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My buddy and I are making overlanding trailers from scratch, 90% of parts secured and starting this weekend!
10x5 overlanding trailers
Main specs include:
3500lb axles
Lock n roll hitch
265/70/17 tires
Toy hauler style ramp in the rear
Queen size bed inside
Single side door with two windows (one small across from the door and one large one next to the door)
We wanted an overlanding trailer that could carry 1-2 dirt bikes, has insulation, no galley because IMO its cool but a waste of useful space, and some small preferences that are not available on trailers that have other features we want.
I built an overlanding trailer from an M416 army trailer, a Roof Top Tent, and some steel…and some pneumatic actuators that raised/lowered the RTT 14” so it would sit high enough for the room underneath, but ride lower so it wasn’t quite so awkward. It was terrible, but it worked well enough that my family took it on a 7,000+ mile road trip over 3 weeks from California to New York, then to Washington, and back to California.
That trip inspired me to give up overlanding trailers forever, and build the camper van I’m writing from now!
Yeah we have had the RTT/overland setup for our 4R for a while now, many miles on and off road but finally wanted something a little more versatile and cozy! Super excited and thank you!
The combo of size and axle strength wasn't really common, and was reaching upwards of $2k. But the biggest flaw they had was a combination of angle iron, square and channel tubing.
All the steel we got are square tube of various sizes and wall thicknesses for more strength.
And by building our own, we get to choose the axle location (front to back) that gave us ideal tongue weight and distribution. Otherwise we'd have to be careful on how we designed it.
Making our own let us control all these tiny parameters that as a whole make a massive difference in longevity and overall design
Looks neat. What's the estimate total cost of materials? I'm wanting to do the same. How are you deciding size and gauge for the frame tubing? Is it your own design or from plans?
Edit: as for the choices, we just looked at all the trailers that are on the market and what metal they are using. And just made ours way more robust (square tube vs angle iron) and designed it ourselves
We also calculated the axle location (I may be a useless engineer but I remember stuff every once in a while)
If you can feel OK about dragging the ass end, as in it is built to take that, it looks good. Of course moving the axle back, even a little bit, greatly increases your exit angle. The cost is increased tongue weight but seems negligible. Compare your tow vehicle exit angle with your trailer’s. Great project.
We had roughly chosen an axle point that's further back and did the calculations yesterday to make sure the tongue weight is manageable and super happy with the choice.
We are also running 265/70/17 tires (as I mentioned) which help a lot with trailer ride height and departure, are going to skid plate the belly, and put rock sliders in it. This thing is meant to used lol and the tow vehicle is also very off-road capable
There is a chance we either do an axle inversion but I want it to fit in the garage so we will see, that's an easy change though
Going to post an update here soon of the progress and love any feedback
Highly reccomend a second door. Good luck and have fun on the build. Some sessions will feel like 2 steps back but you will be creative and find solutions constantly.
We've thought about the second door and understand the images and annoyances of having to face a certain direction but have accepted the outcome. Mostly because the rest is a fold down ramp and can be a door with a net as well, seeing all the kitchen stuff with be in the front.
I'd love to know what your overall concept and construction methodology ideas are. I build the harbor freight 5x10 trailer and want to build a removable foamy camper. I wasn't sure if it needed any wall or ceiling framing or support or if the foam box would be sufficient.
We are going to test the frame we designed in solid works using the FEA in the workbench and see how strong our current frame is. And if it looks strong enough, we know the added insulation and sheet metal sides will be enough. We also plan on cross bracing the front and sides as well where this big gaps.
And how we got here? Looking at a ton of trailers and just molding the concepts together with thick wall square tube steel.
I get that for your off-road trailer you probably need some of this reinforcement. But I'm wondering if a frameless foamy is strong enough for transport in camping on a trailer? How much weight is fusion 360 saying the framing adds? Obviously I'm talking about walls and ceiling not the year trailer frame itself.
There was a CO company that make composite camping enclosures that pretty much sat on a utility trailer, called high altitude. That might be more what you’re looking for?
And I’d have to go back and run the calculations but it was only 500lbs of steel for the whole thing so maybe 1/2 that at most considering the tung and base frame being the majority of the weight, even closer to 1/3 so like 175lbs?
I imagine off-road there aren't really any regulations, but how does the on-road part of building a trailer work? I have to imagine there are layers of certifications required to show road-worthiness and safety
In Texas, under 3500lb GVWR requires nothing but a piece of paper to register a home built trailer.
I had a cheap open motorcycle trailer for about 25 years. Over that time, it had 3 different "registrations " over those 25 years. First it was my dad's. Then my uncle just registered it in his name as a new trailer. Then it came to me, and I just register it as a "new" home built trailer.
Like the others said, close to nothing. Lights, reflective tape on the highest points, safety chains and then some small things. Pretty easy to make them road legal
In the USA, especially the more relaxed states, there are none. Utah doesn’t even require registration for single axle trailers under 700lbs empty weight.
Used the general "10x5" nomenclature. I am not going to walk around saying it's a 10.1 by 5.4 trailer 😂
Interior is designed to be 60" width wall to wall, the trifold mattress I am getting (buddy is doing something a little different), is 59" wide. The wall thickness is just under 2.5" including aluminum panels, insulation, and interior siding. Making it a grand total of 65" ish aka 5.4'
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