I had put new, cheap shocks on it, they are trashed from the empty test drives and will need to be replaced. The springs are the stock 1/2 ton F-150 springs attached to the original rear 8.8 axle assembly. It has a lot of spring bounce and sets high when unloaded. There is a small amount of upward play before it tops out the shocks but not a lot. I plan on building in or hard mounting a lot of the equipment I will carry so it will stay at about half the total planned load when finished. I test pulled it with two -55 gal drums of water, two full size spare tires, a full 20lb propane tank, 10 gal of fuel and 500 lbs of bagged sand, 10 -50 lb bags. It was little problems and totally no bounce. The water alone weighed 917lbs . The drums were up front behind the propane and fuel, the rest was laid out to about to about one foot forward of the tailgate.
With my truck and truck camper loaded I am still going to be under the total weight limit of the truck and the full trailer way under the tow capacity. I have no idea what the trailer weighs so I guessed at 1000lbs.???. My truck is a GMC ¾ ton HD diesel 4x4 with the factory tow package. I have a Warn 6000lb winch under the back of the truck and a Warn 8000lb winch on the front, so if the trailer gets stuck like an boat anchor, I can unhook and drag it out to me....I hope!
It has old car tires 215/75/15 on it now. I will be replacing those before I take it out on the road with 245/75/15 D or preferably E truck tires and run them at near full pressure. Eventually I want to replace the rear axle assembly with one that can mount the same 8 bolt 16” wheels on my truck.
Q. This has gotten heaver than I originally thought. Should I worry about this much weight pushing the rig?
Q. Any one have an idea what other expedition trailers weigh??
Q. Should I put electric brakes on it??
Q. I would like to replace the factory dual tanks and use them as transfer tanks for diesel fuel. Any advice??
