I joined the Cult

teotwaki

Excelsior!
On my trailer's tent one thing that was always in need of improvement was the two straps over the cover. They help to keep the cover from ballooning due to air forced under the cover while I am driving. Unfortunately the cover would still balloon quite a bit in the raised center section that covers the ladder. When the original black straps wore out I replaced them with some cheapo Harbor Freight straps with cammed metal buckles and then added two temporary straps in the center. You can see them in this picture.
NKN_6408-1.jpg


The extra straps worked well but I felt they were all too narrow and tended to oscillate in the wind, marring the cover. I ordered up some 2" wide UV resistant straps and made up some new retainer plates to replace the tiny ones that came with the RTT.
IMG_1848-1.jpg


I fussed with the strap lengths quite a bit and then tightened up the retainer plates and trimmed the strap with 1.5" hanging
IMG_1854-1.jpg


Then I took that extra length and wrapped it around the plate.
IMG_1856-1.jpg


Now I have four nice straps that should last quite a while.
IMG_1858-1.jpg
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
The original guy who designed and built my trailer had performed quite a few mods to the suspension from what I could figure. In the end it handles great but I've discovered a few things that speak to a bit of haste. It looks as if they had the axle off to install longer springs and also new shocks. In the process the axle was rotated 180 deg. and I eventually disassembled the drum brakes and swapped parts side to side to get them fixed. On my recent trip on the White Rim Trail I discovered a lower shock mount had been knocked loose.

NKN_6777-1.jpg


Turns out that 97% of the welds were cold. I removed the shock on the trail and just last week had the mounts rewelded.
P1120515-1.jpg


More trailer porn from the blog post at http://suntothenorth.blogspot.com/2014/05/exploring-with-expedition-trailer-in.html
NKN_6985-1.JPG
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
The trailer's tires have been upgraded to new Duratracs along with four new Duratracs on the 4Runner. During some wet weather out near the White Rim trail I had the old street tread tires on the trailer just ball up with mud. The more agressive Duratrac treads should be better at self cleaning

NKN_9667-1.jpg


NKN_9536-1.jpg
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
^^^^ Where might that be?
Looks like you got a chance to escape with the new shoes.

Ha! :) I had a narrow window to escape and had to be back pretty quickly on Sunday. I had some particular itches to scratch so I ran out and did it. I'll be updating the blog soon.

NKN_9547-1.jpg
 
Last edited:

teotwaki

Excelsior!
I've been running a set of Duratrac tires on the 4Runner and it was about time to replace them. I was able to find a couple of deals such that I could also equip the trailer with an average new tire cost of $125 mounted and balanced.
NKN_9671-1.JPG


NKN_9669-1.JPG


NKN_9667-1.jpg


So why run aggressive tires on a trailer? The common answer is to have the same sized tires and rims as the tow vehicle such that the trailer's tires serve as emergency spares. In the beginning I ran all weather tires on the trailer because I wanted to minimize rolling resistance and any negative impacts to the 4Runners MPG. On a recent trip to the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP we had wet enough weather that the old dirt roads quickly became layered in mud.
NKN_7020-2.jpg


While towing the trailer uphill I could see the tires turn into huge donuts of mud that was not being shed and the tires soon lost all traction whether moving forward or while applying the brakes. I believe that the more aggressive tires will shed mud more easily and eliminate this issue but the drought in California is not providing any test conditions.
:elkgrin:
 
Last edited:

teotwaki

Excelsior!
Wow! I do not know thw size but it looks like you had a great deal, plus it looks nicer!

I found all six tires through Craigslist. One set of four came from one person and the other two from two others, all with recent date codes. When I added it all up and divided by 6 I came up with the average costs. The size is 265/75/16
 

teotwaki

Excelsior!
I've been inching forward on a small project to carry a full-sized spare tire on the trailer. So far I bought one of these (almost new) tilt-down
spare carriers on Craigslist for a great price.
$_1.JPG


Ordered up Fabcore's replacement flange to match my rims. Was cheaper than building my own and should be here Thursday.

Ordered and received one of these Curt light duty anti-rattle pins to minimize swaying.

F-315_500.jpg

curt_hero_anti_rattle_kit.jpg


I think I have found a batch of clean used Toyota lug nuts. I need three for the tire mount and the others will be spares for the truck and trailer.

s-l300.jpg


If possible I will assemble it this weekend and I think I may apply a hacksaw to trim a couple of things and then repaint.

The mount should position the tire similar to the tire of this Chaser from Adventure Trailers. They have a nice swing gate whereas mine will tilt down to a horizontal position, not touching the ground.

attrailer11.jpg


88e754763b5f03cd6edc9d1b6b67ac1d.jpg


I will be sure to take pictures! :sombrero:
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,544
Messages
2,875,702
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top