Comanchee bed trailer

Building a dual purpose trailer for hauling stuff, and camping.

Here is what I'm starting with, it is Lawncher's trailer:



Ordered an axle. Its a Dexter 3500 lb overslung axle with heavy duty 3" tubes, electric brakes, 65" wms to wms, 5 on 5.5" bolt pattern. It will match the width and bolt pattern of my Jeep. Also ordered some wheels and 35" BFG muds to match what I have on the jeep.

The plan is to replace the axle under it with the new axle. Because it is spring under, putting the overslung axle under the springs will give it somewhere around 5" of lift.

I am going to remove the topper, for now, and build a rack for the trailer to hold my boxes.

I am concerned with the length of the tounge, but the weather forecast says there is going to be plenty of snow on the ground to allow me to drive in a circle and watch my tracks to see how closely it follows the Jeep.

The trailer will be painted silver to match my jeep. I am also planning on putting some bushwacker flares on the trailer to match the ones on my Jeep.

The bushwackers are horrible on the tight trails around here and break easily when rubbed on trees, but I don't plan on the trailer seeing much trail time. There aren't any trails around here that are long enough to justify hauling a trailer. It will be used mostly to get to campsites via very mild trails, so I'm not too worried about damaging them.

I'm going to paint the topper to match, and replace the missing window. Trying to figure out a way to easily remove and replace the topper so that I can use it when camping and remove it when hauling lumber or parts. It is going to be difficult, but I would like to be able to haul most of my camping gear in the trailer, and still have room to sleep inside.

I will probably put a tounge box on it to gain some additional storage. The area under the front of the bed would be a great place to mount a water tank. The fuel tank is still in place, and I will keep it there so if I ever decide to use it as an auxilary tank I can.

Because it will be hauled to a base camp and left there so I can run trails in the jeep, it will need to be stable on its own. I plan on adding some removable jacks to the rear bumper to keep it from tipping. Do I need a jack on each side or will one be enough?

The interior of the topper will get carpeted with boat carpeting to insulate it a little bit. I will probably be adding an RV vent and fan to it as well.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

It is in pretty good shape. It has some surface rust in a few spaces, and a few dents. Quite a bit of the rust will be cut out when I put on the flares.

I can't believe how light it is. I'm going to loose quite a bit of weight when I put in the new axle and remove the spare tire from underneath. It has very little tounge weight now. Removing the spare should help some as it is mounted behind the axle. I'm also going to add a floor to the triangle area made by the tounge and make a lid for it. That should put some more weight up front and give me a place to store jacks and chains.

I haven't been able to hook it up to my jeep yet, but I'm worried about being able to open my tire carrier and hatch with the trailer attached. I may have to extend the tounge a bit.

The bed is going to get painted to match my jeep, but I can't decide on what color to paint the topper. I am playing with the idea of painting it black with a slight texture like a wrangler hard top.

The raised area in the topper has a great place to add some small shelves.

There is not enough room to put a drawer under an air matteress. There is just not enough head room. Going to have to find some other places to store stuff. Probably just going to use rubbermade containers that I can put in the back when traveling, and leave underneath the trailer when I set up camp.

It sits pretty tall as is without the big tires and lift. I'm begining to worry that it is going to sit too tall, going to have to add some weight. I guess it is better to have to add weight than to remove it. I got just over 12 mpg pulling it, I usually get around 15 mpg... so not a huge drop. It will be interesting to see what it does with the new axle and bigger tires. If I figure right, it should be about the same.

The hitch worked out pretty good the way it was sitting. When I lift it I imagine that it is going to have to be modified a bit. When I lift it, it will sit 8" higher than it does now. It is sitting a little low in the back now, and I'm hoping for it to sit a little low at the tounge when empty to help keep as much weight on the tounge as possible. I'll probably have to trim the top off of the channel that holds the lunette ring to keep it from hitting the spare when I take it through ditches.

The axle was set up wrong. I ordered it to have the springs above the axle, and they sent it with the perches below the axle. I welded on some bigger spring perches, so it was no big deal. I left the old perches on just in case I decided to lower it later on. I also had to flip the spring center pins so that they faced down to match the axle.



The new axle is pretty beefy. The 3" axle tubes allowed me to use the stock spring plates. The wires for the electric brakes were already ran through the axle tube to protect them from rocks and brush.

Had to add a new tounge jack to match the new height.



Ended up using some Rubicon Express shocks to match the ones on my jeep. I've got the RE monotubes on the Jeep, just used the RE nitro shocks for the trailer. Found that the rear shocks for a TJ with a budget boost fit great after trying a few different ones.



Lowered the lunette ring and cut a little off of the top to allow it to clear the spare tire. Going to finish it up better later.



It is very noticable that my jeep is sagging in the rear when the trailer is hooked up. Its not due to the tounge weight, it is just time for some new springs. I'm going to order the new RE 5.5" spring packs to level it back out. I am going to see where that puts me, and probably put some cherokee shackles on the trailer, which are shorter than the comanche ones. Just going to take it one step at a time.

Looking great so far. Keep us updated, please.

It may have came up already........are you going to paint it to match the XJ?

Prepmech said:

The trailer will be painted silver to match my jeep. I am also planning on putting some bushwacker flares on the trailer to match the ones on my Jeep.

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:thumbup:

I love how this is turning out. I'm keeping my eyes open for a small trailer to build, I miss my M416.

Bushwackers are sitting in my basement ready to be put on.

Right now my Jeep is sitting in the garage with a broken rear axle, as soon as I get it out of the way I am going to start with the body work.

It has a drop in bedliner, but I'm going to go ahead and herculine the inside of the bed as I have quite a bit left over from doing the inside of the jeep.

I still can't decide on what color to paint the topper. The bed is going to be silver to match the jeep, but I think the topper would look cool black and match the jeep a little better that way as I have lots of black on it.

IllianaXJ said:

:thumbup:

I love how this is turning out. I'm keeping my eyes open for a small trailer to build, I miss my M416.

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Looking good Travis.

Byron, I have an MJ short bed sitting out back if you're looking for a project...

Sweet!

On the rear support legs.. i'd consider two. Espescially since you plan to sleep in it, the 2 supports would stop the one side from dropping when entering/exiting or other shenanigans. You and Mark could fab something up easily enough.

I REALLY like all that room you have under the box for a water tank, i look forward to seeing how you pull it off. You could add storage box's for tarp poles etc under the bed as well... alot of possibilities there.

Do yourself a favor. Weld in a receiver in the tongue, then you could remove the pintle end and take it with you when you'll be away from the trailer. A bit of security... what thief carries a pintle/receiver?!

One suggestion: When you replace the front window (the one closest to the tongue) you may want to consider using plexiglass. I had a similar setup years ago (used a Ford Ranger bed with topper) and I went through 3 topper windows because every time I went down a gravel road my tires would kick rocks up through the glass. I even tried using a mesh headache rack to try and shield it. Once I had a plexiglass window cut, I had zero breakage issues. The only downside is the plexiglass scratches easily and adds a little extra weight.

That is a cool, capable little trailer. Definately put two jackstands in the back if you plan on sleeping it in. I can unhook mine and leave it at camp fully loaded no problem with it tipping but if I were to sit on the tail gate the front end would come up. Here is the one I use for weekend getaways. Just thought I would throw it out there. I don't have any more detailed pics right now. I am going to Johnson Valley tomorrow morning for the weekend so I will take some more pics. Let me know and I will post some if there is anything you want to see. It was built by JeepDad (Marty) on this site.

XJMilan said:

That is a cool, capable little trailer. Definately put two jackstands in the back if you plan on sleeping it in. I can unhook mine and leave it at camp fully loaded no problem with it tipping but if I were to sit on the tail gate the front end would come up. Here is the one I use for weekend getaways. Just thought I would throw it out there. I don't have any more detailed pics right now. I am going to Johnson Valley tomorrow morning for the weekend so I will take some more pics. Let me know and I will post some if there is anything you want to see. It was built by JeepDad (Marty) on this site.

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What all do you have mounted in front of the bed?

Do you have any pictures of where the frame for the tounge meets up to the frame of the MJ?

Looks good!

Pat said:

Byron, I have an MJ short bed sitting out back if you're looking for a project...

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You had to say that, didn't you. If I sell my popup I may get with you on that. Bed only, or truck?