One thing I took away from building the TJ. If I EVER have another project I will get the title before I touch a single bolt on it. I made sure to get the title in my name for my Mustang and F100.
Nothing worse than being done and then held up at DMV.

Monday 4/16: When I got home from my tragic day at DMV I was happy to find my new spacers sitting in my mailbox. This brought a smile to my face! I jacked up the trailer and took the wheels off.

Once the spacers were one, I noticed the new lug bolts stuck out past the spacer. Usually this would be a problem. Luckily my JK Moab rims had a recessed area between the lug holes. They were more than deep enough for the extended lug bolts.




the next concern was the hub center cap also protruded out. Again, the JK Moab rims had a nice recessed area in the center, too. I couldn't eyeball it to see if it was deep enough. Even with micrometer, I wasn't sure of my measurement because of the plastic tabs that hold on the plastic Jeep logo'd center cap.

So, I removed the plastic Jeep logo'd center cap by removing the spring loaded clip on the inside of the plastic cap, then slowly tapping it out. Then, I installed the tire. Perfect! I had plenty of room.




The 1.5" bolt pattern adapter (along with the 1/2" spacer were perfect in making a solid platform and gave me more than enough to account for the backspacing. If the lug bolts were shorter, I probably could have gone with a 1.25" bolt pattern adapter.

Here's a before and after.






A few of my neighbors came by and said, "Damn! That looks freakin sweet"! I could not agree more.

I noticed that the front of the right fender was sitting closer than the left. The left had 1.5" clearance and the right had 1-7/8" clearance. So, I had all the guys climb into the tub and weight it down. The trailer didn't seem to move much, but with (approx) 425lbs, the front of the right fender was touching the tire. With (approx) 560lbs, the left fender still had clearance. With a bouncing payload, both fenders rubbed.

Cross country payload is maxed at 500lbs. So, the left one is probably good. The right one needed to be stretched out a bit.

After further inspection, it looked like maybe someone rammed that fender against something, or kicked it in with their foot. Sucks. I hitched the trailer to the jeep, hooked up a hooked cable to the fender, hooked the other end to my Hi-Lift, hooked the other end of the Hi-Lift to my rear bumper, and ratcheted the fender outwards.

After several attempts, I could not get it to stretch properly. The only solution was to cut or break the weld, stretch it, and re-weld the fender.

Success! We snapped the weld and now the fender has good clearance. Geoff was good enough to schedule me some time to bring the trailer over on Thursday evening to re-weld it.

Tonight, I cleaned up the area and it's ready for a little TLC from Showboat. Man, I was felling pretty good!



I did have some bad news though. The Scepter CARB 5gal Jerry cans don't fit the Blitz style Jerry can carriers. The Scepter can got wider as it went down, making them 3/4" wider than the traditional Jerry cans. The plus is that these cans are actually 5.3gal, but now I need a new solution for carrying these cans. I'm thinking I may mount them in front of the fender but have them lying down to reduce the profile.

Well after many days of hell with DMV, I finally got my title, plate, and permanent registration. I also got them to write in the model # of my home built trailer as a "416A1". :D

Sweet

Man, I'm not happy with the rattle can spray on Rustoleum Bed Liner. After 5+ coats, its scratching off the bottom of the tub and I'm getting little rust spots. It may be my fault. I may not have applied the layers on quick enough for them to bond, or this stuff is just crap. I don't know. I plan on respraying with a different product and use a compressor and professional bed liner spray attachment. This will be later.

In the meantime, I used my last two cans and resprayed the rusted area to seal it. Next, I visited Lowe's Home Improvement and picked up a 4'x6' recycled rubber outdoor floor mat. It's one I've used to line my Tuffy rear storage tray on my Jeep JK. I took several measurements of the tub floor and took the average. Cut it and flopped it into the tub. The floor mat was rolled tight, so it will take a little pressure (and time) to get it to lay flat. In any case, that should keep my stuff from scuffing the crap out of the bottom and add some protection to my stuff, as the tub is kinda rough.





RobertWard was kind enough to purchase me a reproduction M416 tarpin. It's nice heavy canvas that is oil (or wax) treated for water resistance. Smells like funky gymsocks, but it seems like it will do the trick. I couldn't figure out how to use the straps, so I visited Harbor Freight and purchased a 25 foot camo bungee cord. Looped it into the eyelets and snugged them down to the trailer hooks. Looks secure enough. I doubt if the bungee will last, though. Harbor Freight stuff usually doesn't. This will get me through the winter, then I will probably replace it with paracord or other durable rope system with a some way to snug it all down.






Between the bungee and the PVC awning piece that's under it, it seems tight enough to allow water/rain/snow to drip off the sides.

2ndchance wrote:Man, I'm not happy with the rattle can spray on Rustoleum Bed Liner. After 5+ coats, its scratching off the bottom of the tub and I'm getting little rust spots. It may be my fault. I may not have applied the layers on quick enough for them to bond, or this stuff is just crap. I don't know. .

I never had much luck with the canned bedliner. We used the roll on stuff that comes in the 1gallon containers and it did a decent job. Its not as pretty as professionally sprayed on but its a lot cheaper. I had it in the bed of the TJ for 10 years and it held up pretty well. When it did chip or peel off it was easy to touch up

Honestly, having it sprayed professionally by line-x would be the best way, my dad had that done to his trailer and its awesome.

Update: You know, I bitched and moaned about the spray-on bedliner earlier on. I have to say, it's been awhile now and I've used it on 6 trips. It's actually holding up better than I expected. So is the black rattle can paint on the outside. After putting the rubber mat on the inside, my nylon tent bag or canopy bag isn't moving around and the bedliner material isn't rubbing it until it tears. That did the trick.

I got in a set of new (NOS: New Old Supply) leaf springs last month. My old one were only 8 leafs. The new ones are 10 leafs. I'm confident that these new springs will take care of the sag and over-bouncing when offroading and eliminate the fender rub with the bigger 17" tires. If not, I'm switching to SensaTrac coil over shocks and/or installing a 1" aluminum spacer between the leaf spring mounting brackets. That will raise it to the correct height to avoid the fender rub, but force me into buying a custom length park brake cable.

Good news, Jimmy. That's a sweet trailer setup.

Saw this again last night. BUMP for a killer build.