As with all things there is an evolution at play. While I am happy with our camper for "normal" tow and camp functionality we recently bought a Wrangler. This has me thinking that some more remote camping will be in the works. For this I'll want larger tires and more stability, I want to move the wheels out from under the cabin so I can get some tires on the camper that are significantly larger than the 13" tires it has.
My initial thoughts:
Build is on a 4' wide Harbor Freight trailer kit
Camper is 5" wide (a little more)
13" wheels currently sit under the camper (no wheel wells)
No clearance to increase the tire size
I was thinking of welding or bolting heavy gauge square tube steel or angle under the existing frame at the current leaf spring mount points (or probably moving it back about 3-5 inches to accommodate door clearance) and moving the leaf springs out to the ends. This would mean each end of the steel would extend about 10" outside of the existing chassis. This would allow me to mount say 17" wheels with 30" tires and add a fender outside of the cabin.
Glaring concerns with this plan? What gauge steel should I use for the ~10" overhang to avoid bending? Suggestions?
The wrangler has 35" tires on it so I know we'll never get tires that large on there but I would like to put some on there that will be robust and add some additional clearance for some mild trails/patures/hills... ya know, back country or overlanding.
Last but not least, any good sources for the new axle I'm going to need so I can match the new width?
Thanks!