Citylights' Tear - SOLD! - update 08-01-16

[citylights]

Now I have a total of 13 inches of ground clearance.

Holy, unintended consequence!

I was thinking about the door height. No problem for me, but my wife could use a step.

What I was not thinking about was the galley. I went from low counter height-- to high bar height! It works, but that was a surprise!

[nhstt]

[quote="citylights"]More progress.

Working on changing out my trailer tongue. Making it 2 feet longer to accommodate a 10 foot teardrop on an 8 foot trailer bed. I think my tongue weight just got 18 lb heavier by going from 1/8 inch steel to 3/16ths.

I will need a tongue extension on mine also. here in N.H. not sure were to go to get one cut to size? Auto shop? Help anyone
Karen and the Brooks Bunch

[Gpike]

Where in NH? I may have some contacts that will help out with the cut.

[KCStudly]

Search for "steel suppliers NH" or even closer to your area.

Here is the first one that came up for me.
http://www.cohensteel.com/

[citylights]

Search for "steel suppliers NH" or even closer to your area.

Here is the first one that came up for me.
http://www.cohensteel.com/

I used a local steel supply shop. They were nice, charged me 1/2 for ten foot of a 20 foot stick of 3x2 tube. They said no big deal, they would sell the other half easy enough. I bought most of my aluminum from them too.

http://www.curtissteel.com

[citylights]

On a offroad ghost town tour. First picture in Rachel Nevada. Second a Tybo Nevada ghost town and mine

[citylights]

Too much bouncy-bouncy on the springy thing on the Ghost Town Tour offroad trip. Did a field repair. Limped back to town. These springs were rated at 2000#, I think I will replace with 3000#. My trailer weighs 1750#.

[KCStudly]

Bang! Glad you were able to make it out. Hope it didn't totally ruin your trip.

[Ned B]

that reminds me of a trailer I pulled out of the dallas yard for Swift years back... I didn't catch it during my pre-trip, but it had one axle 'chained' up... I made it all the way to PA and another yard when the mechanics red-tagged me... I knew about it the morning after I picked the trailer up (better light)... and drove carefully the whole way up. Somehow I made it through three sets of scales on my way there.

glad you were able to limp home safely... I'd upgrade in a heartbeat if your'e going off-road on a regular basis.

[citylights]

Bang! Glad you were able to make it out. Hope it didn't totally ruin your trip.

Just cut my trip short by one day. It was still a great trip and a good trial by fire for the teardrop. Other than the spring failure it handled the offroad fantastic.

Here is a few more teardrop pictures from the trip. Now that I know what I am looking for, I see the failing or busted spring in the wheel, fender clearance in some of these pictures. The spring was definitely busted in this first picture!

[KCStudly]

Nice!!!

[working on it]

Too much bouncy-bouncy on the springy thing on the Ghost Town Tour offroad trip. Did a field repair. Limped back to town. These springs were rated at 2000#, I think I will replace with 3000#. My trailer weighs 1750#.

Tough luck, but good recovery! And an eye-opener for me. Since my trailer is basically the same weight as yours, I worried about choosing the spring capacity when I was installing the replacement Dexter 3500lb axle. Others recommended 2000 lbs, I wanted at least 2500 lbs, and installed 3000 lb springs. I was influenced by this thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=18700&p=252916"Choosing your axle capacity?", which sold me on a 50% margin of capacity. I don't plan to off-road it, but given the deteriorating highways I travel, I'd rather be prepared for whatever comes along. I had previously investigated adding oversized bumpstops, but dismissed that idea, but I am now returning to it (and adding shocks as well). My trailer's first suspension failed,http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=58985&hilit=fault so now I'm rectifying that, as penance! I'm no expert on trailers, or suspensions, but I've seen a lot of suspension breakage on various types of vehicles over the years, and should've known or at least have checked my trailer better before it broke (turned a blind eye to an incipient problem...never even checked bolt torque). A question: did you have bump stops or shocks? (I didn't see any in your build thread). When you went to larger wheels and tires, after increasing the ride height, you may have crossed a "line" regarding maximum allowable force the 2000 lb springs could absorb at 87.5% of rated load capacity. Increasing the size of your tires (= weight) increased the unsprung mass (see WIKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_mass) that the springs must control, while being acted upon by the washboard roads. The 1700 or so lbs of sprung mass, now at an increased distance from the ground, provided more room for unchecked flexing of the leaves. A bump stop, though giving a harder "felt" ride, would've limited the overflexing that possibly caused the breakage. Shocks would've also limited, and also smoothed out the forces. I am definitely going to add bumpstops and shocks before my next trip.

[High Desert]

Nice, that's a proper MacGyver

Good luck on the repairs/ upgrade

[citylights]

A question: did you have bump stops or shocks? (I didn't see any in your build thread). When you went to larger wheels and tires, after increasing the ride height, you may have crossed a "line" regarding maximum allowable force the 2000 lb springs could absorb at 87.5% of rated load capacity.

I did not have bump stops or shocks. I like the idea of bump stops, they are simple and would protect the spring... Admittedly at the expense of a jolt through the whole teardrop.

I am not sold on the shocks. Shocks are classically installed to dampen the spring and provide passenger ride comfort. Without them people get sea sick from the constant up and down motion from the springs... Nobody rides in the teardrop, so no need for comfort. I guess a shock would dampen spring flex may extend a springs life too.

Yes, I crossed the line! My teardrop is 1750# empty. I probably had 300# of camping gear in it to put me overweight at 2050#. My springs were rated at 2000#. That might have been ok on pavement, but was no good for offroad. I was tring to be carefull and take bumps and rocks slow, but I know I nailed a few hard because I felt it.

I am going to talk to the trailer supply and decide between 3000# or 3500# axle and springs. The first gives me 1.5 safety factor, the second gives me 1.75, assuming a 2000# loaded trailer. As far as I know, the only detriment to springs being oversized or too stiff is transferring the shock into the teardrop.

[citylights]

I got a 3500# dexter springs and axle quote from a local trailer parts supply store, $360. They agree that I should go with the 3500# rating. I get to install it all.