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Boat trailer to RZR hauler build

Tinstar

Tinstar

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
148
Messages
297
So I got this old Dilly boat trailer from a job I did a few years ago. I figured it would make a great light weight RZR hauler to tow behind my truck camper instead of the 14k equipment trailer. The idea is to make it light and handy. Maybe something a RZR could tow a broken RZR on to get back to camp. And something that is strong enough to go 1000 miles out.

Here's the stripped trailer with new 175/80 13 1360 lbs load rated tires. My RZR weighs about 1600 lbs. We will see if that is enough load rating.

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Here's the 1 1/2 x 11ga tubing layout for the deck. I'm making it 72" wide inside. My RZR is about 69" wide.

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I'm using 1/8" diamond tread for decking. I'm leaving the inside open for now to save weight.
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I loaded up the RZR to check balance and tongue weight. I have an extended hitch under the truck camper and I want to keep tongue weight down. The rear tires on the Jeep have 10 psi in them.

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The trailer springs and tires look awfully squished to me. I had to replace one set of wheel bearings to get the trailer to roll. The spindles are Atwoods BT8 and only 1" diameter. The tag on the trailer shows about 1800 lbs GVWR so it looks like I am going to have to replace the axle. There is only a couple of inches of up travel and I still have the upper rail and toolbox to fit.

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Here is the start of the top rail. 1 1/2 x 11ga 12" long. Fitting it flush with the bottom of the tubing. I can't decide between angle iron or the same 1 1/2 x 11 ga tubing for the top rail. I have a small aluminum toolbox that will go on front.

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I was able to make some progress on the RZR hauler today. Sticking the uprights and trying to get them mostly square. The uprights are 12" long, the tubing is 1 1/2 square so they are about 10 1/2" high.
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A trial fitting of the toolbox shows it should work. While not perfect its the best fit that I had laying around.

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I went by the welding supply this morning and picked up a couple of 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 3/16th angle for the top rail. I needed 11' each side for the top rail and they sold it in 5' lengths so I bought 2 15' pieces for $71. Steel is getting expensive!!! I had the shop guy make the 11' cut while he had it on the table. I had enough of the square tubing left over to use it for the front rail.

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The toolbox was too short for the lid to clear the top rail when it was opened so I used one of the leftover 4' sections of the angle to set the toolbox on. It worked out to be just the right height. I used 2 5/16th bolts with large washers through the bottom of the toolbox/angle. I used a couple of self tapping sheet metal screws through the back of the toolbox and into the front of the top rail. I think that will hold the toolbox securely but I'll watch the aluminum for stress cracks.

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Here's one thing I'm not happy with. The tongue attachment. The pins/bolts have quite a bit of play in them. It seems a little flimsy and too short between the pivot bolts and the front pin to put an expensive RZR on and hit the interstate at 85. My first thought was to keep the tilt feature but now I'm thinking about welding it up and adding some more tie in to the frame. The front lock pin can be seen in the above pic under the toolbox. Thoughts?

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I cleaned the front hand winch mess off the tongue and took a quick measurement. Right now the tongue is just over 7' long. I'm thinking more like 5' would be ideal. I want to be able to jackknife the trailer with my truck camper on and only hit the tongue with the camper. The truck hitch center to outside edge of the camper jack is about 4' 6". Recommendations on tongue length?

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Isnt most of the weight on the back of that RZR? I know you want to keep tounge weight down, but thats going to suck ass if it seasaws down the highway. Hopefully you can get enough weight in that toolbox to calm it down. The project is cool and I like the reuse of the boat trailer. Thanks for sharing.
 
Here is an idea that I have been tossing around. I'm trying to keep the trailer weight down within reason. RZR's are pretty agile and can usually load without ramps but sometimes you have to put quite a bit of pressure on the back of the trailer to pop the front tires up onto the deck. I've been thinking about putting some short drops off the back of the trailer to give the front tires something to ride up on. Something like this.

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I'm thinking maybe weld a 6" piece of tubing across the bottom of the drop to make an upside down "T" then maybe weld some expanded metal over the drop "T" to give some traction when its wet and or muddy. Right now the bottom of the drop is about 13 1/2" off the ground with the trailer a little nose down. Thoughts?
 
Lurker said:
Isnt most of the weight on the back of that RZR? I know you want to keep tounge weight down, but thats going to suck ass if it seasaws down the highway. Hopefully you can get enough weight in that toolbox to calm it down. The project is cool and I like the reuse of the boat trailer. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you. Good point. I definitely don't want it to whip around. This rig will see 85 or so on the interstate. In an earlier pic I show the RZR loaded on the trailer. With the RZR sitting there, there is enough tongue weight that I can't lift the tongue off the ball so maybe 250 lbs or so tongue weight in that pic.
 
Tinstar said:
Thank you. Good point. I definitely don't want it to whip around. This rig will see 85 or so on the interstate. In an earlier pic I show the RZR loaded on the trailer. With the RZR sitting there, there is enough tongue weight that I can't lift the tongue off the ball so maybe 250 lbs or so tongue weight in that pic.
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That's more than I would have assumed on the tongue weight. You should be fine, especially since you can add some weight up front in the toolbox. Be careful at 85 if those are trailer tires. Most ST tires are rated at 65mph. I dont want to sound like the safety pussy but I am one when it comes to trailers. :flipoff2::flipoff2:
 
10-15% of gross weight should be on tongue, 250 lbs sounds light.

I built a similar trailer and made it way too longue from the front axle to ball BUT, you can run 100 mph and whip the steering wheel and it tracks perfectly no wagging.
 
I turned the trailer over today and welded up the bottom of all the joints. The trailer seemed pretty solid when I turned it over with the tractor even though the joints weren't fully welded yet. The trailer seemed pretty light when I had it hanging on the front bucket of the tractor. I will CAT scale it when I am done.

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Lurker said:
That's more than I would have assumed on the tongue weight. You should be fine, especially since you can add some weight up front in the toolbox. Be careful at 85 if those are trailer tires. Most ST tires are rated at 65mph. I dont want to sound like the safety pussy but I am one when it comes to trailers. :flipoff2::flipoff2:
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No worries about bringing up the tires. I don't think they are up to the task either. I may have read where these particular tires are rated "all the way" up to 71 mph. I am looking really hard at a 3500 lb capacity brake axle. That 3500 lb rated axle is probably 3 or 4 times heavier than this one all included but I can get 15" tires and use a LT tire. Down side is by the time I buy the axle/tires ect that set up will be over $500.
 
Shitty picture of mine. I wish we made it full width like you did.
I have WAY too much tongue weight because my Dad was being a dick and wanted to keep it long...

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The best thing we did was the pull out rear ramp, I will do this on every little trailer I build from now one.
View attachment ramp 2.jfif

View attachment ramp 1.jfif


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Really freakin cool on the pull-out ramp, CarterKraft! I love my bi-fold ramp gate, and this is way better. Well done.

Tinstar, I have a fairly light single-axle trailer with a 5' tongue, and it's very stable behind my motorhome. I think 5' is fine for a tongue, but it depends a bit on whether your truck camper hangs past the bumper. I'd much rather have a long trailer tongue than some crazy hitch extension, even though I know I'd have to be careful on steep driveway transitions.

For tongue weight, shortening the tongue will actually increase the tongue weight, taking some small amount of load off your axle. But it would also increase your sway concern, even with more tongue weight. Kinda counter-intuitive, but pin-axle leverage is a major major piece of trailer stability. Everyone told me to be ready for my single-axle trailer to sway like mad, and it simply doesn't. I attribute this to a heavy tow vehicle, and long tongue.
 
Thanks,

The tongue length has a much larger effect on sway than tongue weight if I had to rank them but too low of a tongue weight can still cause problems.
Examine RV trailer sway accidents for some examples. They have a decent tongue weight in LB's but not enough to counter act the mass of the total load.
 
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I built this trailer last year out of a 30' sailboat trailer that I got for free. I was tired of using my 14k dump trailer to haul my Ranger Crew around. Made it just long enough to fit it. And, I can load it without ramps. The tongue is a bit short as it does sway a bit. So, I may extend it a bit

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That "motor cickle" trailer we built quickly became the go-to trailer after we finished it.

I rarely use my car hauler anymore unless I need the weight capacity.
 
CarterKraft said:
That "motor cickle" trailer we built quickly became the go-to trailer after we finished it.

I rarely use my car hauler anymore unless I need the weight capacity.
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Mine is the same way. My buddy helped me do all of the work to it. So, it is a shared trailer. The day we finished it he put his ranger on it for a 700 mile round trip test. Between us we have a bunch of trailers, but they are all 14k or bigger. It is nice to have something small to throw a lawnmower or whatever on real quick.
 
If you shorten the tongue, maybe think about cutting the aft pivot mount off of the frame and moving the whole deal back 2 feet and picking up another one of your cross braces?
 
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