Enclosed Trailer Build thread

[Kaiser5]

Originally Posted by 87manche

you want the butyl tape.

Yep, butyl tape for the windows, door frames, etc.
I had a leak at one of my windows, it ended up being a crack in the seam seal on the roof. I ground out all of the old and replaced with new sealant, leak fixed. If you need to re-seal the roof make sure you get the correct RV sealant for the material of your roof. Mine is metal and needed a metal sealant.

[macgyvr]

So I built it...got it done last week...




just kidding, to say that is an insult to the folks on here that have built some great stuff. I respect you guys even more, there is no way I would've had the time or energy to build something nice.

I sold it for what I paid for it.

I brought this home last weekend.

From the, "you only live once files"

Its a finished out 2005 Vintage Outlaw RVT 48ft. I got it for a good price and couldn't have finished the other trailer out for how much extra this one cost me. Its got the goods. It will only haul one rig and a side by side and golf cart unless you rip some cabinets out. Its 20 ft living quarters (8 in the goose), and 28 in the garage, with 20 open space. Its got the extra height of clearance, from the floor to bottom of the lights is over 7ft! Three big 8 lug axles and electric jacks!!!


Not as big as a semi







Empty. My truck is rated for 27k gross. I have 7k, with a rig, cart, and tools/supplies we will be right there. I'm only 1k heavier with the living quarters already built.


Needs a couple trailer tires and some other little things.
Sorry for the crappy pics, I need an adapter to plug the 50 amp cord in my house so I can turn on more than 12 volts.

mac 'making a parking spot for it' gyvr

[lwt002]

humm..... ok, I wont make any stupid comments about 48 vs 50 ft and the huge difference in parking cause the interior is finished.

Nice trailer.

LT

[macgyvr]

I'm building a parking spot in the back yard. Almost done, just need gravel. Been busy.

had to cut a tree down for better access to the back yard.


rented an excavator to dig out the slope


best shot i got of the hole. trying to get it to dry a little to put gravel down.


2400 lbs of the grinding of the stump from out front...


mac 'out of her way, out of her mind' gyvr

[Kennedy]

that appears to be right in the middle of the gocart track...


Are you going to line the dugout area with railroad ties or something to keep it from caving in?

[twentyfootdaredevil]

Are you pulling with an F350 or 450?

That's a good looking trailer.

[macgyvr]

Not going to line it at this time. Putting gravel in it as soon as I can. I'm going to monitor it and see how it holds up. If necessary I can build a retaining wall this spring.

I'm towing with an F350. Its rated for 27k gross. The F450s are rated for 33k. I should stay under 27k with one rig and a side by side or golf cart.

If I decide this truck isn't enough...my wife will kill me.

Thanks for the compliment, I stumbled across a very decent deal and pulled the trigger.

Just ordered some G rated tires for it...6 of em.

mac 'nothing is cheap' gyvr

[Mr Cornbread]

Sweet man! I've been lookin at one almost exactly like it.

[87manche]

Originally Posted by macgyvr

If I decide this truck isn't enough...my wife will kill me.

if the replacement was also a white daully how long do you think before she notices?

[lwt002]

Check out this mac mobile... super nice rig. Some old hag pulled out in front of me a month ago and STATE FARM is really hosing me on fixing my truck. In their eyes, it's 14 years old so it is a piece of crap and not worth anything. What should have been an easy fix is turning into a total nightmare.

http://southlakenissan.com/2005-Ford...-IN/vd/7730946

Opinion on price?

[brunus]

if you do decide that that 350 isn't enough truck i have something you might want to keep in your head if you decide to upgrade. in order to hit that 33000 gcwr for the 450 it needs to be the 4x4 crew cab dually model. i noticed what your numbers you were lookin at at the start of this and decided to look up the gcwr for a few ford trucks.

nice trailer. that first one was a flat behemoth.

[Phat95YJ]

Originally Posted by lwt002

Check out this mac mobile... super nice rig. Some old hag pulled out in front of me a month ago and STATE FARM is really hosing me on fixing my truck. In their eyes, it's 14 years old so it is a piece of crap and not worth anything. What should have been an easy fix is turning into a total nightmare.

http://southlakenissan.com/2005-Ford...-IN/vd/7730946

Opinion on price?

Nice truck! I don't think its too badly priced for the miles..but I wouldn't know

[87manche]

Originally Posted by brunus

if you do decide that that 350 isn't enough truck i have something you might want to keep in your head if you decide to upgrade. in order to hit that 33000 gcwr for the 450 it needs to be the 4x4 crew cab dually model. i noticed what your numbers you were lookin at at the start of this and decided to look up the gcwr for a few ford trucks.

nice trailer. that first one was a flat behemoth.

you mean just like the one he had before the 350?

at least the 550 posted is white Mac. We know what you like.

[macgyvr]

I think that Larry is looking at that F550. Larry it appears a nice truck. Price seems a bit high to me, but I got a really good deal on my F350. The 6 oh-no get better fuel economy and if it had too many issues they were addressed by now. Kind of hit and miss with those, you can spend about 2k and get the issues addressed and make it a lot more reliable motor.

I had an 08 crew cab 4x4 F450. It had 4.88 gears and go 6 mpg...my payment was much higher (loan company made it a commercial loan for joe consumer so interest rate was higher). I think the F350 will do the job, just got to know what is behind you. My buddy Scooby tows a similar trailer with a 3500 Chevy everywhere and it works.

I'll be honest, if its another truck beyond this, its a mdt crew cab (with a nice interior) with a gooseneck hitch that I can buy with cash and lose the truck payment. I have to get my parking done in the back with all gravel because I'll be stuck in the yard with a 2wd truck. I am not looking for one tho at this time.

I did get some gravel down today. I need a triaxle dump tho to make it happen...3 tons at a time isn't that much.

mac 'my yard is a muddy mess' gyvr

[twentyfootdaredevil]

The F450 got 6 MPG loaded or unloaded? What kind of mileage do you expect out of your 350 loaded and ready to go racing?

[macgyvr]

Originally Posted by twentyfootdaredevil

The F450 got 6 MPG loaded or unloaded? What kind of mileage do you expect out of your 350 loaded and ready to go racing?

Ok, well 6.5 @70 mph with this, it never got better than 9 or 10 empty.



It had 4.88 gears in it. Was spinning the 6.4 diesel 2700 rpm at 70mph.

I think I can get 8 to 9 at 65 to 70 with the enclosed. I'll be taking my first trip next weekend, I'll report back. The F350 with other trailers has done 8 to 10 depending on the trip. It has 4.10 gears.

Mostly ran like this. Going to the badlands like this I was 9+. The F350 has been tuned and some exhaust mods...



I think the enclosed will help with fuel economy...I hope.

mac 'F450 could haul anything, anywhere, just couldn't get past fuel stations' gyvr

[Kaiser5]

You'll be fine with the one ton.
My buddy pulls a 42' enclosed all over the west. Fully race loaded, he grosses over 31K pounds . He now pulls it with this one ton shown below. Can't speak for mileage but it sure moves it down the road fine. He went from an F450 ('08?) to a new F350 (pictured). He didn't like the mileage with the 450, or the power. He said the 450 was detuned compared to the 350.
Here are our two rigs next to each other in Colorado last year.

[brunus]

i think theres a very important point being missed here.
safety. towing above a vehicles weight rating is unsafe.
i only say to get the new 450 because it has the 33000 pound gcwr
on top of that the new 450 has a ford built diesel that is getting 17 city and 23 highway in the f350. no body has tested the 450 yet so it doesn't have numbers just yet but i can see the truck getting some very similar numbers since it shares the motor and most of the driveline of the 350.
either way thats just my two cents. choice is yours.

[87manche]

Originally Posted by brunus

i think theres a very important point being missed here.
safety. towing above a vehicles weight rating is unsafe.
i only say to get the new 450 because it has the 33000 pound gcwr
on top of that the new 450 has a ford built diesel that is getting 17 city and 23 highway in the f350. no body has tested the 450 yet so it doesn't have numbers just yet but i can see the truck getting some very similar numbers since it shares the motor and most of the driveline of the 350.
either way thats just my two cents. choice is yours.

I'll give you a nickle to not tell us your two cents.

[macgyvr]

Its hard to compare the 08-10 F450 vs the 11+ F350. The motor is a totally new animal. The 6.7 is supposed to be a monster compared to the 6.4. So its hard to compare.

I am not planning on hitting 33k gross. My goal is to stay under 27k.

mac 'I think its attainable' gyvr

[macgyvr]

Used the trailer over a long weekend last week. It worked out great, especially with the weather. Really had a good time sleeping in it and partying and hanging out in it.

I do have an issue. When I'm accelerating, when the truck shifts, the entire truck and trailer shake a little bit. Sometimes when accelerating and shifting it will be so bad you can't stay in it and have to let out and try to feather it to get it up to speed. Once up to speed it rarely has another issue...until you slow down. When you are slowing down it will bounce around like crazy sometimes and was so bad once that I had to let out of it and slowly turn right "on red" because the truck was bouncing so bad.

It did this a little with the empty 50ft trailer, but not this bad. It did it both empty coming home from where I picked it up and with the popcanbuggy in it going to and back from the badlands last weekend. It was worse with the air bags pumped up. Dumped them, but its still there and sometimes still very violent. I have replaced the rear shocks with rancho 5000s...they are not gas charged as I have read, like they came from the factory, i replaced the shocks AFTER the first trip to bring the trailer home.

I thought it was the torque converter. I took it to the dealer to plug it in and it didn't do anything without the trailer. I just took the trailer in there today and took the service writer and a tech for a ride. They did feel the shake but weren't sure what it was. They are keeping the truck and trailer over night to plug the computer into it (monitors transmission), and put their best guy on it tomorrow. I've done some searching in other forums and come up with a mess of things that it "could" be. Everything from the suspension, to turbo, to transmission, to shocks, to traction bars. I've got no problem throwing some $$ at the truck as I feel like I got a pretty good deal on it, I just don't want to waste money on guessing.

If one of you says that I need a bigger truck

The truck is rated for 27k. Here is the weight slip from the trip down with the buggy and all of our stuff on board.


mac 'looking for guidance' gyvr

[gavan]

Originally Posted by macgyvr

If one of you says that I need a bigger truck

Your only option.

Someone has to :blackflipoff2:

[twentyfootdaredevil]

Starting to make me wonder if i need to order a bigger truck before I order a big trailer.

[keepviper13]

Originally Posted by macgyvr

I do have an issue. When I'm accelerating, when the truck shifts, the entire truck and trailer shake a little bit. Sometimes when accelerating and shifting it will be so bad you can't stay in it and have to let out and try to feather it to get it up to speed. Once up to speed it rarely has another issue...until you slow down. When you are slowing down it will bounce around like crazy sometimes and was so bad once that I had to let out of it and slowly turn right "on red" because the truck was bouncing so bad.

I noticed the same thing when pulling Stan's setup. I don't notice it with my setup but I'm driving with a manual so the shifting forces are different which helps lead me to the below conclusion.

The only thing I can figure is that with enclosed trailers they flex enough that the shaking is actually the trailer loading/unloading from the pulling force changing at the gooseneck in a shift. The harder you accelerate/decelerate the larger the force change and thus the harder the shaking. Watch the gooseneck next time you're pulling and you can usually see the flexing.

If I'm right this may fix it...



Props to keeping it under weight. That's a hard task to accomplish with this hobby...

[macgyvr]

Originally Posted by keepviper13

I noticed the same thing when pulling Stan's setup. I don't notice it with my setup but I'm driving with a manual so the shifting forces are different which helps lead me to the below conclusion.

The only thing I can figure is that with enclosed trailers they flex enough that the shaking is actually the trailer loading/unloading from the pulling force changing at the gooseneck in a shift. The harder you accelerate/decelerate the larger the force change and thus the harder the shaking. Watch the gooseneck next time you're pulling and you can usually see the flexing.

If I'm right this may fix it...



Props to keeping it under weight. That's a hard task to accomplish with this hobby...

I can see what you are saying. Was Stan's truck shacking so hard that it was almost uncontrollable coming to a stop?

Why doesn't this happen with Scooby? He's nearly the same setup, I've rode/drove that set up to California and back last year and never had anything like what I'm experiencing with my truck. That's why I have a hard time with the buy a bigger truck argument.

FYI, dealer update, they are trying to blame the tuner...

mac 'ugh' gyvr