Mostly Midwest Adventure Build

Since I made the decision to double down on my TRD Pro and keep it at least until a quarter million miles, I guess it's time to write up a build thread.

Other than upsizing the tires a bit, the truck has remained completely stock for all the 7 years and 115k miles I've owned it.

A while back I saw a youtube video for the "Baja Overland Build" M1101 trailer and kind of fell in love with the idea of owning a trailer like this. I was able to purchase one in July of this year and tow it all the way back from North Carolina. That build will be a part of this thread as well.

Being from the relatively flat and boring Midwest, the intent with this build is to try and get off pavement into some interesting areas where I can camp with my family (wife and kids 11 &10) without other people around. Destination goals right now include the Trans-Wisconsin trail as far as we can take it and then explore some great MTB parks I've heard about in northern Wisconsin, getting back to the Cumberland Falls area of Kentucky, and a ride out to South Dakota for the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore.



We're pretty experienced tent campers and backpackers, but this will be a newer, more convenient way to enjoy living outside away from civilization. I'm sure there will be many mistakes and great learning experiences along the way.

 

Trailer Purchase Info

For anyone interested in going down this road, here's the process it took to get the trailer.

These are up for auction on GovPlanet.com all the time. Bidding is as simple as signing up for an account and placing a max bid like EBay. When I was looking bidding started at $500 for one with a bed, and $125 for an empty trailer chassis. I opted for the bed version. Watching the auctions for a couple weeks, I saw winning bids of anywhere from $650-$2400 depending on how many trailers were at the auction location and what condition they appeared to be in. On a whim, I shot a bid on one in North Carolina for $800 and ended up getting winning it. Based on the pictures, it appeared to be in good condition and I noticed 10-22 written on the hub grease covers. I assumed this was the last time the trailer had PMs. Total cost for the trailer ended up being ~$1300 after factoring in sales tax, buyer's premium and doc fees.

GovPlanet offers a few different documentation options including an SF97 and a full title. From what I gather, the SF97 is a fairly simple bill of sale and some states will accept that as proof of ownership and grant you a title. Illinois is not one of those states, so I had to go with the full title (+$200) option. The title they obtained for me was a Montana title and took about 90 days to receive after the end of the auction.

Getting the trailer

Once you've won the auction, you have an option to pick the item up, arrange your own shipping, or use their system to put out for bids to ship. They give you 10 business days to get the item out of the yard. Looking at an 800 mile trip with the potential for mechanical problems, I was initially going to have it shipped. Using their system, the bids I was getting to have it shipped were in the $1200 range. Not terrible, but not great.

I took a look at the schedule and actually had a free 48 hour stretch, so I said F it, who doesn't like a road trip and opted to pick up myself.

I got off shift on a Sunday at 0730, loaded the truck with every tool I thought I could possibly need and got on the road. Illinois->Indiana->Ohio is a miserably flat and boring drive. Once you get into West Virginia things really get nice. It's a beautiful, engaging drive that I did not mind one bit. 12.5 hours and 804 miles later, I was at my hotel room right near the pickup.

The next morning I was able to get into the site right as they opened. I had scouted out possible locations to perform any necessary work on the trailer on my way in, as RitchieBros(GovPlanet) stated no work was allowed to be done on site. This was not necessary, the guy who forked the trailer over to me told me I could take as much time as I needed in the yard to make sure it was road worthy.

Prepping for the return

There's a bunch of great resources on other forums from guys who have picked up these trailers. What I gathered from pouring over post after post is that there are a few primary areas of concern. I found a great spot in the shade of a large trailer and got to work. I always keep a thick blanket in the truck, and it was clutch in being able to work comfortably on the crushed rock surface of the yard.

1. Axle nut torque: I read a number of posts from people who had issues with their hubs getting really hot after driving at highway speeds. This seems to be due to the axle nuts being over-torqued. To solve this issue, I removed the grease caps on the hubs and checked for appropriate torque. Wheels do not need to be removed for this and the caps came off with a flat screwdriver. The grease was extremely clean and fresh, so it looks like that 10/22 written on the covers must have been the last PM date. Axle nut is held in with a cotter pin and requires a 1 1/2" socket. Torque spec in the manual is 147 ft-lbs but everything I read said this was way too much and what causes the overheating. My mechanic at work agreed and advised that they should be just past hand tight to avoid overloading the bearings.

2. Stuck brakes: This trailer has surge brakes with a level operated parking brake for each wheel. I checked for sticky brakes by jacking up the trailer and spinning the wheels. Both spun freely. No tools required, and the trailer can be jacked high enough to do this by lowering the trailer jack wheel all the way down, setting the rear stabilizers on their highest setting and then cranking the trailer jack back up.

3. Tire condition: Many of these trailers have never really been on the road, so tread depth is great, but the tires may have been sitting in the sun for 10+ years. The trailer I purchased was a 2010, and the date code on the tires indicated they were from 2010, but they had no wear, no cracking or rot and appeared to be in great condition. Only issue was they were a little low on air.

4. Lights: This one got me, as I read all about these trailers for sale that had been "Converted to 12v" like it was some kind of big thing. It isn't. You literally need a length of 4 wire trailer cable and some blue bullet connectors to rewire it. There's a lovely junction box on the underside of the trailer near the tongue where you can unplug the wiring going from the light to the military connector and plug it into the 4 wire. Tail light disassembly is a cinch, just a couple of screws and the cover comes off. Replace the 24v bulbs with 12v #1156 and #67 bulbs and off you go. See this website for more info.

5. Chains: Allegedly some of the trailers have chains that have come up short, so I did purchase some extra chain to lengthen them if needed, but I was able to connect the trailer without them.

6. Trailer Cover: I had no interest in driving with the giant sail over a cover on the trailer, nor was I going to use it in this build. The cover is held on with plastic buckles, many of which were broken and came off with east. The cover ribs are bolted in, and disassembly was quick. The parts were strapped to the trailer bed and eventually disposed of.

7. Temp plate: Initially I was concerned that I might need a temporary plate on this thing to drive it home, but every police officer I talked to stated it wouldn't be an issue as long as I had proof I just purchased it and was in transit home.

Return Trip

First of all, this thing is tall. Like, way tall. The ground clearance is ridiculous. It has a lunette ring, not a ball receiver, so I needed an appropriate hitch. I opted for this Gen-Y Hitch in a 5 position configuration as it can be run as a drop or a rise and it got me really close to level.

I drove around the town I picked it up in for about half an hour before starting the return trip home just to make sure everything was kosher. From there I stopped after an hour of highway speed driving to check the hubs. Nice and cool. Tires were holding air pressure just fine, so I extended my check stops to every three hours.

The Tundra had no issues towing the trailer, but it certainly isn't aerodynamic. There was some noticeable drag and around a 3 mpg drop for the return trip.

Additionally, the trailer unloaded was super bouncy. I ended up stopping at a home depot and buying 350# of play sand (cheapest weight there) to help out. It improved the ride quite a bit.

800 miles and 13 hours later I was home with the trailer. No real issues to speak of.

 

Current Mods
275/70/18 Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT tires
Driver side Swingcase

Truck Future Plans
Truck is going in for surgery (timing belt tensioners, chains, sprockets, pre-emptive cam tower reseal and heat exchanger coolant leak). Once that is done, here's the overall plan for the truck in the order I think it should go as finances allow:

Rear Leaf Packs - she's been an unladen street queen most of her life, but i'm not super impressed with the stock leafs. I feel like they're sagging quite a bit, and I could use some lift in the rear to help keep the trailer from nosing down. I'm eyeing a set from Alcan along with some Coachbuilder Shackles.

Armor -

• Sell Black Rhino RB20s and replace with a basic slider
• Transmission, transfer case, fuel tank and rear diff skids

Winch -

• Bumper mount winch

Suspension -

• Replace stock TRD Pro suspension. It's got 115k miles on it and it's probably time for a replacement. Truck doesn't ride rough, but I know it's just a matter of time.
• Leaning toward Elka for corrosion resistance since we use salt and chemicals to keep icy roads at bay around here.
• I have no plans to set speed records in open deserts, so I'm looking at the 2.5 IFP and a 2 inch lift.

 

I want to get the trailer rack built, tent, awning and fridge mounted and see where that gets me. I'll run it for a year pretty basic and get a feel for just how far I need to take this thing. I'm used to camping out of a couple plastic totes, so I'll start with strapping those down and figuring it out.

Trailer Build Plan
CVT Pioneer Denali RTT (deploys to passenger side)
Custom Rack built by local fab shop to mimic NTD Racing B.O.B build
NewAir 115qt Electric cooler with sliding mount
Driver side awning
100ah lithum battery and charging solution
4 bike mounts (maybe switch this to truck bed mounted rails. Unsure)
Replace wheels for height reduction and weight savings

 

Just got the trailer wheels back from the powder coater and tires mounted.