Beginnings of a New Expedition Trailer

[homeboy1]

I found a frame with which to build an expedition trailer. It's pretty solid, as it used to pack around a 500 gallon water tank. The hubs will have to be changed first, as they are the old mobile home type. I was thinking of building with wood, as I have no ability to weld or fabricate metal. This particular trailer is 51.5" wide between the wheel wells. I should be able to get a full eight foot box, plus an additional couple of feet tapering in along the tongue. I'm new to this site and see some pretty serious builds by some very talented people. I'm not one of those. I know just enough about building with wood to be dangerous. At any rate, over the next month or so, my kids and I will design some sort of wooden structure. Anybody that has some suggestions, please fire away.

 

[Fresno]

Looks plenty strong. I can't see the suspension. What is the plan for suspension, axle, hubs, wheel and tires?

 

[homeboy1]

I recently found out that one can replace the hubs with an aftermarket five bolt assemble that just fits on. I'm in the process of finding those now. The suspension will remail the same as it was more than adquate for the previous load. This will be pulled behind a full sized truck and thus will not be going in some of the places you see people pulling them behind their jeeps. My real goal here is to provide a good solid little trailer that my two children can pull behind their vehicles to go camping, fishing and hunting. Thanks for looking.

 

[McZippie]

Hmmm... no welding or metal and dangerous with wood.
The trailer has some good points and bad for off road use
Excellant tongue, not so good that the frame is so close to the axle.
.
With your limitations in mind, think of the trailer as large open body cargo rack.
Wood floor and sides made with plumbing pipes or electrical conduit pipe.
Strap or screw down some heavy duty plastic tubs inside the cargo rack and good to go.

 

[Dirtytires]

Cool looking frame. Old Military Waterbuffalo frame? I think if you wanted to add some ground clearance
you could try flipping the springs! Can you give us some pics of the suspension?

 

[skersfan]

How long is this beast? It appears it would be a real problem off road, due to high centering. I can not see it from the side but the tongue looks to be 6-8 foot long. Tongue weight would be astronomical. Had to have been pulled with a tractor duece and ahalf. With 500 gallons of water on that it would have to 2000 pounds of tongue weight at least.

 

[Mark Harley]

This trailer sure looks like a Bear trap trailer frame to me.
The kind that use a piece of corrugated culvert as the body.
It looks stout! new axles and wheels and a spring over will raise it up some.
Looks like a good find!

 

[homeboy1]

That frame was actually built by a local gentleman to carry a 500 gallon fibreglass water tank. Believe it or not, the kid that owned it pulled it around with a Jeep and carried potable water to guys who had their own personal trailers at drilling rig sites. My father purchased it from this young lad close to twenty years ago. We built a huge wooden box on top of it, and carried two quads, plus all necessary equipment to hunt moose. We would carry close to 3000 to 4000 pounds on it. We eventually stopped using it because highway patrol in Alberta started giving us a hard time because of the axle (mobile home). From one end to the other, it's just a touch over 13'. I only just pulled it out of the weeds within the last two weeks, after looking around this site. I'll get back to this project when it warms up. Thanks for the interest that all of you have shown and the suggestions you have provided.

 

[Piet]

Swap the hubs and rims/tires... the mobile home type hubs are not designed for extended usage.

Make a list of what you want in a trailer. Sleeping?, cooking?, toilet?, sitting area? How Tall? How heavy? Toy Storage? Full Size? Folding?
It really depends on those needs...