48 replies to this topic

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Well I made a previous post about a 2-story pop up camper/toyhauler thing but after some thought my friend and I decided it would be too tall for such a short trailer and very unstable on the highway if it was windy. So we decided to build our own wood framed enclosed trailer. I'm not sure if anyone on here has tried this before but if anyone has your input would be appreciated. This is what we accomplished in a weeks time with 2-3 of us working on it for 8 hrs or so a day during our spring break from college/after work. So I'll tell the story of its completion with some pictures....

This is what we started with as far as a frame. It was a pop up camper but we removed the tired and rotted body to reveal a frame that was in need of some welding since it was used as a utility trailer for awhile. 40 bucks with a title got us a good start.


My friend wanted to lengthen it and just decided to do it with some pressure treated 2x4s running the length of the trailer bolted every foot or so. There will be little to no weight sitting on the back part of the trailer so this is why he thought it would be okay to use wood and not weld on a metal extension.This ads 2ft of length to the trailer. The bikes will be secured to the front section of the trailer. The axle was very far back in the frame so we did not need to move that either. We did flip the axle from running above the springs to below to get us 4 inches more of clearance which will be helpful where we ride.



Here is the floor finished. It's just surplus 3/4" tongue and groove that we picked up for cheap at a building site.



Then came the walls. They are all 2x3 framed to save on weight and money. They are just screwed down in this picture but will soon be bolted to the metal frame where it is possible.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Here is the whole frame. She was pretty wobbly at this point.


Next we put the sides on which was 5mm plywood. We also finished the roof which still needs some sort of flashing for the front for added protection form it peeling up on the highway. We also finished the back door/ramp.



A cabinet and some hangers installed.



Here is the side door side of the trailer.

Edited by 79yamdt, 11 March 2012 - 05:33 PM.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Here it is all painted. Looks pretty nice now. The inside is white and outside is some gray color that was mixed wrong and almost free from home depot.



She's almost ready for the road now. All wired up and ready to go. We also have some halogen lights on the back for backup lights.



So there's our homemade enclosed trailer so far.

Over the next weeks it will be getting finished up and taken to a scale to be weighed and everything. We want to add some fold down bunks to the inside and add some legs to the back door/ramp so it can be used like a porch. Sorry some of the pictures aren't the best they were all taken with a phone of some sort. If anyone has any questions or comments or opinions I look forward to hearing them. Our main concern is how it's going to tow since its about 8 ft high and not all that long. It's pretty solid now that its finished. There are triangle braces in the corners to keep the walls sturdy. So far my friend has about 400$ into the shed on wheels it including the trailer.

He wants to add flooring yet and a few other finishing touches to the inside, such as vents, fans, lights, and a radio. We're hoping to keep this under 500$. As long as it lasts for a year or two we will be happy since we will be out of college at that time and hopefully have a decent job that'll allow us to buy a real enclosed trailer. Even if it doesn't work out on the road we'll have a nice movable shed haha.

It's 6x10 on the outside and 8'3" tall on the outside. The inside has 6ft ceilings allowing all of us to walk around easily. The tongue weight is right around 60lbs, which is a little on the lite side but the bikes will be in the forward part of the trailer to help increase the tongue weight. We'll probably have a deep cycle battery in the front cubby thing also.

Edited by 79yamdt, 12 March 2012 - 07:58 AM.

[aspencop129 TT Addict]

I think that you should add some front to rear diagonal bracing to add strength and torsional rigidity......it won't have very much shear strength IMHO.

Good progress in a short time though!

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Quote

I think that you should add some front to rear diagonal bracing to add strength and torsional rigidity......it won't have very much shear strength IMHO.

Good progress in a short time though!

We were definitely considering it and probably will do some kind of diagonal bracing both from front to rear and side to side in the front.

We were thinking about not doing it since the plywood helped with the rigidity of the trailer. Wouldn't the plywood sheathing act in a similar manor as bracing it front to back?

Thanks for the compliment.

Edited by 79yamdt, 12 March 2012 - 06:16 AM.

[Wahoo214 TT Bronze Member]

Your tongue weight is very low. The axle should be back 60% of the trailer lenght.  The way you have it, it will most likely want to track all over going at highway speed.

Edited by Wahoo214, 12 March 2012 - 06:45 AM.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Wahoo214, on 12 March 2012 - 06:44 AM, said:

Your tongue weight is very low. The axle should be back 60% of the trailer lenght.  The way you have it, it will most likely want to track all over going at highway speed.

The tongue weight shouldn't really be an issue since the bikes will be on the front of the trailer. 700lbs of bikes in the forward part of the trailer will add significantly to the tongue weight. It will only be on the road when bikes are in it. Is that 60% of the trailer length the total length or just the length of the box. The axle is pretty much on the center of the box and would definitely be around 60% back of the total trailer length, but only 50% of the box length. The axle was set very far back on the popup and is currently 5'2" from the front of the box.

Would the fact that the majority of the cargo weight of the trailer will be forward of the axle reduce the poor tracking that is of concern?

We'll also be adding some additional lights since it is right at the 80" mark. So we'll need some clearance lights on the corners and additional marker lights on the side yet to be legal, in addition to an assortment of reflectors.

Edited by 79yamdt, 12 March 2012 - 06:12 PM.

[Wahoo214 TT Bronze Member]

60% of the weight carring area.  The box in your case. With a 10' box it should be 4' from the back.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Wahoo214, on 13 March 2012 - 08:59 AM, said:

60% of the weight carring area.  The box in your case. With a 10' box it should be 4' from the back.

So we're about 10" off from where the axle should ideally be placed. Would having most of the weight forward of the axle compensate for this?

[Chickenhauler Get Help Now]

I also suggest some diagonal bracing-plywood is intended to add structure, but keep in mind, this is going to be like a shed that's undergoing a 65 mph straight line wind for hours on end....if you have a 20 mph head wind, make that an 85 mph wind.

Most sheds don't hold up well in those conditions-they tend to take a beating.

On a side note, pole sheds are built with a 45 degree angle wind brace that attaches to both the side wall and the roof supports.  They also utilize bracing in the corners at a 45 degree angle.  Both of these are to add strength so the building doesn't lose it's shape in wind forces.

And they don't go down the road.....

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

This is what concerns me, sheds get destroyed in hurricanes and with some head wind we could easily have 80mph of wind battering the shed on wheels. I would feel pretty awful if he just wasted 400 dollars. If it was my money I would have just saved up for a used enclosed trailer but it's his money and his choice. The trip to our riding area contains about 10 miles of highway and the speed limit is 55mph on pretty much all of it. The rest is 45mph two lane road, so at least it's not going on a day long trip on the highway. It's still gonna take a pretty good beating no matter what the speed. The corner bracing sounds like a pretty good idea also. We took an outhouse built in a similar manor on the front of a gooseneck trailer and that made it alright on a 2.5hr trip up to a cabin surprisingly.

Thanks for the advice. He's an junior engineering student so I would think he could understand the forces at work but sometimes I wonder.... haha

Edited by 79yamdt, 13 March 2012 - 05:28 PM.

[toyota_mdt_tech]

79yamdt, on 12 March 2012 - 05:20 AM, said:

We were definitely considering it and probably will do some kind of diagonal bracing both from front to rear and side to side in the front.

We were thinking about not doing it since the plywood helped with the rigidity of the trailer. Wouldn't the plywood sheathing act in a similar manor as bracing it front to back?

Thanks for the compliment.

Plywood gives it decent shear strength. But some metal strapping laid diagonally or "X" on each panel, ie front and sides will tighten it right up with basically no added weight.

Actually turned out OK.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Well we might be putting a heavier and wider axle under it, in addition to moving it back a few inches. We are figuring out how to triangulate the poo out of this shed on wheels so it's sturdy and still somewhat clean looking on the inside.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

New axle time....


Wimpy old 2000lb axle on the bottom, this would have been at it's limits.
Beefy 3500lb axle with brakes at the top.

Brakes are always a nice thing to have we just need a brake controller, we'll probably pick up a used brake controller or two on ebay for my vehicle that'll tow it and his vehicle that will tow it. Most likely a Tekonsha Prodigy, they seem to be well liked and very reasonable in price. My vehicle is already wired for brakes the PO removed the brake controller they had installed though But that purchase will come after we know it will work....

We'll have to fab up or buy some fenders now but at least we'll have a flat cargo floor now.

Edited by 79yamdt, 16 March 2012 - 06:42 PM.

[supernot TT Bronze Member]

You guys crack me up, thanks for sharing this project....
What about that corregated roof stuff, what if it catches the wind??? It almost looks like there's a gap, but the again on the another shot it looks like its folded and nailed over. I see on the inside of the roof it looks well supported for both directions (up and down) assuming its attached (screwed or nailed into the cross beams).

Edited by supernot, 16 March 2012 - 06:24 PM.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

supernot, on 16 March 2012 - 06:21 PM, said:

You guys crack me up, thanks for sharing this project....
What about that corregated roof stuff, what if it catches the wind??? It almost looks like there's a gap, but the again on the another shot it looks like its folded and nailed over. I see on the inside of the roof it looks well supported for both directions (up and down) assuming its attached (screwed or nailed into the cross beams).

Your welcome. It's quite an adventure, as long as we don't destroy any cars or kill anyone with it we'll be happy. It's folded on the front and sides and screwed in. We'll be putting some metal or aluminum piece over the front yet to keep it from lifting up hopefully. I saw somewhere people used 5" dryer vent for flashing, or whatever you'd like to call it, for the front of the trailer. Yeah it's got screws galore up there. We did use roofing washers with a rubber gasket on to prevent leaks and the screws pulling through on the top portion that you can't see. The sides and front and back are just screwed to death and caulked to death too.

The back might look like there's a gap because it's not folded over but there isn't it's caulked and screwed flush.

My friend is too cheap to buy an enclosed trailer, this is the only reason why this is happening. Like I said before it this will be about half the cost of a used enclosed trailer in poor shape. But we are taking a risk at building a failure of a trailer. The " new axles" and tires added another 20 dollars to the project. And about that much more in lights to make it legal. So that leaves us with another 60 or so to finish it. I'm not sure what that will be spent on, maybe some flooring of sometype. We have the D-rings already and we'll be welding and bending up some bike wheel chocks.

Edited by 79yamdt, 17 March 2012 - 02:17 PM.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Well I wasn't able to help work on it today but my other two friends were. They got the axle mounted a few inches further back and ended up getting some new tires to be on the safe side. Some additional lights were wired and the floor was made flat since we did not need the wheel wells anymore with this axle. The walls were bolted to the frame. Sorry the pics aren't the best.



So much for electric brakes. The axles are missing half of the braking parts and whats left needs replaced anyways.



It wouldn't be complete without checker flooring!!!! We need to paint the wood where the wheel wells were but the inside is looking good.



They took it for a little test drive today and said it towed pretty well. It was just driven around some one country roads since it doesn't have fenders just yet so it's not legal for the road. Only problem they ran into is one of the back latches destroyed itself. We'll have to get something a little sturdier. Maybe it was just a fluke of a latch but we don't need the back cargo door coming open going down the road.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions as far as moving the axle. It still needs some bracing but at least we know it's somewhat road worthy.

Edited by 79yamdt, 17 March 2012 - 01:24 PM.

[79yamdt TT Gold Member]

Well this weekend we actually used the thing for the first time. It's first victim was an old go kart that needed transported to my friends house so we could weld it.





It's just about ready for a trip. It has plenty of d-rings and now has decent storage for tools and other stuff inside. Just a few more finishing touches and it will be ready. It was weighed and came in at a hefty 1400lbs with the tools and storage stuff in it. We acutally rode in the go kart in the back of the trailer to see if there were any structural things that needed attention. The only thing we found that needs attention is the back door. We need to find a better way to latch it. The way it is right now allows way too much forward and back movement.

[aspencop129 TT Addict]

It looks like there is some artwork in the upper left of the last pic,,,,,,,,,,,clearly a better photographer would have included that part of the trailer in the image!!!

Nice work otherwise!

[06yz Get Help Now]

79yamdt, on 12 March 2012 - 05:20 AM, said:

We were definitely considering it and probably will do some kind of diagonal bracing both from front to rear and side to side in the front.

We were thinking about not doing it since the plywood helped with the rigidity of the trailer. Wouldn't the plywood sheathing act in a similar manor as bracing it front to back?

Thanks for the compliment.

Yes, if you plywooded both sides of the doors there is no need for diagonal bracing.  The plywood nailed properly prevents the doors from racking.

What did you do on the roof?  

MAX!!!