Author Topic: Project: ArgoCeptor!  (Read 43666 times)

Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #48 on: October 12, 2017, 08:43:30 PM »
I'm beginning to thing I'm just going to give building a beavertail a pass.

Instead of the beavertail, I think I'm going to build a folding rear gate so it can be nice and long to ease loading and fold over to minimize the wind resistance.

Something along these lines:



Probably a touch taller than that since mine is a deck over. Not taller than the argo si going to be for sure.

I've had full height trailer gates before and you can really feel them back there. Just too much drag for my liking.

Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #47 on: October 11, 2017, 05:15:39 PM »
Add two lengths of 2x4" tube:



Et voila! Deckover utility trailer:



The new pieces have a little "stand off" from the original spring mount piece because the cross rails they are welded to aren't flush with them. Rather than notch the crossmembers, i just welded the ends of the 2x4 tube to them and accepted the space between the 2x4 and 2x3 pieces. To compensate, i'm going to amke a couple 3x3 plates and weld 2 per side across the gap. Kind of like a "fishplate". There will also be a support welded between the 2x4 tubes to make sure it all stay nice and rigidly in place.

I moved the axle back to the 60% postion. The orginal camper trailer had the axle dead center of the deck. I figure they had it centered due to the way the camper had the deck loaded with its components, putting the 10% tongue load on the hitch. Or maybe it was to account for the battery and propane tanks on the A frame. Meh, dunno. Utility trailers arent built that way, so i moved the axle back to a conventional postion for a utility trailer.

The deck will be 2x6 wood. Probably just local spruce. A piece of 1.5" angle will be welded to the top of the frame rails and that will form the channel for the wood to sit in.

Beavertail rear piece will follow later down the road. Im just getting it functional for now since we're moving to a new house in march 2018.

I'm going to swap the spring with my 12' aluminum boat trailer springs. The camper ones are 3 leaves and the boat springs are 4 leaves. The boat trailer is so stiff it doesnt give at all and the trailer just jumps around. Swapping springs over to the argo trailer just makes sense.

Next is to weld on some spring perches as i currently just turned the axle over to do the axle under spring flip.

Deck, some cleankng and painting and i can at least move the argo around.

Still not in to it for more than 300 bucks!

:)
« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 04:56:16 AM by SARgo1 »

Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #46 on: October 09, 2017, 08:41:17 AM »
Well crap on a cracker!

Measured the axle. Just a hair under 2" diameter. a little over 2 7/8". That means its's a 2000 lb axle.

Oh well, it will do for now and I'll shop for a good deal for a proper 3500 lb axle with electric brakes. Likely upgrade to 13" or 14" tires as well while I'm at it.

This one is bent anyways, lots of negative camber. Likely overloaded as a utility trailer by a PO. If it had of been a 3500 lb axle, I might have straightened it, but no point in that now.

I'm still money ahead even if I buy a new axle. There's more than $250 worth of steel and stuff like coupler, etc in the thing as it is.

Probably have somewhere around $500-600 in to it when I'm done. Still way better than anything you will find used for a 6.5' x 10.5' flat deck ATV hauler around these parts....
« Last Edit: October 09, 2017, 08:42:52 AM by SARgo1 »

Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #45 on: October 08, 2017, 03:40:35 PM »
So, further measuring reveals i need a deck height of 22.5" to clear the tires and 3" of suspension movement.

I highly doubt it will move 3", but you never know. The camper springs are actually pretty soft, most likely so the dishes and pots in a camper dont get thrown around too much. I'll give them a go and if they are too soft I'll just replace them with something more robust.

Plan is to pit two 10' 2x3 metal tubes from the a frame to the rear rail. This will transfer all the load to the pulling frame and stiffen the whole thing up immeasurably.

Then a simple 2x2 piece to space the spring mounts down the total 5" i need to raise the deck to the priper height.

A 16" dove tail will bring the rear lift up to about 10" and the drop gate will make the rest if the ramp into the bed.

10 foot 2x6's will make the deck. That will give me the option of carrying the Argo, or bolting down one or two motorcycle chocks and ferrying my  bikes around. Anything else it will handle fine with the 2x6 deck boards.

The 12" tires and rims will have to stay or the trailer will just get too high for my liking. Possibly might be able to go up to a 13" if the suspension is stiff enough of if i install some bump stops.

:)

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #44 on: October 08, 2017, 10:33:38 AM »
Well you have a good base to start your build. Just remember everything you add will add up in Weight.
The wood floor planking is Heavy so you may want to look and that also.
I would also see if you could put bigger wheels and tires on it.
Let us know how you make out on it.  popcorn

Not really worried about weight. I'll build for function first and rejig for more capacity later if needed.

i'll just up to heavier springs and reinforce the frame if i get to find it becomes too heavy. Planning to swap on electric brakes in the near future as well.

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #43 on: October 08, 2017, 10:29:10 AM »
Tear down time.

Its three layers of various  thickness of plywood in various stages of decay:



That pic is the last layer and is the orginal 1970-1980 era plywood. Still has the holes for power and water lines in it. Soft as puddin'! All the previous owners just keep slapping another thin layer of plywood over the previous as it went soft. Not the way to do it! All i had to do to get the layers off was grab and edge and pull, the screws pulled right out of thier underlayers with nearly no resistance.

Once stripped, over all, not in bad shape:



A little cleaning and some rust paint and it'll be good as new.

Only bad piece is the very last rail:



Not a big deal. Cut it out, weld in new. I was going to build a dove tail anyways so its minimal extra work to replace the bad rail.

Figure I'll raise it about 6 inches to make a clean, flat deckover:



Dove tail will work nicely with the raise. I'll just make the tail a 3-4" drop. That will still add at least 2" of clearance from what it is now. The ball center comes up just enough to make it a perfect hieght for a standard hitch drop.

I was thinking an axle flip, but I think I'll just cut the spring mounts off and weld a spacer to the frame member:



Then weld the spring mounts back on. Seems to be the cleanest way to go and maintains the orginal spring action.

I may just carry the spacer from front rail to the rear and weld at the cross beams along the way. Good way to add some strength and rigidityto the chassis while accomplishing the lift. Might slide the axle back a couple inches as well to get a bit more tongue weight since its no longer a camper and will be hauling stuff instead.

I also may end up doubling up the outside rails. Not so much for strength, but so i can add a c channel to take the deck boards. Added strength will just be an incidental bonus.

:)
« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 12:07:31 PM by SARgo1 »

Offline wedge

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #42 on: October 08, 2017, 10:22:14 AM »
Well you have a good base to start your build. Just remember everything you add will add up in Weight.
The wood floor planking is Heavy so you may want to look and that also.
I would also see if you could put bigger wheels and tires on it.
Let us know how you make out on it.  popcorn
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Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #41 on: October 08, 2017, 04:50:12 AM »
So ive been needing a trailer to haul the Argo. But like most guys, I don't want to spend any more than I have too.

Problem was; I wanted a trailer big enough to take the Argo with supertracks, which means a minimum of 72" wide. Those size trailers are a little harder to find used and just don't come cheap when you do.

I've been watching the local buy and sell and there was a beat up looking old home built that was 6'4"x10'6". But it looked like poo and he wanted 400 bucks.







 I thought about looking at it once or twice but it just looked so bad in the pictures I couldn't be bothered.

As fate would have it, I actually drove by it yesterday when I was headed somewhere. I stopped to have a look just because I was there anyways.

Well, it still looked like crap. But under the crap looks, it was actually pretty heavily built and in decent shape. There was something I couldn't put my finger on about it, but it was big enough and certainly a good base to build on.

The for sale sign also had 400 crossed out and 300 written in.

So I called the guy and we got to talking. Ended up paying 250 bucks and hooking it up. Tows straight and true. No bounce and the truck doesn't even know it's three.

I get it home and get a more in depth look at it. It had hydraulic surge brakes on it at one time, but the master cylinder is long gone. That seems strange to me on a home built utility trailer, but I dismiss it as someone used what they had lying around. The tires are new 12" Carlisle's on 5 bolt rims. The frame is thick and the sides are not c channel, but rather look like a box section that isn't a complete box. It takes a 2 inch ball and the A frame is very heavy. 3500 lb axle with surge brakes. Theres some kind of bracket in each corner under the soft and rotting floor. There's strange little posts on the front and rear frame that angle up so they're not tie down points.

Then it hits  me what I'm actually looking at: it's a converted camper trailer and a fairly big one at that. I'm guessing it's an old "Bonair" from about the 70's as  the seller told me he bought it off a guy who used it to haul his stuff down from Montreal. Couple things also have "made in Quebec" stamped in them (ie: plastic wheel wells).  That's why the welds look so good and it's fairly heavily built; only the registration is "home built", the base trailer frame is production built.. Certainly heavy enough to drag my Argo or a motorcycle or two around. 10'+ will be nice for hauling lumber from the yard as my truck only has a 6.5' bed (biggest I could get on an f150 crew cab).

So, plans are to strip it down to the frame and blast it clean. Drop tail added and axle flip to make a nice deck over utility trailer. Drop gate at the rear and I'll build platforms over each wheel well for the Argo to sit on. A bit more steel and probably 2x6 pressure treated boards. Two raised platforms will give me some storage on the trailer for some long but low items as well as wheel clearance.

Plan is to end up with something like this:





but in a deck over configuration.

Should be fun. Pics as it develops. Only in to it for 250 right now (and I could use it as is) so that's good!

:)
« Last Edit: October 08, 2017, 05:16:52 AM by SARgo1 »

Offline Craig_B

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #40 on: October 05, 2017, 09:32:53 AM »
Awesome looking project!! And well done.

Looking forward to seeing how all this progresses.


Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #39 on: September 19, 2017, 05:31:57 AM »
New spool gun showed up today.

 dance

Now to get a bottle of 100% argon and start practicing my aluminum welding.

Toying with the idea of ditching the steel Argo frame and building one out of aluminum. I'm building all the racks and whatnot out of aluminum (for weight consideration and I just like working with aluminum) so it's not a big leap to do a frame too. Give me a chance to stiffen the old rig up. The floor piece is dented and rusty and the whole thing twists and wanders like a drunken sailor over anything even resembling uneven ground. It's eventually going to be a Springer, so stiffer frame the better IMHO. The suspension will do the work of keeping tire in contact with the ground, not a twisting frame and tub.

I'll have to check with my supplier to see what dimensions are available for channel and such.

Be good to also refine my welding skills. Racks first (ie: practice on non-structural)  then stuff like frame, winch support, etc.be totally worth it to me even if I only see something like 20 lbs. That's another 20 lbs of first aid or rescue kit I can load on or another 20 lbs that can go towards mitigating the extra weight for the Springer suspension...

;)
« Last Edit: September 19, 2017, 05:43:42 AM by SARgo1 »

Offline WFO

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #38 on: September 18, 2017, 06:02:45 PM »
good job . you made quick work of that  8)
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Offline wedge

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #37 on: September 18, 2017, 05:54:26 PM »
That looks good !
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Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #36 on: September 18, 2017, 05:25:34 PM »
Floor:



Pretty close to final shape. I need to belt sand it down a touch here and there, weld the supports to the Argo frame, install the dzeus fasteners and make a hatch door over both body drain plugs.

Its solid enough that i can walk around on it with my 225 lbs. Very tiny bit of deflection, which i will handle by riveting a cross brace to the underside of the floor.

Some tie down rigs will double as something to grab to lift the floor out when needed.

Im a little back and forth on bonding some thin rubber matting to it or using some of the foam matting (looks like gray diamond plate).
« Last Edit: September 19, 2017, 05:22:02 AM by SARgo1 »

Offline wedge

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #35 on: September 17, 2017, 08:33:51 PM »
Hand made is the way to GO ! >:D
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Offline SARgo1

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Re: 1986 Conquest 8x8 build up for SAR!
« Reply #34 on: September 17, 2017, 08:02:23 PM »
Sorry to say i dont have one handy. Wish i did.

The big shear at work, Jig saw and belt sander will have to do....