Coleman Caboose trailer, anyone use one?

[Abscate]

[kalispell365]

If anyone is looking for one of these trailers, I have one in Montana for sale. I had a body shop strip and paint the frame but I never seem to find the time to reassemble it all. I have a brand new set of replacement Grote LED lights and wiring as well as a clean title.
$250.00, needs reassembled. Come and pick it up.
PM me if you are interested.
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1983 Diesel Vanagon Westfalia chassis with Subaru 2.2l

[Gnarlodious]

Where is it, Kalispell?
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[MsTaboo]

[kalispell365]

[sped372]

Getting ready for spring here... I just added load bars and some bike racks to the top of the caboose similar to what the OP mentioned (yes, I know, it's an old thread but still). Looking forward to some increased usefulness this summer.

With two kids we've got four bikes to deal with... this seems like a good way to handle it. Hopefully it works as planned.
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1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

[joetiger]

Nice Abita sticker!
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Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'04 GTI 1.8T
'04 Golf R32

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Available Now! Vanagon to Louisiana--A Two-Lane Reckoning Through Past and Present

www.josephtrussell.com

[sped372]

[metropoj]

THAT, my friend, is a cool little trailer. The deal you got is insanely great. I missed out on an older Orange version of that trailer and ended up going retro old Skool instead.

I like the seemingly low weight design of the Coleman too.

Why a trailer, indeed. We went from a theoretical travel model to reality travel, from honeymooning in our 77 to Colorado, to travelling young in our 79 (then with one kid and the front hammock set up) to 4 adults with 'stuff'

.. Climbing up on a roof to take things down and off to pop the top, no interest at all for me. Also, hard to carry a canoe with a ton of stuff on the roof ...


We ended up trailering 2 different ways,


1. We pulled an old Sears X-Cargo half way across Canada last year, it worked out great. I run 118HP so it didn't totally slow us up. It wasn't to overpack, it was to give 4 adults some sanity on a 2 week adventure. We bought this one week before our trip and I had to scramble to prep it, new bearings and tires etc and quick paint to seal the surface rust in the box.

I even added in a section of pole to stick the Westy table into so i can cook outside of the camper as needed.

2. We also bought a Thule "Transporter Combi" ( The Coolest name ever ! ) to try out instead of the trailer. It is smaller but very useful to put our 4 duffle bags in, BBQ and other stuff with easy access. I can raise the rear lid of the camper without having to remove it, too. $$$ new but a deal used, ours was used for one move across Canada, then put into storage for 5 years before they got rid of it. It bounces a little more than I liked and I ended up with a strap up to the rear hatch top when we're travelling to stop it ...

I don't know which I like better, but I like having options.
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John.
86 TiiCo powered Westy.

[sped372]

Nice options, for sure.

We used the Coleman quite a bit last year and found the trade-offs worthwhile for now. We aren't really bringing more stuff, just keeping it out of the interior and off the roof. It's nice to stow wet and dirty things in there, or just toss everything in at night if you think rain might be on the way without compromising interior space. Car seats and strollers take up lots of room!

It's small and light enough I can basically push it around like a large wheelbarrow once it's unhooked so it's not a big deal. And it stands vertically on the back "bumpers" for storage in the garage at home.
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1971 Karmann Ghia - 1600 DP
1984 Westfalia - 1.9 WBX

[Robert Givler]

We have had ours for about 3 years and really like it. Also bought it for about $250. Have since put new tires, rims side brake/ tail lights on it as well as change the harness to work with the bus. On camping trips all we have to carry inside is our clothes, cooler, picnic basket and all the knick knacks that we have in the cabinets. It really earns it's keep while getting there, if we need to stop and sleep for the night no more rearranging heaven and earth inside the bus to pull out the bed. Just throw our clothes bags in the front seats, pop the top and voila. The plus side of not having anything on the roof is nothing gets wet, I don't have to wrestle anything up there or down (we used to carry the tents and poles in the luggage rack) and tie it down. Also nice and secure when we park at night. At the campsite we often chain it to a tree and lock it up when we leave. Plus if it does rain while you are camping you can put the chairs etc in it and not have them in the tent or bus with you.

[a2wolfsburggli]

I picked one up last fall for $100 and my goal is to get the bike rack on it like in the image above.

Of course, I have to wait for GoWesty to ship my trailer hitch that I order like a month ago though first. Stupid Virus.
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Current: '87 Westfalia | '16 Audi Q5 3.0T S-Line w/sport package.

Past: '09 CC 3.6L 4motion "R36 wannabe" | '02 Audi TT "ALMS Edition" | '84 Jetta GLI with Autotech Supercharger | '89 Helios Jetta GLI 16v's (x2) | '95.5 URS6 | and the list goes on.

Never underestimate the entertainment value of OCD overruling Common Sense

[Gnarlodious]

What size tires on that little trailer?
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[Corwyn]

I have a Versa Trailer and I love it! Well worth waiting for. They come up on ebay occasionally. I had mine shipped from Houston. I have since raised the suspension two inches to level it and rewired it.

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'90 White Westy ("The Longship")
FAS Gen V 2.0
The Annual Baja Rally
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"If anything's" gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there"
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[Abscate]

[Gnarlodious]

Well, I have a little clamshell trailer that runs 4.8x8 tires and they are only good for 3 round trips from Santa Fe to Coeur d’Alene. Course they are probably not meant for 70MPH, whereas the 12 inchers might be.
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[a2wolfsburggli]

[Robert Givler]

I had to run out to the shed and look but they are Carlisle 4.80-8. Currently I carry the spare on the inside of the trailer but want to make a mount for it on the tongue.

[Gnarlodious]

Finally found a real nice Caboose, 1982 model! Just got done washing it out!

It was never hardly used and stored a lot on its rump, as you can see:

Decals are intact! But they will start wearing off real quick. Does anyone make reproduction decals? Any advice on restoration or preservation? Gotta say, this PVC tub is a beast of plastic!
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Vanagon ’83 diesel AAZ w/Giles injection, 5spd 4.57R&P+TBD and a '78 diesel Rabbit

[DanHoug]

on those 8" tire hubs... be sure to completely clean out the old grease and repack with a modern waterproof wheel bearing grease. they spin incredibly fast and the chance of burning out increases dramatically with load.

a 4.80 x 8 tire at 60mph is spinning at 1345rpm. almost twice as fast as a Vanagon 14" tire.

it's really hard to find GOOD trailer bearings, ones that aren't made in China and Chinese trailer bearings have a miserable track record. MN is the Land of 10,000 trailers and you see sooooo many by the side of the road with a burned bearing. if you see 2 bearings, a seal, and dust cap in a blister pack for $17.99 keep looking. this is a good reason to examine the old bearings as they are likely high quality and with a clean and repack are better than new Chinese bearings. Summit Racing has Timken bearing sets, at 3dB or more cost.

i'm not sold on Bearing Buddies... blindly pushing more grease in the outside end hoping it gets to the inner bearing. i've seen people pop out the grease seal joyfully pumping grease in like no tomorrow. better to just quickly pop the wheel off and have a look.

grease compatibility is a real thing. put a different grease into the bearing without cleaning out the old grease can turn things into a runny schmoo. clean it all out, have a big can of the stuff you're going to use and stay with it.

carry a spare set of bearings, even the $17.99 ones. when one burns up in East Nary, finding a set of the correct size you may find yourself in a geographical curiosity and be two weeks from anywhere.
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
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