Homebuilt camping trailers???

[Ronbo]

Has anyone built a small camping trailer for themselves?
I like the idea of a small enclosed trailer(4' by 8' floor), mainly for sleeping up and out of the mud and offer shelter from the rain/wind. It has to fit in the garage, handle light duty wheeling, and be XJ-towable.
I've found many home brew teardrop trailers on the net, and this would be the general scheme I'd follow.
Any experiences/tips/ideas or pictures you can share?

Thanks!

Ron

 

[1986xj]

An old military surplus 1/4 ton makes a good base to start with like a Bantam. http://www.film.queensu.ca/CJ3B/HubbardTrailers/Bantam.html is a good place to start, and this group - http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/BantamTrailer/ is just for them.
HTH,
Mike B.

 

[RichP]

There was a company, Rubicon trailers I think they were called that used a TJ back half for the trailer so that it matched, they were not cheap either. I do not know if they are still around though.
I have also seen [cover your ears eagle ] an MJ bed turned into a trailer and it matches the XJ very nicely, with some mods you could make it a bit wider or a bit higher depending on your skills, cap and other stuff would make a decent start. Or build a frame and use New MJ bed side panels and go from there.

 

[Buck Jackson]

This may not be what you are looking for but, I used a simple 4x8 utility trailer, added a heavy duty marine application axle (it has a raised axle bar for higher clearance, kind of like portal axles), refitted the fenders to accommodate 31" tires on cherokee wheels to match my XJ and add to the lift, then i built a simple centre hinged platform and put a cheap family sized tent on the platform so that i can fold it over and haul crap on top when i am not camping. Its perfect for camping on trails and stuff where you can't find a level area to set up a tent. I have levelers on the trailer bed that i took off an old tent trailer so that i can jack the trailer level when i want to camp. It was built quickly and on the cheap. I did it in 2000 and i have never needed to fix anything. Its bulletproof and if i want to haul a load of firewood etc, its no problem at all. Here's what it cost in Canadian $:
used utility trailer: $300
used marine axle with 5 on 4" hub: $100
plywood and hinge: $20
cheap 4x8 family tent: $70
cherokee rims to match: $50
used 31" BFG AT's: $60
tent trailer bed levelers: $20
total: $620 canadian, plus registration and plate.
Cheap and works great, but like i said, i don't know if this is what you are looking for....
Buck.

 

[Danno]

last summer I built a 32 foot bed/9 foot gooseneck trailer to haul my family's XJs on. I couldn't find one that I liked so decided to build it myself. It can also be used for tent camping on one end or even mount a temporary compartment for camping and still haul one XJ behind. It was a lot of work but lots of fun

 

[8Mud]

I went the utility trailer route also. Picked up last years model from a wholesaler for about $400. The rails are almost the same as a 8 foot pickup bed. I used aluminum channel (2"x 4"), to extend the rails of the trailer out a bit, and mounted a pop up tent designed for a Chevy pick-up box.
The trailer I picked up, has independant suspension, coils and a solid trailing arm type setup, kind of a trailing wishbone. And a 4 1/2 inch bolt pattern.
Hauling wood or weekend camping, flexibilty.
After driving the independent coil suspension, I´ll never go back to solid axle, thiing pulls flat and solid at most any speed. Really good design.

 

[Grizzley]

Check this one out. Looks really nice.

http://www.outbackteardrop.com/

 

[RKBA]

I looked into the homebuilt/teardrop quite a bit last year. I ended up wheeling and dealing on a clean used 8' box tent trailer for $800. I am very happy with my decision, and think I will be sticking with pop up campers for the forseeable future. Mine only weighs 990 lbs dry so it tows easy. I have dragged it over some logging roads with no ill effects.

 

[Steelerfan]

You could build something relatively cheap, by making a pickup bed trailer and putting a camper shell/cap on it. depending on how good a wheeler dealer you are it could be built pretty cheap.

 

[XTrmXJ]

I made a 5x8 trailer rolling 35 inch tires with a high clearance trailer axle for under $300 (tires are free) and it has a roof rack that I built with some what of a cage for support.. The sides are coverd in sheetmetal and I will have a canvis tonnuo cover built to enclose the trailer for inclimat weather or to camp inside of, I will also attach an onning from the side of the roof rack for shelter... There are many other add ons that I will be building (grill) for the trailer..

 

[basalt51]

Where should I look for a high clearance trailer axle and what am I looking for?
Thanks

 

[XTrmXJ]

The axle is accually set up for a low ride car hauler trailer.. All you have to do is flip it around and you will gain about 8 inches more of clearance... You can pick the axel up at a Northern Tool... They also have a web site but the axle that I have isnt on the site.. I payed about $40-$50 and it had a 3 inch pipe axle and I believe it was rated at 6000lbs, more than enough..

 

[Dragonslayer]

Back in the 1930's - 1950's there was a bunch of manufacturers making
"Teardrop Trailers" (or, "Tear Drop Trailers").

If you look-up the term on Google, you'll get about 2700 hits.

There's a big following of owners and restorers and collectors of these things
and they have clubs, etc.

Here's one guy who built his own from scratch:

http://home.earthlink.net/~frelance/greatlakesteardrop/