TAT Trailer Build

[dakota123]

I am a college senior at York College of Pennsylvania. It has always been a dream of mine to drive across country via dirt roads and until recently I had no clue it was still possible. A few months back I came across a thread on this forum who had driven the Trans American Trail with his girlfriend and blogged the whole way across. To say the least it inspired me to do something similar. Recently I had an internship at Sony pictures back home in Los Angeles, and when I had down time, I created a blog website along with an Instagram “Freedom From Routine”. I've always been a firm believer that routine is the enemy of time; that if you get caught in a routine you'll wake up one day and realize your 85 years old wondering where the hell all your time went. I realized this at a young age, but until recently it had never “clicked”.

My mom works for the Airlines, and when ever she would bring me to the airport for a flight, 9 times out of 10 when she had to choose between departures and arrivals she would go down to arrivals; where she goes every day to work. It was almost like she was in auto pilot mode. When I would bring this up, she would admit that she just goes into auto pilot when ever she goes to the airport. I think its important to do something different with your time. Whether that be something as small as leaving earlier for work and taking at new road or saving up quitting your job for a year and traveling around experiencing the simpler things in life.

Ive been planning this trip for a few months now and it is coming up super fast. I will be taking a month long expedition type trip across the country on the TAT, a dirt trail that runs from Nashville to Oregon then heading down Highway 1 back home to LA. My two buddies and I are currently building a small off-road trailer to pull behind my jeep so that i have a place to sleep and put all my stuff. When I have service or internet I plan on blogging the trip on my website in my signature and posting up on my Instagram page along the way.

Also If any of you guys have done this trail or have any advice for me in any way. Id appreciate all the help i could get!
Cheers!

I figured i would start a build thread where people could chime in and help me out with ideas or constructive criticism.

Heres a picture of what the trailer started as attached to my TJ.



Plans as of now:
--Lock and roll type hitch (done)
--cut the existing tongue and make it straight (rebuilt whole frame)
--Solar panel/battery box
--RTT (done)
--Lid i can secure my stuff with. (done)
--Telescoping safari rack to hold RTT & Pelican Case (in process)

Let me know what you guys think and would love any input you guys have. Thanks!

 

[poriggity]

Looks great! Obviously focus on making it roadworthy first, but once that is done the mods can begin! There are some really nice roof top tents out there, and that's probably the route I'd take for a place to sleep...

 

[dakota123]

Thanks! Its actually in great condition and wouldn't hesitate to drive it as it is. Has brand new tires not much rust other than some surface rust on the frame. Thinking about taking the bed off and either redoing the frame completely or just cleaning it up and re painting it.

 

[NHenson]

Subscribed. Looking forward to more modifications and following along on your TAT journey.

 

[dakota123]

Thanks! after reading about your trip its what made me change my mind about the trip I had originally planned haha sounds so much more fun than driving on a highway all the way home....

I hope to get this thing registered tomorrow morning since they were giving me crap about the title not having the year on it for the trailer so they had me go back to the original owner and get the drivers licence photo-copied and have him sign it with the year? Not sure why it matters i mean he can just make up any year he wants which is what he did.... so we will see.... Hopefully its not a different manager this time and they tell me it won't work..... such a PITA....

 

[underdrive]

Make that tongue bigger when you're redoing it. Being able to adjust the length is a nice feature (keep it long on the highway for stability, shorten it when you get on the trails), but if it's just a single beam it really should be made of larger tubing that what it appears to have right now. Also make sure when fully extended it is longer than half the overall width of the Jeep - the ability to jack-knife it full 90 degrees will prove to be a major blessing some day. Actually come to think of it you may wanna make sure it will also clear a fullsize truck's width - you never really know what your next tow vehicle will be, wouldn't be very surprising if in a couple years this trailer gets hooked to a big 4-door pickup equipped with a camper - careful planning and execution now can save lots of rework down the road.

 

[dakota123]

Make that tongue bigger when you're redoing it. Being able to adjust the length is a nice feature (keep it long on the highway for stability, shorten it when you get on the trails), but if it's just a single beam it really should be made of larger tubing that what it appears to have right now. Also make sure when fully extended it is longer than half the overall width of the Jeep - the ability to jack-knife it full 90 degrees will prove to be a major blessing some day. Actually come to think of it you may wanna make sure it will also clear a fullsize truck's width - you never really know what your next tow vehicle will be, wouldn't be very surprising if in a couple years this trailer gets hooked to a big 4-door pickup equipped with a camper - careful planning and execution now can save lots of rework down the road.

I appreciate the good info. I will definitely keep that in mind while I'm building. I just got back from the MVA and finally got it registered. When i get it home this sunday i will take a closer look at everything and see exactly what I'm going to need to do. I was thinking about picking up a max coupler so i was going to get what ever width would fit around that. Would that be thick enough? I'm not against making triangle braces that tie into the frame and tongue if i need to.

 

[underdrive]

I appreciate the good info. I will definitely keep that in mind while I'm building. I just got back from the MVA and finally got it registered. When i get it home this sunday i will take a closer look at everything and see exactly what I'm going to need to do. I was thinking about picking up a max coupler so i was going to get what ever width would fit around that. Would that be thick enough? I'm not against making triangle braces that tie into the frame and tongue if i need to.

Not sure what size the max coupler is, we use just a regular 2" ball for our jap-truck trailer, the tongue is 3"x3"x5/32" square tube and the coupler bolts directly onto that with six 1/2" bolts. As far as triangulation goes, that kinda depends on how things measure out - our tongue is full 3ft long from the ball coupler to where the gussets start, and the gussets are actually the truck's frame rails bent inboard to meet the tongue at 45-degree angle, seems to work decent as the trailer has been loaded quite heavy numerous times (by the previous owners) and the tongue is still straight as can be.

 

[dakota123]

I just got the trailer home today and gave it another look over.

Everything works great I can't even tell its back there.

The rust doesn't seem to be that bad anywhere





One thing i did notice though was that the axle seems to be bent.


Im not sure what the hub pattern is currently but I found a used torsion axle for 40 bucks that i was thinking about going to pick up if the Hubs match and it has electronic brake set up. What would it take to set up the electric brakes? I think it would be nice to have while I'm off-roading with it. I keep reading that people don't like torsion axles for off-road trailers but i think they would work great.

 

[matt8828]

Axle is probably supposed to have that arch in it. When loaded it flattens out.


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[dakota123]

Axle is probably supposed to have that arch in it. When loaded it flattens out.


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didn't think about that. I would like to have brakes though and for 40 bucks it seems like a good deal. If i were to snag that torsion axle what brake controller do you guys recommend? (preferably under 100) If its possible id like to be able to manually control the brakes while off road if i need to if that is at all possible.

 

[NHenson]

I installed a Primus IQ the other day from Tekonsha. I liked the end result and it has a manual lever.

Another option is the Tekonsha Voyager. It has been around longer, is reliable, and cheaper. It also has a manual lever, but the leveling is manual instead of the automatic leveling you find on the Primus IQ.

There are other manufacturers out there and better prices may be found elsewhere too. I put etrailer.com links up b/c they typically have good descriptions, reviews, and pictures.

 

[dakota123]

I installed a Primus IQ the other day from Tekonsha. I liked the end result and it has a manual lever.

Another option is the Tekonsha Voyager. It has been around longer, is reliable, and cheaper. It also has a manual lever, but the leveling is manual instead of the automatic leveling you find on the Primus IQ.

There are other manufacturers out there and better prices may be found elsewhere too. I put etrailer.com links up b/c they typically have good descriptions, reviews, and pictures.

Thanks man! They really do a good job explaining how they work i was really confused how they worked before haha

 

[dakota123]

Trailer is officially registered and inspected so the tear down will hopefully begin this week.

The girl friends dad gave me these two pelican cases today 1690 and a 1620.



The 1620 will be turned into something like this http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/65931-New-Chaser-Kitchen/page2?highlight=kitchen



The somewhat immediate plan for this thing is tearing it down rebuilding the frame and strengthening weak points to support a top for it to be put on with a rtt.
-Matching paint to jeep
-Metal top that lifts up from the side. Rack on top of that for the RTT
-Cj Tail Gate
-Straight tongue with homemade max coupler
-new axle with 35 aggressive tires to somewhat match jeep

 

[dakota123]

Update:

Right now I am home in California till the end of Aug and the trailer is at my buddies house who will be working on tearing it down this next week. Currently acquiring as many parts as I can. So far i have a roof top tent, three 35's, and two pelican boxes. Got a buddy with a tube bender set up for when I get back to start on the fenders after the teardown. Heres a rough sketch of what its going to look like when its finished.





**Sorry about them being flipped don't know how to fix them**