M116A3 off-road camper build

lfhoward · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:51 pm

NOTE 9/17: Because Photobucket blocked forum access to pics, none of the pics in here work anymore. I've fixed the broken links in my Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers (tnttt.com) build thread, which is 90% the same as here. Please visit that build thread for pics of my trailer. http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=62581 Thanks!!

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Hi there Jeepers,
I am needing a good, small economical camping trailer before the summer hits. The budget is only a couple thousand (if that), but I'd like to get a small hard sided trailer (not a popup with canvas) that can sleep two people. It doesn't need to have all the bells and whistles like A/C or heat, but I may wire up an inverter and battery for lights and a fan. Solar panels would be cool to charge the battery during the day. It needs to get us up off the ground because our backs are a little old now for sleeping in a tent for 8 weeks like we did last summer! :dizzy:

Here are some cool trailer models I'm aware of. I'm a fan of the Aliner or LittleGuy. The brand new price for all of them is out of my ballpark, but I'm interested in a good used trailer that hasn't been smoked in and isn't full of pet dander.
Aliner http://www.aliner.com

T@B http://tab-rv.com

LittleGuy http://www.golittleguy.com

Or a custom job like this from the York PA Craiglist http://york.craigslist.org/rvs/4280521739.html

What other ideas have you got? Show me your trailer photos and links!

Anybody in the northeast, midatlantic, or midwest, planning to sell a trailer this spring? :POPCORN:

Happy

Lauren

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:22 pm

FYI - lot of folks have built their own over at TNTTT (teardrops and tiny travel trailers)

http://www.tnttt.com/

They even have free plans up in the design resources

JakeHarrington · **Joined:** Tue Jan 14, 2014 7:15 am **Posts:** 1

lfhoward wrote:

Hi there Jeepers,
I am needing a good, small economical camping trailer before the summer hits. The budget is only a couple thousand (if that), but I'd like to get a small hard sided trailer (not a popup with canvas) that can sleep two people. It doesn't need to have all the bells and whistles like A/C or heat, but I may wire up an inverter and battery for lights and a fan. solar kits would be cool to charge the battery during the day. It needs to get us up off the ground because our backs are a little old now for sleeping in a tent for 8 weeks like we did last summer! :dizzy:

Here are some cool trailer models I'm aware of. I'm a fan of the Aliner or LittleGuy. The brand new price for all of them is out of my ballpark, but I'm interested in a good used trailer that hasn't been smoked in and isn't full of pet dander.
Aliner http://www.aliner.com

T@B http://tab-rv.com

LittleGuy http://www.golittleguy.com

Or a custom job like this from the York PA Craiglist http://york.craigslist.org/rvs/4280521739.html

What other ideas have you got? Show me your trailer photos and links!

Anybody in the northeast, midatlantic, or midwest, planning to sell a trailer this spring? :POPCORN:

Happy

Lauren

Just awesome trailers.. Thanks for sharing such lovely pics.. I would love to get similar trailer and will share pics soon.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:27 am

ATXKJ wrote:

FYI - lot of folks have built their own over at TNTTT (teardrops and tiny travel trailers)

http://www.tnttt.com/

They even have free plans up in the design resources

ATXKJ, this is a very cool site. I've checked out a number of trailer builds and am excited about the possibility of building my own camping trailer somewhere down the line. This design is super cool and I can imagine towing it off road behind my KK. The owner named it "The Dog House."

Their build journal is here: http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=40150

Now if only I had a garage and some spare time... :ALONE:

scout · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2014 9:52 am

Have you ever checked out Adventure Trailers? They are pricey but really nice.

http://adventuretrailers.com/trailers/teardrop/

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sun Mar 16, 2014 11:42 am

scout wrote:

Have you ever checked out Adventure Trailers? They are pricey but really nice.

http://adventuretrailers.com/trailers/teardrop/

I would highly consider their teardrop trailer. I like the security of a hard-shelled camper. Adventure Trailer's design, list of options, level of customization, and functionality is hard to beat. It's a very diversified trailer allowing a lot of flexibility for the user. Looking at the market today, it would be the only hard-shelled camper trailer that I would consider for a Jeep.

Looks are deceiving. In my opinion, this is a fairly large trailer, yet very lightweight. I think anything over 1,500 lbs is too much for the Liberty in terms of driving across the country, especially for those of us who already have a heavily taxed KJ due to armor, winches, taller tires, lift kit, etc.. Yes the KJ/KK can tow much more weight, but I'm talking about towing comfortably. Wind resistance is a big factor when towing. The teardrop will have some drag under the trailer due to its height, but the overall exterior shape would considerably cut down on wind drag.

TRAILER SPECIFICATIONS:
ALL MEASUREMENTS IN INCHES, ON 35″ TIRES.
Overall Length (including Coupler 150″
Overall height 75″
Ground clearance 24″
Cabin width 54″
Mattress 53″ W x 77″ L
Tongue to spindle 107″
Weight, dry including: Tires, rims, coupler. 1283 lbs.
Weight, dry including: 45L fridge, awning, roof rack, battery, battery charger, stove, fuel cans and holders, coupler, kitchen, tires, rims. 1498 lbs.

ARB02KJ · **Posted:** Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:49 pm

I know this is a bit late here but if your still looking you could check out Runaway Campers. They're units are about the same size as a tear drop, however they're more squared off. I believe they start around $1,500 and go up to about $2,500!!

You could also check out Compact Camping Concepts.

Both companies have YouTube channels so you can see their products.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CobraNutt · **Joined:** Sun Feb 05, 2012 3:57 pm **Posts:** 15

Moby 1 teardrops are awesome!!! Oh wait...you said for a couple thousand, not 25. Never mind! Lol!

WHITE the civilian · **Posted:** Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:00 am

Here is the trailer that an older forum user named Combat Truck Monkey made and sold to me -

I am selling this one in Anchorage, AK ^ right now. Probably being sold tomorrow.

Anywho Combat Truck Monkey has for the last several months/years been designing his own custom tear drop. Here it is,

Combat Truck Monkey is a genius! And no it's the only picture I have of the new one.. Sorry!
Bug him for more info.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:45 am

Well, I won a military surplus auction this morning, so I will officially be building an offroad camping trailer! :BANANA:

Here are the details:

M116A3 1-ton trailer chassis, running on 37's! In a former life, it transported a diesel generator for the Marines. This thing is about 750 lbs empty, and beefy! It would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 lbs once I'm done modding it. :twisted:

Here is a sketch of my plan to make it into an offroad camper. It's not really a teardrop camper, but it would be about the same size. It would be large enough to hold a queen sized mattress! (Yay, no more sleeping on the ground for me and my wife!) I definitely took some inspiration from the ROAM camper build, over on ih8mud.com: http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/roam-camper-build.379001/

Hopefully I can get it finished by the time summer rolls around. In my free time the last couple of days I drafted plans using SketchUp. These blueprints don't show the exterior walls or the back doors, so you can see the interior construction. It will be insulated between the beams so it will be an all-season camper. I am hoping to skin it with aluminum when it's done.

I will chronicle my M116A3 Trailer Build over on tnttt.com, a forum for building teardrop camping trailers:
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=62581

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:20 pm

Lfh, any help you need on that solar panel install im here. remember, I have one on my roof of my KK as well with 6 batteries and a charge controller. if you let me know how much you want to spend on the solar panel (expect over $200 for a good one) I could scrounge up some good manufacturers, and maybe even one of a job site near you.

there's no way I would have bought my current solar panel that's on my roof. a family friend is a solar panel rep/ engineer, and the one job site he had had an extra panel. I got a free $500 panel! that was over 8 years ago I got it, and the third month I had my KK, that panel went on the roof.

say good bye to your gas mileage when towing this! I've never seen a single digit KK before.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:23 pm

PALiftedKK wrote:

Lfh, any help you need on that solar panel install im here. remember, I have one on my roof of my KK as well with 6 batteries and a charge controller. if you let me know how much you want to spend on the solar panel (expect over $200 for a good one) I could scrounge up some good manufacturers, and maybe even one of a job site near you.

there's no way I would have bought my current solar panel that's on my roof. a family friend is a solar panel rep/ engineer, and the one job site he had had an extra panel. I got a free $500 panel! that was over 8 years ago I got it, and the third month I had my KK, that panel went on the roof.

say good bye to your gas mileage when towing this! I've never seen a single digit KK before.

That would be super great! I would love to be able to charge the batteries via [free!] solar. I haven't done enough research yet to know how many batteries I will probably need, but I'd like a panel big enough to charge them in a day, if possible. That way, I would expect to have sustainable power in the wilds of PA without needing to plug in. Are you running 6, 6V deep cycle marine batteries, or 12-volt batteries?

I am not sure what timeframe I'm looking at for when the roof of the trailer would be ready, but I would like to know ahead of time what kind (gauge, number, colors) of wires to run between the roof and the battery box. That way, I'd be ready to install panels when they become available, and I wouldn't have to take the trailer apart during the install. Of course, if free panels show up before I'm ready, I'd be more than happy to store them in the garage and use them later!

Yup, gas mileage will suck while pulling this, but not too bad. I went from 12-15 mpg with my Duratracs and no trailer to about 10-12 mpg while pulling a double axle 6 foot wide U-Haul trailer during my last move. Regearing would help!

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:49 pm

Ill do a write up today when I get home from work. but im running 4 12 volt tractor batteries and 2 agm batteries. the 2 agm batteries are for my main use, the tractor batteries are more for heavier loads used for my inverter. please stay away from 6 volt any thing. 12 volt systems are inefficient enough as it is. it depends on what you are planning to run on the system, if its a fridge, light, fan, and tv, go with 6 agm or flooded led acid batteries hooked up to a minimum of 600 watt inverter. theres 2 different technologies of inverters. modified sine wave and pure sine wave. pure sine wave is cleaner then your houses outlets but is 2ce the cost of a modified sine wave inverter. modified sine wave inverters are cheep! but the power it puts out is "filthy"! plug a speaker into your house outlet and listen to it. plug the same speaker into a modified sine wave inverter, you hear hums. that hum is very bad for sensitive electronics like your phone.

like I said, ill have a write up for you by the end of tonight. keep your eyes pealed!

P.S: get your reading glasses on for when I do post it.

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Wed Feb 25, 2015 6:10 pm

looking at the hitch there, id say modify your current hitch. those ball mounts are a lot less forgiving when hooking the trailer up.

modify this to your jeeps hitch or bumper. this hitch style would alow the trailer to bend close to 90 degrees if no body parts were in its way. not sure why you would be on a trail that extreme?

to people taking trailers using trailers that use this method, im not sure how the trailer frame doesn't bend. this mounting system limits extreme downward and upward travel of the trailer

lfhoward · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:38 am

PAliftedKK, the first hitch photo (the pintle hitch) is what I ordered, along with a 2" receiver insert with a thick vertical backing plate to bolt it to. The dedicated pintle hitches like that are supposed to pull more smoothly than the hybrid ball hitch type. The military trailer has a lunette (a big O-ring) on the tongue, rather than the ball hitch grabber shown in your second photo.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:43 am

I've been getting some good feedback about my trailer design on the Tiny Trailers forum. Seems like there are some tried and true ways to make the cabin a lot lighter but just as strong. I will be losing the 2x4's in the next draft of my design. I feel like I was just talked out of their equivalent of: "So, I am thinking of installing a spacer lift..."

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 9:45 am

lfhoward wrote:

PAliftedKK, the first hitch photo (the pintle hitch) is what I ordered, along with a 2" receiver insert with a thick vertical backing plate to bolt it to.

good to hear that! :BANANA:

you'll never know the trailer is behind you, besides the slow accelerations.

lfhoward · **Posted:** Thu Feb 26, 2015 11:22 pm

The pintle hitch came from eTrailer today. This thing is HEAVY. It has a 10,000 lb capacity, which is 2x the towing capacity of my Jeep! (But it is small for pintle hitches in general, based on what was available for sale.)

PALiftedKK · **Posted:** Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:12 am

lfhoward wrote:

The pintle hitch came from eTrailer today. This thing is HEAVY. It has a 10,000 lb capacity, which is 2x the towing capacity of my Jeep! (But it is small for pintle hitches in general, based on what was available for sale.)

people that know hitches are going to look at that strangely! their going to wonder what you have under the hood and why you have a pintle hitch!

grease the hinge every year. you look like a maroon trying to get it open with a sledge hammer and closing it jumping on it. been there, hurt that!

Bmxer524 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 02, 2015 7:59 pm

I haven't checked out the other site yet, and late to the party(I know :dead:

), but I can't wait to see how this comes out. Pintle hitches are great for heavy duty purposes, and I'm pretty sure the military tailors are set up for them already.

Are you planning on swapping out the 37s? It's a military tire, so it should be a 16.5" rim, correct? I know you could probably sell them off if they're in good shape. Then it might pay off to try and swap the bolt pattern to line up with the Jeep(extra full size spare or 2...) Might also free up space and let you rework the wheel wells for more room.

M116A3 off-road camper build

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