum sides I can trim them down to fit the cabin. The side profile has some shape to it ... 30* rear departure angle, 30* front wall angle at the top for "aerodynamics" (ha ha) and a few angles to the roof to help it shed water. Both this and the one above have 3,500 lb. axles with 2,000 lb. leaf springs. Stiffer springs would cause them to bounce too much.

View attachment 459375

This is my current tear drop trailer. I didn't build it but I did make a lot of modifications to it. With the lid down I can carry 2 kayaks on it. It's a Coachmen Clipper 9.0 td. The concept is good but the build quality is horrible. In my "spare time" I'd like to build a better version of it.

View attachment 459376
Click to expand...


Do you have a build thread on the off-road camping trailer? I like that one...looks pretty close to what I'd like to end up with eventually. Something that I can use as a utility trailer and that can pull double duty for camping.
 
Mike_H said:
Do you have a build thread on the off-road camping trailer? I like that one...looks pretty close to what I'd like to end up with eventually. Something that I can use as a utility trailer and that can pull double duty for camping.
Click to expand...

I do ... sort of. What I posted above is the second version of it. I started the trailer and changed direction a bit when I got the Coachmen Clipper. Most of the original build and some of the revision are in the link below. That forum, Overland Bound, has quite a few trailer builds as well as threads on using them and other types of trailers, Jeeps, trucks, vans, etc.

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/pco6s-off-road-trailer-build.15306/
 
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PCO6 said:
I do ... sort of. What I posted above is the second version of it. I started the trailer and changed direction a bit when I got the Coachmen Clipper. Most of the original build and some of the revision is in the link below. That forum, Overland Bound, has quite a few trailer builds as well as threads on using them and other types of trailers, Jeeps, trucks, vans, etc.

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/pco6s-off-road-trailer-build.15306/
Click to expand...

Great! Thanks. I've been on expedition portal reading up on some other interesting ones. I'll check out Overland bound too!
 
Mike_H said:
For now, I have fought the evil scrap monster off. Left the trailer at the property. I will rescue it next spring. I don’t have the time to get to it until then anyway. In the meantime, I’ve started looking at builds.

@Midnight LJR , I’m going for a similar style to your little trailer. Any sites or builds that inspired you?
Click to expand...

Might also want to tag @lowranger and @MountaineerTom since they have built cool trailers as well.
 
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