coheed Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 Been meaning to make a thread about turning my grandad's Comanche into a trailer. Due to having issues with his estate I couldn't get a title for it, the typical floor pan and frame rail rust, and having been flipped and crashed a few times with a fairly warped frame I decided turning it into a trailer would be the best way to keep it around. This is truck that he and I would cruise around in the woods, take fishing trips, and do general truck antics in. So, it had and has a lot of sentimental value, and I really didn't want to get rid of it since it was one of the few things he gave me when he passed. This is what it looked like while it sat at my old house for quite a few years. Start by cutting the cab and the body off. I ended cutting off everything except the frame rails about 8-9 inches in front of the back of the cab brace. Next I had to deal with this internal frame brace as I was planning on building a tongue and welding it to the factory frame. I also wanted to take the bracing off the outside of the frame as it was no longer necessary. I just marked where the spot welds were and used a spot weld cutter to remove them. I also cut the back of the cab brace off as the tongue I was building was going to be enough. Next I needed to open the frame rails up a bit. They curve inward at this point just enough that it interfered with me inserting and test fitting the tongue. Next was measuring and tongue test fitting. I built it out of 3"x3/16" c-channel and 2"x1/4" wall square tube. I used them only because it was what I had laying around and I didn't want to pay for any materials aside from welding rod and the coupler/jack. Then I did the final trimming on the frame rails as I had a good bit of excess material. I ended up welding and bolting the tongue to the factory frame. I did a combo of fillet and rosette welds along with 3 grade 8 3/8" bolts on both sides. Don't have any pictures of the welds at the moment. Got some gamblers to match my other truck. The trailer was a huge help when moving houses. I know I looked like Jed Clampett driving down the road, but who cares . The new house only has a little 12x12 shed as compared to the 20x14 I had at the last house, so the trailer has mainly been a storage unit for some things since I moved. It currently has no axle or springs under it as it had the 4.10 d35 that I threw in my other truck. Currently debating whether I want to shell out $400 for a new custom axle with electric brakes or go the junkyard minivan rear axle route and do hydraulic surge brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 Finally got an axle for this thing. #3500 idler with a 62" hub face to hub face spacing. I does have a crazy amount of positive camber now, but I suppose that isn't a horrible thing. It will never see that much weight, but it was the cheapest trailer axle that I could bolt brakes onto later with no extra work. Looking at it now I really want to make a jerry can holder with a tire mount on it for the tongue. My Coleman camper will probably live on this for a while so I can use the truck to get lumber and other materials to rebuild the camper. I also still have 3 good 235/75r15 Falken AT3Ws laying around I'll replace the 31's on it with. The 31's are about twice as old as the Falkens. Now I need to find some more YJ gamblers so both the spares match the truck and trailer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 Currently the camper will live here until it gets rebuilt. The old roof basket from my VW makes a semi decent spot to put stuff on the tongue to balance the weight a little better as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 that's a sweet setup you've temporarily created Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 On 2/13/2024 at 8:58 PM, Pete M said: that's a sweet setup you've temporarily created Honestly I'm really tempted to just put some leveling jacks on the back of the frame and leave it on there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 then you can setup a base camp and still go exploring in the Jeep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 15 Share Posted February 15 highly recommend running shocks if there aren't any under there currently. they fixed a lot of the lean my trailer was experiencing while turning corners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted February 15 Author Share Posted February 15 47 minutes ago, Pete M said: highly recommend running shocks if there aren't any under there currently. they fixed a lot of the lean my trailer was experiencing while turning corners. Yeah I reused the original u-bolt plates so it has the shock mounts. Currently I have some KYB excel-g's that were on my truck before I upgraded to the Bilstein 5100s. Makes it much nicer to pull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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