need help with tear drop

[rambo]

Hello there, my name is Rambo, I'm new here and would like to get some help about tear drop.
I live in thailand and will try to build my tear drop here so please don't send me to the local dealer for parts since there is no local dealer here!!!
There is no tear drop in thailand at all as far as I know.

1. I would like to know what is the best way to seal the back door against the rain, (what kind of rubber)
2. many pepole wrote about used axle, what's wrong with making one with an ordinery steel, does anyone can say what the thickness of an axle like this should be ?
3. Most of the tear drops I saw on the net made out of wood (beside of the chassis) does it strong enough ?

Have a nice day
Rambo

[BufordT]

Hello there, my name is Rambo, I'm new here and would like to get some help about tear drop.
I live in thailand and will try to build my tear drop here so please don't send me to the local dealer for parts since there is no local dealer here!!!
There is no tear drop in thailand at all as far as I know.

1. I would like to know what is the best way to seal the back door against the rain, (what kind of rubber)
2. many pepole wrote about used axle, what's wrong with making one with an ordinery steel, does anyone can say what the thickness of an axle like this should be ?
3. Most of the tear drops I saw on the net made out of wood (beside of the chassis) does it strong enough ?

Have a nice day


Rambo

Welcome Rambo,

I used regular felt to see the hatch on my mini-hopper. Works great. I have a little leak but I'll get that fixed.

Here is a chassis design using 3" square tubing 1/8" thick I think.
http://www.tnttt.com/gallery/image.php?image_id=81

Using this one you can attach the plywood to the side of the tear and not on top of the trailer.

Hope this helps.

Bufordt

[mikeschn]

Hi Rambo,

Welcome to T&TTT.

Let see if I can give you some ideas on your questions...

1) The best way to seal the hatch is with some kind of weather stripping. But any kind of seal that compresses should do the job. You can either put your weather stripping on the hatch, or on the sidewalls where the hatch comes down. Most people use aluminum angle to keep water from going in sideways. Check out this page for hatch molding
http://www.outbackteardrop.com/body5.html

2) Well of course you can make your own axle. If you're good with steel tubing, flanges, welding, etc there's nothing stopping you. You'll have to add springs too. And if you are going off road, or if the roads are bad there, you'll want to add gas shocks too. Check out this page for gas shocks... http://www.outbackteardrop.com/body8.html

3) Wood is plenty strong for the body of the teardrop. This outback teardrop uses a strong steel chassis, with a wooden body, and after many miles and many trips in the desert, the only problem was a bent axle shaft. Larry replaced his 2000# axle with a 3500# axle. Here's his information on the new axle...
http://www.outbackteardrop.com/body9.html?
You could find out on the web how thick the axle tube is, and then make yours the same thickness!


Larry has a lot of information on his page for a rugged offroad teardrop. Thanks Larry! http://www.outbackteardrop.com

[rambo]

Hello there

Thanks for the link www.outbackteardrop.com, it's a great site with fantastic photos, highly recommanded.
thanks for the info too of course.

Have a great day
Rambo