My little trailer project.

[mobileaudio219]

My uncle had a pop up trailer sitting beside his shop. We got to talking and he said that mice ate some holes in the canvas, and that he was thinking about selling it. We ended up working at a deal, I did a few hours weed eating, he gave me the camper (with a clear title.)

The original plan was to rip the old camper apart, and build a tear drop trailer onto the old frame.... The pop up had a nice stove, sink, water pump & tank, beds, etc... so I ripped all that out! Then I decided I wanted to find a 7' x 14' cargo trailer and convert it into a mini travel trailer, which would be more family friendly.

So now I had this pop up trailer that I didn't want/need, so one day my uncle Dale and I decided we were going to strip it down... and by strip it down, I mean we ripped it apart using his 4wd ranger and a chain... The whole event was good for more then a few laughs... The new plan was to build a nice little utility trailer on top the old frame.

With the old pop up camper off, I was left with a bare frame. First thing I did was move the axle to it's highest configuration. Then I laid down some new treated deck boards.

I was originally going to pick up some angle iron and make a metal railing, but then I decided to to just build something out of wood. After getting the wood work finished, I painted the frame with some rustoleum...

Then I realized I hadn't did anything with the spare tire mount yet... so I welded it where the propane tanks used to sit!

I started thinking "what if I need to do night time loading/unloading?" I had some o.e.m fog lights off of something (don't know what - picked them up from my buddy for 3 bucks), so I mounted one on top of the spare tire (easily removed in case of a blow out) and wire it to the trailer lights and put it on a toggle switch.

I have now decided to switch around the lighting. I'm going to mount one on each corner of the front, just need to fab up some swivel mounts first.

Anyways, on to a few pictures.

 

[bobbywalter]

i would have fixed the canvas


hard not to make it heavy using real stuff from the lumber yard.

exceed its weight capacity of the frame/axle in a hot hurry.

so if its ok as a hauler it wont matter

 

[mobileaudio219]

Originally I was going to patch the holes and use it for a little bit before stripping it down and making a tear drop... but after setting it up one of the cables came off track some where and it wouldn't let one corner drop back down with the others... and we where about to get a big storm with 60+ mph winds so I got pee'd off and cut the cable! Pop ups aren't worth anything anyways, at least not in my area. I tried selling it for $200 bucks for about 2 months before ripping it apart, nobody wanted it.

As far as trailer, it literally weighs nothing, I can pick the tongue up with one hand and drag it around the yard with no problems. It's not a car hauler, but that's not what I wanted. I just wanted a light trailer that would haul a mower, quad, bike, etc. This will do that just fine. I drive a 4 cyl ranger, the trailer will probably hold more weight then the old ranger would care to pull.

I can borrow a power stroke and a 18' dove tail trailer at any time, but this kind of feels the gab between "it won't fit in my bed" and "borrowing a truck and trailer."

Similar trailers at lowes goes for $1,000 +, I have about $150 into this one. It has fresh paint, newer tires, all new wiring/lights, new treated 5/4 deck boards, etc, etc. For roughly 7 times cheaper, I'll take mine over there's. I do have about a days labor into mine...