Off season project

First topic message reminder :

Gday all.

I just bought myself a trade trailer, had some friends down in perth who were kind enough to pick it up and drive it back to hedland which worked out well. Anyway it rocked up yesterday and im pretty happy with it, i had only seen pictures on gumtree so wasnt real sure what was gonna rock up!! Plan is to convert it to an offroad camper over the next few months - hopefully i can get it bush ready by about easter time.

This is what ive got planned for it:
-Solar and electric fit out. Already got a 120w solar panel/regulator and some deep cycle batteries and have ordered internal and external LED lighting.
-Water tank and pump. Thinking about 80Litres or so for the tank.
-Rooftop tent, this will be down the track a bit, will just throw the swag or jet tent in the back for the first few expeditions.
-Pull out awning
-Thicker stronger draw bar, may also extend and make a section for a quad to be mounted on.
-Gas bottle and jerry can holders all round.
-Few extra inches of lift, which is the first job im gonna tackle.

Trailer is currently sitting on 195 R14's so sits pretty low, im going to throw some 6 stud (hilux) hubs on the axles, get some 16" rims and match tyre size to my car. Also want to upgrade the suspension, thinking i might chase up some second hand hilux leaf springs and throw them on.

Anyway this is what im working with.

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Bignuggs wrote:Chad, the trailer is looking good.  Have ya checked the freezer at home for the gas struts     yeah I know,  I'm a cheeky sod   

 
Cliff

Ha ha- haven't checked the freezer- but I guess stranger things have happened- especially with my 2 year old getting around putting all kinds of things where they aint meant to be. Im quite interested to find out where I actually put them- ive got a habit of putting things away for safe keeping and then forgetting where- did it once with my gold, spent a few days turning the house upside down that time. 

Hi Chad

The struts will turn up, they always do when ya don't need them anymore   
I used to spend hours looking for my spectacles until I woke up I was already wearing them   

 
Cliff

Well its feeling like the finish line is almost in sight now. I spoke to the inspection guys about what I need to do before bringing it in and all it requires is a VIN which ive applied for and received, its tare weight which I got (no cert required) and its compliance plate which is in the mail.

Im still waiting on the new gas struts and dust seal that I need to finish the doors so I went ahead and finished the painting of the body pretty much. It got 3 topcoats in the end as coat 2 (which was to be final coat and first with spraygun) was absolutely woeful  . I also did all the priming underneath which only leaves a couple of coats of stoneguard to apply which shouldn't take long.

With the paint dry tomorrow I can start the final mounting of the hitch and mudflaps. As for the indicators, licence plate holder and wiring- I cant do much there until the rubber grommets I ordered online arrive-everything takes forever to get here to Hedland  

Anyway only pic ive taken lately is of my masterful rigging when weighing the rig  

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Love the pilbara weigh bridge!!  Getting close now bud

Flying kiwi wrote:Love the pilbara weigh bridge!!  Getting close now bud

Ha ha- as you know you make do with what you can up here  

Getting closer to licensed all the time. now for the colour.  What will it be ?  I reckon the Hot Pink would be nice   

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Bignuggs wrote:Getting closer to licensed all the time. now for the colour.  What will it be ?  I reckon the Hot Pink would be nice   

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Already painted mate- went hammertone gunmetal grey  

Grey.  How we gunna find ya in the scrub if it's grey.  
The hot pink is really nice and it stands out    

Bignuggs wrote:Grey.  How we gunna find ya in the scrub if it's grey.  
The hot pink is really nice and it stands out    

That's the whole point- to stay in cognito   ha ha

Anyway ive started throwing a few bits and pieces back on the trailer, heres the mudflaps

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and here is where I marked out and was about to drill the mudflap holes on the wrong side of the guards  

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Yes I really did almost do that, it wasn't until I was walking off to grab the drill that I realised I was about to put the flaps on the front of the guards!!! That would have made this the stupidest looking trailer around here  

My rubber grommets rocked up today aswell which means I can start installing indicators/wiring etc, but still waiting on the rest of the stuff to finish the doors.

Don't worry about puting the mudflaps on the wrong side of the guards, just weld a new drawbar at the other end of the trailer  

snapper wrote:Don't worry about puting the mudflaps on the wrong side of the guards, just weld a new drawbar at the other end of the trailer  

Ha ha- good idea- lucky it didn't come to that  

Here's mine if you wanted a quad platform idea.
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Plus I run an Alko hitch which does away with the poly blocks. Means you don't have to run different hitches to tow the boat or the camper. Maybe an idea.
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pilbara junky wrote:Here's mine if you wanted a quad platform idea.
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Plus I run an Alko hitch which does away with the poly blocks. Means you don't have to run different hitches to tow the boat or the camper. Maybe an idea.
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Nice set up mate- we will have to head out together when mine is finally done  

As for the quad set up I wouldn't mind having a close up look- may look at adding that in the future when the kids get a bit older.

geez u wouldn't want to be p*ssed when u drive the quad back on again..

regards
oneday

haha yeah shes tight. wont fit a big quad but the lil girl does well. Plus if you don't want to take the quad makes good use as a firewood platform.

Colour wise go for the "brite green" I had a 79 holden wagon that colour, sure stands out in the car park ;o))
Re treg hitch been using it since 2003 and no problems, maybe I've been lucky

hanson wrote:Colour wise go for the "brite green" I had a 79 holden wagon that colour, sure stands out in the car park ;o))
Re treg hitch been using it since 2003 and no problems, maybe I've been lucky

Thanks for the input on the hitch mate-seems people either love them or hate them- I guess ill let everyone know in a few years what my thoughts are  

Well ive started refitting some of the stuff I took off prior to painting, ive got the indicators and licence plate holder back on and temporarily wired up at the moment. I ran the cabling through the draw bar/chassis and have it coming up in the back of my box-ended up being quite a mission to get it through, luckily the electricians at work had a cable snake  tested it all and all works well so will get the wiring connections done up properly during the week.

Also mounted the compliance plate today, just need to engrave it-also need to stamp the VIN onto the draw bar-again should be able to get it done during the work if works not too busy.

Also did a bit of work on fitting the locks for the doors and the gas struts-after getting the gas struts though ive decided I wanted to mount longer ones- so that's atleast another week of waiting until they arrive.

I actually had the trailer up behind my car for the first time today when I was testing the indicators/stop lights etc. It was good to finally see the 2 together and how they will sit- I do need to however get one of those raised hitches to make everything line up sweet.

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Well its been almost a month since my last post on this thread, ive actually been out swinging the detector for a change lately!

Anyway spent about an hour on the trailer this arvo and got the gas struts fitted to one of the doors finally, still a bit of fine tuning to do- and yes I do realise one of the struts is upside down in the photo  

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I also had some flat bar engraved with my VIN which I welded to the drawer bar aswell which looks a lot neater than if I had tried to weld the letters and numbers on directly.

So not too much to go now........

I still reckon Hot Pink looks good    and why was one of the struts upside down    
cheers
Cliff

When i built my trailer i got hold of some stamps that you hit with a mash hammer to put the vin number on the trailer

snapper wrote:When i built my trailer i got hold of some stamps that you hit with a mash hammer to put the vin number on the trailer

Yeah we didn't have any of them at work. I had a look at buying them and they were about $130 for letter stamps and not much different for the numbers!! Bugger that for something I wouldn't use again.

Well ive got the doors on now- which includes the gas struts and the locking mechanisims. The door panels themselves now have a couple coats of primer on them and will probably see some topcoat this arvo. The trailer is actually booked in this Friday for its final inspection- hopefully it will get the nod of approval with out any issues.

Heres a couple of pics from this morning with the doors open.

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So there is a bit of painting, fitting of the handles and fitting of the dust seal between now and Friday which shouldn't be an issue. More photos then  

Well as the title of the post says ive finally got it registered!!!! It didn't end up being as much of a pain as I thought it would to get it inspected and signed off thankfully. Got the inspection done yesterday and then picked up the plate, then spent today refitting roof racks, awning, jerry can holders and tool box. I suppose at this stage its now usable  , not completely finished though- gotta start work on the inside now  

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Good stuff Chad     now paint it HOT PINK      it's a good colour   

Abuse me all ya like   

 
Cliff