Colorado_Outbacks Trail(er) Blazer

[Colorado_Outback]

So right off the bat let me establish that this isn't an off road build, this trailer is going to spend 95% of its life covering highway miles and semi maintained dirt roads on the way to various trail heads and easily accessible lakes/fishing around Colorado.

My dad has a Rokon Trailbreaker and wants to take it on longer trips around the state and have a nice place to sleep on random fishing trips with me so we decided to turn this scrap S-10 Blazer (Actually a GMC Jimmy) that I had into a mini toy hauler.

We're going to hook up the tail/license plate lights, power locks, windows, dome lights, radio, 12v charging outlets, and a couple other odds and ends. Build a platform in the front to level up the floor with the rear. Reinstall the rear interior/door cards/head liner. Removable wood panels in the front to access the storage underneath.

Interior length is 7' so even a tall guy like me can stretch out, my dad is 5'6" so he'll be good.

I snagged the drive train out of it last year to fix my 2000 Silverado, and here's what was left.

20160206_165608 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Got it gutted out

20160208_111511 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160208_111456 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Started cutting stuff

20160208_125118 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160208_163900 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160208_163848 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Sawed the front of the frame off and started on a new frame/tongue.

20160210_102322 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160210_101711 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Now comes the fun part.. The blazer frame is 2 formed channels sandwiched together and measures 3x7" ish.. Thats a super odd tube size to just go find. I had some 2x5" 3/16 tube in the shop so I decided it was getting used. We slid it into the frame 6 1/2" and cut a couple of these spacers out of 3/8" steel to fill the gap so there is no way that the 3x5 can twist or move in there.

20160211_155409 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

And because I really want them to be one piece forever I drilled a couple extra 1" holes in the sides and some extra 1/2" holes in the top and welded it up.

20160211_155358 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160211_155328 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Now I know some of you are probably thinking, "Damn that thing looks long and tongue heavy, with the axle way back there!"
I found this handy spread sheet on the internet and granted I did some guessing on the weight of the trailer since I don't have a scale big enough to weigh it but I did some research on other trailers that people have built out of Cherokees and other small SUV's so I think this'll be pretty close to what it scales at.

330 lbs tongue weight with the 220lb bike loaded and 211lbs with it unloaded seems reasonable to me, especially for a vehicle with 500/5000 capacities. It could definitely be more balanced but the axle position is what it is, plus 90% of it is scrap/found materials.

So far we've bought a couple sticks of angle, a 4x8 of 16g steel and we'll need some trailer stuff, 2" ball coupler, 7pin harness, couple other things I cant think of right now. All in all we'll probably have about $500 in folding money in it.

I like to gamble so we'll see how it turns out, wont know if im a winner or loser until I take it to the scales :sombrero:

trailer worksheet by colorado_baja, on Flickr

As always thoughts, comments and criticisms welcome :ylsmoke:

 

[njtacoma]

Wow that is really going to be cool, or very strange...
Have to wait and see in the end!

Way to use what you had around.

I hope this doesn't delay the 8.1 swap

 

[Colorado_Outback]

I hope this doesn't delay the 8.1 swap

Unfortunately my 8.1 swap has been on the back burner for almost a year, the 350 is still taking a beating and I have a list of excuses a mile long as to why I haven't been working on it. Getting motivated though, if I get my way ill swap my 8.1 in the next month or two and take my truck camper and this thing to Expo West.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Had to get a couple things from the junk yard for the build today, pewter B pillar trim, rear door harnesses and I happened upon an 01 Bravada that was Pewter Metallic and had color matched hatch trim on it. Since this is a luxury liner of sorts I decided they were fitting.

20160215_162733 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

20160215_163138 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I did do some actual work today despite screwing around at the junk yard all morning..

Got the sides fabricated and tacked in.
20160215_173631 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

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20160215_173622 by colorado_baja, on Flickr


I still need to cut the top of the sides back to meet the roof line, I'm going to attempt to make the front panel out of one piece of metal we'll see how that goes tomorrow..

 

[AdventureHare]

Saw a vid on youtube of a guy who did this with an XJ. Of course, he tows it with an XJ as well. You'll have lots more room than him.

I can't argue with the cost. You could easily pay $500 for a silly truck box. You got the whole truck. Gotta love that.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Saw a vid on youtube of a guy who did this with an XJ. Of course, he tows it with an XJ as well. You'll have lots more room than him.

I can't argue with the cost. You could easily pay $500 for a silly truck box. You got the whole truck. Gotta love that.

I'm not really counting the blazer shell towards the 500, I bought it for 1500 bucks last fall and used the drive train to fix my 2000 Silverado single cab. It had a reman 4.3 with paperwork that only had 10K on it. A reman 4.3 crate motor runs 1600-2K depending on where you buy, so it worked out well fixed my truck for relatively cheap and got all this extra junk to play with.

The 500 is my estimation for other stuff ill need to finish the project, misc steel, electrical this and that, coupler, jack, 7 pin connector all that random stuff that adds up. I guess if you factor in all the other parts ive sold off the blazer this project will be damn near free.

Got to breathe a little sigh of relief today, things pretty much worked out like I had hoped for the front end. I still need to trim the top, grind the passenger side flush and do a bunch more welding but the exterior sheet metal is tacked in.

20160216_153356 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

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Im not a paint and body guy so I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out haha.

 

[chilliwak]

Thanks for posting Mr Colorado! Can I ask why you are not moving the bulkhead you just welded up to a point on the frame aprox where it starts to be triangulated? That would give WAY more room inside. Also, i wouls sugst angling the front so that it has beter wind resistance. Would be cool to put a window in it too. Cheers, Chilli...

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

I love these types of builds. If you want to retain the seperate signal and brake lights, you can get a box to do it.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Tow-Ready/118158.html

I also used a 7-pin trailer connector and the 7th wire was used for the reverse lights on the trailer. The only thing that doesn't work "right" is the 4 ways. The box can't tell the difference if your taping your brakes or it's the 4 ways, but other then that it all works great.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Thanks for posting Mr Colorado! Can I ask why you are not moving the bulkhead you just welded up to a point on the frame aprox where it starts to be triangulated? That would give WAY more room inside. Also, i wouls sugst angling the front so that it has beter wind resistance. Would be cool to put a window in it too. Cheers, Chilli...

We could have left a lot more cab on there but my dad wants to take his Rokon Trailbreaker on trips so the 3 feet in front of the box will be for a transverse motorcycle carrier. Here is a picture of my dad and the bike. The top does have some rake to it, its 12" at the bend and just over 5" at the top.

Dad Rokon by colorado_baja, on Flickr

I love these types of builds. If you want to retain the seperate signal and brake lights, you can get a box to do it.

https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Tow-Ready/118158.html

I also used a 7-pin trailer connector and the 7th wire was used for the reverse lights on the trailer. The only thing that doesn't work "right" is the 4 ways. The box can't tell the difference if your taping your brakes or it's the 4 ways, but other then that it all works great.

Thanks for the info Nd4SpdSe, we'll check that out. My dad is a recently retired electrical engineer so wiring is definitely his department haha.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Thanks for the info Nd4SpdSe, we'll check that out. My dad is a recently retired electrical engineer so wiring is definitely his department haha.

Hehe, I guess he could. I looked into making one, but for the price, I didn't bother. Mind you, you can go the custom route and make the truck and trailer connector custom, but at least with the adapter, you can make it standard and the lights will work for any vehicle that tows it, with the exception of reverse. Which technically that pin is spec'd for use with a reverse light or as an "auxiliary", but chances are it just wouldn't be hooked up at all.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Hehe, I guess he could. I looked into making one, but for the price, I didn't bother. Mind you, you can go the custom route and make the truck and trailer connector custom, but at least with the adapter, you can make it standard and the lights will work for any vehicle that tows it, with the exception of reverse. Which technically that pin is spec'd for use with a reverse light or as an "auxiliary", but chances are it just wouldn't be hooked up at all.

Oh yeah definitely worth buying for the $$ vs the time you would have in it.

I'm not sure if I need it or not reading the description, Pretty sure the blazer uses the same bulb for brake and turn and a separate one for running.

 

[Nd4SpdSe]

Ah ok. Just typically vehicles have a seperate light for signals then for braking. Running lights are shared with the brake lights. Since your not there yet, I just figured I'd share the information since you're keeping the stock lights.

 

[roverpat]

Very Cool build. I am doing the same with a Land Rover Freelander with the exception of cutting at apillar.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Ah ok. Just typically vehicles have a seperate light for signals then for braking. Running lights are shared with the brake lights. Since your not there yet, I just figured I'd share the information since you're keeping the stock lights.

Ahh I gotcha, we were just poking at the wires in the rear body harness one day and I thought it was same bulb for turn/brake but I could be totally wrong. Ill definitely double check.

Very Cool build. I am doing the same with a Land Rover Freelander with the exception of cutting at apillar.

Look forward to seeing pics!

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Got some more metal work in today, I had to make these separate because I only had 4' width on my material.

20160219_161934 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

Finished grinding the sides out and trimmed the roof back, still have a little work to do up there thats why those little tabs are sticking up.

20160219_161757 by colorado_baja, on Flickr

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Couple interior shots now that the temp bracing is removed.

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Happy that the body work phase of this project is almost done. :sombrero:

We also fished through the wires in the back of the body harness, found all the essentials. Stop/turn, running, backup, hatch lock solenoid, etc.

There are 2 bulbs in each tail light for running/stop/turn, both bulbs illuminate for running, 2nd filament kicks on for stop/turn, 3rd brake light is its own deal.