Picked up a 78 pack mule off road trailer a few months back. Between my wife and the dog, I just dont have enough space for all our gear.
Originally it was just going to be throw gear in it and go. It was owned by an 82 year old man that used to take yearly trips down to the baja and the Rubicon. I started tearing into it and found it needed a complete tear down and rebuild.
The axle was an old school torsion axle with coil springs wrapped around the axle for suspension but it was worn out, and I couldn't find parts for it so I ripped it all out and ordered a new axle, 1250 lb leaf springs, new hubs with matching bolt pattern to to my truck and all the perches for the axle and springs.
While waiting for the parts to come in I decided to deal with the rust and repaint it. I wire wheeled the whole underside and killed all the rust then primed the bottom and rattle canned it black. I figure it will chip and scratch so black paint is easy to touch up.
For the sides I did a mixture of paint stripper and wire wheeling then killed the rust and primed it and used OD green krylon. It came out pretty decent besides letting it run in a few spots.
The bed I used iron armor roll on bedliner from harbor freight, and on the bed rails. It came out pretty even.
I rewired the trailer and got new LED tail lights. And wired up my truck since it didnt have a trailer plug. And welded up a trailer hits onto my square tube bumper.
Today I threw some unistrut across the bed rails to slap my rtt on it and got it ready for camping this weekend.
Future plans are 35 inch tires to match my truck, and a telescoping rtt rack that I can raise and lower. I also am working on an idea for being able to put my rtt and kayaks on the trailer. Also I'd like to do solar and a battery bank in a tongue box once I put a longer tongue on the trailer.
Originally it was just going to be throw gear in it and go. It was owned by an 82 year old man that used to take yearly trips down to the baja and the Rubicon. I started tearing into it and found it needed a complete tear down and rebuild.
The axle was an old school torsion axle with coil springs wrapped around the axle for suspension but it was worn out, and I couldn't find parts for it so I ripped it all out and ordered a new axle, 1250 lb leaf springs, new hubs with matching bolt pattern to to my truck and all the perches for the axle and springs.
While waiting for the parts to come in I decided to deal with the rust and repaint it. I wire wheeled the whole underside and killed all the rust then primed the bottom and rattle canned it black. I figure it will chip and scratch so black paint is easy to touch up.
For the sides I did a mixture of paint stripper and wire wheeling then killed the rust and primed it and used OD green krylon. It came out pretty decent besides letting it run in a few spots.
The bed I used iron armor roll on bedliner from harbor freight, and on the bed rails. It came out pretty even.
I rewired the trailer and got new LED tail lights. And wired up my truck since it didnt have a trailer plug. And welded up a trailer hits onto my square tube bumper.
Today I threw some unistrut across the bed rails to slap my rtt on it and got it ready for camping this weekend.
Future plans are 35 inch tires to match my truck, and a telescoping rtt rack that I can raise and lower. I also am working on an idea for being able to put my rtt and kayaks on the trailer. Also I'd like to do solar and a battery bank in a tongue box once I put a longer tongue on the trailer.
