Villageidiots Trailer Build.

[villageidiot327]

Got some more pics from dave today. i gotta say, Dave has been a life saver with this one, its the only way the trailer would have had a chance at being finished in time.

lid strut brackets welded into the lid frame, and pivot brackets welded into the trailer wall.

tailgate cables on, brackets welded to the tail gate, and shoulder bolts welded to the trailer frame. cables will be able to clip on and off the bolts up top to drop tail gate 180* or to remove altogether.

front corners of lid frame cut to match trailer, boxed, and corner gusset plates made and welded in

lid closed, gate up

lid up, gate dropped.

all thats left is skinning the lid, i think he's gunna bite that off tomorrow.

 

[villageidiot327]

well, full work week in the books with no updates, so here goes.

picked up the trailer from Dave on tuesday, id been talking with the painter and they dropped the "if you want it painted this week, i need it here by wednesday morning at 7am. this was at 3pm tuesday. so i grabbed the trailer from dave, headed back to the shop to do a couple tasks before having to deliver it to paint.

-put a piece of 1/8" flat stock to make a "dam" for the bottom of the tailgate.

-fully welded the tailgate panels in. didnt want to put seam sealer on the tailgate.

-rugged the whole thing down with scotch brite, and hit it with POR15 metal prep

-took off the tailgate cables and lid struts

-swapped from the jeep wheels to the stock trailer wheels, didnt wanna have anything happen to the rolling stock.

-delivered the trailer to the painter in gardena, about 40 miles away.

so i dropped it off after hours, about 11pm with the guard shack at the place that built the trailer.

picked it up today after work.

it looks darn good, especially for the $$ i got charged. its a dark metallic grey. looks CHARP.

 

[ottsville]

Yes it sure does!

 

[villageidiot327]

went to the shop early this morning, about 6:30am, my normal time, but not on a saturday!

so i pulled the trailer in, put the C jacks back on, removed the wheels and got to wiring. the BAL C jacks are pretty neat, that coupled with the tongue jack and i can lift the whole trailer off the ground and pull the tires, then its pretty easy to scoot around on a creeper underneath.

wired in the brake/tail lights

installed the tailgate cables and hardware, and the lid lift struts.

all lit up, just rear lights.

 

[villageidiot327]

Went in pretty early again today after a 7am stop at home depot for some blue tape and black DAP dynaflex230.

got the seams of the trailer all taped off. ERR, missed on, the forward one on the right wall. in the middle of caulking, i added the tapes along those seams, but only after wiping caulk into the seams and then realizing i had no tape to pull clean lines. used one full tube of the stuff, of course 90% of what you lay down gets wiped away after you smooth it out so as not to have yucky looking sealant lines all over the place.

thats it for the trailer today. went home and kept prepping parts for overland expo in 2 weekends time. I'm leaving a week early to Moab, UT on sunday the 13th, then heading direct to OXW in Flagstaff from Moab

 

[L3TT3RS]

Looks great!

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[villageidiot327]

made the floor insert and cargo stop for the trailer tonite.

picked up a 1/2" sheet of ply and a 2x6 and a grey cut of carpet.

cut the sheet to fit, wrapped it with carpet and a quick staple job on the bottom.

same treatment to the 2x6

measured where i think the heavy cargo should stop, and pre drilled and screwed the 1/2 ply and the 2x6 together with 12 screws over 47", should stop things from sliding too much forward.

see, this trailer will be used to haul product and my vendor booth setup all over the place. its first voyage will be Moab, and then Overland expo west in Flagstaff. We make a portable flat packing fire pit and grill, and theyre hoss, so we can only take about 40 a load. the 2x6 will stop the boxed units from sliding forward too far to the tongue, and keep my tongue weight where it needs to be. let the axle/springs carry the load.

 

[villageidiot327]

couple more pics from Dave, aluminum skin has been sheared, and bent, and placed on the lid frame.

i snuck over there after work, and he'd already cut the corners in the front to match the frame, and welded and smoothed out the welds. like a dingus i forgot to take pics, but there will be more tomorrow when i pick up the trailer.

i dropped off the bonding adhesive to put the lid skin on, as well as the latches that I'm using for the lid.

tomorrow ill pick it up and:

-put the insert in it
-put the seal on the lid and tailgate
-mount the license plate
-set the tire pressures
-drag it home so i can get cranking on loading it for the trip, leaving sunday morning

 

[villageidiot327]

Went over to Dave's to grab the trailer a touch before lunch time today. hooked it up to the jeep and booked it back to the shop.

got to the shop, stuck the carpeted insert inside and put on the lid and tailgate seals.

while i was doing this i noticed the lid skin wasn't exactly tight to the frame cross bars, so i semi panicked, I'm leaving town sunday am, trailer hooked to the jeep, and i don't want the lid flying off somewhere along the way. So.......

i ripped the lid skin off, scraped all the adhesive that dave put down (i supplied it, not his fault) scraped the frame of the lid all clean, and roughed up both mating surfaces, this time i stuck it down with something different, the same stuff i used for seam sealer as recommended by the body shop next door. hope it works.

figuring the problem wasn't likely the adhesive, but more the lack of weight/cure time etc. i pushed the trailer in the shop, laid down some fender covers across the lid, and then put the old trailer floor on top of it, and then stacked a buncha tires and wheels on top of that. ill check on it in the morning, but I'm sure it'll be fine (i hope)

i sent my brother pics of the "done trailer" and he asked how i held the lid down, screws or rivets, i responded "currently with wood and a bunch of tires and wheels"

thats the original trailer floor, OG trailer tires and wheels, a set of wheels from the car I'm working on, and the old set of wheels and tires off the boss' Ford expedition.

 

[L3TT3RS]

Color me intrigued. I'd love to see the grill you speak of.

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[villageidiot327]

Color me intrigued. I'd love to see the grill you speak of.

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Check the link in my sig line.

Www.foldaflame.com

 

[L3TT3RS]

Ah. I dont see sig lines due to the fact I'm on tapatalk.
But thanks. I'll check it out

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[villageidiot327]

Trailer towed great from Orange County, CA to Moab, UT

really enjoying my time here in Moab before I head to flagstaff for expo.

 

[villageidiot327]

i guess this ones a wrap.

went back to the shop last saturday morning and pulled all the tires/weight off the lid of the trailer, hooked it up to the jeep and headed back to the house to load up to go to expo west.

all loaded up going to expo west.

somewhere along the road i stopped to water a bush and for the wife to take the dog for a walk. figured id grab a couple pics of the trailer in the wild.

all in all, the trailer did great, towed with ease, only dropped my 75-80mph mpg down by about 2mpg, and it was not really noticeable back there other than under initial acceleration.

not sure what if anything else ill do to the trailer.

 

[jonnyquest]

Beautiful work! Please link here any new trailer thread you start. Subscribed.