amateurs build camper on a CMT-F trailer

[camptrend]

I wanted to say hello to all the members here and introduce ourselves. We are Mark and Nives, a couple who met in Philadelphia and decided to trade city life for life on the road.

We bought a 1995 Silver Eagle CMT-F trailer off craigslist and built a camper on top. Mind you we are complete amateurs at this and are discovering very quickly that we need some help modifying the trailer to become tow-friendly.

The trailer was obviously modified from it's original state. The most obvious mods are the gnarly lunette ring -

and the trailer appears to have been lengthened by about 18" behind the axle -

Because of the extended length, I think that the tongue needs to be extended to cut down on the trailer sway. Has anyone been successful at extending these tongues? Also would like to replace the surge system since it does not work and the broken shock absorber causes some serious slamming on starts and stops.

Lastly, here's a pic of the camper built up - and there are more on our blog - campbycamp.tumblr.com

We are both looking forward to learning a ton from you guys here, thanks in advance,

 

[gimpyrobb]

Welcome to the site. Looks like thats a base model 1101 or 1102. You should be able to insert a pin in the surge brake till you can find and replace the shock. I would think simply putting more weight in front of the axle would be easier than extending the trailer's tongue.

We will need more pics of the trailer to give you informed advice on how to fix your issues.

 

[jhooah]

Having towed a jeep trailer across the US with a lunette, you will always have the slamming and yanking when driving, if not oscilation at speed with the hitch allowing too much floating. My solution after the first ten miles on the trip was to take a 1" nylon ratchet strap and lace it around the ring taking up slack (forget about the ratchet part, it's not needed...)
So if you picked up a nylon tow strap and laced it through your ring until there's virtually no room for it to move, then hitched the vehicle up, it would really make a marked difference in your tow vehicles comfort and your piece of mind.
They are made to swivel and turn off road, not down the highway, so keep their original purpose in mind.
As to the weight issue, place your tow vehicles spare tire on the hitch area, this would offer some better weight distribution for the load.
I hope you used plenty of bolts (welds preffered) or those side panels will loosen up and suddenly end up in the other lane getting run over...Trailer headwinds at 55mph are like a constant near hurricane level and what works for a stationary building will fail under a constant wind pressure.
Have fun!
V/R W Winget

 

[camptrend]

I'll take a look for a way to insert a pin, that would be a huge improvement.

As we won't be needing the hardcore pintle/lunette setup, is it possible to replace the entire surge brake system with an aftermarket ball-type unit?

 

[camptrend]

I'm definitely going to use your tow-strap idea, that will help for sure. Thank you!!

 

[SteveKuhn]

Take a look at ETrailer.com for some ball-hitch surge brake ideas. Also the popular, unmentionable auction site. Look for 'brake actuator' or 'surge brake actuator.'

They ain't cheap if new. I found these trailers tow a bunch different on a light truck when they have standard passenger tires. The difference between those and Humvee tires was astounding.

Welcome.

Steve

 

[camptrend]

Thanks Steve, I was thinking about swapping the tires. Do you think it would best to just swap axles at the same time?

 

[61sleepercab]

I tent camped with a friend for 6 days with a camper cover on a Dodge truck which ended up similar to your camper build. I found the truck tailgate or in your case a fold down shelf with a metal back stop for your camp stove and counter top space is the cat's meow. We used a gasoline Coleman 2 burner stove and you can buy a Coleman folding camping oven which stores in about 14'x14' x2" . The oven folds out to a square cube and has two shelves that can handle about a 8"x8" baking pan. Biscuits, corn bread etc. is possible with this simple tin box. We learned to use the extreme duty insulated ice cooler to keep food and ice longer. Frozen meats doubled bagged act as ice cubes in freezer as well as frozen bottled water or soda. Some type of rack or box would be handy to keep double bagged items from becoming icebergs floating in your cooler. As far as towing it is best to keep proper weight on the tongue and in front of the axle to transfer proper weight to the tow vehicle. The nylon strap wrap of the pintle hitch would be a good idea. The surge brake system is easy to use except you must lock it to back the trailer up. There may be stock rubber cups and wheel cylinder parts that can be crossed over by wheel cylinder/ master cylinder diameter. Before you extend the trailer tongue, compare the distance between the trailer hitch and the front axle from commercial built flat and box style trailers. Your tongue length may be normal but you just have a short trailer that will seem to have a mind of its own just because it is short. A busted shock would be a no no letting the trailer bounce without dampening. You may wish to have some spring leaves be removed from the spring set to lighten up the trailer to match your loads. Over sprung trailer with a light load equals a pogo stick on wheels. I hope these ideas help you out. Mark

 

[SteveKuhn]

I've read the threads on axle swaps but I have no experience with them. I'd probably just put on civvy rims and tires and see where that got me and decide from there. It's not expensive When I took the runflats off my 101A3 and put those on, I found a huge improvement on the lunette banging problem. Turns out it was up/down, not fore/aft.

I'd probably also look in to getting the surge brake working or changing it if you really want the ball hitch. The stock pictures I found of your trailer had a much different lunette setup. Your blog said that the trailer was weighing in at 3500 lbs, so brakes are important.

Guess it's a matter of $ and what floats your boat.

Steve

 

[gimpyrobb]

There are a BUNCH of builds on expedition portal, you might want to look around over there for some hints. I think you would really be doing yourself in if you don't get the brakes working. It is SO NICE to be able to stop when you need to. I sometimes wonder how the folks on the road passed their driver's test.