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Expedition Trailer fad - Has anyone heard about this???

PWagon

PWagon

1/2 ton status
Joined
Mar 6, 2009
Posts
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Location
Dallas
I have seen, read, and heard quite a bit about the "Expedition Trailer" fad where people are building their rigs with awesome trailers for expeditions. These trailers have high ground clearance, swivel hitches, electricity, water, gas for cooking, and everything imaginable but the kitchen sink (and some have a sink) :haha:. Anyhow, I have an '86 K5 Blazer, and I'm considering building an Expedition Trailer and give this whole thing a try. I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge about this to share? I would really appreciate any photos you folks could provide too. If you don't know what I am talking about, then just Google Expedition Trailers, and you can read all day about 'em.
 
won't need a trailer with my 'burb...:whistle::thumb::thumb::thumb:

I've been hearing a lot since Ian did his show a few weeks back....
 
I have done 3-day camping trips so far in the Burb, just load everything up in the back & on the roof, buy 2 or 3 of those big blue 5 gallon water tanks from Walmart, and all supplies needed for multiple overnight stays.

I use the water for everything, very low flow out of the opening so I don't waste much, use it to freshen up, wash hair, hands, brush teeth, whatever. It's not hot for body rinsing or freshening up, but better than feeling all grimey and nasty.

Propane Coleman camping stoves, dry ice in the coolers to keep any meats or other things from going bad, canned foods too.

One of many reason I bought the Burb, ROOM. nice sized bed in the back too when the middle seat is folded down, heck I even bought a single wide air mattress, fits perfect in between the wheel wells.

Slept in it during a Moab trip several years back too :D
 
I built an expendition "tear drop" last summer. It was nice. I had a custom frame built (most tear drops use Harbor freight cheesy frames). I used Pro-Comp suspension with spring over lift and used the same hubs as my Blazer, so the wheel pattern was the exact same and Im using the same GM rally wheels that are on my truck.

The camper was fully insulated, roof and flooring and was pretty awesome actually. I was heartbroken when I had to take it apart.

If you can see the entire album, youll see the build pics from beginning to end and youll see how bad the mold had gotten in a short period of time.

ANyways. the "box" was 4' x 8' and it was built alot like a tear drop with the "kitchen" in the back. And you had the sleeping are which was 4' wide and over 6' long. The back area had a 10gal water tank with pump and faucet. I had special deep cycle batteries all wired up. It had LED lighting, complete with dome lights, porch lights and it had DVD player. Electric push/pull fan. I used Tear drop doors and got some RV windows from junkyard. The interior looked like a mini cabin.

Anyways. I had other plans for it, but mother nature took hold and ruined my camper. You see, we built this thing outside under a cover but it rained all summer long and was high humidity. Long story short, MOLD got into the wood and ruined the camper. I took it apart, sold the parts and kept the trailer and just put some pressure treated wood down to haul ATVs.

My buddy that helped me is building one right now using an older Aluminum cargo trailer and he basically chopped it down and made it just big enough to put his ATV in it.

Anyways. I had a pretty good build thread going on another forums but not sure if the pics are still there.

I have over 160 pics of my build but here are a few;

This was once I got it built and out testing it off roading. Im using a TREG style hitch setup, it allows full rotation and up and down and side to side movement. No slop and no noise.

cid_159.jpg



cid_334modified.jpg


Galley area at nite , complete with faucet and stainless steel sink and LED

cid_838.jpg


Interior shot , with twin size tri-fold matteress

cid_949.jpg


Other end of interior, complete with cubby hole for gear and entertainment center.

cid_580.jpg


9-3-2011008.jpg


Procomp shocks, 3500lb axles, 2000lb springs

cid_896-1.jpg


Mold got in everywhere and it was unsafe to keep/sleep in. so I took it apart and took all the stuff out and hit it with a chainsaw.

cid_803.jpg


Here is how I use it now. lol.

CoalCreek032modified.jpg
 
Last edited:
To add;

Alot of the "expedition" trailers are just cargo trailers with tents on top, this works okay but still requires "setup", while it is lighter in theory. I thought long and hard on what I wanted and wanted to do. That is why I decided to build my own. What you see above was well built but we also didnt use any plans. we just "winged" it. I had general idea of what all I wanted and it worked out perfectly, other than the mold issue. My camper didnt require any setup, you could pull over and climb in and sleep if you wanted to. I also like that I could fold up the mattress and it fit perfectly under the cubby area (this was design, the mattress was pre-measured and when folded up was 26" Inches, that is how deep we made the entertainment center and this included the height, so I could just tuck the mattress under there and had 4' x 4' of cargo space inside that was secure and dry and easy to get to.
 
badmix said:
I built an expendition "tear drop" last summer. It was nice. I had a custom frame built (most tear drops use Harbor freight cheesy frames). I used Pro-Comp suspension with spring over lift and used the same hubs as my Blazer, so the wheel pattern was the exact same and Im using the same GM rally wheels that are on my truck.

The camper was fully insulated, roof and flooring and was pretty awesome actually. I was heartbroken when I had to take it apart.

If you can see the entire album, youll see the build pics from beginning to end and youll see how bad the mold had gotten in a short period of time.

ANyways. the "box" was 4' x 8' and it was built alot like a tear drop with the "kitchen" in the back. And you had the sleeping are which was 4' wide and over 6' long. The back area had a 10gal water tank with pump and faucet. I had special deep cycle batteries all wired up. It had LED lighting, complete with dome lights, porch lights and it had DVD player. Electric push/pull fan. I used Tear drop doors and got some RV windows from junkyard. The interior looked like a mini cabin.

Anyways. I had other plans for it, but mother nature took hold and ruined my camper. You see, we built this thing outside under a cover but it rained all summer long and was high humidity. Long story short, MOLD got into the wood and ruined the camper. I took it apart, sold the parts and kept the trailer and just put some pressure treated wood down to haul ATVs.

My buddy that helped me is building one right now using an older Aluminum cargo trailer and he basically chopped it down and made it just big enough to put his ATV in it.

Anyways. I had a pretty good build thread going on another forums but not sure if the pics are still there.

I have over 160 pics of my build but here are a few;

This was once I got it built and out testing it off roading. Im using a TREG style hitch setup, it allows full rotation and up and down and side to side movement. No slop and no noise.

cid_159.jpg



cid_334modified.jpg


Galley area at nite , complete with faucet and stainless steel sink and LED

cid_838.jpg


Interior shot , with twin size tri-fold matteress

cid_949.jpg


Other end of interior, complete with cubby hole for gear and entertainment center.

cid_580.jpg


9-3-2011008.jpg


Procomp shocks, 3500lb axles, 2000lb springs

cid_896-1.jpg


Mold got in everywhere and it was unsafe to keep/sleep in. so I took it apart and took all the stuff out and hit it with a chainsaw.

cid_803.jpg


Here is how I use it now. lol.

CoalCreek032modified.jpg
Click to expand...

:bow::bow::bow:
 
I like the mopar J#@p pop up trailer but dont like the price. The actual set up/sleeping size lacks also, and with the theory of taking it to remote areas with no electricity or water hook ups etc. it would be very hard to get the wife to stay in it. I like the idea that it isnt any wider than the jeep and that it has underbody skidplating and uses the same bolt pattern as the jeep so you could carry only one spare if needed (still should carry one for vehicle and trailer though) However the price is a major bummer factor for me, $8k for the cheap one and $10k for the extreme. Im looking for a decent used pop up camper, hoping to spend somewhere in the $2-3k range. Lift it somehow with springs or spring over or soa with axle swap/hub swap to match the tow vehicle. somehow some underbody skidplating. Basically making the same thing but on a bigger scale. The overall size of the pop up though is gonna be tough getting it down some trails so I might have to rethink it.

Chalet2506 your trailer looked awesome. Sucks you had to demantle it. I think it would have been pretty cool for two people to go camp somewhere where you had to wheel to get there for camping. That thing has the wheels in my head turning!
 
Check this site out

go to http://www.expeditionportal.com

look in the trailer forum. Everything there is to know about expedition trailers is in there. I have a surplus M-416 1/4 ton army trailer that I refinished and did a spring over axle conversion on. My Blazer is on 6" lift and 35's and the trailer actually sites higher than the Blazer. But it will go anywhere the truck will.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/
 
62 fat guy said:
I've been hearing a lot since Ian did his show a few weeks back....
Click to expand...


There is an episode of Top Gear BBC where they drove 4x4s with camping trailers.... :whistle:

I laughed pretty hard.


-G
 
I'd say go for it, if you're still contemplating. My plan is to pick up a 3/4 ton military trailer and use it strictly for cargo, gas, water, etc, and eventually weld a frame/rack for use with a RTT (roof top tent).

Cool thing about having a trailer is you can carry a ton of gear without having to add anything to your truck (roof rack, bumpers, etc) and as soon as you get to camp, you disconnect and remove all that weight from your rig so you can go play.

Biggest reason for me doing this is the lack of space in the Jimmy. If three of us go off for a hunting weekend, the back end is way too small for our gear.
 
I scored this M116a2 for FREE!

IMAG0543.jpg


IMAG0546.jpg


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IMAG0542.jpg


IMAG0544.jpg


3/4 ton with surge brakes and had brand new range E tires on it. Future plans are a RTT and some simple ammenities. Its gone to Naches a couple of times and is very handy... the flatbed is great for my dirtbikes too. It will see time behind the Tahoe, Suburban and a couple of the K5's.
You can pick these up cheap and start with a great platfom :waytogo:
 
Dustin told me about this thread, he posted a link to the build of my trailer above, here's a couple action shots.
P1010113.JPG

P3120265.jpg
 
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