- Location
- Bountiful, land of rocks
I'm curious to see how it works out for you
Jeeper's New Travel Trailer: A Repair, Modify, and Upgrade thread.
- Thread starter jeeper
- Start date
So let me tell you a story.. but before I do, I have to tell you another story.
Back in November we took this trailer on its first trip. We spent 5 days in St George. I had done all the repair work at home in the cold and could not test all the plumbing properly.
I assumed that when the holding tanks valves were ripped off the trailer, that the tanks became empty. The black tank did not. Come to found out it was full of old moldy dry turds. I had to fill it with water and put a stick down the toilet to stir it all up, creating a poop smoothie so that I could get it all to drain. Spent hours at the Maverik dealing with it.
Finally headed out to camp, and turns out the water pump was bad. I busted tail back into town and made it to a dealer with minutes to spare to buy a new pump before they closed for the holiday weekend.
because of the longer trip, and the water I lost dealing with the pump, we ran out of water and I had to go back to town to fill a barrel and transfer water to the trailer. These were just a few of the things that helped this trailer earn the nick name of ‘the giving trailer’. It always has just one more thing in store for us.
Onto my second story..
we loaded up Tuesday to head out for the week. I spend all night still working on the frame. For weeks I told myself I didn’t want to weld the new steps on, and that I was going to build brackets to bolt them to incase of future repairs. But at 1:00am when I was tired cold and angry, they got welded.
But they are very firm and sold, and I’m quite happy with them.
Made it to bed about 2:30am after getting the tools cleaned up.
I was up again by 6:00 to finish getting ready before friends showed up to leave.
One of the last things on my list was to fill the water tank. Guess what. Pump was bad. It would run and pump if water was supplied, but would not self prime from the tank. Another $100 and we had water again.
On the road for about 40 minutes, and I felt the trailer do a little shimmy. Nothing big, maybe just a wind gust. But another car waved at me and yelled ‘your tire!’
Sure enough. Still holding air.. but goodbye tread.
Of course it had to also damage the wheel well. Not too bad, considering what I’ve seen happen to others. Some tin, some lumber, but overall fixable.
I’m running on minimal sleep for a few days at this point, but I’m just so excited to be away from work and out in the desert with friends that I stayed up late again playing card games. Around midnight the snow started falling, and it was pretty cold in the trailer. My wife had tried to turn the furnace on a couple times, but it wouldn’t. I figured she was just not doing it right.
Turns out the tire busted trough right where the furnace is. It bent the furnace housing, broke the plastic cover over the fan, pulled wires off the circuit board, ripped the master power switch out, and pulled off the duct work.
A couple hours later we finally had heat again. I am so grateful that I packed an over abundance of tools, because I used many of them!!
The giving trailer continues to give.
The rest of the weekend went great. We had 3 separate snow storms, a couple days of sunshine, put many miles down in the sxs and dirt bikes, and blew a few thousand rounds of ammo.
Back in November we took this trailer on its first trip. We spent 5 days in St George. I had done all the repair work at home in the cold and could not test all the plumbing properly.
I assumed that when the holding tanks valves were ripped off the trailer, that the tanks became empty. The black tank did not. Come to found out it was full of old moldy dry turds. I had to fill it with water and put a stick down the toilet to stir it all up, creating a poop smoothie so that I could get it all to drain. Spent hours at the Maverik dealing with it.
Finally headed out to camp, and turns out the water pump was bad. I busted tail back into town and made it to a dealer with minutes to spare to buy a new pump before they closed for the holiday weekend.
because of the longer trip, and the water I lost dealing with the pump, we ran out of water and I had to go back to town to fill a barrel and transfer water to the trailer. These were just a few of the things that helped this trailer earn the nick name of ‘the giving trailer’. It always has just one more thing in store for us.
Onto my second story..
we loaded up Tuesday to head out for the week. I spend all night still working on the frame. For weeks I told myself I didn’t want to weld the new steps on, and that I was going to build brackets to bolt them to incase of future repairs. But at 1:00am when I was tired cold and angry, they got welded.
But they are very firm and sold, and I’m quite happy with them.
Made it to bed about 2:30am after getting the tools cleaned up.
I was up again by 6:00 to finish getting ready before friends showed up to leave.
One of the last things on my list was to fill the water tank. Guess what. Pump was bad. It would run and pump if water was supplied, but would not self prime from the tank. Another $100 and we had water again.
On the road for about 40 minutes, and I felt the trailer do a little shimmy. Nothing big, maybe just a wind gust. But another car waved at me and yelled ‘your tire!’
Sure enough. Still holding air.. but goodbye tread.
Of course it had to also damage the wheel well. Not too bad, considering what I’ve seen happen to others. Some tin, some lumber, but overall fixable.
I’m running on minimal sleep for a few days at this point, but I’m just so excited to be away from work and out in the desert with friends that I stayed up late again playing card games. Around midnight the snow started falling, and it was pretty cold in the trailer. My wife had tried to turn the furnace on a couple times, but it wouldn’t. I figured she was just not doing it right.
Turns out the tire busted trough right where the furnace is. It bent the furnace housing, broke the plastic cover over the fan, pulled wires off the circuit board, ripped the master power switch out, and pulled off the duct work.
A couple hours later we finally had heat again. I am so grateful that I packed an over abundance of tools, because I used many of them!!
The giving trailer continues to give.
The rest of the weekend went great. We had 3 separate snow storms, a couple days of sunshine, put many miles down in the sxs and dirt bikes, and blew a few thousand rounds of ammo.
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Thursty
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Green River
Glad the trip turned out good. You certainly earned it.
DAA
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
Trailers suck.
- DAA
- DAA
With the blow out happening, I checked the other tires more closely. Looks like I was doomed at some point anyway. All the tires look like this.
So new axles, springs, and tires happened.
6,000lb axles. I went up 1 size on tires to 225/75r15, plus heavier springs. Between the tire difference, axle tube difference, and spring difference, I think I will gain about another 2" of lift.
The cool part is, once I spend a few hundred more dollars, I could have just bought a toy hauler instead. 🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️💰
So new axles, springs, and tires happened.
6,000lb axles. I went up 1 size on tires to 225/75r15, plus heavier springs. Between the tire difference, axle tube difference, and spring difference, I think I will gain about another 2" of lift.
The cool part is, once I spend a few hundred more dollars, I could have just bought a toy hauler instead. 🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️💰
DAA
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Bountiful, UT
Trailers way, way suck.
- DAA
- DAA
anderson750
I'm working on it Rose
- Location
- Price, Utah
I have always said that it can be expensive to save money.
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
It seems like trailer parts are made of cheese.
I'm concerned I only see 4 tires and wheels, with your luck you need 2 more 🥴.
I'm concerned I only see 4 tires and wheels, with your luck you need 2 more 🥴.
Swiss cheese at best.
The 5th tire is hiding. I was going to go 6.. but didn't want to be accused of being an 'overlander'
We recommend trailer tire replacement after 5 years. Regardless of tread condition which a lot of people think is the only factor with tires. Due to their style of use, sitting in the sun, dry rotting, etc. It may be expensive, but having a blowout like that and causing damage to the trailer, I personally think its worth it. My father had a trailer tire blow and cause some damage to his trailer. I had only told him several times he needed to get them replaced. When it finally blew I gave him quite a bit of crap. 
We are taking our new-to-us trailer out next weekend for its maiden voyage to Sand Hollow. I am excited but also nervous for the first run and learning all the ins and outs and tips and tricks to these things. I still dread emptying the pooper...
We are taking our new-to-us trailer out next weekend for its maiden voyage to Sand Hollow. I am excited but also nervous for the first run and learning all the ins and outs and tips and tricks to these things. I still dread emptying the pooper...
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Gary T
Registered User
- Location
- Draper, Utah
Agree on replacing the tires. I had a blowout two years ago on mine, and the tread looked like it was brand new, probably only 1000 miles on them, but they were seven years old. Had a little damage, but only bent aluminum.
Pile of parts
Well-Known Member
- Location
- South Jordan
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
- Location
- Grantsville, Utah
We recommend trailer tire replacement after 5 years. Regardless of tread condition which a lot of people think is the only factor with tires. Due to their style of use, sitting in the sun, dry rotting, etc. It may be expensive, but having a blowout like that and causing damage to the trailer, I personally think its worth it. My father had a trailer tire blow and cause some damage to his trailer. I had only told him several times he needed to get them replaced. When it finally blew I gave him quite a bit of crap.
We are taking our new-to-us trailer out next weekend for its maiden voyage to Sand Hollow. I am excited but also nervous for the first run and learning all the ins and outs and tips and tricks to these things. I still dread emptying the pooper...
Look for me out there overlanding in the buggy. 13th-17th.
Made some more progress.
I decided not to do any kind of platform. I think the trailer flex is enough with the bikes. I don’t want to be tempted to put anything else back here with them. The tiedown hooks are a bit overkill, but that’s what I had in the garage and I’m tired of going to the store. And I’m tired of spending money.
I am totally surprised by the amount of rust that the trailer has already. I wonder if the chemical I used to remove the grease on the new meta has somehow amplified the rust. I have done far less cleaning on metal for trailers and had the paint last for years without issue. This has a couple months And it looks like trash.
I will spend some time cleaning the frame and repainting everything again. Hopefully it will hold.
I still need to do all the new electrical for tail lights, the back up lights I want, etc.. but I think all the building is done
I decided not to do any kind of platform. I think the trailer flex is enough with the bikes. I don’t want to be tempted to put anything else back here with them. The tiedown hooks are a bit overkill, but that’s what I had in the garage and I’m tired of going to the store. And I’m tired of spending money.
I am totally surprised by the amount of rust that the trailer has already. I wonder if the chemical I used to remove the grease on the new meta has somehow amplified the rust. I have done far less cleaning on metal for trailers and had the paint last for years without issue. This has a couple months And it looks like trash.
I will spend some time cleaning the frame and repainting everything again. Hopefully it will hold.
I still need to do all the new electrical for tail lights, the back up lights I want, etc.. but I think all the building is done
I’ve realized I’m really good at getting things 80% done, and then never finishing.
We’ve been using this without tail lights anytime the bikes are loaded. So I decided to actually install some.
I cut into the the frame for recessed tail lights, and then added white lights facing forward. I can now see the back of the trailer at night, which I think is helpful when lane changing and backing.
The next issue that I deal with EVERY TIME we camp is that I need a shovel first thing, and the shovel is on the front of my truck bed, and is the very last thing accessible. I’m always asking for a shovel from others.
I gave the trailer some quick fists and a shovel.
And then I added plastic tube caps to the bumper ends just to tidy it up a bit.
We’ve been using this without tail lights anytime the bikes are loaded. So I decided to actually install some.
I cut into the the frame for recessed tail lights, and then added white lights facing forward. I can now see the back of the trailer at night, which I think is helpful when lane changing and backing.
The next issue that I deal with EVERY TIME we camp is that I need a shovel first thing, and the shovel is on the front of my truck bed, and is the very last thing accessible. I’m always asking for a shovel from others.
I gave the trailer some quick fists and a shovel.
And then I added plastic tube caps to the bumper ends just to tidy it up a bit.
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