Attaching camper shell to Northern Tools’ Ultra-Tow trailer

[Deepwoods]

For people who have placed their camper on an Ultra-Tow trailer, did you use any spacers?  The manual covers their Trailex trailer pretty thoroughly, and that setup uses risers and rubber vibration dampeners.  With the Ultra Tow (and presumably other trailers) the heads of the bolts holding the cross pieces to the rails sit on top of the rails.  I’m thinking that wear might be a problem in these spots.  The risers and vibration dampeners seem like a good idea, but they don’t come with the kit.  What has been the experience of other Ultra-Tow users?  Is wear a problem at the bolt heads?  How have you solved the problem, if it is one?

[mpilone]

I use hockey pucks as spacers. Just drill a hole through the center and through the aluminum trailer rails. Worked like a charm.

-mike

[mpilone]

I don’t know what happened to the link in that last post and why it is offering a Kindle preview, but just search Amazon for “Faswin 18 Pack Classic Ice Hockey Puck”.

-mike

[Deepwoods]

Thanks, Mike.  I love it.  Thinking outside of the box.  Creative uses for common objects.

[jb]

Deepwoods, when you get to the point of mounting your TD to the Ultra-tow, would you mind sharing some measurements of the distance between the trailer support rails and the position you place the TD? I’m thinking of using the same trailer and would like to figure out how much support is exposed in front of the TD. I ordered my TD earlier this week but chose not to get the storage box because I plan on making my own to fit this trailer or something similar.

Thanks!

Jason

[Deepwoods]

Hi Jason,

There’s a bit of discussion on this forum about the Northern Tools Ultra-Tow trailer.  Some is under “Northern Tools,” and some is under “Ultra-Tow.”  Here’s my two cents.  I wanted to put the TD all the way back to the aft-most cross member of the trailer.  However, that would have put the fenders in the way of the doors.  There are two solutions: move the axle (and the wheels and fenders that go with it), or chop off the rails.  I went the latter route.  You can cut the aluminum rails easily with a reciprocating saw.  My scrap pieces measure 19 5/8″, so I guess, with the kerf, I was going for cutting off 19 3/4″.  The axle remains 100″ from the coupler.  You don’t want it any shorter than 100″.

Good luck with your project.

 

[Deepwoods]

Mike Pilone,

How many hockey pucks did you use for your spacers?

[mpilone]

I used 8 pucks. Two on each crossbar.

I also pushed the body as far back on the trailer as I could and then trimmed the back of the trailer. You can see a bit of the front puck in the picture.

[jclover41]

OK, I rushed something.  I was antsy installing my shell to my 4×4 Northern Tool Trailer.  Here is what I did.

I put a 3/4 inch plywood board to prevent rocks, debris from damaging the bottom of the shell.  However, when I put my shell on the trailer, it is currently resting on the fenders with about 1/4 inch of space from the bottom of the rails to my plywood and trailer frame.  The weight of the shell and that I didn’t measure properly why there is a space.  It cannot sit on the fenders.

Any ideas on how to add some space?  Should I add a couple of hockey pucks for spacers?  Should I add some blocks for stability?  Any other ideas?

Joshua

[jb]

Joshua, the hockey puck approach might help but that’s a pretty tall stack of pucks compared to the normal use (when the shell sits between the fenders). I’d recommend going with the bunk rails that are provided in the kit exactly for this purpose. See page 269 of the manual for details.

[Author]

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