Elmo's New Toy Hauler Build

[elmo_4_vt]

That's awesome Pat... Thanks. It's really nice to see it shown in Sketch-Up, especially for the wife. I appreciate the effort, but honestly it's not necessary. The other one I had told you about was different and I couldn't visualize how it would look with a pop-top... This one is really just a cargo trailer. Unfortunately, it's not going to be much of an eye-catcher. I was planning on matching the truck though with some vinyl wrap once I get things settled, you read my mind. I'll have to throw some kind of graphics on there to spice things up. Maybe the off-road tire tread like I've seen on a couple other builds lately.

Don

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[bob]

If you like mine, contact Rick at AVI graphics. He can forward the stuff to your local guy. I paid for the design so all you should have to pay for is the actual vinyl. And maybe the installation if you are not confident about doing it. Let me know.

[elmo_4_vt]

Thanks Bob.. I appreciate the info. I'll give it a shot if I go that way. The graphics you put on yours really make it look great and broke up the all white.

Don

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[bob]

The graphics are the Goodyear Wrangler Kevlar track, and supposed to look like coming out of turn/slide. We did it by spray painting a piece of heavy paper and then just backing up on it. Have fun.

[SWITAWI]

and a few more with a little progress.......

Man you are such a bad influence, lol. You're like some shady guy in the entrance to a dark alley with a bunch of trailer ideas under his long coat...

Psssst! Hey, buddy. Need a little 'Sketch-Me-Up' to get you by?

[Titanpat57]

lol...

"birds of a feather..." I think you know the rest..

I actually owed Don a drawing, so I thought this may help

[elmo_4_vt]

Man you are such a bad influence, lol.

He really is a bad influence... Who builds 2 or 3 trailers in just a couple years and throws out all the ideas about using truck shells and such...

I'm going to start on the inside views tonight w/ Sketch-up if I have a moment... Shouldn't be anything earth shattering with my skills.

Don

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[elmo_4_vt]

So I'm back after a 1800mile round trip to Southern Georgia and back to Delaware. About 30 hours of driving in 3 days, but it was actually kind of fun since my wife and I went without the kid. It was a nice break and we hadn't had a road trip since before we were married.

I was supposed to pick up the trailer at the beginning of the year, but due to some "misunderstandings" about the axle placement, it got pushed back until this past weekend. Never got the axle placement where it was agreed to and where I wanted it, and that part didn't make me very happy. The good news is that almost everything else about the experience went very smoothly. All the other options went in like I ordered it, and the factory in GA was very responsive. Overall, I am very happy with Trailershowroom.com, but there are some things that are lost with not dealing in person. In my case, it was because there was a disconnect between the sales staff and the manufacturer's willingness to do certain custom touches, like a non-standard axle placement. This could probably happen with a normal in person dealer too though, so I don't see that as being too much of a detriment. I should have just verified everything with the factory before I put money down to make sure the salesman knew what they were talking about.

Like I said, everything else went pretty well. The trailer seems to be made well, and I'll confirm this as I start taking things apart to make my modifications. The axle placement wasn't a deal breaker, and I'll work around it by changing where I put some of the equipment. I was thinking about putting a spare tire on the back bumper, and now I think I will for rear weight as much as functionality. I also had them move the "kitchen" are back about 1' towards the axle to help some too. The empty trailer has about 180lbs of tongue weight as it stands now. A little heavy already, but I don't know how much it weighs. I'll do that this week when I get it tagged and registered. On the plus side, it towed very well all 900 miles through some REALLY high winds and tracked very well.

Anyway, here are the pictures. The only "quality" issue that I'm not happy about, is that they used different style of lights on the rear between the back-up lights and the stop/turn lights. Still trying to think about what I can do to fix that part.

Here it is at night in the storage yard with 100 other trailers when we first got into town after 13 hours of driving:



And the next morning after picking it up. Took my Dad's truck because it gets much better gas milage:










This coming weekend I'll be able to start taking things apart and check out the little details. I'm going to flip the 4" drop axle to see how it will look with the future suspension.

Let me know what you think. Looks a little plain now, but I think it will really start looking nice with the new wheels/tire and when we put some color vinyl graphics on towards the end.

Don

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[java]

Should be Fun!

[Titanpat57]

Don,

Pics look great...seems to be all there.

Although the axle thing may seem to be a bit of a PITA....I think with a little creative "loading" you'll be fine.

Bottom line, I'd rather have too much tongue weight than too little...congratz!!