New Off-Road Trailer w/Pictures

67489 Views 159 Replies 47 Participants Last post by grogie, Jun 12, 2019

grogie

Discussion Starter · Feb 17, 2013

Off-Road Trailer w/Pictures

First, I have to give props to Scott Morris at Sunfire Off-road (Sunman, IN - 812-623-3473). Last December I had asked him if he had an interest in building me an off-road box trailer. Scott has worked on my Jeep on several earlier occasions, and he's always done great work. Well fortunately he did agree to build the trailer, and I just returned home with it.

The build included tires to match my TJ (32" MT/Rs), black Eagle alloy wheels, 3' x 5' x 20" box, hydraulic assisted lid, tailgate, custom built 3500# axle with ultra-lube hubs, leaf springs and shocks, electric trailer brakes with 7-way plug, battery box with cigarette lighter plug-in, gas can holder, and painted with a bed-liner. I also asked to have plenty of tie-downs.

Last fall I had installed a 7-way wiring harness for an LJ. (Which for my '06 TJ, the harness had to be hooked into the drivers side tail light, and as well to switch the left and right blinker wires at the harness 7-way plug to work… As otherwise the left-right blinkers were crossed... And again thanks to Scott for helping with this

.) I also had installed a Prodigy P2 brake controller, and I bought a cushioned long ball mount with a 4" drop to clear my TJ's spare tire.

So towing it about 90 miles home, my TJ didn't seem to feel it at all on the highway (other then when I hit a few hard bumps or just a bouncy road surface). I don't know what the weight is, but I can easily unhook it and push it around so it's pretty light weight. Yet it is very solid built. :thumbsup:

And now for the pictures...

Shows up fine in my rear mirrors:

Easily pushed it into my garage.

My long term objective with this trailer is tow it out west for camping trips (as camping with a TJ is otherwise rather minimalistic).

I'll update this thread from time to time with modifications and trips. Once I get it licensed I'll tow it out to the Badlands and give it a try off-road.

Thanks for looking. :wave:

EDIT: A couple of pictures I had on my iPhone from when picking it up.

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Richisinyoface

· #2 · Feb 17, 2013

That is awesome! I have been considering building one myself, thanks for the pictures. Great job!

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Richisinyoface

· #41 · Nov 22, 2013

G Beasley said:
Have you looked at this Roof top tent ? Seems like a really good deal . http://trdparts4u.toyotaofdallas.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=-5630 $699.00

It's a good one, ARB copy and half the jingle

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Richisinyoface

· #43 · Nov 22, 2013

grogie said:
^Yes, nice price. The Ayer Tepui tent is about that price too, and it's a little lighter at 95#. I will probably have to install some additional bars on top of the trailer to mount the tent to. With my recent trip to the Michigan U.P., I have gone to cots and air mattresses, which just take up room in the tent and in the trailer/Jeep. An RTT just sounds nice being quick to open and off the ground. I think I'd use it a lot!

I definitely love mine, very comfortable

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Richisinyoface

· #60 · Apr 14, 2014

grogie said:
^The way the covers seal on RTTs is that there is rounded fabric on one side that slides through a receiver channel at the hinge side of the tent base. Then there is a large zipper that goes all the way around of the other three sides of the tent. The cover is a thick vinyl. The tent itself is pretty compressed inside the cover, so even if dust got through the zipper, or at it's edges, I doubt it would work its way inside the the tent.

As far as the Tepui brand tents, I've read several reviews of guys using them over a hundred nights and have been pleased with them for the $.

This shows one opening:

My Tent stays nice and clean closed and zipped up, looking at 5+ years now

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Richisinyoface

· #93 · Jul 27, 2014

grogie said:
^Thanks for the comment. Well since this thread was brought back to life, last week I had the trailer back at home as my TJ was out getting new Metalcloak aluminum control arms installed at Sunfire. I had some more supplies for it, plus I was also still working on the bed. I found a 1-1/2" gel top pad that's a perfect size to slip inside the double-sized sleeping bag. Unfortunately it's too thick to leave inside the RTT and close it up (can't get the outside cover to completely zip), but the double bag with the gel top folds up easy enough and slips into a duffle bag that will go inside the trailer below. This is about the size of my old ground tent, but it's now super comfortable inside. The wife should be happy for our nine nights of camping in Utah! :rofl: The two mummy sleeping bags that were going to be stored inside the trailer will now stay in the RTT as a trade off. And, with the new control arms on the TJ, it even tows better! (Tighter front end.) I hit some dirt roads last Sunday and the TJ with the trailer in tow kicks up dust like a semi.

I have a 2" memory foam mattress on top of my stock 3" RTT mattress and mine seems to zip up just fine.

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Richisinyoface

· #95 · Jul 28, 2014

grogie said:
Well the Tepui isn't a huge RTT, so it only has so much room in the center area to leave something inside it. I was able to get the zipper zipped on one side, but not the second side.

Still a great investment, most comfortable way to camp especially as we get older

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Richisinyoface

· #97 · Jul 28, 2014

grogie said:
Oh indeed! I've thought back to my youth when all I needed was a basic sleeping bag. How is it that the ground is just too hard for that anymore? Did something change? :rofl:

Yeah, We did!

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