Hello all, I came up with a crazy idea last night and would like to talk about it with people that know what they are talking about. I want to build my own overland trailer to tow behind my GX470, and I have a general idea of what I am looking for. I want to have a bed up front of the trailer, and have the rest for a crazy amount of storage. Looking to have a sizable water tank, and a generator to power all my needs. Looking to have a small window air conditioner, and maybe a diesel heater. I’m not sure how big I want to make it, or really any idea about anything. Hoping to get some proper help. Thanks all!
i have a 5X8 that is basically a small toy hauler where the entire rear is a drop down door and it has the two entrance doors on each side and a 13000 btu heater/a'c unit. there are a LOT of options to consider, but for starting off, decide if you want it low profile for less wind drag and lower center of gravity, OR would you rather give that up for something taller that you can stand up in? mine is about 4-1/2' tall, so i have to lay down in it to change clothes, but i don't mind that for the other benefits i get from a short camper. also, the 8' length is fine. i have room for a folding mattress and a couple feet of space up forward for storage and then i have the slide out galley on the passenger side versus the rear galley you see on most tear drop campers.
i think the 5' width is perfect for trailing behind the vehicle and tracking well on short turns. its also plenty wide for the wife and i both to sleep in it with no problems. 8' length is good and i suppose you could stretch it out to 9' for some extra room without really changing much of how it tracks behind you.
check out @old_man on here...he has a thread of his trailer build that is amazing. lots of great pics and info that will help answer a lot of questions. i wanted to link his thread and i can't find it, so just DM him. definitely worth checking out
i think the 5' width is perfect for trailing behind the vehicle and tracking well on short turns. its also plenty wide for the wife and i both to sleep in it with no problems. 8' length is good and i suppose you could stretch it out to 9' for some extra room without really changing much of how it tracks behind you.
check out @old_man on here...he has a thread of his trailer build that is amazing. lots of great pics and info that will help answer a lot of questions. i wanted to link his thread and i can't find it, so just DM him. definitely worth checking out
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Thanks for the shout out. Feel free to contact me if you want to talk.
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Mine has a 5X6.5 sleeping area. Overall box is 5X9, overall trailer is 5X12. It weighs in about 2k. Try to keep it light, the weight adds up quick. If your building it yourself, make the width match your tow rig and the length match your turning radius. Both of my trailers follow almost exact in my vehicle track. This will be nice if you need to go around obstacles. I opted for less onboard water based on how much I go through normally.
Pop over to the trailer section and look at some of the builds. Trailers
Pop over to the trailer section and look at some of the builds. Trailers
Experimenter I
I built a 4 ft tall sleeper box for our 5x8 trailer and choose to use the tow vehicle for supplies and gear. The trailer has beds made, suitcases and interior 110v lighting (easier to run on main power or inverters for 12 and 18 volt batteries) to remain as light as possible. It's a low ceiling but pop up shower stalls are very easy to set up. The truck also carries weight better so it holds gear, coolers, water, etc.
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Enthusiast III
Depending on what you're looking for I've been building a teardrop kit with Hyk Outdoors and it's been a great experience. Jeff who owns it is a solid guy and they can do either a kit or a completely built trailer with a couple of different models. Check it out Teardrop Camper | Hyk Outdoors | Buy-Rent-Build - HykOutdoors
Thanks all for responding, I love how many people are imputing in my idea. I’ve whipped up some drawings, and please excuse my “amazing artwork”
If anyone can suggest any changes or have any questions, please feel free
If anyone can suggest any changes or have any questions, please feel free
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Thanks for inputting! I love the teardrop trailers, and those ones look awesome! I’m looking for something more like a box. I want as much storage as possible, while not being too big of a trailer.
Enthusiast III
Totally get it. That was my plan before I realized they had kits. The off the lot teardrops are insanely expensive but a kit changes that a lot. Not nearly the storage you're showing in your drawings though.
Member III
In your first drawing, it looks like you went from a tongue mounted under the frame to in front. There's two schools of thought there. Some people will argue it has to go under and extend to the front spring mount for the axle. Others say it doesn't matter.
As long as the trailer isn't too heavy, it wont matter which way you go. I personally build with the tongue under for strength and use that to bring up my tongue weight. When I plan a build, I put the axle in the center of the frame, the tongue length will then be at least the distance from the center to one frame end. Simply put, I break it into thirds. Do a little bit of searching and you will find how to calculate your final tongue length to match your tow rig.
Make sure you draw out everything to get the weight balanced side to side, front to back then add in things to give me around 100 pounds of tongue weight.
Both of my trailers follow my rigs track exactly and tow straight.
The pictures look like your mounting fuel cans high? If so, drop them down as far as possible to keep the weight low. My last trailer probably got changed on paper several times before I sat town and did a CAD drawing. Then it got changed several more times.
As long as the trailer isn't too heavy, it wont matter which way you go. I personally build with the tongue under for strength and use that to bring up my tongue weight. When I plan a build, I put the axle in the center of the frame, the tongue length will then be at least the distance from the center to one frame end. Simply put, I break it into thirds. Do a little bit of searching and you will find how to calculate your final tongue length to match your tow rig.
Make sure you draw out everything to get the weight balanced side to side, front to back then add in things to give me around 100 pounds of tongue weight.
Both of my trailers follow my rigs track exactly and tow straight.
The pictures look like your mounting fuel cans high? If so, drop them down as far as possible to keep the weight low. My last trailer probably got changed on paper several times before I sat town and did a CAD drawing. Then it got changed several more times.
Thanks for your insight. My dad always taught me to over-engineer everything. I was thinking that I could have the  tongue mount in 4 different places. It seems like you know what your talking about, what do you think?
Also, I have my fuel mounted higher up because I was planning on having a drawer under my bed, going from one side to the other. I’m now considering having the fuel mounted to the actual drawer, and have it almost hide the drawers.
Member III
Not sure what you mean there. If your saying off the front of the frame and under, your just wasting metal and adding in weight.
Alright. Thanks for helping, I think I’ll have it go under and to the axle, instead of under, and up front.
