Micro Toyhauler

[Ridefreak]

This is a trailer I've put together to haul my dualsport moto (KTM 500) and/or a fat tire ebike and also carry a tent. Not unlike some of the other utility trailers builds I see on here. There's a couple constraints I've had to deal with. It's size is limited as it must share 1 car space in the garage with 2 motos and an ebike. It also must fit under the garage door with a roof top tent yet be tall enough to park a relatively tall motorcycle under the tent. I'm not a fan of the materials typically used in Big Box store utility trailers plus a 5' wide trailer with larger tires would be too wide for my space. I wanted this trailer to match the track width and wheelbase of a tacoma DCSB that will be pulling it. I don't plan on any 4 wheeling with the trailer but I wanted it more then strong enough to get into remote Utah where I frequently go. I also knew I could probably accommodate all those requirements if I built it myself.

Enough background on to the build. I sold off my fabrication tools a few years ago. All I had was cordless hand tools, grinders and clamps. I borrowed a 120V mig, picked up a HF bandsaw and stand and a $50 220V stick welder.

The band saw and stand was a life saver for what it cost. It made short work of 2x2 .180 and cut .120 stock with little effort.

The $60 220V stick welder worked surprisingly well for the structural welds.

On to the build.
At this point I've cut up the tubing and laid out the 4x8 footprint of the bed.

Here I've stripped off all the millscale, squared up the corner and I'm preparing to tack weld.

The frame went together quickly. The outside frame members are .180 wall and the cross braces are .120. The tongue is 2.5 x 2.5 x .180

I went with a 3500# axle and 215/70 15" 8ply tires on 6" wide alum rims. The typical trailer sized wheels would be too small and a wheel off a jeep would be a little larger than I'd prefer.
Flimsy fenders wouldn't do, I wanted fenders that I could stand on, mission accomplished.

Tabs got welded in to hold the 4x8 sheet of 3/4" marine ply.

Here I've started on the side framework. The 4 verticle uprights towards the front of the trailer will be receiver tubes for the tent platform uprights.

Here's a picture with the uprights installed, I'm checking the various heights in order to plan the platform's range of movement.

This one shows the finished side framework. The sleeves that are clamped part way up the poles are the moving part in the tent elevation system I'm planning.

Next task: Pickup style tailgate.

 

[Ridefreak]

The frame for the tailgate is 1x1 square tubing. I'd like slam latches so I bought some inexpensive pop locks and set them up with a ramp so the gate can be slammed shut. I added some pickup style tailgate cables off an 80s model chevy and placed two anchoring points on each side of the tailgate. One is the typical horizontal position and the other is positioned so it's a ramp so loading a motorcycle can be done with a shorter ramp.

I added locating pins to help prevent the sidewalls from spreading although I think that is unlikely.

It got some diamond plate bling attached with riv nuts inserted into the square tubing. It's came out very stout.

This is a close up of one of the front tent platform mounting points. I had some 3/4" high misalignment heim joints designed for A-Arms left over from a project, perfect pivot, extremly strong and the have tight tolerances and best of all they mitigate much of the negative effects of minor deviations in the squareness of the whole assy. The hand wing nut gets loosened and the pop lock is pulled and the assy slide up or down to 3 positions. Since it's a 110 lb tent and the rack weights a bit I will be adding gas strut to lighten the load going up. The tent rack also uses 1x1 tubing and mostly mimics a roof rack on a vehicle, I optimized the position of the 2 inner bars to the tent's attachment points. The rack must be in one of the 2 upper positions to open the tent.

The rack has to be able to lift one end at a time, expecting it to smoothly ride up with this much seperate hardware is asking allot. The uprights are individual pieces and rely on the squareness of the trailer for their squareness. There's minor inconsistency in some of the material's trueness caused by heat when welding and it was built without a jig. When both ends don't elevate at the exact same time the distance between front and rear platform mounting points increases the further the ends differ in height. Something has to be able to accommodate that change or the whole thing binds up, I've see all types of solutions, for me the simplest was to add slots to the rear mounts, it works well and I can lift the front, lock it in place and walk around to the back and do the same thing. Once it's in the new position the large hand nuts are tightened to eliminate movement. It's all toolless I've taken steps make sure the hand nuts don't vibrate and fall off. I purposly used large grade 8 pivot hardware.

Low position

This is the primary cargo and what determined the trailer dimensions

Gas strut locations.

Added a spare tire carrier to the rear side of the trailer, I'm not a big fan of the location but I chose it because I didn't want to block the tongue since I plan on a tongue box eventually plus I don't want to add the weight of both to the trailers tongue weight. Putting it behind the axle drops a little tongue weight and the trailer could use it. I also added tie down loops all over including on the outside in case I want to attach a tarp.

The mig was running out of gas which caused the last few welds look more like a diseased growths then a bead.

All that's left to do on the build is welding on mounts for stabilizer jacks and tabs for the side boards and prep & paint.