One thing I noticed when I was putting the suspension together is how poor the quality/design of trailer parts is compared to truck parts. The spring eye "bushings" are just hard plastic tubes that are only about 1/16" thick. There are no bushings on the shackles, they just pivot on the bolts.

It's definitely something I plan on re engineering after the run. It will be ok for the few hundred miles it's going to see in the next couple weeks, but I don't see it as a long term solution.

I did a little work on the trailer tonight. We took most of the night off but did manage to get most of the plumbing done. Enough to test out the pump.

It peessss too!

TRUE SWANKy rigs pee.

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TRUE SWANKy rigs pee.

but would you drink it.......

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I have a feeling I'll end up doing a 4-link with air bags later. That will allow me to drop it down to a solid base when it's parked and adjust the height for the load. I have quite a few other small features to add to the trailer. Those will get done after the run.

Something like this:

Not quite. I'll probably keep the solid axle and do a double triangulated 4 link with air bags.

Res - what the heck is that thing for? To drain the truck bed? Cooler drain?

that's his on-board water tank faucet, really.

He's got a 5 or 6 gallon water jug hidden up under his bed. He can fill it from above and drain it from the tap on the side.

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Res - what the heck is that thing for? To drain the truck bed? Cooler drain?

To pee on your tires!

Drive By!

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Originally posted by Mud:
Drive By!

I need a remote lever to operate it. Good idea.

It's done! Except we broke it on the test run... 1 week to get it fixed.

Friday/Saturday morning we finished up the trailer. We put the foam in the ice chest area:


Mounted the battery for the pump and wired/plumbed everything for the water tank.


Off-road trailer. Angry. Kit's available, PM for info.


Saturday afternoon we met some of the guys out at the coves for a test run. I took it up the big hill right by Butcher Jones Beach for a test and one of the hills in the playground. We also drug it through a few really flexy spots. It pulls nice, trails nice downhill too.











After we ran some hills we wandered down to the beach to hang out for a while. There was a few million dollars worth of boats tied together with a thongs a plenty. Unfortunately the zoom was worse than the view from the beach (good from afar, but far from good).



We had noticed right from the start that the trailer axle was flexing under the weight of the trailer. I had a lot of trouble finding tubing that would fit over the 2.25" spindles I bought and ended up with something thinner than I wanted (1/8"). I was planning on doing some trusswork or adding another tube inside to add strength when I got home. Unfortunately on the way out we hit a rock or something and bent the axle pretty badly.



Sunday we pulled the axle back out and I "deconstructed" it. I salvaged the spindles, spring perches and shock mounts.



Now I have 1 week to find a new tube and rebuild the axle. Looking online I don't have many choices.
If I keep the spindles I have I can get 3" .375 wall DOM which would be indestructible. Unfortunately it would also be about $200 for the 5 foot section I need and I don't know of any local places that carry it. If I either have my spindles machined down to 2" or pick up another set of 2" spindles that will work with my hubs I can get 2.5" .25 wall DOM. That would be about $100 for the tubing and $40-50 for the spindles.

I could also do the same tubing I have and pick up some 2.25" .120 wall DOM and double them up. This would probably be the cheapest solution, if I could find the DOM local. Nothing is open on Sunday so I'll be making some calls tomorrow.

What about square tube, seems you could get some 4" with .375 walls alot cheaper than DOM that big.