Official Will An Off-Road Trailer Work For Me? The Off-Road Trailer Conundrum

[Stacey]

Found a couple of pictures of the trailer hooked to the Jeepster. The tow bar does not stay on the front of the Jeepster, had it on right after the build was finished. Since I did the work, didn't trust it not breaking down.

 

[Herzog]

That is a great looking setup Stacey.

 

[Bart]

Wow, Stacey, nice job. Love the entire setup. If I ever see you in person it could be me unzipping your tent. ; )

 

[mesha]

that is my favorite jeepster ever! Seriously.

 

[Stacey]

that is my favorite jeepster ever! Seriously.

Thank you.

 

[spencevans]

So I am having an off road trailer custom built and I had a question regarding 12 volt vs. 24 volt setups. What are the advantages of each in an off road trailer. I plan to run a portable fridge/freezer. Thanks

 

[sixstringsteve]

that is my favorite jeepster ever! Seriously.

x2. Very classy.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

So I am having an off road trailer custom built and I had a question regarding 12 volt vs. 24 volt setups. What are the advantages of each in an off road trailer. I plan to run a portable fridge/freezer. Thanks

All of the higher end fridges on the market will automatically switch between 12V and 24V so no major pro/con there. Given the predominance of 12V components in the US, I'd go with a 12V system.

 

[STAG]

I need to pick out a coupler design.

I use pintles every day for towing equipment, and love pintle hitches for that.

Other than the fact that it would be extremely noisy off-road, anyone else say-nay to the pintle? I want something that will have more articulation than a ball hitch before binding, but don't necessarily want a coupler that has "unlimited" articulation.

Pro's-
extremely easy to hook up to vehicle
extremely strong
good amount of articulation
cheap and easily available at many locations

Con's
noisy

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Fwiw my pintle was definitely not noisy off-road, it didn't have much slop and in fact was pretty quiet.

 

[nnnnnate]

I'm starting to think about getting a trailer. This is my 2 door JK last Thursday and wasn't even with all my gear.



I can get it all in without the dog or with the dog and a hitch rack but then I can't open the rear gate to let the dog in. My dog comes with me when I explore since the wife isn't into camping outside of a hotel. I don't really want a roof rack and am thinking a trailer that has a tight seal with removable roof so that it can be used for around the house chores as well. I am really digging the Manley ORV trailers for their simplicity but the one with hard top is $7800. The Ruger Trailer is a compromise and is a lot more friendly on the checkbook (starts at 3K) but is not perfect. I wish the tub was 12" longer, had a tailgate that opened all the way to the top of the tub, and I wish the frame was 2' longer split in front of the tub and to its rear. The wife is on board but I probably won't get something until next year, after I get a few more things added to the JK.

The biggest key is that its got to be dual purpose. I love working in my yard and always need to run to the nursery for this or that so this would solve the "never gets used" conundrum. Having a tear drop or something with a built in galley would be awesome but I feel like to make the whole thing worth it to me, I need to be able to use it for things other than just camping.

 

[Box Rocket]

I'm starting to think about getting a trailer. This is my 2 door JK last Thursday and wasn't even with all my gear.

The biggest key is that its got to be dual purpose. I love working in my yard and always need to run to the nursery for this or that so this would solve the "never gets used" conundrum. Having a tear drop or something with a built in galley would be awesome but I feel like to make the whole thing worth it to me, I need to be able to use it for things other than just camping.

have you considered building one? I had the same goals with my trailer. It had to be dual purpose. I've used my trailer more for yard/house stuff than I have for actual offroad/camping, although that is changing as of late. I make the suggestion of at least contemplating the option of building your own. You can build it the way you want it instead of having to settle for design elements that a certain manufacturer might use. It will cost much less, but your time will be your main expense. My trailer is really a no-frills trailer except for the RTT. It doesn't have it's own power source, no water tank, galley etc. It's just a place to carry gear and to hold the tent. I love how it works for me. Best of all, before factoring in the cost of the RTT, and a few other later additions like the telescoping rack and the tire carrier it only cost me ~$1500 to build. I couldn't stomach the idea of paying several thousand dollars for one of the "professional" offerings out there. I have seen the Manley and Ruger trailers as well as the Adventure Trailers first hand and I will say that they are impressive and the workmanship on all of them is very nice. Having built a trailer I can understand the cost of buying one of these trailers. There is a lot that goes into it. But for me it was difficult to find an extra $5K+ to drop all at once. $1500 spread over a few months of the build was easier to swallow.



Here's my build if you're looking or ideas.
http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.ph...ad-Trailer-Build&highlight=box+rocket+trailer

 

[nnnnnate]

Thanks for the response Adam, I have already looked through your trailer build as well as many others that have all been super impressive. I have thought about building one but for me it comes down to ability and having confidence that the work would hold up in the long run. I can do some mild wrenching here and there, but its all been bolt on stuff. I haven't done much with a welder and what I have done was tack this to that- no need for real structural strength. I tried to weld new perches on my CJ7 last summer but was over my head and the welds didn't hold for long (shakedown run around the neighborhood.)

I know that building a trailer would be a fantastic way to learn to weld since ugly frame welds would be hidden for the most part. I know a few guys that can weld but have only done a bit more than I have so they aren't that experienced either. I tried to find a welding class but didn't find anything really geared for the hobby-ist. I feel like I'm really just out of my league for something like this.

 

[carsonc1974]

Thanks for the response Adam, I have already looked through your trailer build as well as many others that have all been super impressive. I have thought about building one but for me it comes down to ability and having confidence that the work would hold up in the long run. I can do some mild wrenching here and there, but its all been bolt on stuff. I haven't done much with a welder and what I have done was tack this to that- no need for real structural strength. I tried to weld new perches on my CJ7 last summer but was over my head and the welds didn't hold for long (shakedown run around the neighborhood.)

I know that building a trailer would be a fantastic way to learn to weld since ugly frame welds would be hidden for the most part. I know a few guys that can weld but have only done a bit more than I have so they aren't that experienced either. I tried to find a welding class but didn't find anything really geared for the hobby-ist. I feel like I'm really just out of my league for something like this.

Im not to educated on this subject, but if I was going to build one of these, I think I would start with one of those little military trailers and modify from there. You can pick them up pretty cheap, and are very beefy. If I remember correctly, I believe they are designated m416.

 

[nnnnnate]

Yeah the military 1/4 ton trailers are like a grand for one in decent condition. An acquaintance built an adventure trailer out of one and said when it was all finished he wished he had just started from scratch due to the extra work trying to get the old off the trailer. Its a sentiment I have read in many builds that were based on the M416's. Now, if I could find one in great condition for say $500 that wasn't rusted I would probably go that route but I just haven't seen anything like that for sale.

 

[STAG]

Yeah the military 1/4 ton trailers are like a grand for one in decent condition. An acquaintance built an adventure trailer out of one and said when it was all finished he wished he had just started from scratch due to the extra work trying to get the old off the trailer. Its a sentiment I have read in many builds that were based on the M416's. Now, if I could find one in great condition for say $500 that wasn't rusted I would probably go that route but I just haven't seen anything like that for sale.

Yep I've heard that a couple times too. I've been building my own from scratch. Nothing real eye appealing yet.

 

[Brian P]

That's why I built mine, make it how you want.

 

[nnnnnate]

So since posting up about wanting/needing a trailer a bit ago I've been thinking more about it and what I would want in a trailer if I magically knew how to weld and could do it myself. I guess the thing that I'm getting hung up on is dimension theory. It seems like most of these little trailers are about 4'x6' boxes but I'm not sure why people haven't gone longer or shorter. I do get the width being the same as the tow vehicle as being important, just not the length. Does it have to do with break over angle?

I had another idea that I thought would be pretty cool but didn't know how much it would hurt trail-ability. I think it would be neat to build in three 2" receivers on the rear end. The middle one you could use for whatever and for the two on the outsides you could build a 12"-18" slide in rack to hold firewood. I've put some weight on a single hitch rack but it moved a fair amount. I thought this would support the weight well and would be nice to have more storage out of the box and wouldn't tie up the front space. I guess if you were concerned about dragging the rear end on a trail you could build the mount to raise the rack vertically. Would this mess up weight distribution and cause it to tow bad?

Thanks.

 

[Brian P]

Having had a bit of weight on the back of my trailer, I would skip the idea of triple receivers, any weight on the back of the trailer lowers the tongue weight, which can make the trailer nearly untowable, I had a ~300lbs motorcycle on the back of mine and it made everything sway way too much, even without something on the receiver mine can get a little wobbly if I don't pack it forward, if that makes sense, I have room for 5 gas/water cans on the front of my trailer, I try to keep the weight forward, if I did it over again, I would have moved my axle back about 4-6"
As for the size, I have seen shorter builds, it's all up to what you want out of it, At times I could use a little more space, but it is a very manageable size.
Best of luck on what you decide.

 

[nnnnnate]

Brian, do you have a build thread or specs of your trailer listed anywhere? I failed to mention that I did intend to have space in the front of the box for plenty of fuel and water containers as well as perhaps a trailer box. It sounds like your build has provisions on the front like I would want. Is there any way you could have known that it would tow squirrelly? I don't know the proper way to load up a trailer but from your post it seems like its best to have more weight up front?