[turn 9]

Just picked up a clean 1990 Starcraft Starflyer for $1400. Towing it home for an hour was a challenge as it had quite a sway above 90 hm/h due to my hitch being too high. A 5.5" drop hitch helped a bit but not much.

Now I'm going to lift it 3-4" and install taller 13" tires which should net at least 5" of lift. The body is clean but the decals are badly worn. Will remove decals and then decide if I'll paint it grey and black. My wife is painting the interior cabinets an antique white and installing dark wood-like vinyl flooring.

Pics now and hopefully what it should end up looking like.

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[CDN_S4]

I hope you'll lift that knuckle dragging thing up off the ground and slap some decent sized MT under it!?

 

[foolishbowler]

Nice setup!

 

[turn 9]

Lift going on on May 19. Will net 5" of lift. Then 14" tires. Starting stripping the decals yesterday. Will finish removal of decals this week and then paint all trim and access panels satin black. We will then decide whether we leave the body white or paint it a dark grey.


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[gt1guy]

I vote for the dark grey. Cool setup.

 

[turn 9]

Got 2/3 of the decals stripped. Went through 2 decal erasure wheels. Will finish in a couple days after I buy a couple more wheels. Tried a spot with the grey. It's going to look good. 6" lift and new 13" wheels going on on May 19.

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[UnlimiDozer]

Check your weight bias. I suspect you'll find it is tongue light, if not tail heavy. Remember, you want at least about 10% of the trailer weight on the hitch. If that's light, it won't pull well.

 

[turn 9]

Pulls like shit. The lift kit and bigger tires will fix that. Right now anything beyond 50 mph brings a pretty good sway.


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[UnlimiDozer]

Don't know if, or how much, you've pulled a trailer with a JK, but there are a couple of other things to consider as well. The first is not peculiar to the JK, but to the short wheelbase of your 2 door. Because of its short wheelbase, it is harder to drive in a consistently straight line. That can induce legitimate sway if your trailer is marginal anyway, and if not, it can appear to have a sway just because the tow vehicle is constantly changing directions.

The other thing, and this is due to the nature of our rear suspensions in the JKs, is that as the suspension cycles, the rear axle moves from side to side (relative to the frame). That means your hitch is wagging like a dog's tail and therefore your trailer appears to sway when all that's really happening is the normal cycling of your suspension. This really freaked me out for a while on my JKU, but I finally realized that when I'm going in a straight line everything is fine. Not saying that's the case with yours, just that if you haven't towed a lot with a JK, these are some points to consider as you assess the problem.

Best,

Scott

 

[turn 9]

Getting there. Front and sides painted. Will do the rear and have new black Starcraft decals made next week. 6" lift and bigger 13" wheels go on later this week.

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[binarypie]

Cool project! I can't wait for the end result.

 

[turn 9]

Going to the shop for a 6" lift. We'll finish painting the roof and back end later this week.

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[PKDailey4]

I also had a small amount of sway at highway speed. I found I needed more tongue weight. The sway was because there was too much weight behind the axle. I installed a cargo rack on the tongue and have milk crates full of fuel/firewood. No more sway. R U going to do an axle flip ? I did.

 

[j-rod17]

Im interested to see how this turns out.

 

[turn 9]

Suspension is torsion and not an axle with leafs. We are lifting it 6" by welding in blocks and then reattaching the torsion axle. The added height, bigger tires and the 2 propane tanks and battery on the tongue should solve its highway manners. Getting it back from the shop early next week,,,more pics to follow.


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[turn 9]

Back from the shop. Lifted 6" and bigger 13" wheels installed. Tows great now even without any weight on the tongue (2 propane tanks and a battery will put about another 100-125 lbs on tongue and make towing better ). Got to finish painting roof and rear, get new decals and have the wife finish the inside.

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[gt1guy]

Wow. That turned out great.

 

[xrayjeeper83]

Looks really good. I've been wanting to get a pop up again.

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[Hickey]

That looks great. If it were mine, I would extend the tongue as well. That will give you more room for installing propane and other accessories, and it will tow better and allow tighter turning. A longer trailer always tows better.

 

[foolishbowler]

Nice! I would love to have something like that!