My Home Built 5th Wheel

[Dataway]

Here's a pic of the 23' 5th wheel I build to house myself, my wife, two dogs and our vintage race motorcycles for trips around the NE.
Built the chassis and everything.
JohnnyB

 

[JDeerekid]

very nice craftsmanship. what is the weight of the trailer. I see that it is single axle. Have any interior pictures. Would like to see the mini garage for the bikes

 

[Scooby074]

Very nice. What are the materials? Aluminum? What are the sides made of?

 

[Dataway]

The empty trailer weighs in the area of 3300 lbs, after "decorating" about 4,000 lbs. All loaded up with motorcycles, gear, etc. about 5200 lbs. The single axle is rated at 6,800 lbs, the springs about 8,000 lbs. It has a set of HD shocks installed. Main chassis is built from 4"x3" rectangular tubing (all chassis components are steel), about 1/8" wall. Minor cross bars are 1.5 x 1.5" x 12 guage square tube. Upper trailer is built from a frame work of 1.5x1.5" x 14 guage tube and 1 x 1" x 16ga tube, skinned with prepainted .045 (approx) aluminum (from a sign company, blue on the outside, white on the inside). Trim is aluminum angle 1/8" thick, all fasteners are stainless. Floor is ( I think ) 3/4" plywood, roof is 1/2" plywood covered in one piece rubber RV roofing. The rear section of the roof is reinforced to support spectators. Windows are either from RV salvage or the bargain bin.

The rear door hinges at the top and opens by air spring assist. The suspension "carriage" is separate from the chassis and slides on large dimension angle iron for a total of about 18" of adjustment in 3-4" increments to adjust hitch weight. Brakes are electric/drum.

Sleeping quarters are in the area that extends over the truck bed, you can see the access hatch for the window AC unit on the lower front of the trailer. It has a propane stove top, small sink, microwave, about a 10 gal water tank (no hot water), small fridge, no toilet, small two person bench that is convertible into a dining area. Just the basic necessities for a three or four day excursion in a location with minimal facilities. Typical electrical system that can be powered by "shore" power, battery, or battery/truck, or generator. Only about 800 watts of AC is available on battery power.

It has a wall and a accordion door that separate the rear section from the "living" quarters.

I don't have any decent pictures of the interior....and right now it's full of stuff as it doubles and winter storage space for motorcycles and gear. But here's some pics of it during the initial stages of construction. I had to build a temporary extension of about 6' out the shop door to accommodate it during the winter months while I was building it. Took about 5 months to build with the wife helping....and she is a good shop helper, can do most everything but the welding.
JohnnyB

 

[Scooby074]

Looks well done. Thanks for the info. Some of that aluminum sign material would be nice to get, too bad we dont have anybody around here that uses it

 

[LBrown59]

JohnnyB
skinned with pre painted .045 (approx) aluminum (from a sign company, blue on the outside, white on the inside).

What size sheets does this come in?
Where would i find it around here?
Been lots of times / things when i could use something like this.
Thanks.
L . B .

 

[Diamondpilot]

Why did you go with the single axle? It would seem you would want dual 3,500#'s for piece of mind with a flat situation.

Chris

 

[bdeboer]

What size sheets does this come in?
Where would i find it around here?
Been lots of times / things when i could use something like this.
Thanks.
L . B .

There is an outfit in Columbus, OH that resells that stuff. If you scroll down you will see some painted material.

Market Pricing

A guy in a hardware store told me about them when I was purchasing a small piece of aluminum diamond plate for the price of their whole sheet.

 

[Dataway]

Chris,
One main reason I went with a single axle is I wanted to use full size tires, actual truck size, lots of plys. The smaller trailer tires wear fast and the trailer sees about 4,000 miles a year. Also, manueverability is excellent with a single axle, as is handling on the many curvy roads I have to take. Another consideration was ground clearance...some of the places I have to go require lots of clearance and the large tires and single axle help there.

After several years of use....I'd call it a wash. In retrospect I would like the extra braking power and smoother suspension offered by dual axles. There are arguments for both setups, at this point I haven't seen a convincing argument that would point to either setup as a must have.

I'm not overaly concerned about blowouts or suspension failures. I keep the tires in great shape, inspect frequently, and have an good spare. I grease the bearings each year etc. I figure the trailer is as realiable as the truck that's towing it


Brown,
I ordered the aluminum from these guys:
Robert & Sons Aluminum

It can be had in numerous sizes, colors and guages. I ordered what I think was the "standard" size of 3' x 10'. I ordered something like 20 sheets of it, it came on a couple of pallets to the local freight office. I loaded it up in my truck and headed home. AND...it was about 30% CHEAPER including shipping that it was to purchase it at my local supplier (who have very limited colors and guages). At the time...around 2002 I think, I paid something like $35-38 bucks a sheet for it. At the local supplier it was $60 a sheet for plain white. Shipping back then was maybe $130 from GA to NY.
JohnnyB

 

[Diamondpilot]

Well no matter what type of suspension and axle setup you went with that is beautiful work. You are a true craftsman and I can see it is very well built with out being overbuilt. Its funny, when most people build a trailer themselves it is grossly overbuilt and in turn does not tow well or handle much load. Yours looks to be well engineered and works great for you.

Nice work

Chris

 

[Ductape]

Hey, that trailer came out fantastic ! Do you come out to Loudon with it? I'm only about 20 minutes from the track.

 

[Farmerford]

JohnnyB: That is beautiful work. Nothing like having it just like you want it.

Chris: "grossly overbuilt and in turn does not tow well or handle much load". I did not realize you had seen my homebuilt dump trailer!

 

[Diamondpilot]

Have not seen that one, we need pictures, but have seen a few home made car haul and boat trailers that needed Nitrous on the tow vehicle after it was hitched up.

Chris

 

[Dataway]

Hey, that trailer came out fantastic ! Do you come out to Loudon with it? I'm only about 20 minutes from the track.

Yep...the picture of the trailer set up with my wife sitting there is in the infield at Loudon. Never fails when one of our race meets coincides with one of the LRRS race meets I'll get a couple of offers on the trailer. Mostly just because it's just the basics that everyone wants, nothing fancy.

The thing tows absolutely fantastic. You can do the rural two lane roads at 60 mph and you seriously don't even realize it's back there....until you have to stop quick And I have to admit, I've towed it many miles at 80+ mph on the interstate, whatever aerodynamics it has seem to start working real well around 70 mph. There are times on country roads I've actually forgotten that I was towing something. I do notice it on hills though since the truck only has a 4.8L V8.

The reason it came out not overbuilt was my constant concern for weight. If I ever do another one I'm going to try an aluminum chassis. I don't tow in the winter so it shouldn't be much of an issue. Being able to move the axle was a major benefit in getting it "tuned" to tow nice.

I'd love to build another one to correct the short comings I've found in this one. Mostly dimension related.
JohnnyB

 

[escavader]

JOHNNY,
That trailer rocks!! When the kids are gone the wife and i want something like that ,we can stay in ,to haul our atvs ,thats our favorite pasttime.We want to travel around the country and try it in different states.You have inspired me ,gotta start gathering materialsThanks for posting,youve got talent!!!
ALAN

 

[Dataway]

Alan...it can be done! I probably have about $7,000 in that trailer all finished with the basic appliances (2002 money). Beats the heck out of $18-20,000.

Obviously you already have the skills and the planning talent. Just get out the pen and paper (or computer in my case) and start designing. Never too early to start the planning.

I think the time you put into your cab would have finished a good portion of this trailer, which was from a design standpoint, quite simple.
JohnnyB