[pete_79]

This is my little custom made camping trailer that I built to go behind our Jimny.
I didn't end up doing a progress build because it only took 2 weeks to make (2 weekends and a couple of evenings), anyway I took heaps of photos and I'm happy to share.

The most important points for this design was that it had to be as light as possible while being as strong as possible.
I'm pretty happy with the balance I ended up with, it's nice and solid while only weighing 190kg all up.

To start I drew up a set of plans complete with cutting lists for all materials and fold patterns for the side panels (you can PM me if you want a copy of my plans in PDF).
Next I called in a favour from a customer of ours that makes conveyors, because as luck would have it my side and end panels were exactly the same profile as his conveyor sides and ends

After a few phone calls and checking a few dimensions I ordered an axle to match the Jimny track width, it was 30" from memory (*edit; it was 60"), anyway if I used stock Jimny rims and 205 tyres it ended up 10mm wider then the Jimny. I got F100 hubs, 2mm thick mud guards and eye to eye springs.
I got a great deal from an engineering shop down in VIC, they really knew their stuff and were awesome to deal with. They where also very well priced (even with shipping), it only took 2 days to ship all of this up to Sydney from VIC. While all these other bits and pieces were in transit I cut and prepped all the SHS and angle iron pieces.

Then it was just a big puzzle to put together.

This is the first weekend:



I notched out the draw bar to make a stronger connection with the main centre brace.







And used gussets to support the front sections.



This is the angle iron and folded plate for the tailgate fitting up to the main side post.



And the whole tailgate.



Tailgate and both main side posts fitted to the main frame.



Clearances.



Fitting the, umm, front tailgate? with one fixed side on.



Sides and base on.



Box done, hinges and latches on.



Pretty happy with the first couple of days work...

[Joe]

Awesome work mate

[pete_79]

Thanks Joe....

[pete_79]

The bits from VIC turned up mid week, so the springs and axel went on the night they arrived.





I didn't bother going spring over axle, it made the trailer coupling too high for the hitch position.

[pete_79]

The second weekend was the final little bits that always take the most work to get right.


The original plan was to have 10L water cans on each side towards the front, something like this.



But it pushed the guards too far back and I ended up scraping that plan.


I wanted the guards to be removable in case they needed some panel beating in the bush or considering that they're mild steel and all the other sheets are gal I figured they would be the first things needing to be replaced.
These are the guard mounting brackets at the rear, cut down piece of RHS for a bit of extra strength.




Used a bit of 25x3 flat bar to make the tail light mounts and left clear space under the lights to wash out the mud and crap.






Mud guards on and side tie down bars on.




Painted and lights on...












All the wiring runs through the draw bar and in welded lugs across the back.





The end of another productive weekend....

[Joe]

how does it ride with the shackles on that angle?

Edit: you need to get hold of a pair of suzuki centre caps

[pete_79]

Joe wrote:

8O how does it ride with the shackles on that angle?

Really well actually.

I stressed over those shackles a fair bit to tell the truth.
The engineering shop I bought them off sent me mounting instructions that showed the shackles on that angle and I thought they can't be right. I rang them and checked, they assured me that the way they have to go on. These springs come from Adelaide and they had drawings in the shipping docs that show the same mounting position. I can't upload PDF files to photobucket, but I can assure you these are mounted as per the manufactures details.

They are 4 leave springs only rated to 500kg, so I can only think that they get you to mount the hangers so far apart to allow for the springs to settle and sag. I did notice that with about 100kg in the trailer the shackles are nearly vertical, so assuming after a few trips they'll settle a bit lower.
If not I can always take a leaf out to soften it up a bit OR just grind off the mounts and move them out. Don't think I will need to though, as I say it rides really well so far.

[pete_79]

Can't upload PDFs to photobucket, but a JPG of a screen shot works....

This is the manufacturers fitting instructions (mine are part number GIES1187/4AU).

[Joe]

Yeah fair enough as long as it works that's all the matters

[christover1]

Nice to see another trailer build, well done.

[pete_79]

christover1 wrote:

Nice to see another trailer build, well done.

Thanks Chris, I've enjoyed both of your trailer builds.

[pete_79]

And the finishing touches....

360 degree coupling.


The standard quick release coupling hit the spare tyre with the hitch up and with the hitch down the trailer didn't sit level. With the off road coupling it clears the tyre easy and the trailer sits level.


Plenty of room to open the rear door with trailer on.


And then the under side went from this.


To this.

[Jezza86]

2 weeks. holey crap...

[pete_79]

Yeah, but you can't fit a 6 burner BBQ in this one.....

[killazook]

Awesome work and man you really did hook in

[pete_79]

It was 2 weeks from ordering all the parts to have it ready for rego. That was with the quick release coupling and before I painted the tar underneath.

I built the thing quicker then all the government departments could get their shit together to register it... What a joke the rego process is in NSW...

[pezz]

great build,
this gives me motivation to get some work done with mine... if i can finally lock in some design features

if you dont mind disclosing, what was your total build cost excluding rego?

[pete_79]

pezz wrote:

great build,
this gives me motivation to get some work done with mine... if i can finally lock in some design features

if you dont mind disclosing, what was your total build cost excluding rego?

Thanks Pezz.
I don't mind disclosing, but I got a few freebies for this one.

1 full length of 40x40x2mm SHS and 1 full length of 40x40x3 angle where donated by work.
All the sheet steel and labour for the sides and floor was donated by a friend from work, this was a sheet and a half of 1.6mm galv. Before I asked my mate from work for the favour I looked at buying the pre-folded side panels from a trailer shop, from memory they were about $180-$200 for a 2.4m panel that I was going to cut in half.
I already had all of the consumables (cutting wheels, welding rods, ect) at home.

The bits I did buy:
Trailer kit (quick release coupling, mud guards, springs, axle, hubs and bearings ect) = ~$500 delivered
2m of 65x65x3 SHS for the draw bar and 2m of 65x35x3 RHS for the centre brace, plus other little bits and pieces of steel = $80
Safety chain, hinges, latches, lights, cables, wiring connectors ect = ~$150
2 x second hand Jimny rims from the wreckers and 1 second hand tyre to match the 1 good tyre that was on the rims = $120
Way too many pressure pack cans of cold gal, etch primer and colourbond paint = $100+ (I used a colourbond colour to make it easy for touch ups in the future)

Total to get to rego stage = $950 (give or take)

That's pretty much what a new 5'x3'6" trailer is worth from the likes of Mario Trailers in Sydney. Those trailers aren't as solid as I would like for off road work, they have an angle iron sub frame and draw bar, slipper springs and lighter gauge sides, but they still weigh over 200kg. I looked at heaps and heaps of new and second-hand trailers and figured if I wasn't going to get much change out of $1,000.00 for something I was only going to modify, I might as well just build the whole thing the way I wanted it from the ground up for about the same money.

[shep]

On the shackle angle. It is a very common mistake to confuse car and trailer shackle angles. A car needs articulation while a trailer needs stability and load
carrying capasity. Eg my trailer weighs 250kg but is legal to have a load of 950kg for a all up weight of 1200kg. No car suspension is designed to carry 4 times
the cars weight. The correct trailer shackle angle makes a massive difference to the way a trailer works.

My trailer shackle angle is the same as pete's and is what the spring manufacture specifies

[pete_79]

Thanks Shep. I was sure I was right, but it's reassuring to know I hadn't stuffed up that bit....


Here's a few picks from the maiden voyage.









I'm really happy with how it went.
We did a couple of decent hill climbs and descents and threw in a few wheel deep creek crossings to test it out. Gotta say, I wasn't disappointed at all, it handled everything really well and the Jimny had no problems dragging it around either.

[Joe]

shep wrote:

On the shackle angle.

Well there ya go i never thought about it like that but now that you've said it it makes sence

[pezz]

pete_79 wrote:

I might as well just build the whole thing the way I wanted it from the ground up for about the same money.

sounds fair,
i looked around at 5x3's as well but was bitterly disappointed by the build quality from trailer shops..
hence why i am building one too..

i can only hope mine comes out as neat as yours

[pete_79]

We've got an extended trip coming up soon that I'm going to need to take some extra fuel and water that we won't need for most other camping trips.
So I wanted to have something removable to hold the extra jerry cans and came up with this:


It can hold 3 x 20L jerry cans, but that's more then I'll ever need (and more weight then I'd like to have on the draw bar) so I think I'll make up a bracket to mount our little 2kg gas bottle directly over the bar with a jerry can either side.


This shows the mounting brackets and support bars under the outside jerry cans.
It's 50x50x3 angle with 2 x 10mm bolts under each jerry can and I can put a u-bolt to tie the tray into the draw bar if it's really needed. At this stage I don't think I'll need the u-bolt, but we'll see how it goes.
The straps and bit of timber on the gas bottle is just for this test fit up, as I said I will make a steel cradle with lockable straps for it before I go anywhere with it.

[Dan85]

Nice trailer build looks good. Wish I could weld like that. Outa curiosity how much fuel does it use with the trailer and roof basket?

[pete_79]

Dan85 wrote:

Outa curiosity how much fuel does it use with the trailer and roof basket?

The roof basket is on all the time, usually get around 320/350k's from about 35/37Lt. Depending who's driving it the most (my foot's a bit heavier then the misses ).
Didn't notice any real increase in consumption with the couple of runs I've done with the trailer so far. Will have a better idea how it all goes after Easter.

[Dan85]

Cool thanks mate

[pete_79]

Sorted the 2kg gas bottle mount on the trailer draw bar today.

I couldn't find anywhere that did a 2kg trailer mount so had to fab one from scratch.....




Fits neat between the water and fuel.

[pete_79]

pete_79 wrote:

I ordered an axle to match the Jimny track width, it was 30" from memory

I was going through some old files today and found the original docs from the guys I got the trailer kit off, turns out it was actually a 60" axel.....

[zukenutter]

You do way better metal fab than me, not that it's hard. Seriously though, very neat trailer and thanks for such a detailed build thread.

Joe wrote:

shep wrote:

On the shackle angle.

Well there ya go i never thought about it like that but now that you've said it it makes sence

X2 thanks Shep

[pete_79]

zukenutter wrote:

thanks for such a detailed build thread.

I've been sponging so much info and ideas from this forum over the last couple of years I'm glad I can finally give something back...