No.5 1965 Australian Army Trailer

[Steve F]

Looks good Steve. That's a very US solution there.

It is isn't it, hard to find them here!!! I didn't want one with a huge mounting plate designed for a square draw bar, would look terrible and be a pain to mount. Ill be pulling the jockey wheel apart to paint in olive drab so it looks more original, I want it to look like it 'belongs'

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

Made it look a bit more like it belongs, need to order some more camo green spray now though to do the wheel andd a few more touch ups.

Sits nice and tucked up out of the way, also rounded off the corners of the hitch mount plate before I take any meat out of my legs on it.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

Started doing the wiring to connect it up to the dual battery setup in the Jeep, still want to use it as a box trailer so trying to keep it out the way and discreet from the outside. The plug attaches to the inside of the tub where the ribs are, see the post above, so you can't see any screws from the outside.

And on the back, this was where the Army had a NATO socket but it is long gone, perfect for an Anderson plug though.

Just waiting on some plugs so I can finish the battery box now.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

So I was going to put a DC-DC charger between the auxiliary battery in the back of the Jeep and the 105AH in the trailer, as after hooking it up I was loosing 1.3v at the trailer battery connection. Then I realised the Anderson plug to battery clamps that I grabbed from my solar panel bag were really only meant to handle 10A and were way to small so it wasn't a good test.

I made a proper cable to go from internal trailer plug to battery and now I get 13.8V at the trailer battery when there is 13.9V at the Aux battery in the Jeep. So no need for a DC-DC charger in between as this is really only to keep the battery fully charged while on the road to camp as solar will be plugged in when I set up and the battery will be fully charged when I leave home. That's a few hundred saved.

Next to put all the plugs and things on the battery box so it is self contained.

Voltage at the trailer battery

Voltage at the starting battery and second battery setup in the Jeep.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

Ended up deciding to buy a battery box and I'll add extra sockets to it etc. Already put a 50A circuit breaker on the posts on the box as there was nothing. I added a CTEK comfort indicator flush mount panel as well, lets me plug my CTEK charger in without having to connect with alligator clips, much neater. Next I'll added a couple of Anderson plugs a USB charging plug and one or two merit plug sockets so all bases are covered.

Cheers
Steve

 

[indiedog]

Got some more details on the battery box Steve? I can't really see brands or anything in the photo. And was it just the box that you got and put your battery into it? I imagine with your "take in take out" method with the trailer the box solves a number of issues.

On my 12v air compressor I cut the power lead and inserted an Anderson plug. This lets me plug it into the back of the car to run it when I want. If needed I can just plug the aligator clamp ends back into it and connect to a battery that way. I haven't seen the Ctek comfort plug before but it gives me the idea that you could also cut the outlet side of the Ctek charger and introduce an Anderson plug which could then be used for charging rather than either popping the bonnet or opening up battery boxes etc to use the clamps.

When's the shakedown run?

 

[Steve F]

I got the battery box from jaycar but have since added more stuff Now the box is done I don't plan to open it at all, it will have a run down to Bendigo for the 75th Jeep anniversary but won't get a major offroad run until Fraser island at Christmas. My compressor also has an Anderson plug, now I can plug it in to the one at the back of the Jeep or at the back of the trailer if I need to.

Got the battery box done and tested the solar. To do this I put my Ammeter in line with the solar and battery, since the battery was pretty much fully charged it only put 4.1A/H into the battery for the first minute or two and then dropped to maintenance mode where the regulator cycled from 0A/H to around 3.5A/H.

Anyway, happy with the setup now but will probably grab another fold out solar panel to go to a total of 240W which in full sun will push around 13A/H into the battery, that's enough to take it from flat (50% charge) to full in under 4 hours or a touch over 4 hours if the fridge is in use at the same time. Since Winter gives 5 to 6 hours of good sun (if it's sunny) 4 hours is a safe number.

Ammeter in line with solar (for testing), now fitted an isolator switch as well, it isolates everything but the CTEK charging port.

80w of solar doing a fine job, it's previously run my fridge for 3 days and kept the 66AH of battery in the Jeep fully charged with no problems.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

After using the trailer for a bit and having to leave the spare behind (took up too much room in the tub) and take a chance with repair plugs etc I decided to add a spare tyre mount. Not finished yet but should work well, will also try and add a mount to it for the Maxtracks so I don't have to carry them in the trailer.

Cheers
Steve

 

[indiedog]

So this is where the action shots are?

 

[Steve F]

Done

Sits low enough.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Fugly]

Steve,

Looking good...
I like the tyre holder.....

Cheers Fugly

 

[Steve F]

Added an awning mount, took about half a day too make it once I had all the bits I needed.

Locked down

Locked up

Awning out

Cheers
Steve

 

[Steve F]

Added some sail track to the back of the awning so I can run a tarp over the trailer while still being able to use it Will help keep the fridge in the shade etc.

Cheers
Steve

 

[indiedog]

Looks like you've got things covered Steve. Nice work.

 

[Steve F]

Put all the tarps up after grabbing a couple of poles and a rail for the end, just need some of this little bungy loops to attach the end of the tarp to the end rail to add some tension in the middle. I'll also mount a couple of LED light strips to light the tub up etc.

Cheers
Steve