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

[nU7OuxIx]

What did you use to weld the parts together? I have one of those 110v harbor freight welders and pretty much zero experience. I was wondering if one of those would cut it.

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[Will]

What did you use to weld the parts together? I have one of those 110v harbor freight welders and pretty much zero experience. I was wondering if one of those would cut it.

I used a Lincoln Weldpak 110 flux core welder that I borrowed from a friend. You’ll need to check your specifications on the welder and make sure it can handle the thickness of your material. Welding isn’t terribly difficult to get a decent proficiency with, but it can definitely be dangerous: both when performing the task and also the results of a failed weld on something like a trailer frame. Make sure you are confident in your skill to lay strong beads. Good luck with learning a new trade.

 

[thrasher]

I've got $2,800 in the material/parts on this project. That obviously does not include any labor. When I sell something like this/ask for permission, I don't figure my time as money but my wife and kids would say otherwise. My 6-year-old just recently said, "You're done [with the trailer] !? Now you can go fishing with me!" ... man, that one hurt. Time to throw all our junk in here and go fishing!

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Can only imagine the memories fishing and camping that will make that kiddo forget. I have 0 doubt you are an involved daddo. Looks great sir!

 

[BroncoHound]

I've got $2,800 in the material/parts on this project. That obviously does not include any labor. When I sell something like this/ask for permission, I don't figure my time as money but my wife and kids would say otherwise. My 6-year-old just recently said, "You're done [with the trailer] !? Now you can go fishing with me!" ... man, that one hurt. Time to throw all our junk in here and go fishing!

View attachment 467752

Very meticulous breakdown, great job! Like mentioned above, I'm sure the kids are going to have years and years of incredible memories with their folks in the ol' "Quarter-Wide." What an awesome family project!

 

[Will]

Today we added a 20”x30” sliding window w/ screen to the passenger side. Still need to finish the interior trim and paint. I mounted the window towards the rear in hopes of getting a good cross breeze from the screen door.

 

[Memphis Peej]

Wow! I’m super impressed with your skills. Your knowledge of materials and technical skill proficiency is outstanding. I can’t help but think you are in engineering?

 

[Will]

Wow! I’m super impressed with your skills. Your knowledge of materials and technical skill proficiency is outstanding. I can’t help but think you are in engineering?

Thanks for the kind words!

I went to school for history and geography but now I work for a restoration/general contractor so that's where I gained the majority of my experience. My cousin had a body shop that I worked at in high school and that's where I learned to weld and where I started tearing up perfectly good Jeeps 15 years ago.

 

[Will]

Finished the window mod for the guest bedroom. (I actually really enjoyed the rooftop tent on the trial run so I’m calling it the master.) We pulled one of the kid’s 8” foam mattresses from the bunk beds to use on this next trip. I think we could do with a 3” or 4” version to save some head room. Potentially a folding twin size. More to come there.
Also digging the overplayed quote on the pillow, but have to give a shout-out to J.R.R. Tolkien and Aragorn for the good vibes. I just recently finished reading (listening to the audiobook) of The Lord of the Rings for the first time after being a big fan of the movies for years.

 

[Will]

The trailer did great following us around North Georgia and SC this weekend. A couple of takeaways: we need stabilizers at the corners of the trailer because the folks in the rooftop tent feel every movement from the folks sleeping in the trailer and vice versa. These springs are soft and I’m running 12 PSI in the tires so getting the trailer on jacks and off the suspension should help with that.

Also, the Jeep did good towing the trailer around the mountains all things considered. I had no intentions to regear the axles with the 37s, 3.6L/auto and factory 4.10s but it’s definitely noticeable now with a trailer in tow. Those mountain roads would have been more pleasant with lower gears. Still, it was never scary or unsafe, just a good bit of downshifting. No overheating issues either. Still wanna put this thing on the scales. We got 14.5 MPG and that was with a lot of climbs in the mountains. With no trailer, we typically get 17with 4.10s and 37s.

 

[Will]

I’ve got to give a little shout out for the Air Lift 1000 rear air springs that I installed on the Jeep
earlier this year. I have had issues with rear squat before ever getting into a trailer with bike racks or even long camping trips when the rear of the Jeep is packed out. So I knew getting into this trailer that I would want a remedy for the squat. I read some good reviews on the Air Lift 1000 kit for the JL and (after a few of them highlighted no issues after heavy off-road use) I decided why not try it out. I got it for less than $80 with a coupon so figured I would just toss it if I wasn’t happy with it.

https://www.cjponyparts.com/air-lift-1000-air-spring-rear-kit-jeep-wrangler-jl-2018-2021/p/AIR60829/


So far I am very happy with it. Easy to install, it remedies the squat when towing (at least handles my little trailer no problem) and it fixes my OCD tendencies when it comes to the forward/rear rake of the Jeep itself for normal driving. I have the Schrader valve in the rear bumper next to the license plate. If I’m ever looking at the Jeep and think “the rear end’s a little high”. I just walk by and let a little air out of the system. If I’ve got a load in the back and she’s sagging I just grab a bike pump and throw a couple extra PSI in there to level it back out. It’s extremely satisfying for such little money .

So for any of you guys with trailers, or rear sag, I would recommend it. It also comes with two valves and enough house/clamps if you wanted to have a separate valve for each side if you wanted that flexibility, but I chose to keep it simple. I don’t have a significant passenger or driver lean that I was looking to remedy.

Time will tell if they hold up. But so far I have gotten $80 of satisfaction from them.

 

[Pete_the_JEEP]

I’ve got to give a little shout out for the Air Lift 1000 rear air springs that I installed on the Jeep
earlier this year. I have had issues with rear squat before ever getting into a trailer with bike racks or even long camping trips when the rear of the Jeep is packed out. So I knew getting into this trailer that I would want a remedy for the squat. I read some good reviews on the Air Lift 1000 kit for the JL and (after a few of them highlighted no issues after heavy off-road use) I decided why not try it out. I got it for less than $80 with a coupon so figured I would just toss it if I wasn’t happy with it.

https://www.cjponyparts.com/air-lift-1000-air-spring-rear-kit-jeep-wrangler-jl-2018-2021/p/AIR60829/


So far I am very happy with it. Easy to install, it remedies the squat when towing (at least handles my little trailer no problem) and it fixes my OCD tendencies when it comes to the forward/rear rake of the Jeep itself for normal driving. I have the Schrader valve in the rear bumper next to the license plate. If I’m ever looking at the Jeep and think “the rear end’s a little high”. I just walk by and let a little air out of the system. If I’ve got a load in the back and she’s sagging I just grab a bike pump and throw a couple extra pounds in there to leave it back out. It’s extremely satisfying for such little money .

So for any of you guys with trailers, or rear sag, I would recommend it. It also comes with two valves and enough house/clamps if you wanted to have a separate valve for each side if you wanted that flexibility, but I chose to keep it simple. I don’t have a significant passenger or driver lean that I was looking to remedy.

Time will tell if they hold up. But so far I have gotten $80 of satisfaction from them.

Very nice work on the trailer!! It turned out great.
This last post caught my eye. I have a JL and I'm planning on towing our 59 Shasta 16ft camper with it. The trailer weighs about 1800# dry and I do notice a little sag in the rear of the Jeep.. Since it's fairly light and has trailer brakes, I wasn't planning on running any anti-sway bars, but thought about adding the airlift bags to help level it out. Looks like that might be the way to go.

 

[ScenicRoute]

this is so frickin' cool! congrats, my man! Awesome work.

 

[Memphis Peej]

I’ve got to give a little shout out for the Air Lift 1000 rear air springs that I installed on the Jeep
earlier this year. I have had issues with rear squat before ever getting into a trailer with bike racks or even long camping trips when the rear of the Jeep is packed out. So I knew getting into this trailer that I would want a remedy for the squat. I read some good reviews on the Air Lift 1000 kit for the JL and (after a few of them highlighted no issues after heavy off-road use) I decided why not try it out. I got it for less than $80 with a coupon so figured I would just toss it if I wasn’t happy with it.

https://www.cjponyparts.com/air-lift-1000-air-spring-rear-kit-jeep-wrangler-jl-2018-2021/p/AIR60829/


So far I am very happy with it. Easy to install, it remedies the squat when towing (at least handles my little trailer no problem) and it fixes my OCD tendencies when it comes to the forward/rear rake of the Jeep itself for normal driving. I have the Schrader valve in the rear bumper next to the license plate. If I’m ever looking at the Jeep and think “the rear end’s a little high”. I just walk by and let a little air out of the system. If I’ve got a load in the back and she’s sagging I just grab a bike pump and throw a couple extra pounds in there to leave it back out. It’s extremely satisfying for such little money .

So for any of you guys with trailers, or rear sag, I would recommend it. It also comes with two valves and enough house/clamps if you wanted to have a separate valve for each side if you wanted that flexibility, but I chose to keep it simple. I don’t have a significant passenger or driver lean that I was looking to remedy.

Time will tell if they hold up. But so far I have gotten $80 of satisfaction from them.

If my wife could fix her rear end sag for $80......

Just a JOKE!!!! She has a great backside

 

[Will]

I added some cheap mud flaps to the trailer.

But the best mod so far was picking up a black stone grill. Man this thing is nice! You can cook anything on it: bacon and eggs for breakfast, burgers for dinner. I was very happy with it on it’s first outing. I am going to work on a storage solution to mount it on the trailer; either a slide out or I’m thinking of purchasing an underbody truck box to mount to the side of the trailer wall that flips down: . We will see. Trying not to break the bank here but that rarely works out when Jeeping or camping are concerned.

 

[DVJeeper]

Love the build, awesome job! Thinking of doing something similar, this is great inspiration.

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