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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Curiosity got the better of me so I made some inquiries. The block should last for years as it is an offroad hitch but it all comes down to usage but the problem is with the pin hole bush, if it wears out, the whole block has to be replaced as the bush is vulcanised in. The block itself cost about $155

My curiosity is now satisfied

cheers
Cliff


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Thanks for that mate. Good to know.

So the brass bush is vulcanised in hey. I reckon you could drill it out if need be and use a press to push a new one in, just need to match the hole and bush size EXACTLY. Ill give it a go in a couple of years and let you know how i go

By the way i got the whole hitch for less than the $155 you were quoted.

Also whilst on the topic, one of my mates just got a brand new off road camper that has the same hitch, apparently its an absolute pain in the a%# to hook up when your on uneven ground. Theres something to look forward to

When ya look at the block, you have 2 pivot points and I'd say both have the brass bush (I think they said it was brass). You would be able to see wear and tear on the hitch pin bush but not the other as it is tack welded in.
This is the mob I called. They do good gear as I got a new axle and springs from them years ago for my boat trailer.

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Bignuggs wrote:When ya look at the block, you have 2 pivot points and I'd say both have the brass bush (I think they said it was brass). You would be able to see wear and tear on the hitch pin bush but not the other as it is tack welded in.
This is the mob I called. They do good gear as I got a new axle and springs from them years ago for my boat trailer.

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Yeah thats the mob i got most of my parts through (axle, hubs, bearings, springs, guards, gas bottle holder, water tank etc). Heaps of stuff on their website and easy to navigate through aswell. I ended up emailing one of the owners several times with a heap of questions, he couldnt have been more helpful-its pretty rare to get such good service theese days. Id definately recommend them for anyone chasing trailer parts in W.A.

I have a Tregg Hitch fitted to our 2001 O/Road 15' poptop caravan, we have been around Australia and all over WA and had no problems with this type of hitch , there are no signs of any wear. Hitch up can be a pain but I swapped the standard jockey wheel for one that has a crank ratchet setup (don't know what its called) and I can crank the van the last foot or so to hitchup without any drama's or threat of divorce. Wheel doesn't work all that well in soft dirt though, the jockey wheel tends to bog down, when that happens you have to hitch up the old fashion way and take your chance on the divorce side of things

Regards
Woteva

Woteva wrote:I have a Tregg Hitch fitted to our 2001 O/Road 15' poptop caravan, we have been around Australia and all over WA and had no problems with this type of hitch , there are no signs of any wear. Hitch up can be a pain but I swapped the standard jockey wheel for one that has a crank ratchet setup (don't know what its called) and I can crank the van the last foot or so to hitchup without any drama's or threat of divorce. Wheel doesn't work all that well in soft dirt though, the jockey wheel tends to bog down, when that happens you have to hitch up the old fashion way and take your chance on the divorce side of things

Regards
Woteva

Thanks for that woteva. So have you had the hitch on there since 2001 with no signs of wear?? If so thats mighty impressive.

Heres the latest update for my trailer build. I managed to get one of the side panels on today, got one of the guards partially fitted and also fitted/tested one of the jerry can holders i bought. Id really like to get the other side of the trailer to the same stage in the next couple of days- but that depends on weather i go prospecting tomorrow or the day after though, we'll see what happens.

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it's starting to look like a trailer now. will it be long enuff to sleep inside it or just packed full of useless detecting gear

[quote="Bignuggs"]it's starting to look like a trailer now. will it be long enuff to sleep inside it or just packed full of useless detecting gear [/quot

I reckon i can squeeze in on a slight angle, just might not be real comfortable. Im wishing i thought of it earlier as i would have made it a couple hundred millimetres longer to easily fit my self in. Plan at the moment is to house the fridge, esky, watertank/pump, cooking gear etc, i may actually build a plywood box over one side internally which will conceal the watertank and maybe double as a bed frame- ill see what happens when it comes time to deck out the inside.

maybe the upper side panels could double as bed platforms if they fold down and not up but that would make access and unloading a bit tricky. maybe 2 piece upper panels with a hinge somehow.
your trailer and I'm making life difficult for ya, just tell me to shut up

Bignuggs wrote:maybe the upper side panels could double as bed platforms if they fold down and not up but that would make access and unloading a bit tricky. maybe 2 piece upper panels with a hinge somehow.
your trailer and I'm making life difficult for ya, just tell me to shut up

Haha-wouldnt dream of telling ya to shut up- i appreciate the interest and ideas. Think ill stick with normal doors/upper panels, already engineered certain parts to accomodate that and bought all the bits required.

I'll not say another word

Hate to break my word about being silent. I've had someone tell me they broke the poly block. They are now trying this one. Ozhitch.

Bignuggs wrote:Hate to break my word about being silent. I've had someone tell me they broke the poly block. They are now trying this one. Ozhitch.

Interesting. Any idea how long they had it before they broke it?

Not sure but I will ask for you.

Heres the latest pics- ive only manged about 4 or 5 hours of work on the trailer in the last fortnight, so not a massive amount of progress.

Ive got both side panels and guards on now. Jerrycan holders, indicators and the licence plate holder are all temporarily fitted at the moment and will be removed prior to painting. I had a bit of stuffing around to do today, i had to use a highlift jack to straighten a few bits of the frame that had warped during welding which was stopping my pre made door frames from fitting, happy to say that ive got them pretty much sorted now
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looking good looking good...

Nice work Chad!! Definitely starting to look like a trailer again!

Thanks so much for keeping entertainment rolling...

What's going on over there Chad?! Just finishing touches at this stage huh? Pinstriping and tyre black?

AnthonyV wrote:What's going on over there Chad?! Just finishing touches at this stage huh? Pinstriping and tyre black?

Ha ha- I wish. Ive was on holidays for a few weeks so haven't touched it in a while, should get back into this week sometime. Looks like there isn't much more to do, but its a bit deceiving-it will definitely be several months atleast before done.

Well this is my first update in a while, mainly because ive done sweet F/A to the trailer the last few weeks, that was up until this weekend

Today I managed to fab up and partially mount the front jerry can holder.

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Also partially built the spare wheel holder and the mud guard supports, which if I don't have to do much overtime this week should able to finish in a few afternoons.

As for whats left to do there is:
-Roof rack, including awning mounting brackets,
-Steel conduit for indicator/stop wiring,
-Stone guard frame- im hoping I can get my hands on some canvas and get my mates wife to sew it up for me &
-The doors which involve a heap of work. As you can see in the photo below one of them is almost done, just needs the sheeting fixed to it- the other door needs a few hours on it to get it to that stage. Once thats done there is fitting of locking mechanisms, hinges, dust seals and gas struts which will all be pretty fiddly I reckon

Once all that's done, ill remove all the fittings I can, prep and paint. Then the internal fit out can commence.....finally.

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coming allong nicely Chad

dont forget about the hitch, a 4wd coupling is the way to go, something similar to this.

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... and maybe some good shockie/coil suspension.

opps sorry missed the post about the coupling earlier.

that's what i'm talkin bout chad!!!

Hi Chad,

it's starting to take shape now, top stuff. End result is gunna be excellent.


Cliff