I thought I’d start a thread for my trailer build. I'm still in the process so am totally open to any suggestions or comments others might have.

I’m 7 years into my JKU, and my use has evolved over time. Back in the early days I did a lot of overnight wheelin’ trips where we’d wheel well into the night, sleep in the back of the jeep, wake up and wheel some more. I had built a “trunk” structure that folded to the front to create a flat sleeping structure and also kept all my trail tools safe. In fact, I’ve built that twice as I made some updates a couple years ago when I Raptor lined my tub. Longer trips have picked up and sleeping in the back of the jeep became trickier with coolers and all the other camping gear that gets trucked along. So……the trailer build has started.

My plan started with the idea of building a trailer with a 4’x6’ box. My intent was to make a multi-purpose trailer which I could use for camping, but also trips to Home Depots/Lowes. It’s not going to be a true overland trailer in the sense, but a trailer I can throw all my camping stuff in, can throw a tent on top of, and can handle mild off-pavement trails. I don’t plan to pull this thing over extreme things. Anything smaller than 4x6 seemed like it wouldn’t be big enough to be worthwhile as a multi-purpose unit.

Finally, besides function, weight is my primary consideration. My jeep has a skinny bumper in the back. I’ve chopped my rear cross member to accommodate that, and I’m very cognizant of limited towing capacity as such. We’re not talking standard JKU towing capacity here. It’s not about gearing or power, but the bumper itself. Ideally, I keep this trailer under 1500lbs loaded down. I’ve been keeping track of the weight all along the way and think I’m on target.

My plans started as a couple simple sketches (note, I settled on 6' long vs the 5' pictured below) –



Planned build materials/components:

• Frame would be 2x 11g steel tube
• Anything above the main frame would be 14g tube
• Axle would be standard 3500 lb but leaf springs would be a 2k lbs set up as the trailer would never see that weight
  • Opting for simple idler alxe due to cost, brakes may be addressed later down the road
• Wheels would be old JK wheels a friend game me for free
• Tires would be my old 37s so the trailer would sit nicely with the jeep
• I decided to use a Lock N Roll coupler vs. a max coupler or a homemade jobbie due to convenience. It really sucked thinking about spending ~$300 on that, and it was the most expensive single purchase for the trailer itself. Overkill I’m sure for my intended use, but I view it as a commodity I could sell later on.

Keep in mind I am not a professional welder. I think that most of my welds are more than acceptable….every now and then I have a stinker. In truth, I have not been welding long at all. I am using a 220v Lincoln mig unit with shielding gas.

So here we go. I’m fortunate to live near a steel yard that offers delivery to my house for a $50 flat rate, so I ordered $600 of steel for various projects I had on the docket. To create a flat plane to work on I used 3 small blocks of 2x4 to support two intersecting lengths of 2x tube. The tongue is long enough to open the jeep’s tailgate and jackknife the trailer.











I gusseted the 90’s that touched the tongue and the four main frame corners. Probably overkill, but was just repurposing scrap I had on hand. Since I’m still pretty new to welding I don’t mind the extra practice.





The black string routed through the frame is there to pull my wiring through with later on.

 

Here's an idea what what 37s looked like relative to the trailer. I plan to mount my Jeep's spare in front of the box, so wanted to know what I was in for.

 

A problem I had with the axle is finding the perfect configuration. Most sites selling online had one option I wanted, but not another. It was harder to find a straight axle vs a cambered, and I wanted straight for two reasons. First, this trailer would never sniff the 3500 lbs the axle was made for, and second, I was going to mount the axle overslung and that was easier with a straight axle. Also, though, most people aren’t using 37x12.5 tires, and axle width was going to come in to play. Most axles for a 4’ trailer have a spring center of 46” and a hub face of 61”. With factory 6.25” BS wheels combined with 2” spacers to clear the hub bore, 61” was NOT going to be wide enough for the tire to clear the trailer box. I ended up buying a 65” axle which allowed me to weld on my own spring perches. My spring center is still 46”, which exceeds the max difference between hub face and spring center, but again, this trailer is never going to see that full load, so losing a bit of axle strength was no big deal to me.

 

Leaf spring hangers installed and axled under it…..the trailer is mobile! It sits almost perfectly with the receiver on the jeep. I’m off just a couple inches. My wife’s Armada sits much lower than this, but I think I should be able to use a rise combined with the Lock N Roll when we want to use that truck.

 

I wanted the sides to be high enough to cover up a normal cooler, and ~22” seemed about right. Boy, these things start to get tall quickly! I plan to mount my jeep’s spare tire in front of the box, so I accounted for placing a small door ahead of the driver’s side tire when framing out the sides. My plan is to use Dibold to skin this thing, and I build the walls so I could inset the Dibold for a cleaner look and then just caulk around the edges to seal it well. The top rail with be 2x and I plan to have the tailgate to swing out like the jeep’s.










So that is pretty much were I stand right now. Tonight a tongue jack goes on and I need to finish up the passenger side wall frame and work on the top rail.

 

Looking great! Those weld are good too.... at least by my standards...

 

Thank you. Your little trailer is what finally got me off my rear end and doing something. That and having my old set of tires sitting round! Pretty excited about the trailer. BAL C jacks came last night and will be what I'll use for stabilizing. My jack options were pretty limited given my trailer sits about 26" high and most jacks don't extend that long. I think these will be better than a drop leg jack too. I need to research and determine what kind of hinge to use on my side door and tailgate. Pretty certain I'm going to go with a Smittybilt XL tent on top of this, and I'm thinking few simple raised cross bars welded to some 2x flatstock that I can bolt to my top rail and unbolt/remove if I just need normal trailer use.

Few pics of the top rail coming along. I need to wrap that up so I can use this to go pick up the Dibond sheets I plan to use as skin as I have no other way to transport 4x8 sheets of anything. My door seems to sit pretty well in the opening I have for it. Probably work on tailgate this weekend.

 

Those look like a great idea for jacks! I can't reach my frame with mine... So I chock the wheels and put the jacks on all four corners of the springs. They have always held that way... but I like the idea you have going on here too! The tongue jack on mine is the 5th point on ground contact when I leave the camper set up while Jeeping… I'm only running 33's on the trailer though. Looking good. I'm in the process of imagining my own version of a Gladiator topper.... but I also have been looking at a cargo trailer camper idea… can't hurt to dream right? I really can't see any reason I need either of those with my current set up.... but It's fun... maybe I need to sell my trailer and make a new one to keep busy!

 

Ok this is awesome. I've long thought about a trailer for long trips or for hauling gear (2 door here) and this is absolutely inspirational.

 

Another weekend of work on the trailer.

I addressed a place to hook up safety chains with some simple ½” round stock and a few bends on the compact bender. Wish I had gotten those to match perfectly but I didn’t care enough to keep fiddling with it.



I got the rear jacks welded in place. I wish I had just ordered all four jacks, but at $100 for two of em I didn’t want to order 4 and then have to return them if they didn’t work out since they were not Amazon Prime items. So, hopefully the front ones come in the next couple days and I can get those welded in. Once I’m done welding on the front corners I’ll feel comfortable running my tail light wiring through the frame without it melting.






I thought about how I was going to finish this thing out. I originally thought I’d just paint it in Rustoleum Ultimate soft iron to match my jeep as it’s dang close to the anthracite powder coat. I did figure that simple rattle can probably going to scratch really easy though. I decided to coat the entire thing in Harbor Freight’s spray on bedliner which works really well and has just a slight texture. I will leave the underside of the box like that, but I think I will follow it with the Rustoleum for looks. The Dibold I plan to use is white on one side and silver on the other. I’m not certain how paint bonds to that stuff, so I’m thinking I might just put the silver side out and leave that as is.

My next order of business what addressing the side door and a tailgate. Keep in mind with this design that I don’t intend to have a top cover at the moment, so the side door is within the frame, and I tried to get the tailgate as flush with the top rail as possible. I don’t know what I’d do without Amazon, and their 1-day deliveries, especially on Sunday, are a game changer. I ordered these latches and hinges Saturday night, and installed them Sunday night:

https://amzn.to/37XpeWK

https://amzn.to/38VnXAL

Those latches cost a bit more than many other similar ones, but they have a locking mechanism that seemed to be worth the extra money. I saw a lot of guys on the expedition sites using similar. I thought those hinges made the most sense for my build. I admittedly overpaid, almost double, to get those the next day vs. waiting until mid-week as I just wanted to get that tailgate on. An extra $20 here or there to save days is worth it every now and then. I will admit that I feel conflicted about this Amazon deliver issue, and the human toll it has. I do firmly believe those drivers are about as close to sweat shop laborers as we have here in the US as those contracting companies just run the hell out of em. We’ve become too lazy and spoiled when it comes to ordering and receiving items, and it will be interesting to see how all that plays out over the next 5 or 10 years. I digress.....

Here’s the door and tailgate installed. My clearances seem acceptable to me. I think I’ll probably put some square stock or something right behind where they close as a stop plate











Finally, my vehicle side Lock N Roll arrived late last week. That sucker is a lot more substantial than you'd imagine looking at pictures online. The problem I immediately saw is that I couldn't insert it far enough into my bumper receiver to get the pin in. My skinny CC bumper has the receiver pin hole back in behind the bumper itself, so a little further back than most receivers. This LNR tube bows out a bit as it gets to the joint which prohibits it from sliding in as far as I need. I was hoping to avoid using an extension or a drop, but I think that I'll probably just do a 2" drop to make life easy. For the moment, I through this on the jeep and took the trailer a few miles down the road just to see how it was tracking. I only got up to ~40mph, but seemed ok. I'm anxious to get this to the point I can take it on the interstate and see.



Not sure about other states, but in Texas if your trailer is under, I think 2k lbs, you can register it and get a plate without even a picture. They just want your $15/yr. I need to research that a bit more today.