[atari4x4]

In late 2011 I started looking for a 5x3.5" box trailer with the intention of tidying it up & slapping on a roof top tent. Found one 2nd hand a couple days before Xmas & picked it up for a steal... I think he just wanted some extra Christmas spending money.

I'm was aiming for under 450kgs with camping gear, tools, 40l of fuel & a 31" tyre onboard, the trailer started out at 170kgs.



Was a bit crusty but had a heap of potential. Flipped it over, stripped it down & gave the underside a clean & a coat of chassis black.


New loom, plug & lights




New 600kg springs, U bolts & teflon wear pads



Had an axle made up to suit the width of the rear diff of the Vitara & had F100 hubs fitted




Flipped the trailer back over to start cleaning it & did a SPOA to it so I could get it up around the right ride height to tow behind the Vitara.... fitted up my wet weather play tyres, I think I'm going to need some flares.


Bunnings flares should do the job nicely


Drilled lots of hole for the flares to bolt up.


Cleaned up, primed & painted the trailer






Tested it for size... I think I'm doing it right?



Trailer basically finished



Picked up an ORAC coupling, due to it being "low profile" compared to the TREG hitches which would probably foul with the tailgate



Made my own flip top lid using a sheet of Form Ply, Gas struts from a 626 Mazda wagon, Backflip hinges, Anti-Luce latches & some bracketometry I had floating around.












Shouldn't have a problem of the trailer dragging it's bum everywhere like a dog with worms


Had a custom tow bar made up due to the height of the Vitara & the height of the trailer






Hooked the trailer up for the first time, just under 2 months after purchasing it & it tows beautifully behind the zook



Slapped an ebay rooftop tent on it, it's the perfect size






Sorry to the dial up users about all the pics... get with the times. ::)

[atari4x4]

This was the first adventure in the old silver blapper...




dragged it down to the Murray Mouth this afternoon, dropped the tyre pressures & it sailed along the soft dry sand like it wasn't there!




the trailer tracks beautifully, when doing a full lock turn the trailer runs exactly in the tracks that the rear wheels put down.

[atari4x4]

behind the blagon

[henno]

Very bloody nice. I have had my eye out for a "cheapy" small trailer for the good part of a year, in order to build something almost exactly like this. Glad to hear it towed well in the soft sand behind the silver slut, considering the similarities between my current zook and her.

[atari4x4]

it towed better behind the swb as the wheel bases were a closer match, i think the main thing is matching the wheel track but the stubbyness of it helps heaps offroad.

[Jezza86]

Too short.
Needs more bbq, sink, 70l water tank and engel
Neat work. Being such a light weight trailer yet having such big tyres how's it affect your fuel economy? Figgure mine will be the same x 100

[christover1]

Trailer owners are the cool kids.
Nice to see it all in one place.

[sideways]

Get a blue rtt cover made up so it matches the blagoon.

[atari4x4]

stop messing with my OCD, when i ordered the RTT, i had the option of a blue cover... but i chose grey to go with the shorty, FML.

[VitNick]

Cool to see some extra build pics . May have to copy the tow bar, my current one doesn't clear the tank guard and have been wanting to swap to a square receiver

[atari4x4]

Jezza86 wrote:

Too short.
Needs more bbq, sink, 70l water tank and engel
Neat work. Being such a light weight trailer yet having such big tyres how's it affect your fuel economy? Figgure mine will be the same x 100

poor jimny.

it's not too bad on fuel, probably about the same as belting around everywhere with the a/c on.

[zukenutter]

Such a tough looking trailer. No way would I be able to load all of Mrs ZN's camping comforts in there though.

[31zook]

Nice work gus! Super tidy

[Perram]

Hey gus
Dig the trailer. I am making the same sort of trailer for my sierra.

I have a couple of questions.

What's it like to sleep in with no hand brake or stabilizer legs?
Are you limited to perfectly flat ground?
Or do you chock up the wheels?
Last question, do you ever feel like it's going to (flip) roll back onto the gate/tail side.

Thanks Jake

[atari4x4]

Cheers Jake, the only thing I'd want done differently is deeper sides.

I sleep like a log, infact it took Shep's chainsaw to wake me down at Beachport last year.

I've got wheel chocks for it but haven't needed them & for stabilizer legs I use a pair of axle stands that I drilled an extra hole in & have the screw top adjuster so I just level it up with the jack stands at the & wind the jockey wheel out to lock it in. I don't like the idea of having the stabilize legs hanging out the back as I reckon I'd rip them off or damage them offroad.

Plus it's always nice having a axle stands if you do ever have mechanical issues.

[Perram]

Thanks for that!
very helpful.

Jake

[zukenutter]

atari4x4 wrote:

Plus it's always nice having a axle stands if you do ever have mechanical issues.

Hmmm good point

[henno]

zukenutter wrote:

Hmmm good point

Very good point, in fact. After reading this last night I actually turned to the gf and told her we were scrapping the idea of stabilisers on the trailer with that post in mind.

[Chop]

More shit to bounce around!

[atari4x4]

less shit to fall off.

same goes for having a basic removable jockey wheel rather than the swing up ones... seen one camper trailer rock up to camp minus the wheel & bolt.

[henno]

I've lost two of those swing up ones.

[gvzookdriver]

You seem to miss place lots of things henno car jockey wheels.......

[Chop]

Never lost or dropped mine, occy strap around also prevents that. If the oodnadatta track and the corro's in kakadu couldn't move it you girls are doing it wrong!

[pete_79]

Chop wrote:

Never lost or dropped mine, occy strap around also prevents that. If the oodnadatta track and the corro's in kakadu couldn't move it you girls are doing it wrong!:thefinger:

Yep, occy strap from handle, around the drawbar and onto the wheel. Never moves.

[atari4x4]

just another thing to worry about, i've dragged my drawbar a few times offroading on silly stuff & it would have munted a permanently mounted jockey wheel, when i hocked up the jockey wheel comes off & if i don't bother disconnecting the blagon there is no need for the jockey wheel or axle stands.

also, last time i checked you can't use stabiliser legs as chassis/axle stands.

[christover1]

Expense alone put me off the swing up jockey wheels,
plus no way of getting good ground clearance.
It stays inside the car mostly anyway.
I too now use a modified axle stand as a stability leg, for if I need to use camper when not connected to car (rare)

[zukenutter]

My jockey wheel usually travels in the trailer, keeps the salt off it. They don't like salt.

[atari4x4]

yeah nah.

[Jimmy!]

Cool setup.

What's the stuff you mentioned about wheelbase?
Is the general idea to match the car wheelbase to the trailer wheel to rear car wheel wheelbase?
If you get what I'm trying to say haha

[pete_79]

The main idea is to match the trailer axle with to the car's. So the trailer tyres run in the car tracks and are not pushing new tracks (increasing drag).

I made my axle so when running the same offset rims all round my trailer is within 10mm or so of the Jimny's track width.

The wheel base is not so important. Some people prefer a longer drawbar for better stability, but obviously this reduces ramp over.

I tried to get pretty close to the Jimny's wheel base with my drawbar length. From the rear wheels to the trailer wheels is 100mm longer then the car's wheelbase.

If that's what you where asking?