truck bed trailer

[HARDTRAILZ]

May need moved as no forum seemed fully appropriate...


I sort of inherited a 98ish s-10 short bed based trailer.  Decided to have some fun with it.  It is definitely not the worlds greatest thing, but I think it has potential for running around town and hauling stuff for camping.  First thing i did was hit the CL and find a tailgate $10 (it was missing), a plastic bedliner $10 (some minor rust in the bed floor), and a fiberglass high-rise camper shell for free.
 
To do:
 
replace rear window in camper shell
Cut rust over fenders
Install some bigger tires- dryrotted junk on there
Paint it up in black/white kinda like the truck
check wiring and lights
Big toolbox in front of the bed
Make mount for fuel can, water jug, and LP tank
Maybe side mount table.
Eventually swap over pin mount for some kinda offroad friendly hitch mount
 
I have a VERY small budget for this, since I am not sure this will be used much or will even meet my needs.  However, it will serve as a test and experience for a possible future trailer build.
 
So far I got $20 in it and planning for under 200 total.
Any one have any tips or tricks or experience to share?
Will grab some pictures this weekend.

[dvanbramer88]

Craigslist or swap meets for the toolbox. I'm guessing you're looking for the truck bed style. I was at a car show/swap meet couple weekends ago and there were different truck bed tool boxes everywhere for sale. Also, I saw a ton of tires there for cheap. There was a few vendors that had tractor trailers full of tires. Junk yards also have tires for as little as 10 bucks each.

For the table you could basically recycle trash and and some scrap hinges you got laying around, Or for a lot nicer table, you can do what MDB did with the modular shelving on his tire carrier. If you open up the budget a little you can make it really nice.

For the fuel mounts, I think you know a guy with plenty of scrap steel laying around and a welder.

I'm sure you kinda knew a lot of that. But just throwing it out there.

FWIW, when I have LP tanks or fuel cans, and my water jug in my bed, I put them in milk crates. A 5 gallon plastic can, a LP tank, and a plastic 5 gallon water jug all fit nicely in the standard milk crate. The crates stop them from tipping over and makes them easier to secure. You could get 2 or 3 milk crates and mount them somewhere. Not sure if you were planning on having those on the exterior or in the interior.

A buddy of mine through kayak fishing built this trailer that sounds similar to what you're building.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 239&type=1

[HARDTRAILZ]

Definitely stealing the bungee cord fishing rod holder idea from him.

[dvanbramer88]

Sweet!

[Gordinho80]

Nice! Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

Dave said it with the milk crate. We had the 20lb tank inside of a milk crate on top of the fender during our last camping trip. Held it perfectly.

[navigator]

I second the bungee rod holder, thanks for the reminder.
I haven't tried it in the TB but in one of our other vehicles (98 explorer maybe?) we stretched light rope between the coat racks in the back and the grab handles in the middle seats and put rods up there for a trip we went on.
As much as I have fishing rods in the TB, I'll have to give that a try.

[RyansTBLS]

Where's the pics

[HARDTRAILZ]

Where's the pics

Wow...

[v7guy]

hahahaha
we need to see the dying trailer, $10 tailgate, the craptastic liner and the fiberglass top immediately!

[HARDTRAILZ]

It looks like hell but has potential. if nothing else the plastic n fiberglass will help it burn..

[fishsticks]

If it rolls, it's useful.

Probably get more out of it in scrap value than you have into it now.

Either way it's a win.

[DirtyBacon04]

I love the trailer on the FB page, only thing i would add is curtains. Other than that, it's bad ass

[navigator]

I love the trailer on the FB page, only thing i would add is curtains. Other than that, it's bad ass

I like that trailer too, the "futon" like bed/couch and the shelf really make it.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Drug it to town Friday so I can get it inspected n such.  Definitely not pretty and needs a ton of work, but it is $20 invested so far.  It pulled great at 55 mph even with the junk tires. Did not feel very heavy.  Actually balanced pretty good and was not bad to move solo.  Might turn into something or may not be worth it, but pics were required.







The box on the tongue is labeled as a Delta Packer 45 and is nice and heavy duty.

[v7guy]

ain't nothin to be ashamed of there. A little rattle can and some tires and it would look perfect behind the TB. Really like the topper.

[djthumper]

Hell I need a project similar to this for my SAR team.

[Conner299]

I slept an entire summer in the back of my old S-10, back when I was river guiding. I had a mattress that was only 2.5' wide, but a twin(3'3") would probably fit. Have you explored the possibility of a pintle hitch, as something more Offroad friendly?

[HARDTRAILZ]

It has pintle type setup already.

[navigator]

if the pintle knocks around and makes too much noise, you can cut out a piece of radiator hose to quieten it down a little.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Got the wiring and lights working. Rigged some safety chains, but want to find a better attachment. Got plates, so I used it for a little work.