Off-road Camper “Quarter Wide” Trailer Build Using Harbor Freight Frame

[OldBlue]

Very cool!

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[Will]

Build a bracket between your spare and the higch to carry your propane tank. That should help with the weight bias when you have bikes on the back. If you arent using propane on that trip, just put a 5 gallon bucket of sand there for ballast.

lol, thanks for the sand tip. The verdict is still out on where to mount a 20lb propane tank. I think I’m going to end up putting it on the rack with the fire wood.

If I add anything in front of the spare tire then I wouldn’t be able to open the swing gate and I want to be able to keep that functionality.

I do have a potential solution for bike ballast. I’m going to move the kids bikes to the passenger side of the trailer in front of the axle. It would also double as door storage for the Jeep doors when we are parked at camp. I’ve been looking for something that will fold away if not needed. Something like this that I can modify/brace for dynamic forces. It shouldn’t be too hard to do for a couple of kids bikes.

https://www.amazon.com/CUZURLUV-Fol...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[Will]

Eventually a water tank will go in under the frame and front of the axle and once that’s complete I can’t imagine that I will have issues with the weight of the bikes out back.

 

[DontCallMeRubi]

Thank you very much, Will, for documenting the build...I'm planning out something similar some day Real Soon Now and this is a tremendous help...thank you also for the spreadsheet...great job!

 

[Will]

Thank you very much, Will, for documenting the build...I'm planning out something similar some day Real Soon Now and this is a tremendous help...thank you also for the spreadsheet...great job!

You’re welcome! Glad to hear that it helped you out. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

 

[LWLjeep]

Thought I would share my experience with converting a utility trailer into one of those offroad camper/trailer things that are becoming quite popular and EXPENSIVE!

Here is the current condition:

This thing started its life as a used, folding utility trailer from Harbor Freight. We love camping but it would take an entire day to pack all of my wife's glamping "necessities" into the Jeep. So the plan was to leave all of our stuff in bins on the trailer, then just hook up and ride out whenever we felt like camping.

This is essentially what I got, used from a friend: Harbor Freight Folding Utility Trailer

Once I got it home I realized that it was going to need a lot of work. There was some decent rust on parts of the frame so I spent an afternoon grinding that off and hitting it with Rustoleum.

The next part I blame @thrasher for because he hooked me up with a lightly used spare from his JLUR as well as his rooftop tent. I got to thinking that 33s and a RTT would fit this little thing nicely. Then I started convincing my wife that our family NEEDED this little trailer to be capable enough to follow the Jeep and to sleep the two of us, our three small kids, and a dog, and still be small enough to fit in the garage and act as a storage box for all of our camping gear. And that's how it started.

These Quick Strip discs for an angle grinder are where it's at for removing rust or old coatings. They won't damage the substrate or get gummed up as easily as a flap disc or griding stone. But they don't last very long either.

Very cool build, thanks for sharing.

 

[Will]

Added a couple of items to the trailer:

KickAss Shower Tent

I bought this to initially serve as a privacy enclosure for changing clothes/bathroom for the girls. Eventually I will get a tank and water heater for showering. It was the cheapest one I could find and I was not expecting high quality, but I was impressed with the fit, finish, and hardware. A very nice product for the price I threw it on right before heading out on an overnight and still need to make a couple of tweaks to work with my setup but I am very happy with the purchase.


Side Steps:

Cheap and solid. May have to refinish after the first year but they make it easier to get up on the fenders when throwing/dropping the rooftop tent.

Camp Kitchen/Table

My wife surprised me with this one! It’s a nice table with a lot of storage in a small package. It sets up/breaks down in seconds as well which is a big plus. No small parts to assemble or lose.

 

[Smcdowell]

For the corners, I wrapped them in butyl tape and then capped them with 1/16" aluminum angle. In hindsight, I should have used thicker/sturdier angle material or gone with a thinner tape. I expected the butyl tape to compress some when torquing down the screws on the aluminum but it bent it in a few places before it would compress the butyl. That is dense stuff! So it ended up being higher off of the roof than i expected so I went back and used silicone caulking to seal all the roof joints where the aluminum angle meets the roof. This thing should not leak. If she leaks, I'll try something different.

For the rear door, I knew we needed as much access as possible to throw in all the camping gear, fishing poles, and a couple of kids' kayaks. I started looking at hinges then remembered I saved the factory tailgate hinges from when I did a tire carrier swap. "We can make this work!"

The door was made from the piece of 3/4" plywood that I cut from the rear wall. I added stops to the framing behind it to keep it from swinging too far inward. Next, I added 2" aluminum plate around the edges and put weather stripping behind it. A 36" cam bar provides compression for the weather stripping and keeps the barn door secure. Very happy with how the rear door turned out and that I was able to incorporate some of the Jeep (Loretta's) original parts into her trail companion. I think those little details help tie the two together.

The lights are a cheap, LED utility trailer kit that I got from the guy who sold me the frame originally. I ended up just doing the 4-wire plug but maybe down the road we will get crazy with some additional electrical, but for now, we are keeping it simple in that arena.

I was looking through the thread and didn't see any mention of the fenders (unless I just overlooked it). Do you mind sharing where you got them? I'm having trouble finding black fenders that will cover 33's for my build. Great looking trailer!!

 

[Will]

I was looking through the thread and didn't see any mention of the fenders (unless I just overlooked it). Do you mind sharing where you got them? I'm having trouble finding black fenders that will cover 33's for my build. Great looking trailer!!

Thanks!

It took me awhile to find some too. I ended up buying these but they took some messaging to get the angles wide enough to fit the 33s.

https://www.amazon.com/RecPro-Trail...t=&hvlocphy=9010764&hvtargid=pla-786843368582

 

[Deleted member 59498]

Here’s a better shot of the inside. I’m 5’ 10”.
I guess I should have noted that this is a 4x8 trailer. The interior ceiling height is 34”. If my wife and I feel tight in there we might swap the kids for the rooftop tent. We haven’t gotten that far yet. Once we have a chance to take it camping we will check it all out. Neither one of us has been in this rooftop tent before either so we are looking forward to getting that mounting and testing it out.

Awesome skills!

 

[Smcdowell]

Thanks!

It took me awhile to find some too. I ended up buying these but they took some messaging to get the angles wide enough to fit the 33s.

https://www.amazon.com/RecPro-Trail...t=&hvlocphy=9010764&hvtargid=pla-786843368582

Awesome...I'll give them a try. I figured I'd have to shape whatever I ended up with anyways

 

[Ppita02]

How long is the Dexter axle?

 

[Will]

Sad day for me, but the time has come to move on. This setup simply isn’t big enough to accommodate our family of 5.
The trailer is for sale. It is posted in Member Marketplace HERE if anyone is interested.

 

[AMT]

Sad day for me, but the time has come to move on. This setup simply isn’t big enough to accommodate our family of 5.
The trailer is for sale. It is posted in Member Marketplace HERE if anyone is interested.

@Will start another project yet for a replacement trailer? Curious to see what you come up with. Awesome job with "Quarter Wide"

 

[Will]

@Will start another project yet for a replacement trailer? Curious to see what you come up with. Awesome job with "Quarter Wide"

No, I haven’t started another yet. I wish!

I came to the realization that the size of camper my family needs is bigger than the Jeep can handle. We want something that we can stand up in, has a toilet, space to hang out when it’s raining; all of that is hard to achieve for a family of 5 and still keep it small enough for a wrangler to tow.
If I end up building another one for the Jeep, it would be something that pop-ups to meet the above criteria. The Opus 4 has always caught my eye.

But then the other half of me says wait until the Jeep is paid off, chop an old school bus into RV in the front/hauler in the back.

We have been content with camping out of our ground tent since we sold the trailer. What I find myself missing the most is the carrying capacity for all of the toys: paddle boards, bikes, kayaks, extra coolers. When I had the trailer I could bring anything I wanted.

I’ve got a hitch-mounted carrier now but it doesn’t touch what the trailer did for me. I need a shop to build and store toys

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