Lifetime trailer @ costco

[Youngunner]

Guy down the street just bought one of these. Looks pretty cool. Big tent too.

[jeep_n_co]

I'll post up the pics I took of mine... just got it last week, very happy with it so far!

How it's shipped. Was a PITA getting it off the truck, the driver and I had to break it down and cart it off piece by piece until it was light enough for his pallet jack to lift.



Road-going configuration:



It's about a foot skinnier than the Jumping Jack... perfect width for my jeep, is pretty close to the exact width of the JK. Should make it just a little wider than a TJ:



When set up... notice I have a full size fold-up table inside. The table has roughly a foot on all sides clear. It is pretty comfortable to sit on the sides of the beds and use the table to eat, play games, whatever:





Beds on either side are just a couple of inches short in width of a queen size bed. I am 6'4" tall, and a big guy, and the little Mrs. and I fit on this with no problems at all:



Take the rain fly off, and the skylights will let you sleep under the stars:



Carry one of these with you... useful for assembly, and also to help adjust the jacks that hold up the platforms when folded out:



Tent all folded up, before zipping up the tent bag that makes the whole package rain proof (but probably not waterproof... I would not ford a river with this):



Tent material is very thick and has a thick waterproofing coating on it. Think like a backpack material that has been rubberized. I think it would be as good as canvas in the long run.

So here are my pros and cons on it so far... on the Pro side, it's light (880 lb, can't tell it's there), it can carry a lot of stuff on top (capable of hauling a 900 lb ATV), has just a TON of room inside, you can take the tent out of it and convert it to a utility trailer (meaning I don't need a truck in addition to my jeep), easy to set up and take down with two ppl.

On the Con side, if you are comparing to a conventional pop-up, you are not going to have any amenities inside like sink, toilet, fridge, etc. It's not going to take to fording a river well, as it's tent bag is not designed for that and it's plank wood floor may not take well to it either.

I already have a set of matching rims and tires, looking at having a custom axle made for it to mount them (different bolt pattern and need a ton more backspacing room).

[Honu]

was curious when I was looking at these

about making a hanging storage shelf basically where your hammer is hanging ? so imagine it going across the back on each side high enough to hold my stuff that was strapped onto the top ? does that make sense ?
then the ply could just sit on top before you throw your stuff on ?

my thought was some hooks to hook into the mesh then just a piece of ply that would have 4 eyes or holes in them for the other rods to hang down and hook into to
it could even go alone the side ?

I just hate having stuff on the ground all the time

super bad quick PS job

[Jnich77]

Looks great!!! If its built anything like my Jumping Jack it will probably last longer than the vehicles you tow it with...lol.

[LexusAllTerrain]

How many minutes to set up?

[jeep_n_co]

was curious when I was looking at these

about making a hanging storage shelf basically where your hammer is hanging ? so imagine it going across the back on each side high enough to hold my stuff that was strapped onto the top ? does that make sense ?
then the ply could just sit on top before you throw your stuff on ?

my thought was some hooks to hook into the mesh then just a piece of ply that would have 4 eyes or holes in them for the other rods to hang down and hook into to
it could even go alone the side ?

I just hate having stuff on the ground all the time

super bad quick PS job

Not a bad idea... probably be easiest to hang it off the side wings before you fold out the top racks.



The one disadvantage to this is that you would have to carry it on the trailer also. Something foldable, maybe, would work.

Frankly, I just bought the plastic tubs to put stuff in, don't care if it sits on the ground or not. But I was thinking of doing a pull-out kitchen kinda thing, this idea of yours gets my gears turning on it. Thanks.

Looks great!!! If its built anything like my Jumping Jack it will probably last longer than the vehicles you tow it with...lol.

I hope so! It's a nice little trailer.

How many minutes to set up?

This was first time, I didn't have room in my garage to set it up so the little Mrs. and I went on a shake down cruise. It took us 30 mins or so, because it was the first time and some things still needed to be assembled. Had to read the manual, light was fading quick, it took longer as a result.

But, when we took it down the next morning it was very quick, maybe 5 minutes. I believe less than 10 next time. Advertised time is 8 mins.

[boks]

Great idea with the license plate location. I wasn't too excited about the location below the driver side rear taillight. Your location looks a lot better. Nice! Great pictures by way. I took pics of mine and will download to post soon.

Initial tent set up takes 20-30 minutes because of assembly but once it's set up, it easily under 10 minutes to set up, I bet less than 5 with 2 people who know what they're doing. If the tent is empty, it'll can be put away in about 5 minutes. Just lower the poles, disconnect a handful of straps and it all folds into the bag. Bag looks water tight on the top side but has vents on the underside to let water drain out. Like Jeep-n-co said, I wouldn't ford rivers with it, at least not over 12 inches deep.

[boks]

Okay, DL some pics!

Shown how it comes from Lifetime:


Disassembled the pallet and moved it to the garage:


Installed supports on sidewalls and the tongue on on the wing supports:


Installed the floor with front:


Axel on and installing wheels:


Fully assembled:


Assembly tent for the first time:


Tent up (minus rainfly):


This thing is very well engineered and goes together nicely. Overall, very impressed and love it. Tent slides out very easily and converts to a great little utility trailer (7ft x 5ft).

Hey Jeep-n-co, what are you thinking for a spare tire mount? I was thinking of having something fab'd up above the tongue with a propane tank mount. Livetime sells a tire mount that goes under the floor but I don't want to reduce the ground clearance. Also, be sure to post pics when you get the new matching wheels on.

[jeep_n_co]

Nice boks!

Great idea with the license plate location. I wasn't too excited about the location below the driver side rear taillight. Your location looks a lot better. Nice! Great pictures by way.

Thanks! The local DMV sells the license plate mounting screws for a $1 donation to some civic org, and the kind I bought had the plastic square tabs that are supposed to snap into a square hole. I did some experimenting and found that a 7/16" drill hole would give me the same ability to snap in the holders.

I left the stock mounting location able to accept a plate if I ever have to leave the tailgate open (maybe if I am hauling 4x8 sheets of plywood, for example). I can just move it temporarily if need be. But otherwise, yeah my location should provide a lot more protection for the plate.

Hey Jeep-n-co, what are you thinking for a spare tire mount? I was thinking of having something fab'd up above the tongue with a propane tank mount. Livetime sells a tire mount that goes under the floor but I don't want to reduce the ground clearance. Also, be sure to post pics when you get the new matching wheels on.

Yeah, I saw their spare tire mount, but I think I am going to build something for the front that sits on the tongue. Considering options such as small propane tank, Jerry can rack, battery tray, etc. I may add a spare rack, but not sure I need it (since my Jeep will already be carrying a spare, one of the motivations for fitting the matching tires )

Speaking of the tongue, I also like how our hitches are bolted on... Makes it easy to retrofit a pintle hitch or the fancy never-bind hitches.

[MrInvisible]

I got really excited about the Jumping Jack trailer when I saw this thread... A real Jumping Jack for $3500 versus ~$5K. After a little bit of poking about on the web, I discovered that Lifetime offers 2 lines of tent trailers.... the Jumping Jack Series and the "Lifetime Tent" trailers...

http://www.buylifetime.com/Products/...s/Default.aspx

Cosco appears to be offering the Lifetime Tent trailer.... it lists for $3999 on Lifetimes website. The Jumping Jack line lists for $5499 without trailer brakes and $5899 with trailer brakes.

The thing is... after looking over the specs,
and reading the reviews...

http://www.expeditionswest.com/equip...ping_jack.html

I really want the Jumping Jack without brakes to tow behind my 95 Wrangler.

I wish Cosco would offer that trailer.

HTH

Randy from Burbank