My teardrop project v1.0

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smritte

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I never do build threads mostly because I jump around from project to project and I don’t want to start a thread that takes a year to complete. OH and I suck at taking pictures. This one should not take but a few months.

Over the last decade, I’ve been running around with a small trailer and an RTT. I realized that half of my trips have high winds and even though the RTT holds up well, its noisy as heck and I don’t get much sleep. For this reason, I decided to build a small teardrop ish trailer.

My criteria are, under 2000 pounds loaded, low profile, moderate off road capable and all my gadgets. It must have a slide out for my fridge, some sort of kitchen, solar and a modular walled off area. Finally, it must look good.

I’m building the frame out of .090 2x4. I switched from 2x3 120 wall because I’m going to tuck things into the frame underneath and the front section will act as an inside storage compartment. My box dimensions will be 5’ wide X 4.5’ High, 9’long. In my first design, I had the fridge slide out and the entrance in the front. That was going to make the tongue way too heavy. I moved the fridge to the rear for better balance.

Axle is a 3500-pound Dexter with electric drums and a park brake. I wish my small trailer had a park brake. Tire chocks are fine if you don’t have to drive onto rocks to level the trailer.

Suspension. I wanted to be creative here. I drew up plans for everything from 3 link to trailing arm to independent. Spring wise, coil, air, leaf. One of the guys at work builds desert trucks and is real well known for his suspensions. He looked over my plans, checked the math and said, “what is the main purpose of this build?”. Well let’s see, I’m not track racing, not rock crawling, not flying through the desert. I don’t want the cargo to be vibrated to death, it needs to be easy to maintain and a moderate amount of suspension travel. I will be driving down dirt roads and occasional dry wash. So, simple leaf spring.

My leaf’s are 46” long. Early CJ7, rear, 2” lift. The main reason I chose the CJ spring is their everywhere and I can get them in whatever spring rate I want. Add in a set of Monroe gas shocks from a lowered king-pin VW and were done. Simple and effective.

Tires and wheels. I wanted something that would somewhat match my Cruiser, but I didn’t want to run 35’s. I ended up with 6 lug Raceline trailer rims (yeah they actually make trailer rims), with Falkin Wildpeaks 235/75 15 tires that measure 29” diameter.

I didn't get much in the way of start up pictures. It was raining and that means building in the garage (bare metal and all that).



spring mounts.jpg

Spring tabs mocked up, axle in the background. The frame is just tacked together for square and will be shorter when fully welded. The axle is sitting on small furniture dollies. Once the axle was mounted that's how I had to move it around while I waited for my tires and rims to get here.



early frame.jpg
Frames cut down to final size, tongue jack in place, tires and rims on. It rolls so much better.
Frame ended up at 103” long, tongue at 44”. 147” total. Axle center is 50” from the rear, width is 60". That should give me the balance I’m looking for as well as good road manners.
 
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smritte

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Ordered a set of Bal "C" jacks for my leveling jacks. Doing research on trailer park brakes, it seems most people struggle here. Getting the handle seems easy until you realize how few there are and the web sites can be confusing. I settled on a handle from Orscheln. They seem to run around $50. Then I saw this Manual Brake Lever 02182700 Orscheln Black . $20.00 free shipping supposed to be new. From what I read, that was the easy part. The cables seem to kick everyone's butt. The trailer shops have "kits" around $250 and up, One place I looked would supply a universal "cut to fit" kit for about $200. Sigh.
Hit up Mr Google again and found this place Control Cables Inc. Did some measuring and made a call. Wow, they were nice and their about 30 mins from me. I'm looking at $85 for the cables and a few dollars for a couple of fittings. The only reason I didn't order now was, I need to see what cable mount the handle has. They said it would take 1-2 day's to make then whatever time to ship.

I have the water tank dimensions, need to call on that. Next will be side sliders and fenders. Back to the steel yard for sheet metal and 1" square.
 

Canyon_Cliff

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Ordered a set of Bal "C" jacks for my leveling jacks. Doing research on trailer park brakes, it seems most people struggle here. Getting the handle seems easy until you realize how few there are and the web sites can be confusing. I settled on a handle from Orscheln. They seem to run around $50. Then I saw this Manual Brake Lever 02182700 Orscheln Black . $20.00 free shipping supposed to be new. From what I read, that was the easy part. The cables seem to kick everyone's butt. The trailer shops have "kits" around $250 and up, One place I looked would supply a universal "cut to fit" kit for about $200. Sigh.
Hit up Mr Google again and found this place Control Cables Inc. Did some measuring and made a call. Wow, they were nice and their about 30 mins from me. I'm looking at $85 for the cables and a few dollars for a couple of fittings. The only reason I didn't order now was, I need to see what cable mount the handle has. They said it would take 1-2 day's to make then whatever time to ship.

I have the water tank dimensions, need to call on that. Next will be side sliders and fenders. Back to the steel yard for sheet metal and 1" square.
Thanks Scott, I like seeing your progress.

Cliff
 

old_man

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Ordered a set of Bal "C" jacks for my leveling jacks. Doing research on trailer park brakes, it seems most people struggle here. Getting the handle seems easy until you realize how few there are and the web sites can be confusing. I settled on a handle from Orscheln. They seem to run around $50. Then I saw this Manual Brake Lever 02182700 Orscheln Black . $20.00 free shipping supposed to be new. From what I read, that was the easy part. The cables seem to kick everyone's butt. The trailer shops have "kits" around $250 and up, One place I looked would supply a universal "cut to fit" kit for about $200. Sigh.
Hit up Mr Google again and found this place Control Cables Inc. Did some measuring and made a call. Wow, they were nice and their about 30 mins from me. I'm looking at $85 for the cables and a few dollars for a couple of fittings. The only reason I didn't order now was, I need to see what cable mount the handle has. They said it would take 1-2 day's to make then whatever time to ship.

I have the water tank dimensions, need to call on that. Next will be side sliders and fenders. Back to the steel yard for sheet metal and 1" square.
Check out my thread on my bespoke Bal-C type jacks for a reasonable amount. The problem I found was to the height I wanted, they charged WAY too much.
 
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smritte

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Check out my thread on my bespoke Bal-C type jacks for a reasonable amount. The problem I found was to the height I wanted, they charged WAY too much.
That's where my idea came from. I tried sourcing the threaded rod and fittings. The price was way high. I never found a good source. I only ordered 2 and still need 2 more.
 

old_man

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The threaded rod was simple acme thread and the nut was an off the shelf standard nut. The struts were uni-strut. You just have to keep them greased.
 
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smritte

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The threaded rod was simple acme thread and the nut was an off the shelf standard nut. The struts were uni-strut. You just have to keep them greased.
I went into McMaster Carr just now to link what I was looking at and realized something. The rod was around $6.00 each for 24". what I looked up was a threaded flange and not a simple nut. Now were looking at $60-$80 each (need 4). The two jacks I have will be ok for the front. The rear I would have to mod. Now that you used them for a while, the thread engagement is fine? Building them is simple. When I was sourcing the parts, I was looking at over $100 each to build. That's why I settled on buying and possibly modifying.
 

old_man

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The height of the ones I wanted were well above $250 each. I fabricated them for maybe $30 each. I did all four in an afternoon. So I made all four for about $120 instead of over $1000 to purchase.

The threaded rod I used was 1/2" - 10 tpi
 
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smritte

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10 Gal water tank on order. Its going to be 5" high. I will mount it in front of the axle as close as possible. It should hang down about 1.5" below the frame counting the skid plate. I'm considering moving it as far as possible to the drivers side. My kitchen will be mostly passenger side. I'm hoping this somewhat offsets it. Lead time is 3-4 weeks. I should be done with the rest of the frame mod's by then (I hope).
 
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Canyon_Cliff

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smritte

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Today I got the park brake and cables set up. I'm going to make another thread because of the trouble myself and others seem to have searching. Heres the link
 

smritte

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Got a little bit more done today.

slider mock up.jpg
This is the only pic I got. It started drizzling and I moved it back inside. Sliders are done and welded on, fender framework on and diamond plate all cut out. Ill get a better pic next week.
Water tank came in yesterday. Need to build the housing for that and the pump. I'm going to place it just in front of the axle. When it's done, it's skid plate will be 1.25 inches below the frame. I haven't decided if i will make it drop out from the bottom or lift from the top in case of repair.
 

smritte

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Didn't get much time to work on it. Got the rear lifts in place, building the front ones. Got my template for the water tank box and need to order the fill hose so I can get that mounted.

lift up.jpg
Lift tucked up in the rear corner.

lited.jpg
Extended down they lift the wheels about 2 inches up. Nice if I have to change a tire.
 

Canyon_Cliff

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Good morning Scott.
Could you show some detail on your stabilizers? I need to extend mine on my new trailer now that I have lifted it and am trying to decide how best to do it. Make all new, purchase, modify the ones I have? Maybe you could provide some answers.
Thanks, Cliff
 

smritte

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Could you show some detail on your stabilizers? I need to extend mine on my new trailer now that I have lifted it and am trying to decide how best to do it. Make all new, purchase, modify the ones I have? Maybe you could provide some answers.
Sure. I have them bolted up but nothing is painted so they need to come off anyway again. Here's the ones in the picture. Bal Jack
These raise 24 inch's, have 3 mounting points. If you look at the amazon link, drop down to the "extra" parts. You will see some attachable feet. The bottom leg of the jack has a 5/16 hole to mount a foot, extension... I can get you some pictures and dimensions this weekend. For my mounting, I made my own nut inserts and welded them into the frame then mounted with 5/16 bolts. The jacks come with 1/4 inch self tappers. We know what those are going to do once we hit dirt roads.
Let me know what info you need. My son is down for the week, so I don't know what he wants to do. If i'm going to be in the garage, your welcome to pop by and look at them.
 

Canyon_Cliff

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Sure. I have them bolted up but nothing is painted so they need to come off anyway again. Here's the ones in the picture. Bal Jack
These raise 24 inch's, have 3 mounting points. If you look at the amazon link, drop down to the "extra" parts. You will see some attachable feet. The bottom leg of the jack has a 5/16 hole to mount a foot, extension... I can get you some pictures and dimensions this weekend. For my mounting, I made my own nut inserts and welded them into the frame then mounted with 5/16 bolts. The jacks come with 1/4 inch self tappers. We know what those are going to do once we hit dirt roads.
Let me know what info you need. My son is down for the week, so I don't know what he wants to do. If i'm going to be in the garage, your welcome to pop by and look at them.
Thanks Scott for the reply.
 

Canyon_Cliff

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Sure. I have them bolted up but nothing is painted so they need to come off anyway again. Here's the ones in the picture. Bal Jack
These raise 24 inch's, have 3 mounting points. If you look at the amazon link, drop down to the "extra" parts. You will see some attachable feet. The bottom leg of the jack has a 5/16 hole to mount a foot, extension... I can get you some pictures and dimensions this weekend. For my mounting, I made my own nut inserts and welded them into the frame then mounted with 5/16 bolts. The jacks come with 1/4 inch self tappers. We know what those are going to do once we hit dirt roads.
Let me know what info you need. My son is down for the week, so I don't know what he wants to do. If i'm going to be in the garage, your welcome to pop by and look at them.
I hate it when I hit the return key and it sends the message before I am Finished. My new trailer came equipped with the Bal Jacks, four of them, but, they only measure to be 20" long, and I don't think that will be adequate for my needs. So I am thinking I need to extend them somehow. Maybe attach some channels and move the feet to the new ends. I was curious if you made yours or bought them. Seems you bought them. If you made them I was hoping you could tell me what channel material you used. For now, I will probably just bring some thick woodblocks to use as pads. Not in a big hurry to solve this. Thanks again for your help.