Elk Trailer

[Traildust]

JKbow and myself travel out of state every year to elk, bear and mule deer hunt. Between the two of us with gear, coolers, tents, cooking stuff and about 500# of other crap.....the cab and beds of our trucks are pretty packed.

Then of course, if you catch a hotel you have to try and secure your lose gear and carry half of it up the the hotel, then reload in the morning. PIA! We tried going the camper top route and that worked pretty well, but it's a pia to put them on / off.

We started seeing some overland trailers that looked pretty cool, but we wanted it more for security and keeping everything dry and accessible until we reached our camp areas.

Our plan is to have everything stored in the trailer so when we're ready to go camp or hunt, 95% of it will already be packed.

I found a heck of a deal on a low profile 5x10 Wells Cargo on Craigslist.
I snatched it up asap. Got her drug home and started what John and I call the "Elk Trailer"







First thing was to rip the old torsion axle out, purchase and new axle and do a spring flip because we wanted a fairing large tire ( 30x9.5x15 ) for added ground clearance and the overland appearance. We went with a 3500# axle just because of the bigger tire/wheel combo and wanted some beef to it even though we'll prolly never have more the 1500# of cargo.

Fairly simple to cut out the old supports and install new spring hangers. ( Pics don't show completed welds for all you internet QA/QC! )












Next was cleaning the sheet metal roof, priming some of the light rusted areas and then recoating it with elastomer.


Then everything sanded down and apply 4 coats of Rustoleum Massey Ferguson Grey paint to the shell.
All the trim, fenders, lights and rear door were removed.







Once the tires and wheels showed up and were installed, we had to do a little fender modification for clearance. We may replace them next year with some custom built ones it we get time.










FTR....these Nitto's were not for hiway use and I didn't catch it until a couple days later. Discount corrected the issue and now it has BFG MT3 on it. Never knew they made specific UTV tires


All of the bottom trim, fenders and door hardware have been cleaned and painted black. Hopefully we can get those installed in the next couple weeks.

Then we'll install a new bulldog hitch, safety chains, led lights and finish painting the frame.

We'll fabricate some kind of basket / box for the tongue to carry fuel and propane tanks.

The inside will see some LED lighting and an e-track cargo management system

I'll update as we start putting her back together. Thanks for following along

[160class]

Tagged!

[scott1022]

Love it! I would love to do a similar project to this. Find something that needs a little TLC and make it my own. Thanks for sharing your updates. Looks like it's going to be sweet little Elk Trailer for you guys.

[Outback]

Love the idea and you are doing it up right. Might paint a sign on it that says Medical Waste or Radiation Hazard or Poison to keep the low scum from stealing it!

[bobc]

This is gonna be cool. Following.


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[MadHatter]

Holy $#!+!, you boys are serious
Elk gonna be trembling!!!!
In till the end.

[MadHatter]

Originally Posted by Outback

Love the idea and you are doing it up right. Might paint a sign on it that says Medical Waste or Radiation Hazard or Poison to keep the low scum from stealing it!

Put a sign that says "I'm not from Texas" then .

[TexasCanesFan]

Oh that’s an awesome project so far.

[St59]

Looking good! Been wanting to do similar for a few years now just can’t find the time

[Drop Tine]

You fellas don't half-*** anything, do you!? Looks great! What would you charge to make another? haha

[Jon B]

Man that is a cool project

[Dale Moser]

That’s gonna be slicker than hot goose ****!


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[TXBRASS]

In for an epic trailer build!


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[Throwin Darts]

Freakin awesome

[db@100]

You might build a bench on each side and then you could sleep in there if you had to.

[JunxMan]

Great job on the paint color choice. I didn't ever think about that before, but it's the perfect color for this project. Following!

[Cliff Dog]

Looks great!

[Slick8]

Great looking build you have going.

[CoolArrow]

Like it. So cool

[diamond10x]

Looks pretty good. How's it pull behind the truck? Last cargo trailer we pulled with one axle that thing swayed side to side going down the highway so bad at anything over 65 it was a PIA.

[Hollywood]

Originally Posted by diamond10x

Looks pretty good. How's it pull behind the truck? Last cargo trailer we pulled with one axle that thing swayed side to side going down the highway so bad at anything over 65 it was a PIA.

To much weight in the back. We have about 30 of them for job trailers & have to constantly get them to rearrange their tools & materials.

[Ag 89]

Looks great. Would love to see pics of your e-track set up when you get it done.

[flywise]

very nice

[Voodoo]

Go with a goodyear trailer tire, off road tires don’t do jack on a trailer cept slide, pop, and bounce. Even a P-metric street tire on a small single axle trailer is hard to beat.

Nice work though.

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by Voodoo

Go with a goodyear trailer tire, off road tires don’t do jack on a trailer cept slide, pop, and bounce. Even a P-metric street tire on a small single axle trailer is hard to beat.

Nice work though.

Thanks, but tires and wheels are installed.

Not a fan of trailer tires.

[Traildust]

Here's the new tire. I like these better than the Nitto's anyway. Prolly put a set on the goat in a few more months.

[kcmarullo]

Good job Sam !

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by kcmarullo

Good job Sam !

Ya know....it'll make the trip to Oklahoma

[5ks]

Just needs a hamek

[Chad_E]

Very nice! I bet it already smells like cool mountain air.

[TXBRASS]

Originally Posted by Voodoo

Go with a goodyear trailer tire, off road tires don’t do jack on a trailer cept slide, pop, and bounce. Even a P-metric street tire on a small single axle trailer is hard to beat.

Nice work though.

I've had the exact opposite experience. Have a 24' tandem with 7,500 lb axels. Went through two sets of "premium" trailer tires with blowouts regularly in less than 3,000 miles. Switched to Cooper A/T's E rated tires and have ran her 20K miles with zero issues. Wont go back to trailer tires....

[Voodoo]

I wasn’t clear on all aspects. Was trying to steer people away from China Bombs. The goodyear trailer tires aired to the appropriate lbs according to their chart for the total trailer weight are pretty solid with less bounce. So many people over-inflate trailer tires.

I do off-roading with a trailer that has high ground clearance and the Goodyear tires I use work better off road and on ice than off-road tires.

I’m specifically talking about a single axle off road trailer.

[TXBRASS]

Originally Posted by Traildust

Here's the new tire. I like these better than the Nitto's anyway. Prolly put a set on the goat in a few more months.
Attachment 1092514

I like the way the cut fenders turned out. I'd take them and sand the edges smooth and then have them sprayed with a double thick coat of rhino liner and mount back.

[Voodoo]

I had frame mounted fenders made with half steps because the box mounted stuff would fail on me from vibrations,and mud/snow buildup.

Your cuts should help with that if you don’t let stuff buildup too much.

[Briar Friar]

Sweet rig with awesome purpose MrTraildust.

[Jkbow]

New shoes with highway capability ready to go on.

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by Voodoo

I had frame mounted fenders made with half steps because the box mounted stuff would fail on me from vibrations,and mud/snow buildup.

Your cuts should help with that if you don’t let stuff buildup too much.

Yup, Johns got a tubing bender and will be tasked with something like this for next year. He'll be adding a rub-rail in case he's driving

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by TXBRASS

I like the way the cut fenders turned out. I'd take them and sand the edges smooth and then have them sprayed with a double thick coat of rhino liner and mount back.

Gonna hit them with a tiger disc and smooth out the edges!

[Texans42]

I’ve been think about doing same except using https://timbren.com/n-148-off-road-t...ion-guide.html these axles. I’m getting tired of living in a camper shell 15 + nights a year

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by Texans42

I’ve been think about doing same except using https://timbren.com/n-148-off-road-t...ion-guide.html these axles. I’m getting tired of living in a camper shell 15 + nights a year

Yup, we looked at those and new torsion bar axles with lifts. For where we are actually traveling ( established trails and roads ) and being pulled with offroad-unfriendly big diesel trucks....we couldn't justify the expense.

If we truly traveled rough terrain, those would be a great option for sure.

[jds247]

I like the axel flip idea.. You definitely need the clearance. I have a 6 by 12 I hauled to Colorado year before last.. If I know where I'm going I'll bring it again but that year I drew in a unit I didn't know and went alone. I got almost to the top of the mountain and ran into a road block. Basically a single vehicle road with no where to turn around.. The road wasn't marked as closed on the map nor at the intersection. Luckily about 30 yards past the barricades there was a spot to turn around .. I moved the road block and got turned around . Backing a half mile down a 1 lane road would have sucked.. I'm not sure it could have been done.

[Dale Moser]

Are you gonna pimp out the inside with racks/shelves/beds/chili pepper lights/etc?

[Jkbow]

We are going to pimp out the inside with LED lighting E Track system on the walls and floor along with some E Track shelves and wall baskets.

[hully1029]

tagged for sure

[TX Fireman 911]

how did you paint the trailer. I have almost the exact same trailer that needs a paint job and the roof coated as well. Any help on this would be great! Thanks

[Traildust]

Got the tailgate and trim installed. Fenders and side trim are painted, just need a couple hours to get them installed. Then the trailer lights can be installed.

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by TX Fireman 911

how did you paint the trailer. I have almost the exact same trailer that needs a paint job and the roof coated as well. Any help on this would be great! Thanks

We wire-wheeled / 80grit all the non-painted aluminum. Then used an etching primer on those areas and let it cure for a few days.

Then painted sheetmetal got scotchbrite maroon ( general purpose ) and some heavy elbow grease. You just dont want to have any shiny areas. Washed everything down really well with Dawn soap. Let it dry for a day, went back and hit any exposed metal lightly with the scuff pad and covered it with a coat of the primer.

Prior to painting, wiped everything down with acetone really good.

I used https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...ion-gray-1-gal
and https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...-half-1-2-pint

I like thinning rustoleum with acetone but you can use reducer if you want. I use a gravity feed paint gun ( you can get the throw away kind at Harbor Freight for $20 )
or you can just paint brush and roll it. Rustoleum is pretty easy to work with and flows nicely either way. It will be tacky for about 6 hours so plan accordingly

[Traildust]

Originally Posted by Dale Moser

Are you gonna pimp out the inside with racks/shelves/beds/chili pepper lights/etc?

Oh ya....gotta have a little bling! John is tasked with all that. He has an off-grid fish camp, so he's got the knowledge on the electrical stuff

[Traildust]

Cleaned to roof really well with bleach water, then dawn and water. Sanded and rust and hit it with an etching primer. Let it dry for a couple days. Removed any loose caulking and re-sealed it with https://www.homedepot.com/p/Henry-10...9004/100034161

and then rolled an entire gallon of this on
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Henry-58...091035#overlay

Tape of any area you don't want coated, I had hell removing a couple spots that got over-rolled.

[Jkbow]

Elk Trailer moving right along.