Roadtrip 2016

Just took our relatively new (3000 miles on it - 2016 Trail) on a 1600 mile roadtrip pulling my homemade camping trailer.

Started in Texas, went to Mt. Nebo State Park in AR, then to Memphis, TN to visit family, and finally to a cabin in Tishomingo State Park in MS.

With the trailer, which I built for this specific purpose, I lost virtually no MPG, and averaged 18.8 for the whole trip. This thing towed the wheels off the trailer, even pulling it up an 18% grade for 1800 ft to the top of a mountain.

Freaking love this truck.

 

Fantastic pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

About 2 months of fiddling. Here's what I did.

Neighbor sold me a trailer from a jet Ski or a small aluminum boat for $150, it's 4'x8'. This works well because it is a longer trailer, but not a really heavy axle (2000lbs). He had added a flatbed frame to it and put boards down for the floor. He was using it as a motorcycle hauler.

The combination of a longer, lighter trailer makes them track well, and easy to tow. Also, the axle is kinda farther back on this trailer since the weight of the boat was mainly near the rear. This weighs around 600 lbs

Next, I bought some 14ga sheet metal and some 1" 14ga square tubing and built the "box" that sits over the axle. It's 6' long by 4' high by 18" tall. I cut out a section for the tailgate, but haven't completed it yet. This box weighs around 200 lbs.

I then traded the 12" tires for some 15" tires, which required cutting off the fender stickouts to bolt the fenders on because it wouldn't fit a 15" wheel. I moved the brackets up and wider to accommodate a 15 - 16" rim on 205/75/r15 wheels. The extra weight in wheels from 12" > 15" is about 75lbs total.

Rewired the lights with LED light kit from Harbor Frieght, and improved the ground connection. The LED lights look great. Added new safety chains, installed the fenders, painted the box and fenders, and welded 4 tabs to the frame that stick up to mount to the box. The box is now removeable and the trailer becomes a flatbed to transport small stuff like a 4 wheeler or a lawn mower. With the box on it, it's basically a truck bed, great for camping and home depot runs.

Added a handful of D rings, slapped my gear in, threw on a cargo net, and hit the road.

I'd guess my traveling weight is was about 1300 lbs, so not much, and keeping the profile low made wind resistance a non-issue.

Next upgrades are:
1. Lid for securing while in towns.
2. Rack on top of lid for canoes / cargo basket.
3. Re-enforcing the tongue.
4. Swapping to a axle with the same bolt pattern of my 4Runner / Tacoma (6x139) so my spares are interchangeable.

 

The tarp is because during the night it kept the dew / rain off, but I traveled with just the cargo net.

 

Great pics. Nice trailer. Here's mine

 

Looks good. I miss riding 4 wheelers.

 

You may have noticed the loss of resolution on your pics and mine. This site, and the tacomaworld sites compress the hell out of them and it makes them really blurry.

 

Yea,

Here's a picture to the road trip pics. Those are higher res and show more of the nature shots that I enjoy taking.

 

Yea, much better. That under the bridge shot is cool, but the one walking with mom is priceless. Looks like your boy likes his daddy's runner.

 

Thanks Tejas, he loves our vehicles. When we walk up my truck (the Quicksand Tacoma), he always goes "ruck! vrrooom vroom!". And he likes to walk up to the 4Runner and pat the bumper, like you would a good dog. He knows when we load up, it's action time!