Build Lipstick on a PigQuea (A basic trailer rehab)

Provience said:

Mount the spare on top of the fender, standing up

there is no good place for a spare, put it in the back of the tow rig

very close to doing many of these same things to my trailer as well, appreciate the updates

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Honestly, there is no good place, and that's why I'm settling for the easiest way to get them off and into the truck when they are inevitably in the way. Under the trailer is not happening. I still have to look at one of the Bebop inspired ideas.

New new question has become tires and wheels - The tires on it are old and Bias Ds, and I don't want to run them. I like the look of the silver Mod wheels I have, but Too many of them are crusty. tire wheel combos with name brand tires are too pricey for me at this point (playing with a sunk cost fallacy here). Looking at Chinesium radial Es and as many new wheels as I need to not be repainting wheels. I have a few out in my tire pile out back I need to drag into the garage to check out.

Only time I had in the garage this week was cleaning from painting, re organizing between the bays, and getting her Jeep back inside to put back together & pack before going wheeling. Spent yesterday wheeling, today I have to run to North Conway to pickup new doors for my CJ5, and hopefully can get enough time into the trailer to change the suspension hardware and/or run some wires.

djljeep said:

Anyway.
Tonight’s thoughts revolve around tool/strap storage and spare tires.
For tools & straps I’m considering plating and boxing off this area from the bottom of the frame. Would also reinforce the jack which has been an issue. I could easy-button it with expanded metal but that would suck in the winter.

For spare tires I normally carry them on the front of the deck with a ratchet across them, but every so often the ratchet will slip or whatever, and it’s generally a pain in the ass.

I don’t like the idea of the rail/stake pocket mounted ones the new trailers come with - seems like it would be in the way. Under the trailer is a bad idea for too many reasons. Won’t fit on the tongue with where the jack is or without making use of the jack a PITA.

My latest thought is to send a carriage bolt or something up through the deck (or an treaded insert) and capture the tires with a nut plate of some sort. Would also let me slide them apart a little to maybe squeeze the winch in between without taking them off? But curious if anybody has any better ideas. I really like the idea of mounting a spare idler hub to it somehow…

With the amount of over thinking I put into a trailer, imagine how my other projects work out. (Not quickly)

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I ended up putting a dring on the deck, bent up a J hook out of a piece of all thread, cut a washer big enough to cover the center hole and a big wingnut to hold down the spares. stack the spares, hook the dring, toss on the washer and wingnut, tires stayed where they needed to and had an extra tiedown point when needed. no threads to try and keep clean and no stobs sticking up through the deck if you run a carriage bolt up through to hold down the tires.

djljeep said:

I like the look of the silver Mod wheels I have, but Too many of them are crusty. tire wheel combos with name brand tires are too pricey for me at this point (playing with a sunk cost fallacy here). Looking at Chinesium radial Es

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Sailun S637 are the ****.
Love love them and priced fairly.

So last week didn’t go as planned and spent a good chuck of yesterday and today troubleshooting an issue in my plow and the voltage regulator in my Sno-Cat. I did however get the new safety chains on, DOT Tape, all the lights in, and everything is wired except the brakes. I used an Amazon cheapy junction box, a Hopkins lead-in and connector with indicator lights, and my previous breakaway battery box with a new breakaway switch (because the dog wrecked the old one.

I probobly made the wiring more complicated than it needed to be by running a 5C#16, and 2 2C#12s (one for each axle) as well as a few chunks of 2C#16 to daisy chain marker lights. All of it zip tied every 18” or so since most of my wiring failures in the past have been pinched wires where it got loose and under the deck boards, or where the dog saw it dangling.

The junction got busier than I would’ve liked, and if I had to do it again I’d go buy a normal NEMA 3R enclosure and mount terminal strips in it. Don’t mind the colors. Working with 4 different color code schemes here unfortunately.

Also don’t mind the mess, I went full electrician and let the scrap wire and zip tie tails fly.



Testing

And trailer reverse

Finished wiring the brakes the other day. I’m not happy about it but I didn’t trust the original 2C16s that ran inside the axles and when I tired to pull in a mule line it snapped on me, and even when I opened the holes up a little I couldn't get my 2C12 to fish through anyway so I said **** it and zip tied it. Not proud but I’m getting .9ish ohms across all 4 brakes which seems right, so there’s that.

Threw the deck boards back on the beaver tail mostly to get them out of the way.

And spent way too much energy on rehabbing my wheels. I had a grand total of 7 wheels and 8 tires that are still identifying as round.

Did my best to try to trigger the dump nazis dropping off trash on my way to the shop with like 15 tires in the bed of the truck.




Brought them down to a friends shop, brought the 6 decent tires that held air home and sold them on marketplace for $100 to a farmer who is gonna use them on hay wagons. Date codes were 2017-2019. The junk ones I threw out were 2016. Had to sand blast one wheel in his cabinet that had water in it.

Took the wheels home to clean up and repaint. After wirewheel fest:




Used the Seymour Aluminum paint. Pretty happy with it so far. Sprayed out well over self etching primer.


And wrapped in Thailands finest Es. I think it was $340 for 4 on Amazon. I’d like to go with sailun or name brand but I’m also setting up 2 brand new spares, and I’m just not looking to spend that much right now. I’d rather put those on my goose trailer (which also needs tires)




Just need to do suspension hardware and deck stuff. Hope to get the deck boards off my goose trailer before the snow rolls in over the holiday.

Free country is the best brand name. I hope they work out for you. If I can plan ahead, I'll happily pick up a set of those

Changed the suspension hardware (equalizer bolts, spring eye bolts/bushings, slipper retainers).


It might have been time... Could explain some tire wear...


Got the New tires and Deck boards on. The last board kicked my ass because the lumber has been outside since July and was still swelled a little. Had to do some sub-optimal carpentry to get it in because I wasn't gonna clean off the table saw to run a 18' PT board through it by myself. I just suffered with a skillsaw instead.


But got it in last night.




Now I just have to swap out some misc hardware for stuff I painted, run the deck screws into it, fabricate the two plates to hold the front sides of the boards, and I want to make new bars to hold the ramps cause the old ones have been bent to ****.

I also pulled one hub apart when I was doing the suspension and didn't like what I found. I last did the bearings in 2021 when I replaced the brake baking plates, but I used ****ty Tractor supply grease and it doesn't seem to have done well. Plus the inner bearing and seal stayed on the spindle. I repacked and reassembled that one, but ordered new bearings as well. I figure I've gone this far overboard, I'm gonna be pissed if I burn out a spindle now. The amount of water I hit them with when trying to sand blast/pressure wash probably didn't help either.

I also can't wait to be done with this. Hoping to use it this weekend to go wheeling in Unity. Need to clean my work benches off badly...

looks very good

Bebop said:

I would set them up like this :

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I know this is necro topic… I did similar to this but higher and closer to center. Clears jack, able to lock them with one cable, threw cheap covers on them for UV protection.

djljeep said:

[...]

I also can't wait to be done with this.

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Looks brand new dude.
Do it right all the way till the end, it'll be worth it.

Fabricated plates to capture the ends of the boards. Previously the one on the front was janky and held in with carriage bolts and washers that clipped the front crossmember under it. I spent too much time and notched some 3/16 flat strap, drilled through the crossmember and countersunk using the self threading 1/4” deck hardware. Happy with how that came out.


The beaver tail never had one before. I drilled and tapped the frame and channels. It’s got a big bubble in the middle but there is nothing under the deck for a fastener to catch unless I just counter sink some wood screws in it or through bolt it/make a nut plate. Kind of hoping regular use just forms it down.


After that I ran short of time. Ran the decking fasteners in after drilling too many holes.


And straightened out the existing bars to hold up the ramps. I have new metal for them but I didn’t get there yet.

For now put the spares on the deck with a strap but I’ve settled on a plan to ditch the strap. Set the winch in it just for poser pics.

Tounge weight is a non-issue. As predicted with no spares or winch it’s probably a tick light, but totally usable. With the spares it’s good to go.



Used it today to haul the wife’s XJ up for our monthly club ride, so I lifted it back up and fluid filmed it quickly, and very glad I did cause my mirrors were a cloud of salt the whole time.


Pretty happy with the rear tie down points. Worked well.


And at the end of the day my buddy/neighbor had something go wrong in his JK so they took the XJ home and I got to tow that home.


And this is your reminder that everybody should have trailer reverse lights. Mine have an override from an upfitter switch so I can use them for loading, which only seems to happen in the dark.


New bearings will be here next week, so I’ll get that handled. That being said, 75 miles each way and 3 hubs never got warm and one only got a little warmth in it. But then again the high temp was like 15. Overall pretty happy right now other than its salty and too cold to rinse it and I need to swap the breakaway battery (and I’ve had one on the shelf for a long time for this)

Another thing that surprised me - The trailer odometer in my truck showed 15k on this trailer, and that’s obviously not counting all the miles from before I bought that truck in 2016 or 2017. I feel like that’s a good bit for non-professional use and that’s never been out of New England.

I appreciate the comments.
This has been so not worth it from a time/money perspective but I’m happy to put this one back in service rather than just buy a new one, even if it had made more sense.
It’s also got features you can’t really buy easily now too so there’s that. I also struggle to complete projects normally so this has been a nice change of pace, even if I still over thought it and took way too long.

Epilogue post - finally got around to the spare tires. Settled on d-rings on the deck with a j-hook as someone suggested.

Made a quick backer so the carriage bolts don’t pull through.


D-ring placement works out so that when positioned such that the tires are towards the edge of the deck, the winch can go in and out, while still being able to hook my chain extension straps.

And positioned inboard I have more room to hook on the corners.


Bending the J hooks sucked because I don’t have a brake of any sort or oxy/acetylene, but between Mapp, my induction heater, and a pipe I got enough. Used Stainless 1/2-20 rods so I can use/carry lug nuts on them.



I plan to carry a 4 way on top of one tire with a tire cover over it.

And started oiling the deck boards with BLO. So far so good. Never used it before, but I’m just brushing it on thick to let the boards soak it up.

two coats of BLO - first one is straight BLO, second coat is cut with mineral spirits.



And put tire covers on with a 4 way and block of wood under them. Verified the winch can come in and out with the tires there.



So I think that’s it on this project until I find a good deal on new axles or one of them fails.

Now on to figuring out how to deal with the failing powder coat on the goose trailer, my grand Cherokee build, and hopefully later this summer I’d like to do some work on the SnoCat.