BlackWidow
Observer
Hello everyone
My Father in law recently gave me a 1986 Palamino Shetland Pop Up Trailer which turned out to be in an almost brand new condition. I had recently made a small post of a trip me and the kids took with it http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/62086-Palimino-Shetland. Even as i was driving it home for the first time from Long Beach I knew i had to raise it if i wanted to be able to take it camping in remote areas. Once i had some time I started to look on the internet to find if others had the same idea and i came across this posting http://forum.ih8mud.com/trailer-tech/354638-offroad-popup-camper-build.html which was exactly what i wanted to do. The major difference was that unlike the PUP in that build mine did not have any defects inside so the thought of taking the PUP apart was out of the question. My basic plan is to Build a new frame under the PUP And leave the original frame untouched with the exception of removing the tounge. I also wanted to be able to put it back to its original condition if i ever decided to sale it. I had taken it on two camping trips and decided that if i was going to build a new frame for it i would make it longer then the original frame so that i could have extra storage.
Here it is after i first got it home Yes those are 8 inch wheels with very little ground clearance.
The start of the new frame build
After about 2 weeks and a few modifications this is what i ended up with. The length of the frame including tounge is 13 feet give or take a few inches. I took apart a 3500lb axle and shortened it and used 1750lb springs I did this because i had the axle and parts available to me for free. Later i might replace them with Toyota leaf springs but I will see if there is any reason to after a few trips offroad. I plan on adding shocks too.
Here I am marrying the two old frame to the new frame.
Once I had the trailer in place I noticed that i needed to raise the old frame off the new frame by 3 inches to get better wheel clearance. I ended up raising it 4 inches and today i will cut off the old tounge and start fabricating a extra wheel carrier.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.
My Father in law recently gave me a 1986 Palamino Shetland Pop Up Trailer which turned out to be in an almost brand new condition. I had recently made a small post of a trip me and the kids took with it http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/62086-Palimino-Shetland. Even as i was driving it home for the first time from Long Beach I knew i had to raise it if i wanted to be able to take it camping in remote areas. Once i had some time I started to look on the internet to find if others had the same idea and i came across this posting http://forum.ih8mud.com/trailer-tech/354638-offroad-popup-camper-build.html which was exactly what i wanted to do. The major difference was that unlike the PUP in that build mine did not have any defects inside so the thought of taking the PUP apart was out of the question. My basic plan is to Build a new frame under the PUP And leave the original frame untouched with the exception of removing the tounge. I also wanted to be able to put it back to its original condition if i ever decided to sale it. I had taken it on two camping trips and decided that if i was going to build a new frame for it i would make it longer then the original frame so that i could have extra storage.
Here it is after i first got it home Yes those are 8 inch wheels with very little ground clearance.
The start of the new frame build
After about 2 weeks and a few modifications this is what i ended up with. The length of the frame including tounge is 13 feet give or take a few inches. I took apart a 3500lb axle and shortened it and used 1750lb springs I did this because i had the axle and parts available to me for free. Later i might replace them with Toyota leaf springs but I will see if there is any reason to after a few trips offroad. I plan on adding shocks too.
Here I am marrying the two old frame to the new frame.
Once I had the trailer in place I noticed that i needed to raise the old frame off the new frame by 3 inches to get better wheel clearance. I ended up raising it 4 inches and today i will cut off the old tounge and start fabricating a extra wheel carrier.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.
