Chief's offroad trailer build


  • I believe he's using 2x3 for the frame, the light grommets are usually around 3-1/8th". Most trailer lights have a plug connector for easy replacement, though. :) I'm going with all LED so I'll hopefully never need to touch them again.


    There are lots of surface mount LEDs that are less than 3" high.

  • There are lots of surface mount LEDs that are less than 3" high.


    Yeah, there are a few options for surface mount brake lights less than 3" high, but I believe that he was talking about the oval flush-mount lights which typically measure 6-1/2 x 2-1/4" and need a rubber grommet. I think the standard is a 2-5/8" hole. He could make them fit but need to trim down the grommet as it'll be larger than the 2x3" steel.

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.


  • Is that for structural/strength purposes?


    Yes, my instincts tell me that pushing the tongue farther into the receiver will help distribute the stress more evenly -- although I realize it's making an already-heavy trailer even heavier. At some point I may chop off some of the tongue. I will try to remember to take a picture of it sitting on top of the trailer, just so you can see how far it extends.

    When engaged in conversation with a fool, be sure he is not similarly engaged.
    Chief, DEJA Grammar Police

  • Well, my welds wouldn't stack up against a pro, that's for sure. But, as I get better I'll grind less. I'm not hearing any objection to using synthetic line. I have no intention of doing that, but I'm curious why it hasn't been introduced in the industry.


    In the event of a disconnect things will get ugly. Rope would probably get cut during the disaster.

  • Yes, my instincts tell me that pushing the tongue farther into the receiver will help distribute the stress more evenly -- although I realize it's making an already-heavy trailer even heavier. At some point I may chop off some of the tongue. I will try to remember to take a picture of it sitting on top of the trailer, just so you can see how far it extends.


    I'm not an engineer but I think your instincts are wrong.


    Will 12" yield more strength than 2" ? Yes. But there is a point of diminishing return.



    Same goes for weld length. Look at the frame and bracket welds on your Jeep from the factory. A few well done 1" long welds will create enough strength to do the job. Anything past that just wastes material and time.


    And while the removable tongue might have some merits from an anti theft standpoint, if you leave your trailer at a campsite for a day of wheeling, what are you going to do with the 6' or 8' steel tube?

  • Something like this might significantly cut down on your wiring time. Also it may not need to be run through counduit as it's already double coated.

    http://www.etrailer.com/Access…Parts/Deka/DW04923-1.html

    If you still want the counduit for a bit of extra protection or asthetic reasons you can get flexible steel/aluminum from Lowe's or Home Depot pretty cheap along with conduit anchors. This site has some pretty nifty brackets for mounting the connection points as well. I bookmarked it for myself b/c I need to clean up the PO's trailer wiring fiasco. It works but it looks pretty shoddy.

    Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!

  • Jim, I went back through this thread and couldn't find how you're going to use this trailer. Is it a camping rig w/ a RTT like Jerry's or just a utility trailer? I could've sworn I saw camping trailer but I could be wrong... :shrug:

    Just to throw out another wiring idea:

    Run the conduit down the side of the main 3x3 beam (yellow) attaching it to the bottoms of the crossbars with anchors (red). At the last crossbar, run the wiring up into the crossbar and split it to each end for the lights (blue). At the head of the trailer, mount a female wiring connection like the one on your bumper to the underside of the cargo tray (teal). Then you can use a pigtail harness from the trailer to the Jeep w/o having to worry about any of wiring permanently mounted to the trailer degrading from movement during hookups/drops.

    Edit: This is the only pic I had so it shows the wiring on the passenger side instead of the Driver's side (where it should be).





    These would make an excellent conduit hanger
    [img alt=Pipe Clamps With Rubber width=200 height=188]http://www.maharashtradirector…ipe_camps_with_rubber.jpg[/img]

    Your life is made up of 2 dates and a dash... make the most of the dash!

    Edited once, last by Kuntryboy816 ().


  • Yes, the trailer's purpose will primarily be camping, but I hope it will also serve me for those occasional runs to Lowe's. I will run the wiring through a 1/2" conduit, and the conduit will be held in place by brackets that will be tack welded to the frame. I really want to have the 4-pin terminal hard mounted on the tongue, and then use a small detachable "jumper" (maybe 4' long) to connect from the trailer to the Jeep. (This would have a male connector on one end and a female on the other, and might be properly called an extension harness.) I just think it'll be cleaner if I don't have my wiring dangling or wrapped around the tongue when not being used.

    When engaged in conversation with a fool, be sure he is not similarly engaged.
    Chief, DEJA Grammar Police

  • Have you considered a 7-pin connector? You can hard mount a plug on the trailer and then use a 3'-4' extension to plug into your Jeep. Granted you'll have to upgrade the Jeep's harness, but once that is done you can run the power straight through to the trailer and charge any battery you may have mounted in it while traveling.


  • Have you considered a 7-pin connector? You can hard mount a plug on the trailer and then use a 3'-4' extension to plug into your Jeep. Granted you'll have to upgrade the Jeep's harness, but once that is done you can run the power straight through to the trailer and charge any battery you may have mounted in it while traveling.


    x2


    Power for the trailer (even if it's just for a 12v outlet) would probably come in handy. Don't discount reverse lights too...if you're using it for camping they can come in handy when arriving/setting up after dark.


    --Ian

  • My old boat trailer had a built in plug in the removable tounge. I'd bet with a bit of ingenuity you could make something similar. For some reason my newer trailer of the same brand has a 4 wire flat that runs from the main section of the trailer and plugs right into the side of the removable tounge. Here is the link to what I'm talking about.
    http://www.beartrailer.com/trailguard.htm

    2000 Sahara, All custom...
    2000 Cherokee Police package, Beater....


    I may be slowest and the stupidest


  • Have you considered a 7-pin connector? You can hard mount a plug on the trailer and then use a 3'-4' extension to plug into your Jeep. Granted you'll have to upgrade the Jeep's harness, but once that is done you can run the power straight through to the trailer and charge any battery you may have mounted in it while traveling.


    Chris, my TJ has both types of connector -- 7-pin and 4-pin. I guess I'd need to create a 7-pin plug for the trailer using my existing 4-pin harness plus some extra wires (blue, red, black??). Truthfully, I am not sure how to do that. I was planning to hard mount my 4-pin plug onto the tongue, then use a 4' extension to "jump" to the TJ's connector, and just call it good. I will go back to Tractor Supply and see if they have the components to build a 7-pin plug...using the wires from my brake lights, plus adding extras. Am getting into an area that makes me nervous. Wiring is not my thing. But I definitely agree that this is the time to do it, while the frame is upside down on saw horses!

    When engaged in conversation with a fool, be sure he is not similarly engaged.
    Chief, DEJA Grammar Police

    Edited once, last by Chief57 ().

  • I'm a little confused at what wiring you have on which side... I don't have anything currently on the JK, but I do have a 4-pin harness for it. My plan is to use that with a Curt 4-pin to 7-pin unit (http://www.amazon.com/Curt-Man…nd-Adaptor/dp/B001EP0HPI/). I got that on sale cheap at Cabelas. I'll have to hook it up to power, reverse and brakes myself, but I have an auxiliary fuse box at the back of my Jeep, along with an LED flood light circuit that I'll tap into for reverse. So, I'll only need to run the brake controller circuit.


    On the trailer side, I'm only doing a 7-pin harness. I'll be using a harness with an 8-foot lead (http://www.etrailer.com/p-H20046.html) into a junction box (http://www.etrailer.com/Access…-Parts/Spectro/38656.html) so things stay somewhat neat. I think that I'll hide mine in a tongue box with the battery. You can get adapters pretty easily if you need to pull it with something that only has a 4-pin harness.

    Jerry / Whatevah

    2020 Gladiator Mojave - 33" Falken mud tires, LoD side steps, Zroadz bed rack, Quadratec QRC winch bumper, Superwinch EPi 9.0, Kleinn on-board air, Kleinn air horns, lots of lights, Yaesu ham radio with GPS tracker.

    Gone- 2012 JK Rubicon with stuff. Long gone- Long-arm 2001 Cherokee with stuff.

  • Jerry, because I already own a pop-up camper, I had my TJ wired. I have both a 4-pin and 7-pin connector on the TJ, so I have options.


    Today I purchased for $45 a 7-pin connector with an 8' lead (similar to yours, Jerry), and a plastic junction box with 7 terminal bolts and several knockouts. I need to figure out where to put the box, and then I need to figure out how I'll make the connections. I'm thinking of just crimping the wires together and not using the terminal posts.

    When engaged in conversation with a fool, be sure he is not similarly engaged.
    Chief, DEJA Grammar Police

    Edited once, last by Chief57 ().

  • Its a car hauler but wiring is wiring I suppose. I used an extension cord I had sitting around with no end for my wiring. I ran a single line from the junction box to each light and to each axle for the brakes. That way a bad wire only kills a single light and for most there is a spare seeing how its a 3 wire cord. I used the glue filled heat shrink butt connectors at all lights and brakes and ring terminals at the junction box so its easy to pull a wire there if needed. Or add one. I think I also used normal heat shrink over the butt connectors as well but would have to double check.



    I used a vehicle side 7 pin connector on the trailer in a box on the tongue. Then made up a trailer plug to trailer plug pig tail. Not that it stops the trailer from being stolen but its unlikely that someone has that pig tail with them and would be running with no lights. Plus its tougher for someone to borrow if I'm not around to give them the pig tail lol



    Then I made up a diagram labeling everything with a copy in my truck and a copy in the junction box because I know at some point I'll forget plus the wires are all the same color.





  • Frosty, thanks for your input -- I like what you've done and will try to apply at least some of it to my trailer. I definitely like the idea of a pigtail, or what I have called a "jumper." That's what I was originally going to do when I was just doing a 4-pin connection. I'll have to think about how much extra work it'll be to do that now.

    When engaged in conversation with a fool, be sure he is not similarly engaged.
    Chief, DEJA Grammar Police

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