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4-Door --> Trailer

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Offline Jeremiah

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4-Door --> Trailer
« on: April 23, 2009, 09:34:41 AM »
This bad boy's donating an engine / trans / t-case to my SJ410, the toy axles, 35" Toyos, and (future) half doors to my '96 4-door. The body & frame's being converted into a trailer.




I was originally a little hesitant to chop it up, but the more I did, the more I uncovered the kind of Mickey Mouse engineering that caused it to catastrophically fail several times on my Rubicon run last year.

Two goals:
* Larger capacity for camping.
* I'll be making it "sleepable" for 2 during inclement weather - heavy wind in high desert sucked in a tent at KOH '09.

Gutting & Stripping - a sawsall with sheet metal blade (Harbor Freight) worked like hot knife through butter on the sheet metal. HF 4 1/2 grinder with cutting disk worked better on frame.








There was an old cement mixer laying around - the width matched the frame perfectly. Destiny?





Unfortunately, I didn't measure as much as I should have before doing all that shaving - it's a bit long:



I don't have pics of it yet, but I welded 2 1.5" DOM square tubes across the frame, shortened the tongue, and welded the tongue to the tube. I think it might be hard to put much junk in there without the tongue weight being too biased though :'( I don't know how I'm going to get around that - cut some length off the front, or move the axle forward?
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'96 4 door kick: 29" Pep-Boys M/T, 1.5" OME
'83 SJ410: 31" Toyo M/T, SPOA, 1.3L
'08 Yamaha FZ6
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Offline mypocketsrfull

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2009, 11:34:35 AM »
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Offline Jeremiah

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2009, 01:35:28 PM »
Yep - saw that and thought, "hey... I can do that too!". Not worried about hate mail. If they want a 4-door to play with, they can go buy their own.
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'96 4 door kick: 29" Pep-Boys M/T, 1.5" OME
'83 SJ410: 31" Toyo M/T, SPOA, 1.3L
'08 Yamaha FZ6
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Offline jeff1997

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2009, 06:07:12 PM »
No hate mail from me. Cut away. I think it will look awesome and is a pretty good idea.
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1997 4dr. Sidekick Sport 1.8L DOHC
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Offline Freak

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2009, 07:29:41 PM »
Hell yeah,

I'd rather see it cut up for a trailer than towed behind a RV to get groceries.
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phloop

Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2009, 08:53:39 PM »
Quote from: mypocketsrfull on April 23, 2009, 11:34:35 AM
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=24920.0

prepare for hate mail... lol  >:D



No hate mail when you kill a kick or tracker. The Sami's are a dying bread and there are no replacements. :'(
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Offline mypocketsrfull

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2009, 09:57:40 PM »
to better balance the weight what about dual axles, or like you were saying about moving the axle forward. it sounds better than trying to shave a bunch of weight.
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Offline locjaw

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2009, 06:57:43 AM »
Quote from: phloop on April 23, 2009, 08:53:39 PM
Quote from: mypocketsrfull on April 23, 2009, 11:34:35 AM
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=24920.0

prepare for hate mail... lol  >:D



No hate mail when you kill a kick or tracker. The Sami's are a dying bread and there are no replacements. :'(
kicks are getting rare also. the only reason i have a prob with the other guy is HES GONNA TOW IT BEHIND A JEEP >:( >:( >:(
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Offline Freak

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2009, 09:25:31 AM »
Think of it this way... He's using Suzuki parts to improve his Jeep! It's also not much different then cutting up a good Sammy to build a buggy It's a pretty cool trailer too! But I hear ya I hate to see the little buggars fading away. Might be time to make a fiberglass mold. There is a guy here in Canada selling repro tubs and fenders but it's huge coin!
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phloop

Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2009, 07:17:57 PM »
Quote from: locjaw on April 24, 2009, 06:57:43 AM
Quote from: phloop on April 23, 2009, 08:53:39 PM
Quote from: mypocketsrfull on April 23, 2009, 11:34:35 AM
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=24920.0

prepare for hate mail... lol  >:D



No hate mail when you kill a kick or tracker. The Sami's are a dying bread and there are no replacements. :'(
kicks are getting rare also. the only reason i have a prob with the other guy is HES GONNA TOW IT BEHIND A JEEP >:( >:( >:(



Not really, kicks have a lot longer to go to become rare. Heck, I just picked up a 96 4dr tracker that I may part out as I really don't need the thing. Or ask maddhatter, he kills kicks for pleasure.lol
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Offline Drone637

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2009, 10:42:49 AM »
http://www.k9rdj.co.uk/campingtrailer.html

:D

a similar idea, but he cut his a bit further back then you did.  Not sure how well it is progressing.

What are you planning on pulling your trailer around with anyway?
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96 Geo Tracker, x-SJ-410,  x-White Rabbit, x-Project Trouble
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Offline Jeremiah

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2009, 09:23:35 PM »
Quote from: Freak on April 23, 2009, 07:29:41 PM
I'd rather see it cut up for a trailer than towed behind a RV to get groceries.


LOL - never thought of it that way!

Quote from: Drone637 on April 25, 2009, 10:42:49 AM
Not sure how well it is progressing.

What are you planning on pulling your trailer around with anyway?


He hasn't posted updates since I saw that page a year ago  :-\ With any luck, I'll be able to pull it with the SJ410 & 1.6L 16V. But, the primary tow vehicle will be...



+



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'96 4 door kick: 29" Pep-Boys M/T, 1.5" OME
'83 SJ410: 31" Toyo M/T, SPOA, 1.3L
'08 Yamaha FZ6
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Offline Jeremiah

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #12 on: April 27, 2009, 10:53:29 PM »
Updates...

I did some gusseting




Still working on getting consistent welds - some more E6011.






I wasn't confident the welds would hold, so I boxed over the ends & went back over the welds (grinded some down a bit first) with E6013... much easier to work with. They're still not all pretty, and I've got no idea how to tell if they'll hold - hopefully I've got enough redundant welding in there to make up for it?




The 35" tires & axle is coming off. Not sure what to put back under it. I suppose I could go back to stock tracker rear, but seems like it would be a lot of unnecessary weight. I put a stock (27"ish) tire under the rear door - looks like it "belongs" there... but I'd still have to lift the trailer even MORE to have room for suspension travel. Or, cut the door, and I'm not sure how to do that. So, I'll either have to have the axle as far forward as I can in the wheel well (not sure the balance will be right though), or find a smaller trailer tire / axle combo? Anyone got any bright ideas :confused:

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'96 4 door kick: 29" Pep-Boys M/T, 1.5" OME
'83 SJ410: 31" Toyo M/T, SPOA, 1.3L
'08 Yamaha FZ6
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Offline hegemon

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2009, 06:45:39 AM »
I would go with a leaf spring setup, not unlike traditional trailers, and let the wheels sit outside of the body rather then under it.  This way you won't have to lift it up too high.  And I think you're right about the position, you're going to want to move the axle further forward to lighten the tongue weight. 
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Offline Lindenmooch

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Re: 4-Door --> Trailer
« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2009, 09:15:36 AM »
Don't forget maneuverability! 

I don't have much trailer experience...but wouldn't it be much easier to turn around and maneuver with the axle in the middle-ish, compared to where it is now?
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