Southeast Overland trailer build by Trollhole's Cruisers

I picked up this Swiss trailer about two years ago from a fellow club member. It came with a full soft top and bows, kinda like a chuck wagon. My plans have been for the past two years to do a resto/mod and use it as an expedition trailer for trips and also to use to haul all the Southeast Overland merchandise to events where I setup a booth.

I've also been wheeling for the past couple of years with a RTT, full rack, lights, awning, and sometimes two cans of fuel on the roof of my FJ Cruiser. While its actually fun to me to wheel up a fairly difficult trail with all that stuff up top, I have found my way into quite a few "tippy incidents" where having upwards of 300 lbs on the roof didn't help my situation out very much. The biggest driver is when I'm at events we are sponsoring I end up having to pitch and take down the RTT everyday to go wheeling if we are operating from a base camp. I very fast at setting up and taking down the RTT, but when peeps are ready to go wheeling they want to go wheeling. With the trailer I'll be able to set up the RTT that will be living on the trailer and go wheeling whenever I like.

So - here are the plans for Stage 1 of the build. Marshall with Trollhole's Cruisers will be doing basically all the work. We've been too busy at Southeast Overland to touch the trailer.

1. Disassemble trailer and blast the whole thing.
   
2. Remove the top and its fastening hardware. This will be saved for later use if needed.
   
3. Remove leveling stands. Their mounting points will be left on the trailer for the time being.
   
4. Add a tongue stand like those on a 416.
   
5. Replace rusty hinges on tailgate.
   
6. I'll splice some tailgate catches out of winch line.
   
7. Replace hardware.
   
8. Paint OD green.
   
9. Bed line inside the tub.
   
10. Rewire lights.
    
11. Relocate the safety cables.
    
12. Fab a locking lid on hinges that will sit about 6-8" tall above the bed. Place RTT on lid.
    
13. Add fastening points underneath the lid for an axe, hand saw, shovel, etc.
    
14. We will have the trailer back before the spring wheeling season and will test it extensively before we head on to Stage 2 of the build.
    

Stage 2

1. Add a tongue box for additional storage.
   
2. Consider replacing current slipper springs with a different suspension setup.
   
3. Add armor to sides of trailer in front of and behind wheels / fenders. Extra storage will be placed on top of armor.
   
4. What else???
   

I'm really bad about taking pics before I start tearing into a project and this time is no exception. I did get some pics from Trollhole's Cruisers of the tear down process. Enjoy!


Pic of the trailer from the previous owner.


Side shot with the fenders pulled off. There was a lot of surface rust but no rot, except the rear hinges that were pretty bad.


The bed floor was a piece of sheet metal over wood. Both were in good shape.


Shot of the bed floor pulled out.


Shot of the front. Stage one will add a ground support stand. Stage 2 will add a tongue box here.


Shot of the rear and the tailgate.


Pics of wheeling with the RTT on top of the Southeast Overland FJ Cruiser.

man that is gonna be fun...im gonna be working on building a trailer this coming year...cant wait to see what you do with this little jewel...keep us informed and up to date!!

Very cool! Looks like a fun project. Definitely something I would like to do when I'm out of school

Thanks guys. We are pretty stoked. Once we get this done we can move on to our next project!

Some progress has been made.


Sandblasting


Sandblasting completed of whole trailer


Close up of blasted tailgate

Happy to report that there was no rot or rust through. There was some pitting but everything is now clean as a whistle and now ready for some fabrication.

Looks fabulous