Exocet Trailer Build : Homebuilt trailer for Texans with no registration

[planejob]

So folks, I'm going to try to create a thread that covers the build of my Exocet Trailer. As many of you know and some of you may not know, Texas has decided to interpret an administrative rule to prohibit the registering of "dune buggies". They go on to define "dune buggy" as "anything the department defines as a dune buggy is a dune buggy".

A little background on me: I have no formal engineering training. I travel a lot for work so I have stayed at many Holiday Inns, just not last night. I've been building, driving, repairing, flying, modifying, racing, buying, selling, and generally tinkering with things since I was a kid. As I've progressed in years my toys have gotten larger and more complicated, my failures number fewer (thankfully) and my knees and back hurt way worse. I take 7 ibuprofen at a time now.

The idea behind this trailer is pretty simple: I need a way to transport my Texas-based Exocet to and from the autocross events until I figure out how to make a [REDACTED] work a solution. Not only that, but I need the trailer to be small enough that I can fit it in my existing garage space and not have to pay for any storage facility.

In a rum-and-coke-fueled fury a few weeks ago I drew up a trailer on some graph paper. The length of the trailer is 100 inches (the Miata/Exocet has a near 90" wheelbase) and the width is 72" (my exocet with 15x8 0 offset wheels and 205 tires is 70 inches wide). The bed of the trailer will tilt to accomodate easy loading and unloading. The tongue of the trailer will be removable to preserve as much space in the garage as possible.

[planejob]

It all starts with an idea of questionable veracity and a trip to the steel yard. https://photos.app.goo.gl/GhLX8K7H3K2p9Sin1

20180205150730422.pdf (224.6 KB)

[planejob]

Oh hell! I may have figured out how to put pictures in the post!!

So a bunch of reading and thought went into the design of the trailer. The initial design was a series of 3 inch cross members stationed on top of two 3 inch tall longitudinal frame rails. Problem is, that makes the floor of the trailer 6 inches above the base! I needed to cut that down (my preference would be to have the lowest deck possible without putting the wheels outboard of the edge of the trailer.)

I ended up leaving the front crossmember solid, and 72" long and the rear one the same.

At this point the cross members are 72" long each, the longitudinal rails are 97" long and welded inside of the crossmembers making the trailer 100x72.

[planejob]

Here's the layout after the crossmembers were redesigned and dropped down into the same plane as the longitudinal frame rails.

(You know what would be really cool? If I could find a company like Tie Down Engineering near me that could laser cut notches in these pieces so that they self-jigged and stacked together!)

Then to add the extra 11.25" to the edge of the trailer I built these wooden 2x4 jigs.

I tig welded the top and bottom of each joint to lock in the alignment. Tig welding takes forever (especially when you aren't good at it).

[planejob]

All of that gets you something that looks like this (though in this particular picture the joints are not welded.

[planejob]

So I reached out to a good friend who is a professional welder and has welded up a roll cage for me in the past to take care of the long runs. He inspected my work (made fun of me a little) and laid down some SWEET wire welds on all of the verticals and the tongue weldments that I had tacked in.

[planejob]

At this point, Axle A, a spring axle, is sitting in the dining room and the trailer frame is in the garage. Soon I'll have Axle B, a torsion axle, at the house and will be selecting between the two.

[planejob]

Here's a sneak peak at the tilt mechanism.

[LukeG]

F@ck the Texas DMV. I'm in Austin and had to do the Montana registration.

I used these guys and it went perfectly.

Montana LLC | Incorporate | $49 Montana Registered Agent

It will cost $800, but the process is very quick and you can now drive the car legally.

[planejob]

OOOh, progress....

The tires were delivered today. 205/65-10

Annnnnnd the winch:

I welded on a few of the tie downs:

And I picked up this out of a random scrap bin, and it'll be a portion of the drive-on platform, but not any part of the parking squares:

[planejob]

Well, the eBay vin tag came in. pretty slick for 9 bucks or something. and the guy out of TN shipped it the same day I ordered it.

Here, You're looking at the "driving grate" (large holes) and the "parking grate" (small holes). All welded in. on all 4 corners. (The trailer is upside down in all of these photos!)

I worked for a few hours tonight geting the lights wired up. I lost a damn 2" red marker LED light - like literally had it in my hand and lost it. No wonder shit never gets finished around here...

I'm going to add some conspicuity tape to the sides and rear just to make sure people see it, in case they miss the orange car that'll be strapped to the top of it.

My unibit crapped out before I could finish the holes up front, but I also have orange LED marker lights for the front corners.

I used this sweet little junction box to divide up the wiring task a little:

All of the trailer wiring is loomed up and secured with P-clips. I don't like the loom position on the right wheel well area, but that'll be addressed once the axle is in.

And I grabbed 12 of these finials on eBay to cap all of the exposed ends of the 1.5x3 tube.

And, here's my helper, Brown Dog.

[SeanO]

This looks awesome. Any guesstimate on what the finished trailer will weigh?

[planejob]

I'm aiming for 300lbs, based on the shipping weight of the major components. but probably shamefully more.

I'll find some scales and throw it on once it's finished. More pics tonight!

[planejob]

Today, I flipped the trailer over today with the help of a neighbor. I finished painting the top side. All in, it took five cans of rattle bomb "2X" rust-oleum.

I finished wiring up the lights - left is left and right is right. Brake lights work. Running lights work... heck yeah!

You'll notice those little stubs of tube coming off the front of the trailer, those are the low profile bump stops to keep the operator from driving off the front of the trailer (yet, perhaps, low enough to not rip the front off of a Miata should this trailer get repurposed in the future.

I added the finials to the tubes. Here's a before look and after...

What do you think of the little fat tires? 205/65-10 rated for 2200 @ 50 psi.

[SeanO]

Looking really good! Please keep sharing progress as you make it. I think there are a lot of us eying this solution.

[planejob]

The axle FINALLY arrived. Northern Tool sources axle from Dexter Marine (they bought the axle operations from Tie Down). Their tracking, shipping, packaging, and customer service is terrible, but the price was right. If you have no deadline then it's a viable option.

AXLE MESS: I ordered the Axle on Feb 27 and was told it would take 15-19 days to arrive. Okay. On March 12 I get an e-mail saying the axle has shipped and will be delivered Mar 14. Tracking number shows no motion on March 13. I reach out to Northern Tool and they reach out to Dexter. Dexter says it was forgotten by UPS, will ship Mar 13. Check on Mar 14 -no activity on tracking number. Reach out to NT, they say something dumb like "well, we said it would take 15-19 days, so just plan on 19 at this point." How can I plan anything with this kind of service. Long story short - axle arrived on Mar 21. The axle came without axle nuts - not a big deal, but both threads had been dragged on the ground and crushed - no hope of backing a nut off of them to clean them up... because there wasn't one. I spent about an hour filing threads to fix this bullshit. Why would you ship a threaded end exposed without protection? so stupid. The mounting plates are CROOKED as hell, too. Like 3/4 inch out of square over 48 inches!

THE PROGRESS:
In this pic it's upside down and I've added some 2x2 angle iron to the inside of the frame rails, and rather than weld the crooked pads down to the trailer I bolted it to the 2x2.

I welded it, painted it, flipped it, and here it is, in all the glory:

Here's a shot showing the alignment of the tire path (the exocet will dive over the trailer tire.)

Here's a shot showing the height of the tires in relation to the deck height.

All the lights work:

Well, they all worked and then I dragged it over a curb. So it got it's first scratch and is now "fully broken-in".

I will load the Exocet on it tomorrow. The deck height is 17" when hitched to my truck and not tilted. I've got some 6' steel ramps to use for loading.

OH, and GET THIS. I walked into the Tax Office this morning and got a real friendly county clerk. I asked him what paperwork was needed to register a homebuilt trailer (now, at 8:40 this morning my trailer didn't even have an axle installed...). The nice man asked me a few questions in conversation as I assumed he was pulling up the paperwork I would need to do (do you live in this county, do you have a current license, how much does the trailer weigh, what color is it) and then BAM, he asked me for 62 dollars and handed me a license plate. No weight certificate, no VIN assignment, nothing. Why can't I register my car here again?

[planejob]

This will probably wrap up this build thread.

The winch was installed.

The "tilt mechanism" was installed. It promptly failed. Don't do this. it's mounting point was too far out and unsupported.

3r

I had to switch to a more normal setup with just a regular trailer tongue jack.

It works.

17" deck height when hitched. 7 inch deck height when tilted. 6' ramps.

All done.

Lessons learned:
1) buy axle FIRST. Build frame to axle's dimensions.
2) add more than 10 inches to the trailer length. Wheelbase is 90, 100 is enough. 105" would be perfect.
3) Driving over the trailer tires is viable. some kind of flap or fender will protect from kicked up rocks and crap on the road.
4) Use a 2x3 or 3x3 tongue - compared to the trailer length the tongue is long.
5) compared to EVERYTHING else, the trailer is short, and BEAST to back in to the garage.Maybe add some flags on the rear corners? Hard as hell to see the trailer turning until it's too late.
6) Avoid tilt mechanism if possible.

I'm considering selling this as soon as my registration is addressed.

[Lonny]

Very clean work on your trailer, super professional.

We are also in located in Texas and were part of the DMV work group that was suppose to work on getting kit cars registered in Texas. IT WAS A HUGE WAIST OF OUR TIME.

I am wanting to build a tilt trailer for our cars and yours looks like a great design.

I hope you don't mind me borrowing some of your engineering.

Kevin has done a good job getting this forum going and with a little time it will get more more active.

Lonny

[planejob]

Thanks Lonny. If you’re interested in this trailer let me know, I’m prepared to part with it.

[Lonny]

Thanks,
I think our kit cars have a little longer wheelbase and likely different track width. I will need to build one to fit our cars.

We are building body panels that will make our kit look like a 1958 lotus seven replica. This should allow us to register our kits in Texas. If this works it may be something that the Texas exocet community can do.

After we get registered we will reinstall our original body panels.

Where in Texas are you located? We are about twenty minutes south of Dallas.